― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 9 January 2003 22:13 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 9 January 2003 22:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
(didn't know he had a new book out, never finished all tomorrow's parties)
― g.cannon (gcannon), Thursday, 9 January 2003 22:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 9 January 2003 22:26 (twenty-one years ago) link
― g.cannon (gcannon), Thursday, 9 January 2003 22:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 9 January 2003 23:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― mark s (mark s), Friday, 10 January 2003 00:03 (twenty-one years ago) link
Why is the sky BLUE, aha!
― g.cannon (gcannon), Friday, 10 January 2003 07:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Simeon (Simeon), Friday, 10 January 2003 11:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
raleigh scattering.
― Alan (Alan), Friday, 10 January 2003 11:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
Alan - I have a mental image of you explaining raleigh scattering to a bemused three year old. "But Daddy, WHY do the particles reemit the electromagnetic waves?"
― Simeon (Simeon), Friday, 10 January 2003 11:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
And yes, for someone who claims not to be much of an internet user (?!?) he's got a great grasp of online forum dynamics.
― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 10 January 2003 11:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Alan (Alan), Friday, 10 January 2003 11:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
― mark s (mark s), Friday, 10 January 2003 11:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Alan (Alan), Friday, 10 January 2003 12:01 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 10 January 2003 13:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
― g.cannon (gcannon), Friday, 10 January 2003 14:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
Some of the best lines are (paraphrased):"We had no idea that the Internet, developed by the DOD in case of nuclear attack, would be primarily used by Midwestern Art School girls flashing their tits."
"I didn't dodge the draft in Canada for any kind of sympathy for the Viet Kong... It had much more to do with hippie girls and hashish.. much more."
And of course it has the obligatory appearance by Bono and The Edge, who are just gushing WG fanboys.
― cprek, Friday, 10 January 2003 16:51 (twenty-one years ago) link
The whole Lord of the rings thing bores me to death too Alan.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:57 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 10 January 2003 18:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 10 January 2003 18:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
1REIFIKATION!
― Ess Kay (esskay), Saturday, 11 January 2003 01:25 (twenty-one years ago) link
His strengths are in 'cool' geeky concepts extrapolated from now to whenever his story is set. As Ess Kay touches on above the biotech-fetishists have him as a grandaddy. He was writing about chip implants/bio interfaces long before they had been seriously considered (AFAIK).
Whatever, "Pattern Recognition" is great. If you live in London, Tokyo or NYC and read message boards, you will love it.
Jordan - did you know the Curta is a real calculator? Look 'em up - you can get them on ebay!
― Simeon (Simeon), Thursday, 30 January 2003 17:30 (twenty-one years ago) link
I told my editor the heroine was allergic to Prada and she wasn't happy about it.
― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 30 January 2003 17:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
and it's great. started it late last night and am 222 pages into it already, would've been more but i had to go and sign on 8)
particularly fond of the cover and the way all the london places he mentions (apart from the vegan restaurant) are places i know well. and the way that every other page he'll just throw a phrase in that has never been coined before but which is just perfect and instantly recognisable ('Zaprudered', the whole 'mirror-world' thing...)
andy
― koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 20 May 2003 17:43 (twenty years ago) link
Did anyone else who's read it see the bits about 'Fetish:Footage:Forum' and just think of Ilx?
― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:33 (nineteen years ago) link
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:39 (nineteen years ago) link
Some else recommend me more William Gibson. I'm liking this one so far. The London-ness, and the fact that it's not set in the future, surprised me. I always thought his books would be all about hackers 'jacking in' to 'CyBerSpace' whilst on the run from the Feds and mainly feature flying taxis driven by androids.
― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:46 (nineteen years ago) link
I really like the Difference Engine too although I don't know if anyone else does.
― kyle (akmonday), Sunday, 22 August 2004 03:07 (nineteen years ago) link
I found a digital camera in the woods [not for 56k]
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 22 August 2004 03:11 (nineteen years ago) link
Definitely classic.
― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 22 August 2004 04:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 22 August 2004 04:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Sunday, 22 August 2004 05:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Sunday, 22 August 2004 13:34 (nineteen years ago) link
I haven't actually read the nineties ones.
― Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 22 August 2004 14:51 (nineteen years ago) link
steer clear of the neuromancer trilogy then 8)
actually, no, it's well worth a read. it was written in 1986 by someone who wasn't that up on the technology and it's interesting to see how well he 'predicts' (or not) how things turned out. plus it has space rastas in it.
