First cyberpunk, cyberspace novel? Neuromancer's history, context and publication.
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- Henry Dorsett Case was the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employees crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on an adventure that ups the ante on an entire genre of fiction.
The winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer was the first fully-realized glimpse of humankind’s digital future.
Neuromancer by William Gibson 1984.
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I’m due for a reread soon.
I've read 'Neuromancer' at least twenty times and find something new in it on each re-read. When it first appeared, the majority of readers- myself included- were baffled by much of it, but soon got on board- it was the biggest step forward for Genre SF since the New Wave in the 1960s. Incidentally, "New Rose Hotel" in 'Burning Chrome' is also a Sprawl story. I'd argue that a reading of 'Burning Chrone' as a whole is important before tackling 'Neuromancer'. For example, "The Gernsback Continuum" is one of the most important SF stories of the last 50 years with its positing of Postmodern and Hauntological concepts into Genre SF while they were still nascent things. I never, ever get bored of this novel.
A prophetic novel that is truly an experience. Can't say that about many books I've read! Great review!
I haven't read this one yet, but I'm looking forward to it! Great video!
About 15 years ago, I read Neuromancer and thought it to be weird, mysterious but enjoyable.
6 years ago, after finishing my English degree, it was a pick of mine for the book club I was in to read that month. I found myself being overly critical of it and remembering what one professor I had lecturing once about “young men’s first novels”, where kitschy elements and short but stylistic prose offer a wish fulfillment for the writer. Needless to say, no one in the book club liked Neuromancer (especially the women).
Now, after learning a lot about what makes SF tick, as well as the history of different movements, I want to return to the novel again to come at it with a different perspective. Because, after all these years, I still feel drawn to picking it up and returning to that world. Maybe that’s the hallmark of a classic book. Fantastic review, Richard!
Oh and your lighting is top class 🎉
Currently reading Neuromancer for the first time, finally, and so far it's absolutely incredible. Terminology is a little confusing but not so much of a hindrance for me as it has been for my tiny book club. 🤔Though it isn't my personal favorite in terms of Gibson (that title probably belongs to the Blue Ant trilogy), Neuromancer and the rest of his repertoire in general can't be understated. I'm glad to hear you liked it, though! It's a bit of an obligatory read for SFers, and hopefully I'll give it a 9-10/10 myself once I wrap it up. The book is highly regarded for obvious reasons.
Great video Richard...but I had to turn it off at 6:30! All your lead up to Neuromancer put me in a mood to reread it. And it's been so long I'd forgotten quite a bit of the plot. Had to click off to avoid spoilers. Now I have to speed read it so I can come back and finish your video!
Didn't summarize too much, just set up the mission. Glad it made you want to read the book again!
I've never dropped acid, but I have read Neuromancer, which is basically the same thing. 😂
I am well and truly overdue for a re-read! I didn't recognise the first line :)
Gibson's world building totally blew a new lobe into my brain when I first read it - I found it and a couple of other Gibson's and a video interview with Gibson (in a local library) around the same time in the late 80's or early 90's. I loved them instantly and completely, later Cyberpunk became my first RPG experience. I still think Gibson's writing is visionary in so many ways.
Opening quote didn't come from page one. More like page fifty. Neuromancer seems like such an anomaly to all the other SF of its year. No wonder it won so many awards.
At least one giant's shoulders that Gibson stood on was William Burroughs, some scenes and prose have that tech.noir bleedthrough from Naked Lunch... the same applies to Blade Runner
Must read some WSB.
@@vintagesf Interzone and
Cities of the Red Night are excellent
@@AlienBigCat23 Thank you for the recommendations.
Glad you are stoked.
I wrote you an essay about Burning Chrome that hasn't showed up, so, not writing one for this.
Thank you for your video.
@@salty-walt Really interested in your essay. vintagesf@icloud dot com
This book came out when I was 22 and I was so ready. It stoked me to collect all of Gibson’s books I could find. The way had been paved for me by Blade Runner, as you say, but also oddly enough by Max Headroom, the TV series, with it’s Network 23 cast of cyber-journalists. There’s an interesting introductory essay in a recent reprint edition regarding the opening line:the sky above the port was the colour of a TV tuned to a dead channel. It was pointed out that at that time it would refer to a snowy screen, and that’s what I pictured. But later, it would be a clear, featureless blue colour, on modern digital televisions. So what colour do modern readers see?
@@camo_for_cocktails Interesting observation about the first line. Regarding Max Headroom, I seem to remember that it was one of the earliest SF series to film in Canada.
@@vintagesf It was in the mid 1980s, but The Starlost was filmed in Canada nearly a decade earlier.
Neuromancer is the client, the other half of The Mute {Wintermute} that Case sets free. They join together to become a super intelligence beyond Cyberspace, using the Loa to communicate with humans in the later Sprawl series
@@BardovBacchus Thought I’d leave that for new readers to discover. Not sure this book can really be spoiled as it needs to be experienced.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I feel like it is more beholden on those who don't want a story "spoiled" to take care to avoid discussions. Personally, I'm tired of tiptoeing around people who freak out over "spoilers"
Your description of Gibson’s world brings to mind MegaCity-One in Judge Dredd from 2000AD.
@@Yellowblam Haven’t read the Judge Dread graphic novels or comics. Won’t be able to comment on the comparison but perhaps another viewer will be able to.
@@vintagesf My thought is they were around the same time, so likely cannabalised one another.
MegaCity-One. check the tune by the Screaming Blue Messiahs.
Please don't use this horrible lighting setup again. It's hideous. 🤢
Neuromancer was a revelation, when I read it. I desperately wanted to see this world, this future that this completely unknown author had created. Thankfully I saw Blade Runner a few years after reading Neuromancer, and I got a glimpse. I suspect that for those of us who had actually read Gibson before watching Blade Runner, and other movies depicting an incredibly technological world, hiding the rotting squalor of its underbelly, we were already familiar with the landscape. 😮
I commend your selection on picking Neuromancer, I really have a hard time picking a book more influential. And do change that awful lighting. 😵💫😱
I think you didn't like the lighting in this video? 🤔
it seems like the lighting did affect the focus a bit and there looks to be some grain but I love the look and find it appro for the book. . . .just needs a little tweeking
@@vintagesf Richard, it makes you look like a goth vampire. 😱😂🤣🙄
@@User_Un_Friendly My kids will like this comment.
@@vintagesf It kind of does make you look like a goth vampire but in the best way.
But it was appropriate for the book. Like chocolatemonk said there was some grain but I thought it was a neat effect. If you play with it a little more you can definitely pull it off better in the future