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As mentioned in my last post - Ling and I attended a signing and reading of William Gibson’s Spook Country last night. About 50 + people attended (full house) the event at Cody’s (last remaining) Bookstore on 4th St in Berkeley. Ling and I have attended these kind of events before ( for Neil Gaiman and William Gibson ) and it follows a usual pattern of the author reading a chapter, answering some questions from the crowd and then the book signing. This was indeed how the night went. Gibson read chapter 42 of the book ( perhaps an homage to Douglas Adams someone in line suggested ). |
Gibson said he chose the chapter for its action. I have to admit that I have not done my research into what this book’s focus is, infact thats how I usually read Gibson. I buy his books, stick them next to my bed, give them a mental high priority and usually devour them in a week or so. So I will be following that same pattern for Spook Country. The chapter he read was exciting but out of context for me, I appreciated its fast pace but will look forward to seeing how it fits into the greater whole.Probably the most exciting part of the night was the Q & A. Gibson gave at the end of the reading. he had some interesting things to say and I am sure Ling will go into more detail on this but I am going to give some highlights (bullet points):
There is so much more that he said but I believe that Ling will elucidate on that in his post. Right now I need to finish up the last book in Alec Effingers series about Marid Audran and then I am off to Spook Country… |
Category: Books, General Cyberpunk | Blogger: Enoc |
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This entry was posted on Friday, August 10th, 2007 at 10:12 am and is filed under Books, General Cyberpunk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Yes, that was fun. The Cody’s I’d never been to. And Gibson got into the swing of things most definitely.
The reading was fun, just to get you used to his cadence — the way he interprets the flow. I instantly turned off my mental recorders and just absorbed the reading. His characters escaped into a kitchen and I smiled at thoughts of Ratatouille.
And the q&a was fascinating. He wakes up in the morning and checks his news feeds and enthuses, “Yeah, I’ve got the tools to work with this!” He talked about how living right now was as wild a science fiction story that’s ever been told, and it’s what he wanted to write about, as you said, “speculative fiction about last Tuesday.”
I get the feeling he’s not “influenced” any more, by far, he’s an influencer. A number of questions on the topic of his influences brought slight references to the major influences he’s listed time and time again. And a fun quote on what portion his output is influenced, “I don’t see much gristle from them at all in my excrement.”
An old story about writing Neuromancer, being one of ten writers with popular short stories an editor wanted to do books with. Writing for a year and half scared out of his mind. No, he wouldn’t ever revisit those story lines, he’s not that person anymore. He doesn’t remember the endings of some, rarely reread them, but oh he can tell you a neat technical trick he used to get out of a plot-line tangle.
Responding to another question about more short stories … not likely, not lucrative. Perhaps in the far future. He’s a long distance runner and enjoys the novel form. And yes, he remembered not getting enough resolution out some early scifi he read. He strives to write “high definition prose.”
And characters, he spoke a lot to. One mustn’t be too in control of them during the writing process, a famous quote by … sorry, I forget. But the most fun is characters out of time, Marlow’s, telling us he wrote about 90s people in the year 2030. How could you not?
No teaching for him, turned down Clarion West long ago, erased his past from his collegiate days, no way for academia to track him down. Teaching is easy. Start the story. Finish the story. There should be something in the middle as well.
And when asked about how he felt about his carbon footprint from a book-tour, flying in airplanes, he acknowledge it, and took it that far. His kids would drag him into a smaller and smaller footprint. He did like the idea of an electric car, taking some normal car and affixing four electric forklift motors, each tire individually powered, and he could lift up the hood, empty! See nothing there!
Cody’s was a great setting for it, esp right after dinner at Cafe Rogue nearby. Trains kept roaring by right out the back wall oblivious of Gibson, a heavy industrial interlude on the conversation. It was packed in the store, and folks were pretty intent and involved. The staff did a wonderful job, friendly and attentive.
Amazed that Enoc found nothing to buy while browsing, I at least called my wife and picked up a book for her. Plus another book I wanted to buy but didn’t. Plus the extra Spook Country for he who first handed me a copy of Neuromancer, i admit, in 88. I feel obligated to get a signed book for him every time and mail it to him as fast as I can. he’ll get it on monday.
fora.tv video taped it and i hope they post it soon. My mind didn’t have enough high resolution capacity to catch all that he said!