For those of you not familiar with him, Rudy Rucker, is one amazing writer… He is a professor at San Jose State University in the Math and Computer science department as well a writer. I would not consider his books cyberpunk though I have seen him lumped into that genre and I believe that is how I started reading him. In any case check out FLURB his ezine and you can get a sample of his work (and others). If you want to read a very trippy series check out his FREK
Category Archives: Books
Spook Country: The Review
I started reading Spook Country shortly after Ling and I had the pleasure of hearing William Gibson speak at Cody’s Books in Berkeley. The strange part about going to a book reading is that the author chooses a chapter at random with the hopes that whatever he is reading will interest the listener to read the book. What always happens for me is that I feel like I “dropped” in on a conversation in midstream and it always take me a while to catch up.This “dropped in” feeling was definitely true for Spook Country. The nice thing is that Gibson is kind enough to fill in the holes as you go but sometimes you are asking yourself now how the heck did that guy get into this situation and it takes Gibson a while to fill you in and I believe that by the end of the story the “whole” of it is revealed and explored.Here is a quick synopsis of the story. 3 story lines happening at once that all are interrelated.
|
Spook Country – half way mark….
Well I have hit the 50% mark for Spook Country and I wanted to give you all a quick update on the book.
- Chapters are really short – under 5 pages or so on average – great for reading while doing your dirty business
- Blue Ant is back!
- New technological concept is a kind of virtual reality/wifi/internet concept. The basics idea is that people tag real space (a real location) with 3D images and you see those 3D image via a VR headset (when at the location) that connects up to the internet via wifi. Some interesting ideas not yet explored would be to go to some place like Omaha Beach in France – strap on the VR headset and either see the beach filled with bodies or maybe an actual war going on before your eyes. Powerful concept and I definitely see it happening in the future.
More as it happens! I might be able to finish the book over the holiday weekend.
Enoc
Dystopian Lit
Guardian has a list of the Top 10 Dystopia Novels (found via BoingBoing) for teens composed by author Gemma Malley, who has a dystopian novel out. The tie-in for posting here of course: dystopian predictions being a large part of the cyberpunk genre. Her list is commendable if a bit too literary for my tastes, but I was glad to see I had at least read a few of them and was familiar with all of them. Top of the list: 1984. Not something I’ve read but have read enough about it to “get it.” Who hasn’t? The real surprise for me was the listing of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. One of my favorite books I ever had to read for an English class. Dystopian? Well, in the sense that the stranded children must create their own world for a time — and some stive to make it humane and logical but the consensus drives the boys toward a more brutal and everyone-for-themselves existance. Eerie book that I really enjoyed. And looky there, a Clavell I had no clue about! What fun these lists!
Shadowrun the series Part 3
I mentioned previously that the shadowrun books are my romance novels and perhaps I should explain myself a little here. First of all the plots are all some what similar. There is a “Johnson” – an anonymous individual usually from the corporate runner – who goes to a “Fixer” – who is the middle man – about a job that he or she wants done – usually against another corporation…
Top 15 Great Science Fiction Books
And the Shadowrunning tie-in … Neuromancer at No. 10! An interesting site all-in-all, but this specific post was a pretty good one for, as one commentor says, recognizing that scifi started before 1980. No Jules Verne, but some early stuff I hadn’t read. And then the comments are the real fun part! All the pleas for the personal favorties that have absolutely no business contending for spots with the canons present in this list. [Found via SF Signal]
BRBR Shout out!
Just a quick note that Ling has started his own blog – “Book Review Blog Review” or BRBR for short. I have added his site to the blog roll. I think you will find the visit well worth it.
Fora.tv William Gibson Interview…
Well I have been waiting for the Cody’s Broadcast of William Gibson’s Book Reading to be posted to their site and here it is.. Hear what we heard , see what we saw…
-Enoc
Gibson in New York Times..
Todays NY Times had an interesting Q&A session with William Gibson.
“Do you feel that you’ve transcended the science-fiction genre in your work? My roots are in a genre. That is the funny thing. Novels are called novels because, ideally, they provide a novel experience. But in genre, you’re sort of buying a guarantee that you are going to have essentially the same experience again and again. It’s a novel. It won’t be too novel. Don’t worry.”
See the full William Gibson Interview… (you will need to click an ad to see the interview)
thanks to Noemi for the heads up – Enoc
Series Review Round Up – Alec Effinger’s Marid Audran
| Well I finally finished Alec Effinger’s series about Marid Audran. Moving onto Spook Country but not before I give you all a quick review and my recommendations. I will try not to include any spoilers. First of all the series consists of 3 books. Make sure to read them in order: When Gravity Fails, A Fire in the Sun and The Exile Kiss. A new book of Marid Audran Short Stories was just released called “Budayeen Nights”. It is important to note that Effinger passed away in 2002 so unless someone discovers more short stories or decides to takes up the mantle of writing about Marid Audran this most excellent “Shaykh” will reveal no more of his story.
Setting: The setting is all important here. Sometime in the future in an Islamic ruled city somewhere in North Africa in a quarter of the city called the Budayeen. The world’s countries have fractured into smaller nation states. Islam has a much larger hold on the world’s population. |