Virtual Light & Snow Crash
Duncan Hedderley
A couple of months ago I started reading Neal Stevenson's 'Snow Crash';
now I've just started reading William Gibson's 'Virtual Light', and
there are certain, ur, similiarities - the near-future LA full of
immigrants from the former USSR; the two main characters being a girl
bike-courier and a slightly older guy who's just been sacked from a job
driving big cars. This could just be a superficial similarity, and the
books will turn out to be very different (I hope so - I gave up on the
Stevenson because it meandered so much) - but does anyone know why the
two settings are so similar? Who's inspiring who, or is there some
common ancestor?
Duncan Hedderley
Reading, UK
Jan Besehanic
Perhaps the reason why couriers are so in fashion is that they're more
interesting to read about than some fat git in dreadlocks decyphering some
email whilst slurping on a jolt.
As far as who's being inspired by whom, I'd have to guess that William Gibson,
being post-post-modern and everything, is the one being inspired by Neal
Stephenson. The fact that Snow Crash was published earlier than Virtual Light
has nothing to do with my opinions on the matter, of course.
Snow Crash is a much better book than Virtual Light, and if you're willing to
put up with some rather large amounts of technobabble (meandering?) you'll find
that it's worth the trouble, IMHO.
>Duncan Hedderley
/Jan.
--
Jan Besehanic
email: j...@df.lth.se ja...@lysator.liu.se
"The Net is your friend. The Net wants you to be happy."
EllenDat
CRASH came onto the scene. The story that it was expanded from, "Skinner's
Room," was published in November 1991 in OMNI Magazine.
Editors often notice trends in submissions over a period of months. It's
as if there are certain ideas/milieus in the air and writers are picking
them and using them, occasionally overlapping. VIRTUAL LIGHT and SNOW
CRASH are utterly different in the directions they move. And utterly
different in tone. I found SNOW CRASH goofily charming for much of the
book (but also feel it was wayyyy too long). And I loved VIRTUAL LIGHT for
a quick, tightly written read.
pbx...@ccnet.com
(Duncan Hedderley) wrote:
> Surely I'm not the first to notice this...
> A couple of months ago I started reading Neal Stevenson's 'Snow Crash';
> now I've just started reading William Gibson's 'Virtual Light', and
> there are certain, ur, similiarities - the near-future LA full of
> immigrants from the former USSR; the two main characters being a girl
> bike-courier and a slightly older guy who's just been sacked from a job
> driving big cars. This could just be a superficial similarity, and the
> books will turn out to be very different (I hope so - I gave up on the
> Stevenson because it meandered so much) - but does anyone know why the
> two settings are so similar? Who's inspiring who, or is there some
> common ancestor?
>
> Duncan Hedderley
>
> Reading, UK
>
> (Duncan.H...@BBSRC.AC.UK)
Ahem.
Been to L.A. lately?
I think it's just syncronicity in taking L.A. and postulating the present
scenario has progressed to the point depicted in the books.
--
pbx...@ccnet.com | "The right to be heard does not ------------------------ | include the right to be taken
Cheap; Fast; Reliable; | seriously."-Hubert H. Humphrey
Pick any two. /
"Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it"
---Thomas Jefferson from his First Inaugural Address---
EllenDat
Room"/VIRTUAL LIGHT is not alternate California but California after
catastrophe.
And I'm afraid I found SNOW CRASH clever for about 200 pages then got
pretty bored. At least Gibson knows how to move in and out fast and
doesn't pad his writing.
Jan Besehanic
>Sorry Duncan, but Gibson was working on VIRTUAL LIGHT way before SNOW
>CRASH came onto the scene. The story that it was expanded from, "Skinner's
>Room," was published in November 1991 in OMNI Magazine.
Did the story "Skinner's Room" have any couriers and rent-a-cops? I thought
that it was mainly about the bridge, the earth quake and the division of
California into SoCal and NoCal. (Isn't the setting in Skinner's Room in a
parallel dimension of sorts where California never joined the United States or
something similar?)