> Gibson's real strength to me is presenting outrageously bizarre> concepts as though they're commonplace, like that thing in orbit > that does nothing but make wooden boxes.
Liz to thread. she once pointed out to me that this is a reference to some real artist. and he does a lot of this - there's a passing reference to Duchamp's Large Glass in Neuromancer for instance.
― koogs (koogs), Monday, 23 August 2004 07:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Monday, 23 August 2004 07:37 (nineteen years ago) link
I finally read Pattern Recognition earlier in the year, It was great. The thing that stands out in Gibson's writing the most, more than any other writer I can think of, is his attention to artifacts. For example, his detailed description of the Rickson jacket. Not only is there description of the Cayce's personal connection to the jacket, but also a strange genealogy of the jacket's manufacturing history and the cultural motivations that created such an item.
When Gibson describes these artifacts (some technological, some not) I get a sense of the world of the narrative. He shows the output of a strange set of equations that are fundamental processes of the setting. And it's even more interesting when he's talking about present day stuff.
― Dale the Panopticalist (cprek), Monday, 23 August 2004 12:33 (nineteen years ago) link
Just that it got me into Joseph Cornell is like reason enough for me to love Gibson forevah.
― Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Monday, 23 August 2004 12:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― Slim Pickens (Slim Pickens), Monday, 23 August 2004 16:19 (nineteen years ago) link
;)
― g--ff (gcannon), Monday, 23 August 2004 16:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― Slim Pickens (Slim Pickens), Monday, 23 August 2004 16:33 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 23 August 2004 16:34 (nineteen years ago) link
and i just finished Pattern Recognition! details: incisive, insightful. story: a little too well made i think. Should a novel self-conscioiusly documenting Our Time tie everything up neatly in the final chapter?
― g--ff (gcannon), Monday, 23 August 2004 16:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 23 August 2004 16:50 (nineteen years ago) link
i think i did read MLO before Neuromancer but it's been so long and they've been reread so many times i don't remember what it was like. not that different, prob! they're only obliquely related, nicely...
― g--ff (gcannon), Monday, 23 August 2004 16:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― kephm (kephm), Monday, 23 August 2004 17:00 (nineteen years ago) link
Lucas just stood there, facing the doorway, his face expressionless, the tip of his cane planted neatly on the sidewalk and his large hands one atop the other on a brass knob. "First thing that you learn," he said, with the tone of a man reciting a proverb, "is that you always gotta wait..."
― Slim Pickens (Slim Pickens), Monday, 23 August 2004 17:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― :|, Monday, 23 August 2004 18:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― g--ff (gcannon), Monday, 23 August 2004 18:46 (nineteen years ago) link
Thanks for the recs, folks
― bidenfan69420 (jim in vancouver), Friday, 24 January 2020 19:06 (four years ago) link
milo z is right, the beginning of the Peripheral is worse than an Agatha Christie novel, dude is throwing so many names at you it is v. confusing
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 24 January 2020 19:16 (four years ago) link
The section of Virtual Light where Rydell describes his mom and how he grew up in Knoxville is maybe a bit too on the money for 2020.
― earlnash, Friday, 24 January 2020 19:38 (four years ago) link
There's no easy way into Gibson, you just have to take a dice so Neuromancer is as good a place as any really. Although if you are in the mood for something other than hard dystopian sci-fi then I would say Pattern Recognition also is a good place to begin.
every time i read a new one of his books i want to start a william gibson mad libs like "In the year [YEAR NO MORE THAN 15 NO FEWER THAN 3 YEARS IN THE FUTURE], a renegade [HACKER/BIKE MESSENGER/BOUNTY HUNTER WITH MADE-UP SCI-FI JOB NAME] comes into possession of [URBAN PLANNING DOCUMENTS/PASSWORD TO SOMETHING/ORPHAN CHILD WITH SPECIAL SKILL] and has to battle off [RUSSIAN GOONS/OTHER HACKERS/OTHER BOUNTY HUNTERS WITH MADE-UP SCI-FI JOB NAMES/SENTIENT COMPUTER] in a race to save [CITY/COUNTRY/WORLD].
― max, Wednesday, January 28, 2009 3:36 AM (ten years ago) bookmarkflaglink
^This, though is still pretty much on the money for much of his career.
― Maresn3st, Friday, 24 January 2020 20:17 (four years ago) link
I read Neuromancer for the first time last year and the treatment of the main (and p much only) female character has aged very badly, I would say.
