Unforgettable opening sentence.. Really set the tone for the whole genre.. I think I read this book 10x as a youngster..
/not the subby

NEUROMANCER is, itself, a great book, even if its reputation as
groundbreaking is more marketing hype than truth.

Unfortunately, it was so good that its reputation is unutterably
sullied by the slew of substandard imitators it spawned.

But, William Gibson has never equalled it.

Axias: Unforgettable opening sentence

which future generations will never understand.

"You mean the sky was blue?"

Correction, it was 25 yesterday... on Canada Day

/Neuromancer is one of the giants in Canadian literature
//although the Peggy-worshipping literary critics don't always recognize it...

Some GREAT books came out of the genre (Richard K. Morgan!).

Some, yeah, not so great.

Still hoping for a movie version in my lifetime which will not suck.

Gibson never did anything for me. Heresy, perhaps, but I just never got into him. Shockwave Rider, proto-cyberpunk a decade before the genre existed, that was good. When Gravity Fails, that was good. But I don't worship the canon of the genre.

Loved that book. So much awesome.

plecos: Still hoping for a movie version in my lifetime which will not suck.

They're making a movie, no word on whether or not it will suck.

ZAZ: Gibson never did anything for me. Heresy, perhaps, but I just never got into him. Shockwave Rider, proto-cyberpunk a decade before the genre existed, that was good. When Gravity Fails, that was good. But I don't worship the canon of the genre.

it's very Noir, in my opinion. I know a lot of people who didn't like it, and to the man/woman they don't like noir.

/When Gravity Fails was ok. Vurt was farking weird (literally). Altered Carbon was fantastic.

Started it, wanted to like it, didn't finish it.

/fantasy nerd
//tried and failed several times to get into sci-fi
///plays Shadowrun p&p occasionally

jhva3: They're making a movie, no word on whether or not it will suck.

It'll probably suck

albo 2009-07-02 01:47:07 PM

Axias: Unforgettable opening sentence
which future generations will never understand.

"You mean the sky was blue?"

In 1984, most TVs showed static noise on an unused channel. (See Poltergeist). Computerized TVs that put up a plain blue screen when no signal was detected didn't come along until the mid to late '90s.

ZAZ: Gibson never did anything for me. Heresy, perhaps, but I just never got into him. Shockwave Rider, proto-cyberpunk a decade before the genre existed, that was good. When Gravity Fails, that was good. But I don't worship the canon of the genre.

Makes sense, I'm the exact opposite though. I loved the whole Sprawl series, but haven't really found other cyberpunk books I loved, with the exception of Snow Crash. And even Stephenson's efforts always had me wishing for Gibson. Gibson's later stuff is good, but never had the same effect for me.

jhva3: plecos: Still hoping for a movie version in my lifetime which will not suck.

They're making a movie, no word on whether or not it will suck.

Last I read, and I'll admit it was a long time ago, the group that owned the rights was the same group that developed Gibson's Johnny Mnemonic work. I have a soft spot for the movie(Dolph Lundgren as Homicidal Jesus, Henry Rollins, Ice-T, Beat Takeshi), but it was a terrible movie. It was essentially Robocop 3 quality dystopian work. And speaking of that, I think Verhoeven would do Gibson great justice.

Hollywood blockbusters and supersonic pizza delivery FTW.

Between Neuromancer ,never-ending games of Shadowrun and a room full of computers, what else was there to life in the 80's and early 90's?

bobbette: Correction, it was 25 yesterday... on Canada Day

/Neuromancer is one of the giants in Canadian literature
//although the Peggy-worshipping literary critics don't always recognize it...

I would agree, but although he wrote it while living in Kits in Vancouver, I think Gibson was an American at the time. I could be wrong, though.

TheGreatZarquon: Between Neuromancer ,never-ending games of Shadowrun and a room full of computers, what else was there to life in the 80's and early 90's?

Cocaine and hair products.

TheGreatZarquon: Between Neuromancer ,never-ending games of Shadowrun and a room full of computers, what else was there to life in the 80's and early 90's?

Cocaine and hair products.

And the Take On Me video, with the exquisite Bunty Baily. I'm not worthy.

bhcompy: TheGreatZarquon: Between Neuromancer ,never-ending games of Shadowrun and a room full of computers, what else was there to life in the 80's and early 90's?

Cocaine and hair products.

BBS's and music videos.

Man On Fire: Vurt was farking weird (literally).

I didn't even think of Vurt as cyberpunk, it was so weird. But I liked it. I must be sick in the head, I liked it.

Neuromancer was great.
Too bad it inspired so many shiatty novelists.

Um, there is no video at the link. I even turned off adblock *shudder* to check. There's no video.

TheGreatZarquon: Between Neuromancer ,never-ending games of Shadowrun and a room full of computers, what else was there to life in the 80's and early 90's?

Hilarity in "Paranoia", ridiculous min-maxing in Palladium games and GURPs, brutal critical hits in MERPs, Triscuits and Billy Joel?