>Editors often notice trends in submissions over a period of months. It's
>as if there are certain ideas/milieus in the air and writers are picking
>them and using them, occasionally overlapping. VIRTUAL LIGHT and SNOW
>CRASH are utterly different in the directions they move. And utterly
>different in tone. I found SNOW CRASH goofily charming for much of the
>book (but also feel it was wayyyy too long). And I loved VIRTUAL LIGHT for
>a quick, tightly written read.
My biggest problem with Mr. Gibson's book is that he seems to prefer style over
substance in Virtual Light. That is not to say that his deconstructed
Raymond Chandler look-and-feel is bad, but Virtual Light had an unoriginal
storyline and the "20 minutes into the future" scenario was only used as a
background and nothing else.
You'll get much more protein for the money with Mr. Stephenson, since his books
tend to be filled with weird and wonderful ideas and concepts about everything
but his books are often lacking in style and discipline.
The Diamond Age is brilliant though, if you'll pardon the pun.
Only my 0.02 ECUs worth,
Jerry Kaufman
> You'll get much more protein for the money with Mr. Stephenson, since his books
> tend to be filled with weird and wonderful ideas and concepts about everything
> but his books are often lacking in style and discipline.
>
One idea in VIRTUAL LIGHT that I found quite intriguing and original
was the cult that built up around Shapely, the hustler whose blood
provided an AIDS vaccine. (I had to skim the book just now to find
his name.) Gibson shows this through graffiti, murals, street
processions and all sorts of other pop cultural manifestations. I
don't recall any reviews or other discussions that mentioned this.
But I haven't been following sf discussions too closely in recent
years.
Jerry Kaufman
Jan Besehanic
I think that I need to elaborate on why, in my opinion, Virtual Light is a
book that's below average.
I can, without even having to think hard about it, take the story from Virtual
Light and put it in a setting from the 1930's.
The sprawl series, however, would be totally impossible to put in a 1930's
setting since they depend on the concept of "cyberspace".
Science fiction is a literary form driven by ideas, with the personal
development thing in the background and not quite as dominant as with other
forms of literature. It uses a different canon, if you will.
Virtual Light is not a bad book, but it's below-average science fiction.
My 0.02 ECUs worth,
Jan Besehanic
>One idea in VIRTUAL LIGHT that I found quite intriguing and original
>was the cult that built up around Shapely, the hustler whose blood
>provided an AIDS vaccine. (I had to skim the book just now to find
>his name.) Gibson shows this through graffiti, murals, street
>processions and all sorts of other pop cultural manifestations.
Not if you were raised as a catholic. Saint worship of a similar kind is common
in the catholic church and it's various mutations, especially in Latin and
South America but also in Europe.
I'd consider the Cult of Elvis to be something even more weird and disturbing.
Jon Evans
>I can, without even having to think hard about it, take the story from Virtual
>Light and put it in a setting from the 1930's.
>The sprawl series, however, would be totally impossible to put in a 1930's
>setting since they depend on the concept of "cyberspace".
>Virtual Light is not a bad book, but it's below-average science fiction.
I view VIRTUAL LIGHT as an interesting failure. You're right, it's *not*
science fiction - the science is mentioned at best in passing, without any
exploration.
But it's fascinating *social* fiction - i.e. fiction about future society.
It's not about the science, it's about the societies - the TV cult, the AIDS
saint, tabloid TV that saves the day, the Russian cops, the hackers, the
contrast between the urban planners' vision of the future and the view on
the Bridge...You *might* be able to put VL in the 30s without violating any
scientific laws, but the dissonance between 30s society and Gibson's
multiple speculative future societies is very high. It wouldn't be at all
convincing.
Science fiction writers too often postulate enormous technological advances
and then assume that society will continue on in its merry way despite them
(these days, they usually pay lip service to some sort of social change, but
it's not actually worked into the story.) E.g. ENDER'S GAME and SPEAKER
FOR THE DEAD (superb novels, incidentally). There are rare exceptions -
Banks' Culture, f'rexample - and VIRTUAL LIGHT is among those.
I just don't think the quality of the writing lives up to Gibson's
potential. That said, it's still a few notches above most of the other
stuff out there - and it's original, dammit, which counts for something.
Jon
EllenDat
just as valid as science fiction about "hard sciences." This is just that
old but boring bias against "soft sciences."
