I've been waiting to listen to this as I'm re-reading the Sprawl trilogy now. Still enjoyed Neuromancer after all of these years - I think it has aged pretty well and it's surprising how many of the words and phrases have become mainstream language when they were new back then.
I enjoyed Count Zero too and agree with your comments.
One thing you didn't comment on I think Gibson may have done again in one of his later novels is the way Marly gets this amazing and mysterious job with *unlimited funds* to do whatever she wants. I loved the (paraphrasing) "If you need to buy a corporation or spacecraft, ask permission, but otherwise go for it". I like that concept and think it would have been interesting to explore that idea more, how someone who's struggling copes with essentially a lottery-winning situation.
Gibson definitely refined and defined his style more with this one. Started Mona Lisa Overdrive last night, catch you in a couple of weeks as I'm mainly a before-sleep night time reader :)
1) We all live different lives; and therefor we have different standards for which characters we sympathize for. I for related very well to Case. I don't necesserily think he's cool, but he's very relatable. A console cowboy who is more on the background, instead of some lame Power Fantasy narrative. You'd get something like the Matrix, where Neo the geek, suddenly pushes the badass lady that Trinity is aside because all of a sudden he is power fantasy icon? Get real. He is a hacker, a support unit. I prefer that Case took the backseat, and let the other characters do the dirty work. Because Neuromancer has a great cast. Count Zero's cast isn't nearly as great.
2) Humour is not universal; I like humour, but most american humour is godawful. And i don't think humour should be in any we a pré for people too relate to a character. That would be Disney level awful.
3) A pretty weird statement to make that today we wouldn't reinvent the wheel of genres like back in the 'day'. I mean folks thought that way too about science fiction; and for a long time it was retrofuture, space opera, sword and planet, raygun adventure whatnot. And yet tech noir and cyberpunk came to existence. Biopunk followed etc. Japanese film had a way different definition of Cyberpunk comepletely with Pinocchio 964, Tetsuo, Death Powder.
4) Weird too state that growing old makes your taste boring and mundane. Like im 36 now, its not that i like top 40 music. I still like music derived from the things that coloured me when i was young. And that stuff is still mostly underground. Same could be said about film, games, books etc.
5) I do agree with the fact that the older you grow the more you revert back to liking just cool shit. But there is nothing wrong with still having aspirations. Then to just rely on tropes. I mean my favorite pulp books still dont change my life. Inventing a new genre, making the new rules and tropes, that gives a kick that lacks when your just writing within the familiar.
6) Japanese anime? Final Fantasy? really? i really hate that telenovella level of soap opera. But i think thats the problem with having teenagers as target audience. I like the weird japanese stuff you'll find in old obscure FM TOWNS or PC-98 cartridges. Something like ZETA. Because it's not target at teenagers. Teenagers have bad taste.
Not even gonna spellcheck my ramblings haha. Also english isnt my native language*
I like the premise of the stuff you guys wrote so that's cool, just bought a paperback from Dying World for 30 bucks from ABEbooks so better be worth it and ill def get into the rest of Gods Fare No Better and Howling Earth.
I've been waiting to listen to this as I'm re-reading the Sprawl trilogy now. Still enjoyed Neuromancer after all of these years - I think it has aged pretty well and it's surprising how many of the words and phrases have become mainstream language when they were new back then.
I enjoyed Count Zero too and agree with your comments.
One thing you didn't comment on I think Gibson may have done again in one of his later novels is the way Marly gets this amazing and mysterious job with *unlimited funds* to do whatever she wants. I loved the (paraphrasing) "If you need to buy a corporation or spacecraft, ask permission, but otherwise go for it". I like that concept and think it would have been interesting to explore that idea more, how someone who's struggling copes with essentially a lottery-winning situation.
Gibson definitely refined and defined his style more with this one. Started Mona Lisa Overdrive last night, catch you in a couple of weeks as I'm mainly a before-sleep night time reader :)
Looking forward to listening to this. Just finished the Sprawl trilogy - what a great work!
I have some comments on this.
1) We all live different lives; and therefor we have different standards for which characters we sympathize for. I for related very well to Case. I don't necesserily think he's cool, but he's very relatable. A console cowboy who is more on the background, instead of some lame Power Fantasy narrative. You'd get something like the Matrix, where Neo the geek, suddenly pushes the badass lady that Trinity is aside because all of a sudden he is power fantasy icon? Get real. He is a hacker, a support unit. I prefer that Case took the backseat, and let the other characters do the dirty work. Because Neuromancer has a great cast. Count Zero's cast isn't nearly as great.
2) Humour is not universal; I like humour, but most american humour is godawful. And i don't think humour should be in any we a pré for people too relate to a character. That would be Disney level awful.
3) A pretty weird statement to make that today we wouldn't reinvent the wheel of genres like back in the 'day'. I mean folks thought that way too about science fiction; and for a long time it was retrofuture, space opera, sword and planet, raygun adventure whatnot. And yet tech noir and cyberpunk came to existence. Biopunk followed etc. Japanese film had a way different definition of Cyberpunk comepletely with Pinocchio 964, Tetsuo, Death Powder.
4) Weird too state that growing old makes your taste boring and mundane. Like im 36 now, its not that i like top 40 music. I still like music derived from the things that coloured me when i was young. And that stuff is still mostly underground. Same could be said about film, games, books etc.
5) I do agree with the fact that the older you grow the more you revert back to liking just cool shit. But there is nothing wrong with still having aspirations. Then to just rely on tropes. I mean my favorite pulp books still dont change my life. Inventing a new genre, making the new rules and tropes, that gives a kick that lacks when your just writing within the familiar.
6) Japanese anime? Final Fantasy? really? i really hate that telenovella level of soap opera. But i think thats the problem with having teenagers as target audience. I like the weird japanese stuff you'll find in old obscure FM TOWNS or PC-98 cartridges. Something like ZETA. Because it's not target at teenagers. Teenagers have bad taste.
Not even gonna spellcheck my ramblings haha. Also english isnt my native language*
I like the premise of the stuff you guys wrote so that's cool, just bought a paperback from Dying World for 30 bucks from ABEbooks so better be worth it and ill def get into the rest of Gods Fare No Better and Howling Earth.
Thanks! Hope you're enjoying them!