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 24 January 2020 20:44 (four years ago) link
razorgirl molly millions is not the most well-drawn character in the gibson canon, it’s true
― chapoquidditch (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 24 January 2020 20:48 (four years ago) link
Agency feels like he was rushing to wrap up the ending, the Clinton stuff is cringeworthy. Worst of the post-Pattern Recognition novels.
― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Thursday, 30 January 2020 17:08 (four years ago) link
My copy arrived yesterday, and now slotted in reading pile after a few library borrows. I like the tactile cover's feel!
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Thursday, 30 January 2020 17:27 (four years ago) link
erm, but you know what they say...?
― Ste, Thursday, 30 January 2020 17:56 (four years ago) link
I liked it, but it's definitely a little light. The "present-day" characters are much more interesting than the "alternate-future" characters, something that wasn't true of The Peripheral. And the initial protagonist is a passenger in the plot — like, she literally spends a lot of the book being driven here and there and given things that will be necessary for the plot later. The book is called Agency, but she has very little. (Which may be ironic and deliberate.) I'll re-read it in a few months.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Thursday, 30 January 2020 18:03 (four years ago) link
re-reading the peripheral ahead of the new one.
he talks about one of the peripherals being a "washing machine", which is an actual thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_6p-1J551Y
also, the wheely boy is also a thing (which i posted at the time). as seen on Community.
http://www.doublerobotics.com/
― koogs, Saturday, 8 February 2020 21:56 (four years ago) link
finished the new one. agree with unperson about Verity. not entirely sure a lot of the other characters did much either. ash? wilf? rainey? all pretty much only there because they were in the last book.
still, was a good excuse to reread the peripheral.
― koogs, Sunday, 16 February 2020 10:30 (four years ago) link
Should note that I read an interview with Gibson where he said that Verity's lack of agency was deliberate.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 16 February 2020 12:23 (four years ago) link
Smiled wryly on page 54, as Rainey and Wilf are discussing Verity's stub (timebranch):
"...Why aren't they happy there?"
"The drivers for the jackpot are still in place, but with less torque at that particular point." He took a seat at the table. "They're still a bit in advance of the pandemics, at least."
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Monday, 16 March 2020 15:46 (four years ago) link
Reading the Fractured Europe quadrilogy instead of re-reading the Blue Ant books. They make for an interesting comparison as a series that could be set in the same universe - more Le Carre, less Japanese denim.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 28 August 2021 06:45 (two years ago) link
Reading Burning Chrome, it's funny that his foreword has a bit about the big sci-fi guys of his adolescence (Asimov, Heinlein) reading the future incorrectly... then it's just "wot if Japan took over the world" in every other story.
The story about the guy dropping into visions of the perfect art deco sci-fi version of the '80s was great.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 01:04 (two years ago) link
Was Neuromancer the last time anyone in a Gibson book had sex?
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 01:52 (two years ago) link
been working through the sprawl trilogy myselfCount Zero has a merc in rehab having sex in the first act. Gibson definitely shied away from writing sex for the most part as time’s gone on
― mh, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 02:03 (two years ago) link
Who needs sex when you can have selvage denim devoid of branding or decoration?
― papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 02:17 (two years ago) link
Gibson pioneered consumer affect pornography, the scene mh mentioned is in the fact the only thing he's written post-Neuromancer that ISN'T a sex scene
― Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 03:32 (two years ago) link
I kinda remember the security contractor/private eye guy from Knoxville in Virtual Light getting it on, but maybe that is just what you think Private dicks do in books.
― earlnash, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 08:47 (two years ago) link
(virtual light ebook is 99p on amazon.co.uk (and kobo.com) at the moment btw. last month it was idoru. i am waiting for ATP.)
― koogs, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 12:15 (two years ago) link
I ordered the UK Penguin paperbacks of the Bridge trilogy from Blackstones last night. I like the matching covers and haven't read the books since they were new, so birthday present to myself (I turn 50 next month).
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 16 November 2021 13:05 (two years ago) link
yeah, i re-bought the original trilogy (and the matching Burning Chrome) after i lost the first set to a flood.
virtual light was the first i bought, remaindered in a bookshop in leicester. everything since has been the hardback. and ATP is signed "merry xmas '99" (was a present, i didn't get to meet him).