Steve Thomas
I'm certainly glad that Gardner Dozois disagrees and published:
A History of the Twentieth Century With Illustrations by Kim Stanley Robinson.
sfthomas (ottawa, canada)
bx...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA
Before an east wind, turn the corner fast,
Step proud into the blast, face it with my song.
So it will know, while chilling stone and spire,
It cannot touch the fire, where only we belong.
- Archie Fisher
Nihilist
Jon Evans <JEME...@ELECTRICAL.watstar.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>But it's fascinating *social* fiction - i.e. fiction about future society.
>It's not about the science, it's about the societies - the TV cult, the AIDS
>saint, tabloid TV that saves the day, the Russian cops, the hackers, the
>contrast between the urban planners' vision of the future and the view on
>the Bridge...You *might* be able to put VL in the 30s without violating any
>scientific laws, but the dissonance between 30s society and Gibson's
>multiple speculative future societies is very high. It wouldn't be at all
>convincing.
I'd have to disagree with you on that one. The skeleton of Virtual Light can
easily be translated into the '30s without becoming that unconvincing.
What it then becomes is basically a Raymond Chandleresque cop story and nothing
else.
He's basically translated a bunch of old cliche'es and updated them a bit.
You've mentioned some of the more obvious examples: All cops are Irish -> All
cops are Russian. Big deal. I like fiction about the future society, but I'm
not that impressed when someone writes an unoriginal story and puts the
technological and social changes on as bells and whistles.
Haven't you noticed that, in Virtual Light, the Net is only used as a telephone
replacement?
>Science fiction writers too often postulate enormous technological advances
>and then assume that society will continue on in its merry way despite them
>(these days, they usually pay lip service to some sort of social change, but
>it's not actually worked into the story.)
But there's no real social change in Virtual Light and the enormous
technological advances are totally irrelevant to the story.
>I just don't think the quality of the writing lives up to Gibson's
>potential. That said, it's still a few notches above most of the other
>stuff out there - and it's original, dammit, which counts for something.
I realise that the pension plans for aging science fiction writers aren't that
great and that Mr. Gibson needs the money, but I hope that his next book will
be more original than Virtual Light.
Jon Evans
We appear to disagree on the quality of VIRTUAL LIGHT, which is fine, but I
thought I'd refine my points a little;
>He's basically translated a bunch of old cliche'es and updated them a bit.
>You've mentioned some of the more obvious examples: All cops are Irish -> All
>cops are Russian.
It's not quite so simple; actually, it's "Russian immigrants grew up in and
were accustomed to a police state; thus, when they seek employment in the
US, they are disproportionally represented in police and security" which I
thought to be a nice little extrapolative touch. I certainly didn't view it
as a random search-and-replace from Irish to X.
I agree with you that VL is Chandleresque, but hey, so's the Sprawl trilogy;
and if you're going to have your writing influenced by someone, Raymond
Chandler is not a bad choice at all.
>Haven't you noticed that, in Virtual Light, the Net is only used as a
>telephone replacement?
Yes. And?
You seem to be assuming (stop me if I'm reading too much into your words
here) that science fiction that does *not* postulate the enormous social
significance of the future Net is somehow invalid. I really can't see why.
In my cynical moments, I suspect that the Net craze may be like that of
citizens' band radio in the 70s, and the general populace will soon grow
bored of it and use it only for Email and endless debates about inane
trivialities. (Hey, waitaminit...:) In my more cynical moments, I suspect
that this is a Good Thing.
I was *glad* to see Gibson move away from, uh, "Net-fiction" in VL.
>But there's no real social change in Virtual Light and the enormous
>technological advances are totally irrelevant to the story.
I really don't think so, but hey, I'll agree to disagree.
>I realise that the pension plans for aging science fiction writers aren't
>that great and that Mr. Gibson needs the money, but I hope that his next
>book will be more original than Virtual Light.
Actually, I understand Mr. Gibson has six-figure novel advances, to say
nothing of his Hollywood money; he's one of the highest-paid sf writers
alive.
Jon
Jan Besehanic
>It's not quite so simple; actually, it's "Russian immigrants grew up in and
>were accustomed to a police state; thus, when they seek employment in the
>US, they are disproportionally represented in police and security" which I
>thought to be a nice little extrapolative touch. I certainly didn't view it
>as a random search-and-replace from Irish to X.
