Gibson is great. Intelligent science fiction with enough technology to sound interesting. He's good at mapping technology to human nature and culture in the way he views it. Too much science...
Gibson is great. Intelligent science fiction with enough technology to sound interesting. He's good at mapping technology to human nature and culture in the way he views it.
Too much science fiction is about pretty space lasers and fancy gadgets without good storytelling or the compelling elements of human drama and growth. It's what makes stories like The Expanse really interesting, because there's a genuine story, genuine plot, genuine character development. If you can take away the technology, and you're still telling a good story, that means you're saying something interesting.
100% agree. The technology (shiny space lazers) is too often the Jewlery of the story, where it should be a regular old shoe. I’m closing up on the end of book 3 of the expanse now. I cant...
100% agree. The technology (shiny space lazers) is too often the Jewlery of the story, where it should be a regular old shoe.
I’m closing up on the end of book 3 of the expanse now. I cant remember the last time I was so excited about having ~3000 more pages to read.
I’ll have to look into Pattern Recognition as well I suppose!
Yes! Everything by Gibson is fantastic, imo. But I actually prefer his novels that are set in the near-future or present day. He's tapped into the zeitgeist, and it makes his work feel super real.
Yes! Everything by Gibson is fantastic, imo. But I actually prefer his novels that are set in the near-future or present day. He's tapped into the zeitgeist, and it makes his work feel super real.
I know it's not regarded as one of his finest but It's my favorite novel from Gibson. Similar to how many kids found Harry Potter to hit just at the right time in their lives, being a wired...
I know it's not regarded as one of his finest but It's my favorite novel from Gibson. Similar to how many kids found Harry Potter to hit just at the right time in their lives, being a wired magazine and alt-media obsessed nerd back in the early 2000s had me pumped with enough esoteric knowledge and interests to make Gibson's dense references feel present and intimate. As if the book was written for me and my silly strangeness.
It was also one of the first narratives that really had my young self consider the relationship of free artistic expression, the open internet, and the advertising machine that preys upon anything it considers exploitable. The concept of being physically nauseated by corporate symbols is something very relevant in our current age too, especially as we stride ever closer to an augmented future knowing from exhaustive first-hand experience how power-structures abuse every technology it can get its grubby tendrils on.
On my second read, there were details I didn't notice and after some wiki diving I always end up learning more about the neat stuff he was having sent to his desk at the time of writing. Even though Gibson wasn't writing this work from the trenches and even described himself as a non-tech individual back in those days, his outsider perspective and the eclectic network of inspiration he was able to grow made his works interesting. If it's been a few years, give it a re-read and maybe you'll see something new while enjoying a tale from a by-gone era.
YES! Love it! There are a few of the newer Gibson books where he dives too far into the literature as artform, that lost me. This is one of my favorites, as is All tomorrow's parties, as well as...
YES! Love it!
There are a few of the newer Gibson books where he dives too far into the literature as artform, that lost me.
This is one of my favorites, as is All tomorrow's parties, as well as his pre-neuromancer short stories.
Gibson is great. Intelligent science fiction with enough technology to sound interesting. He's good at mapping technology to human nature and culture in the way he views it.
Too much science fiction is about pretty space lasers and fancy gadgets without good storytelling or the compelling elements of human drama and growth. It's what makes stories like The Expanse really interesting, because there's a genuine story, genuine plot, genuine character development. If you can take away the technology, and you're still telling a good story, that means you're saying something interesting.
100% agree. The technology (shiny space lazers) is too often the Jewlery of the story, where it should be a regular old shoe.
I’m closing up on the end of book 3 of the expanse now. I cant remember the last time I was so excited about having ~3000 more pages to read.
I’ll have to look into Pattern Recognition as well I suppose!
Yep, I should re-read it because I forgot which Gibson novel this was, though. (I've read all of them.)
Yes! Everything by Gibson is fantastic, imo. But I actually prefer his novels that are set in the near-future or present day. He's tapped into the zeitgeist, and it makes his work feel super real.
I know it's not regarded as one of his finest but It's my favorite novel from Gibson. Similar to how many kids found Harry Potter to hit just at the right time in their lives, being a wired magazine and alt-media obsessed nerd back in the early 2000s had me pumped with enough esoteric knowledge and interests to make Gibson's dense references feel present and intimate. As if the book was written for me and my silly strangeness.
It was also one of the first narratives that really had my young self consider the relationship of free artistic expression, the open internet, and the advertising machine that preys upon anything it considers exploitable. The concept of being physically nauseated by corporate symbols is something very relevant in our current age too, especially as we stride ever closer to an augmented future knowing from exhaustive first-hand experience how power-structures abuse every technology it can get its grubby tendrils on.
On my second read, there were details I didn't notice and after some wiki diving I always end up learning more about the neat stuff he was having sent to his desk at the time of writing. Even though Gibson wasn't writing this work from the trenches and even described himself as a non-tech individual back in those days, his outsider perspective and the eclectic network of inspiration he was able to grow made his works interesting. If it's been a few years, give it a re-read and maybe you'll see something new while enjoying a tale from a by-gone era.
That video is horrifying! lol... "This is the future that Tech Companies want..."
YES! Love it!
There are a few of the newer Gibson books where he dives too far into the literature as artform, that lost me.
This is one of my favorites, as is All tomorrow's parties, as well as his pre-neuromancer short stories.
Next on my list! I've read 2/3 of the Bridge trilogy (and the Sprawl) and LOVE everything I've ever read from him.