Neuromancer
General Musings: I am going to be a chief! I have just accepted the appointment of Assistant Deputy Chief with the CFD. I am in shock and although I am very excited I am also overwhelmed. Wish me luck (and for that matter the Department).
Today I went to the library to get some books for my 501 reading list. I went through the Science Fiction section and was only able to find two of the fifty-something science fiction titles on the list--argh! I logged onto the library website and was dismayed that they only had a bare majority of the 501 books available throughout the entirety of the library. Obviously, this is a potentially big problem for me. Tonight I'll try to get an idea of exactly how big a problem I have throughout the genres. It surprises me that there is such a dearth of titles available but perhaps it is isolated to Science Fiction--but most of the titles seem familiar and the authors high profile.
While strolling through the stacks I was happily surprised to find three more books relegated to the General Fiction section. Although they are categorized as Science Fiction by the Library of Congress Classification System (LCC) apparently Calgary Public Library (CPL) uses a different system than the one preferred in the United States (Dewey Decimal?). After the weekend I'll call the library and report to you on how they decide on titles and categorize books--look for it on Monday. Hopefully I'll be less destructive in the library than Mr. Bean.
New Feature--Running Page Count-- As promised here is the page counter section with a one time break down of the past books:
Vendetta--272pgs
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory--176pgs
Captain Corelli's Mandolin--437pgs
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd--288pgs
The Handmaid's Tale--320pgs
Neuromancer--288pgs
Running total......................1,781pgs
Today's book (Science Fiction): William Gibson's Neuromancer
Preface: I read this book a decade ago in a Speculative Fiction class I took as an English literature elective. I was surprised by the similarities to the film The Matrix (1999) which had just been released and shocked that it had been written in 1984--on a manual typewriter by a neo-Luddite! It is recognized as being the first of the Cyberpunk Science Fiction sub-genre. Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" back when he wrote Burning Chrome and the concept was a twinkling in a geek's eye and the World Wide Web was a decade from being a reality.The Book: Neuromancer is set in a dystopic future in a Japanese urban corridor, "the sprawl" home to a gifted hacker (a.k.a. cyberpunk, cowboy, cyberthief) named Case. Case isn't feeling to good after being poisoned with a neurotoxin by a disgruntled client--he physically can't hack anymore and he lives with terrible pain which he tries to cope with through a drug addiction. Along comes Molly Millions with cool implant eyes and some Wolverine claws representing a retired military intelligence officer. She gets Case into a black market clinic to instantly fix him of his long term health and addiction issues. But there is a catch. Case has been effectively recruited into being a data thief for Armitage and he becomes entangled in a complex plot involving the construct of the whole of the matrix (sound familiar?).
Grade: B+
Observations: “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” What a great opening line! Best opener so far. In my opinion the writing is very similar in style to Philip K. Dick's work. Drug addiction, alienation, monopolistic corporations, meshing of humanity and technology, and authoritarian governments are all present in this tour de force of Sci-Fi hardcore. Gibson said in an interview that he used drug and biker slang from the late 60s in Toronto as the basis for the vocabulary--it works. The best scenes are those of the sprawl, which remind me vividly of Blade Runner (based, not too coincidentally, on Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?). The scene when Case is in a museum and sees a horse and speculates on what it would have been like blew me away. Neuromancer is the archetypal Cyberpunk work and this distinction is impressive in and of itself and although the writing can be at times like reading a Blu-Ray instruction manual it is over-all well written. The ending is equal parts cryptic and fatalistic but I liked it.
Segues: Gibson is another example of a talented Canadian better known by those outside the country than from within. I've read several of his works and prefer his short stories to his novels. I recommend Burning Chrome for those that like Neuromancer.
The Matrix is a total rip off of Neuromancer so go watch the Wachowski brothers' film after you read Neuromancer and make a list of everything they stole for the screenplay.
Finally, William Gibson gives an extensive and fascinating monologue on futurism in the Neale documentary No Maps for These Territories (2000).
Tomorrow's book (History): The Trial of Socrates (7/501)