Apart from the fact that I find it very hard, from a personal point of view, to
believe that anyone escaping a police state would willingly join the police, I
also find the logic totally upside-down. After all, most Irish didn't become
potato farmers when they arrived in the US, now did they?
I think that Mr. Gibson took the most likely bunch of refus to enter the US in
large numbers and "Irished" them up a bit, that is, turned them into corrupt
cops. Russians are also better as cliche'ed bad guys than, say, Tibetans.
>I agree with you that VL is Chandleresque, but hey, so's the Sprawl trilogy;
>and if you're going to have your writing influenced by someone, Raymond
>Chandler is not a bad choice at all.
Good point, but only in matters of style and not substance.
>You seem to be assuming (stop me if I'm reading too much into your words
>here) that science fiction that does *not* postulate the enormous social
>significance of the future Net is somehow invalid. I really can't see why.
Not invalid, but slightly flawed. The core of science fiction is that it's
driven by ideas, not only scientific and technological ones, but also social,
religious and psychological ones. There's nothing in Virtual Light to suggest
that there are any new "what-if's" that are essential to the story itself.
Every technological advance and social trend is there as gloss and nothing
else.
I know that I'm repeating myself, but I think that it's an important point.
A detective story is a detective story, but it's not science fiction.
I suppose that all writers can always claim that they're above genres, but what
would we do instead of bitching on newsgroups? Get ourselves a life?
>Actually, I understand Mr. Gibson has six-figure novel advances, to say
>nothing of his Hollywood money; he's one of the highest-paid sf writers
>alive.
Good for him. Didn't he start his writing career as a screen writer, btw?
>Jon
Gary Farber
<about Bill Gibson>
: Good for him. Didn't he start his writing career as a screen writer, btw?
No. Bill was an sf fan since he was a kid, and a friend to a number of
people who regularly contribute to this newsgroup. As many fans do, he
desired to become a professional writer, and worked at it until he did.
His first sale, to my knowledge, was JOHNNY MNEMONIC (though I can't
swear to that).
He absolutely did not start working on and selling screenplays until
several years later, after the success of NEUROMANCER.
Those of us who knew Bill for years before he sold a word of fiction find
the phenomenon he became to be extraordinary, but I believe he's handled
it pretty darn well. I believe he recently cut short a world media tour
to come back to Vancouver to participate in a benefit in honor of a local
sf fan who died of AIDS, for instance.
Bill's a cool guy. Some of us also can't forget some of his fan writing,
such as "Franco Shot My Dog."
--
-- Gary Farber Brooklyn, New York City
gfa...@panix.com I is another, and I am that other. -- Rimbaud
Douglas A. Tricarico
I agree without caveat. I quite like sociological/societal extrapolations
based on a theorized hard science device (which makes for a fuller
story, I think), but SF based purely on soft science can be interesting
as well. What immediately springs to mind is The Handmaid's Tale and a
few of Phillip K. Dick's short stories.
EllenDat
<about Bill Gibson>
>>Good for him. Didn't he start his writing career as a screen writer,
btw?>>
<<No. Bill was an sf fan since he was a kid, and a friend to a number of
people who regularly contribute to this newsgroup. As many fans do, he
desired to become a professional writer, and worked at it until he did.
His first sale, to my knowledge, was JOHNNY MNEMONIC (though I can't
swear to that).>>
Bill's first professional sale was either "The Gernsback Continuum" to
Terry Carr's Universe series or "Johnny Mnemonic" to OMNI. Frankly, I"m
not sure which he sold first but they both came out around the same time,
in 1981. But he published "Fragments of a HOlogram Rose" in UNEARTH a
non-pro magazine, in 1977.
Gary Farber
: Bill's first professional sale was either "The Gernsback Continuum" to
: Terry Carr's Universe series or "Johnny Mnemonic" to OMNI. Frankly, I"m
: not sure which he sold first but they both came out around the same time,
: in 1981. But he published "Fragments of a HOlogram Rose" in UNEARTH a
: non-pro magazine, in 1977.