― koogs, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 13:12 (two years ago) link
There’s probably something Gibsonian to the fact that I own paperbacks of the sprawl trilogy but the idea of digging out a yellowed, dusty copy that’d make me sneeze and turn my reading light up made me just procure the ebook
― mh, Tuesday, 16 November 2021 14:30 (two years ago) link
The footage forum stuff in Pattern Recognition reads like early ILX. You lurk in’, William?
― papal hotwife (milo z), Wednesday, 8 December 2021 00:07 (two years ago) link
reminded me of newsgroup conspiracy theories tbh
― mh, Wednesday, 8 December 2021 00:26 (two years ago) link
Gibson's best joke is reducing all of Pattern Recognition to creating "Trope Slope, for instance, our viral pitchman platform" in Spook Country
― papal hotwife (milo z), Friday, 17 December 2021 06:21 (two years ago) link
First teaser trailer for The Peripheral tv series is out...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSaWHbCSmRI
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 8 September 2022 23:17 (one year ago) link
I did not imagine the pre-Jackpot humans with Appalachian accents
― papal hotwife (milo z), Friday, 9 September 2022 04:34 (one year ago) link
that trailer is actively making me not want to see it
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 9 September 2022 06:51 (one year ago) link
production design-wise it looks not too far off what i had in my head when i read it but that's not MY flynne and burton ffs, casting seems way off
this reminds me i need to get back to slogging through the last quarter of AGENCY, which i am not enjoying at all
― manic pixie dream shatner (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 9 September 2022 09:14 (one year ago) link
Revive made me think he'd Prokofieved it
― Led By Honkies (Bananaman Begins), Friday, 9 September 2022 09:44 (one year ago) link
Yeah, that's where the book takes place, out in the sticks.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 9 September 2022 12:19 (one year ago) link
It's pretty explicitly mentioned in the book!
― mh, Friday, 9 September 2022 14:26 (one year ago) link
I think this looks really good myself and very closely matches up with both how I envisioned the setting and the characters, so I'm excited for it.
I had the same experience. The first half was good and felt like it was building toward something; the end of the book is seriously underwhelming.
― akm, Friday, 9 September 2022 14:40 (one year ago) link
I don't have a lot of confidence that they'll pull off anything great, but I usually enjoy Chloë Grace Moretz's acting and Nolan/Joy have pulled off some decent television on occasion, so..
― mh, Friday, 9 September 2022 14:45 (one year ago) link
Agency was very whatever, but (I’m hoping) planted seeds that will sprout in the next book.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 September 2022 15:09 (one year ago) link
I watched the trailer. Dunno how I feel about it. Not gonna spring for Amazon Prime to watch it, but if DVD sets are available for rent at some point, might check it out.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 September 2022 15:10 (one year ago) link
Out in the sticks does not mean "up in the holler" - the contemporary setting seemed more decaying rust belt Ohio or Pennsylvania, empty Kansas town maybe, rather than east Kentucky. It doesn't matter but it just didn't sound right for the characters to me.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Friday, 9 September 2022 17:58 (one year ago) link
Looks pretty cool. I don't mind if they take some liberties with this book/series, because the source material isn't perfect.
― beard papa, Friday, 9 September 2022 18:08 (one year ago) link
A Blue Ant trilogy series by the guy who did Mr. Robot could be good - in terms of visual style at least.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Friday, 9 September 2022 18:14 (one year ago) link
i really should read those (I did Pattern Recognition which I loved but never got to the follow ups)
― akm, Friday, 9 September 2022 20:59 (one year ago) link
Spook Country is really good. Zero History is pretty good until it sinks in that the whole thing is just a love letter to Gibson's obsession with selvedge denim jeans.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 9 September 2022 21:07 (one year ago) link
haha I love the fabric history detours!
― sleeve, Friday, 9 September 2022 22:51 (one year ago) link
I like selvedge denim jeans so I'll probably enjoy it
― akm, Saturday, 10 September 2022 14:40 (one year ago) link
I mean, it's a good book, I've read it a few times, but I distinctly remember on my first read thinking, "Wait...is this whole book...about pants?"
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 10 September 2022 15:06 (one year ago) link
Unperson, did you read that long New Yorker profile about Gibson a couple years back?
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 10 September 2022 15:22 (one year ago) link
Gibson got a couple of clothing collabs off of Pattern Recognition, that plotline in the third book was VMIC.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 10 September 2022 17:48 (one year ago) link
http://www.selfedge.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=647
Only $990
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 10 September 2022 17:50 (one year ago) link