 |
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 ). |
Category Archives: Books
Spook Country…
| Tonight Ling and I are heading to Spook Country …. actually we are heading to Cody’s bookstore in Berkeley to see/hear William Gibson talk about and I am sure read from his new book Spook Country… Clearly Gibson is one of the pioneers of Cyberpunk and either Ling or I will have a report back to you on the experience. |
Shadowrun the series Part 2
So what makes the Shadowrun Novels so special? Glad you asked. As I said in my previous post I was really a fantasy book reader prior to reading the first book in the Shadowrun series Never Deal with a Dragon
Shadowrun the series Part 1
I mentioned earlier that this site’s name is an homage to the Shadowrun Novels and thought I would expand on the series a little bit and tell you why I enjoy it so much. First of all Shadowrun started out as a RPG ( role playing game ). I have to admit I have never really played the RPG though I was definitely raised on Role Playing Games like Dungeons and Dragons, Arduin Grimore, Car Wars, Boothill and the like. I think up until I started reading the Shadowrun books my interest in Science Fiction was fairly low. Up until that time I spent most of my reading hours on Fantasy. William Gibson’s Neuromancer
More to come…
Bloggers start your Engines..
Just a note that I will be joined by Ling in blogging on shadowrunning.com. Ling and I go way back (30 years or so) and have to say that of the two of us he is better “read” than I and far more articulate. While I stumble along with my posts, Ling will be churning well thought out and well written posts, hopefully on a frequent basis ( I hope ). He is also quite the writer so I am hoping that he will post some short stories as well. Just an FYI both Ling and I have 60 + years of science fiction reading under our belts (now much bigger than they were when we were kids) so hopefully we will have something me to say on this blog. We be going to a signing of William Gibson for his new book Spook Country shortly and will report to you on how that went.
What is Cyberpunk?
Well, far be it from me to offer a definitive definition, but I know it when I read it. It’s usually near-future distopian literature with some cybernetics and some punks (ie hackers). Virtual Reality, the net, feature large in most cyberpunk.
To put it in movie terms, Blade Runner, not Star Wars. Brasil, in which I’d contend DeNiro plays one of the first cool hackers ever featured. Even 5th Element has some cyberpunk elements. Star Trek does not.
The wikipedia article has a lot of great background and author shout-outs, but even though Bruce Sterling is mentioned, one of my perennial favorties is glossed over, Mirrorshades. Everytime I’ve got spare time in a bookstore, I search out a copy of this 1988 classic to remind myself who that first wave of cyberpunks was: Sterling, Gibson, Bear, Cadigan, Rucker, Shiner and others. Then I start tracking down their recent work.
My favorite cyberpunk novel? Oh please, how can I not say Neuromancer. But really I enjoyed Idora and All Tomorrow’s Party just as much. Sterling’s Heavy Weather, Bear’s Slant. I’ll have to sit longer than a few minutes at lunch to post that!
My next potential post: Can Space Opera be Cyberpunk? There’s a lot of distopian sf out there and, to me, cyberpunk is usually more immediate or just-around-the-corner than most space opera is. I agree with Enok’s first post, it’s usually “earthly.” But elements are definitely showing up in the larger scifi genre.
But for now I’ll have to work on beefing up this post!
Whats on my nightstand…
Ok well I should say on top of my headboard because there are no books on my nightstand just a lamp and a cpap machine. But on my headboard I have a dearth of new books that I am working my way through (ok I took a short break on the cyberpunk to read the last Harry Potter book, Deathly Hallows , but I am back to cyberpunk).
I just cracked open book #3 of George Alec Effinger’s series about Marid Audran – The Exile Kiss. This book takes place in a Muslim city somewhere I am assuming in North Africa and has an interesting spin on Cyberpunk with the addition of the Islamic religion and how they deal with those that are electronically enhanced. The book has a hard boiled detective novel feel where you are never quite sure that you like the main character Madrid or not. When I finish the complete series I will come back and give a more detailed analysis of the book.
– Enoc