Naturally, as soon as you mention the UNEARTH story, I recall it; I had
totally forgotten about it. I wouldn't precisely call UNEARTH "non-pro,"
although I don't recall precisely how SFWA considered it. I would put it
under semi-pro, at least. I don't know the circulation, but if my memory
isn't confused, they had some newstand circulation, and in all other
matters behaved professionally. Wasn't that Charles Ryan? Geez, my
memory is fuzzy sometimes.
I would guess that you are likely to have had a shorter lead time than
Terry's anthology, though possibly not. This is a question easily
answered by simply asking Bill, of course.
Jan Besehanic
>No. Bill was an sf fan since he was a kid, and a friend to a number of
>people who regularly contribute to this newsgroup. As many fans do, he
>desired to become a professional writer, and worked at it until he did.
>His first sale, to my knowledge, was JOHNNY MNEMONIC (though I can't
>swear to that).
>
>He absolutely did not start working on and selling screenplays until
>several years later, after the success of NEUROMANCER.
Didn't he write a TV play or something similar a long time ago?
William Gibson is a relatively common name so I could be mistaken.
Oh well.
>Bill's a cool guy. Some of us also can't forget some of his fan writing,
>such as "Franco Shot My Dog."
Heh. I take it that this is something that the unwashed masses aren't allowed
to gawk at then? The title is nice, but he can never beat The Sun's "Freddie
Starr ate my hamster". British journalism at its best.
Gary Farber
gf: >He absolutely did not start working on and selling screenplays until
gf: >several years later, after the success of NEUROMANCER.
: Didn't he write a TV play or something similar a long time ago?
: William Gibson is a relatively common name so I could be mistaken.
: Oh well.
Not to my knowledge. All I can think of is that mini-series a couple of
years ago, um, WILD PALMS, was it? He didn't write it, but they gave him
a walk-on.
No way was Bill selling screenplays before he sold short fiction. Yeah,
it's a common enough name.
: >Bill's a cool guy. Some of us also can't forget some of his fan writing,
: >such as "Franco Shot My Dog."
: Heh. I take it that this is something that the unwashed masses aren't allowed
: to gawk at then? The title is nice, but he can never beat The Sun's "Freddie
: Starr ate my hamster". British journalism at its best.
You're allowed all you want. Finding one is another matter. You'll have
to find one of the few hundred sf fanzine fans who got a copy of, um, Rich
Coad's SPACE JUNK is where I think that appeared. Bill did a lot of
fanzine writing -- for the zine he co-edited with Allyn Cadogan, Susan
Wood, and, damn, I always forget the other editor's name (GENRE PLAT) --
as well as for various others, primarily in the late 70's and early 80's.
Now, if you want the *really* rare Gibsonia, you'll find the fanzines he
did in his first incarnation as a fan in the early 60's when he was
around 12-14 -- I haven't seen those yet myself.
Given what happened to his career, I wouldn't be surprised if those, plus
his class exercises, his grocery lists, and his miniature golf scores are
eventually republished. It's a little scary, actually.
I'm still bemused by my favorite thread title of a few weeks ago:
"Gingrich Fondled My Monkey." Not much of a story behind the title, but
it _was_ an accurate description, if the writer was to be believed.
Ahasuerus the Wandering Jew
> It's not quite so simple; actually, it's "Russian immigrants grew up in and
> were accustomed to a police state; thus, when they seek employment in the
> US, they are disproportionally represented in police and security" which I
> thought to be a nice little extrapolative touch. I certainly didn't view it
I don't think there is any doubt that Gibson didn't use Russian immigrants
randomly. AFAIK, he is monitoring developments in Russia in general and
the growth of what is known as "Russian Mafia" for his next novel in
particular.
> In my cynical moments, I suspect that the Net craze may be like that of
> citizens' band radio in the 70s, and the general populace will soon grow
> bored of it [snip]
Wait a minute, are you sure you are not Harry Warner, Jr.? :-)
--
Ahasuerus http://www.clark.net/pub/ahasuer/, including:
FAQs: rec.arts.sf.written, alt.fan.heinlein, alt.pulp, the Liaden Universe
Biblios: how to write SF, the Wandering Jew, miscellaneous SF
Please consider posting (as opposed to e-mailing) ID requests
Richard Treitel
|> Fiction about "future society" IS science fiction. Sociological sf is
|> just as valid as science fiction about "hard sciences." This is just that
|> old but boring bias against "soft sciences."
Well, what I saw in this thread was not that bias, but a complaint
that a 1930s society was being portrayed more or less unchanged (even
though it had 21st century technology which *should* have changed it).
Disclaimer: I haven't read _VL_. Slogan: a book that assumes that the
future will be "just like the present only more so" is *terrible*
science fiction.
-- Richard
"Some magics *are* distinguishable from any advanced technology."
(If my employer holds these views, it hasn't told me.)
EllenDat
<Didn't he write a TV play or something similar a long time ago?
William Gibson is a relatively common name so I could be mistaken.
Oh well.>
You're thinking of William Gibson, playwright who wrote The Miracle
Worker....
EllenDat
>> |> Fiction about "future society" IS science fiction. Sociological
sf is
|> just as valid as science fiction about "hard sciences." This is just
that
|> old but boring bias against "soft sciences."
< Well, what I saw in this thread was not that bias, but a complaint
that a 1930s society was being portrayed more or less unchanged (even
though it had 21st century technology which *should* have changed it).>>
Sorry, but I disagree--felt the thread intimated a bias against
"sociological sf" --With regard to tech advances influencing society, so
far the internet has not impacted on us so much that the world will not be
recognizable in five years. there are little changes and will be more of
them. VIRTUAL LIGHT was not about 30's society at all. It was obviously
about the very near future extrapolating from today. Which is to my mind
good sf.
Mike Lemons
though. Maybe it is because I read _Snow Crash_ right before it and it
suffered by comparison.
When the whole basis of your plot is magic sunglasses . . .
--
Mike Lemons | "In 20th-century Old Earth, a fast food chain
mi...@crash.cts.com| took dead cow meat, fried it in grease, added
| carcinogens, wrapped it in petroleum-based foam,
| and sold 900,000,000,000 units. Human Beings.
| Go figure." Dan Simmons - Hyperion
Stacey Burright
> In article <40cqm5$b...@nic.lth.se> j...@marvin.df.lth.se (Nihilist) writes:
>
> and if you're going to have your writing influenced by someone, Raymond
> Chandler is not a bad choice at all.
I certainly won't argue with that.
>
>>Haven't you noticed that, in Virtual Light, the Net is only used as a
>>telephone replacement?
>
> Yes. And?
> You seem to be assuming (stop me if I'm reading too much into your words
> here) that science fiction that does *not* postulate the enormous social
> significance of the future Net is somehow invalid. I really can't see why.
> In my cynical moments, I suspect that the Net craze may be like that of
> citizens' band radio in the 70s, and the general populace will soon grow
> bored of it and use it only for Email and endless debates about inane
> trivialities. (Hey, waitaminit...:) In my more cynical moments, I suspect
> that this is a Good Thing.
I think that the Net _did_ have enormous social significance in VL. I am a
librarian, and one of the issues we talk about constantly is the existence
of information "haves" and "have-nots." I think the social division
demonstrated in VL is a very real possibility that can be extrapolated from
the present. One of the characters (I wish I had the book here so that I
could quote exactly) even comments taht there are two kinds of people in
Mr. Gibson's future; those with access to VR and those without. Thefact
taht the main characters are those without access serves, in my opinion,
to underscore the importance of VR as a status symbol and a mode of power.
I don't feel that the plot and characters could be transferred directly
into the 1930s. The worldviews of the characters woud never work in taht
time period.
>>But there's no real social change in Virtual Light and the enormous
>>technological advances are totally irrelevant to the story.
I disagreee strongly. See my comments above. In addition to that, I will
say that social change is central to VL; the story of how the Bridge
came to be is only one example, as is the description of the large
numbers of evangelical cults living in remote compounds--pretty good
extrapolation in my opinion. Each of these takes a situation that we
can see around us right now (in the first instance, the very large number
of homeless people in San Francisco, and in the second, the evangelical
cults running around everywhere) and predicts a possible outcome.
>>I realise that the pension plans for aging science fiction writers aren't
>>that great and that Mr. Gibson needs the money, but I hope that his next
>>book will be more original than Virtual Light.
>
> Actually, I understand Mr. Gibson has six-figure novel advances, to say
> nothing of his Hollywood money; he's one of the highest-paid sf writers
> alive.
>
I'm glad to hear that. I enjoyed VL greatly. The sociological and
anthropological extrapolation was excellent, and it was a damn good
read as well. It's nice to know that someone as talented as Gibson is
making a good living from his art.
Stacey Burright
Anachronauts--not hard rock...hard science!
shbur...@library.wright.edu
Jon Drukman
: I was dissappointed by _Virtual Light_. I loved all of Gibson's other novels
: though. Maybe it is because I read _Snow Crash_ right before it and it
: suffered by comparison.
i agree that Virtual Light is the weakest of Gibson's novels, but...
: When the whole basis of your plot is magic sunglasses . . .
you can't have read very closely if that was all you got out of it.
the glasses were just a catalyst... and there was nothing magic about
them. they could just as well have been a disk with a certain file on
them.
/j/
Bruce Baugh
:: When the whole basis of your plot is magic sunglasses . . .
:
:you can't have read very closely if that was all you got out of it.
:the glasses were just a catalyst... and there was nothing magic about
:them. they could just as well have been a disk with a certain file on
:them.
I agree. Or, as in CHINATOWN, simply the knowledge of the plans being made.
The parts that dealt most directly with the plans to change the city were my
favorite parts. I can see why Gibson wanted to focus on information have-nots
(and share at least some of his concern there), but would have enjoyed seeing
more of the contest between information haves.
bru...@teleport.com _____________ http://www.teleport.com/~bruceab/
List Manager, Christlib, for Christian and libertarian concerns
Preview S.M. Stirling's forthcoming novel DRAKON at my home page
"Encrypt! Encrypt! OK! All-One-Key-Steganography-Privacy!
God's law prevents decryption above 1042 bytes - Exceptions? None!"
Evan Hammerman
tone. I found the premise to be quite plausible.
I just finished _Snow Crash_ last month. My opinion of _VL_ has suffered
a bit, since it's "intuitively obvious" that Chevette is just a grown-up
Y. T. But not much. Gibson's book was a good forward extrapolation of
stuff going on today. In fact, I thought _VL_ was set in 2015, not ten
years earlier!
Who should direct the film version? Stanley Kubrick? Tim Burton?
I would cast Juliette Lewis as Chevette, maybe even Claire Danes!
Evan!
--
Evan Hammerman | "From there to here, from here to there,
z007...@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us| Funny things are everywhere!"
|
| --Theodor K. Geisel (1904 - 1991)
Urban Fredriksson
> In fact, I thought _VL_ was set in 2015, not ten
>years earlier!
Me, I thought it was set in an alternate 1995.
Like _Snow Crash_.
--
Urban Fredriksson u...@icl.se Docendo discimus
Itamar Shtull-Trauring
>_VL_ was the first WG book I read. I loved it! I liked its dark,
> negative tone. I found the premise to be quite plausible.
Er, plausible? The premises, yes, but as the plot unfolds, you get the
feeling that WG had about 20 ideas sloshing around in his head, and he
just forced them together. It's possible to do this - but WG doesn't
succeed in it here - it forces him to use coincidences which seem out of
place.
Some of the topics:
TV Cult (Cute idea, but...)
New kind o' Hackers
The evolving of the bridge in SF
Cure for AIDS
Growing buildings
etc. etc.
Neuromancer was a much better, self-consistent (mostly), fleshed-out
novel. Even though it was written in incomprehensable jibberish.
Itamar S.-T. max...@netvison.net.il
"Bad command or file name."
- Mystic mantra of the DOS cult
Chris Jones
<max...@netvision.net.il> wrote:
> you get the
> feeling that WG had about 20 ideas sloshing around in his head, and he
> just forced them together. It's possible to do this - but WG doesn't
> succeed in it here - it forces him to use coincidences which seem out of
> place.
Yes. I also got this feeling from Bruce Sterling's last novel, _Heavy
Weather_, released last year. Any connection, do you think?
-Chris Jones