Funbags: Um, there is no video at the link. I even turned off adblock *shudder* to check. There's no video.

Look at the video tag, then read the headline again.

Huck Chaser: Started it, wanted to like it, didn't finish it.

/fantasy nerd
//tried and failed several times to get into sci-fi
///plays Shadowrun p&p occasionally

If it helps, I started and stopped the book a few times in the past decade. Finally read it straight thru last year, it was well worth the wait.

Neuromancer is an absolute classic. There is a bit of difficulty in the first 50 pages or so where the characters are being arranged and while the setting isn't particularly compelling. Then it becomes awesome.

h2ogate: In 1984, most TVs showed static noise on an unused channel. (See Poltergeist). Computerized TVs that put up a plain blue screen when no signal was detected didn't come along until the mid to late '90s.

yeah. thanks for that!

*big thumb's up*

Neuromancer: great novel, classic novel. It's a better novel than Snowcrash. That being said, Snowcrash would make a better movie.

Snowcrash even reads like a movie. Neuromancer reads like... a novel.

mavrickatubc: I loved the whole Sprawl series, but haven't really found other cyberpunk books I loved, with the exception of Snow Crash.

wilhemena baird's "crashcourse" is a 90s one-off that's worthy

ZAZ: Man On Fire: Vurt was farking weird (literally).

I didn't even think of Vurt as cyberpunk, it was so weird. But I liked it. I must be sick in the head, I liked it.

it is cyberpunk alright, it's just hard to find under all the weird. that and IIRC, it's written from the perspective of an illiterate junkie.

/lol, wikipedia says a film was considered. they probably dropped it when they realized the mpaa would have to rate it. would love to see them rate it. it would make their heads asplode.

It's an awesome book, but I've always thought it got a little too much credit in founding the genre.

I mean, it may have established most of the cliches others followed, but I always thought Philip K. Dick wrote some things pretty damn close to cyberpunk. And William Burroughs came close himself, although his was less about computer and more about drugs, but the mood is quite similar. Really it's all about dehumanization on a mass scale, and in Burroughs that's definitely the case, except it's more biological than cybernetic. Drugs, surgery, genetic mutation and psychic phenomena, not computers and AI.

Of course, Burroughs was so farked up when he wrote most of his best stuff it is barely coherent.

Thanks alot subby. Now I must go locate my Geritol and eat some fibre. farking christ I feel old.

Jeff Noon seriously needs to publish more. Anybody read Falling Out of Cars? It was like somebody watched all of David Lynch's movies, and condensed that vibe into a road novel.

/amazed I'm not the only one that loved Vurt (I swear, we're like a secret society)
//Needle in the Groove was an amazing too... but good luck finding it.

h2ogate: albo 2009-07-02 01:47:07 PM

"You mean the sky was blue?"

In 1984, most TVs showed static noise on an unused channel. (See Poltergeist). Computerized TVs that put up a plain blue screen when no signal was detected didn't come along until the mid to late '90s.

This is an amazing example of how language evolves. It was such a good metaphor to open the book with, and it's meaning has flipped 180-degrees ever sense the invention of the "blue screen" for channels with no signal.

It's rare you see the meaning of a simple sentence change to it's exact opposite meaning in such a short period of time.

RemyDuron: And William Burroughs came close himself

This is probably not a coincidence, given how freely Gibson admits to copying a lot of his style from Burroughs.

Oh yeah- I just realized the DTV switch means the death of video static! Will someone broadcast a channel of fuzz so us old farts will feel more comfortable?

The game by Interplay was pretty decent as well, by the way.

h2ogate:
In 1984, most TVs showed static noise on an unused channel. (See Poltergeist). Computerized TVs that put up a plain blue screen when no signal was detected didn't come along until the mid to late '90s.

Slow down, I'm taking notes here...

I usually don't post negative things about books and movies because who the hell am I to rag on someone else's favorite story, but I read Neuromancer a few years ago and thought it was pretty meh. I think it's heralded more because it broke new ground in the genre than because its a particularly well written book. A lot of the stuff that has come since which built upon the cyberpunk foundation that Neuromancer began has eclipsed it in quality many times over, in my opinion. I think it would have been way more mind-blowing to readers 25 years ago than today -- that's the downside of near-future sci-fi, it gets dated pretty quickly.

I never really liked Neuromancer. It just read as a pathetic attempt to copy Phillip K. Dick or Asimov. Now 'Caves of Steel' or 'Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?', those are some great books.

/no, really, as a sci fi nerd, I hate Gibson

pdkl95: This is an amazing example of how language evolves. It was such a good metaphor to open the book with, and it's meaning has flipped 180-degrees ever sense the invention of the "blue screen" for channels with no signal.

Language will never evolve to the point where IT IS is a possessive pronoun though.

Tachikoma: I never really liked Neuromancer. It just read as a pathetic attempt to copy Phillip K. Dick or Asimov. Now 'Caves of Steel' or 'Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?', those are some great books.

Huh? Gibson may have borrowed from a lot of places, but I don't think he ever borrowed anything from Asimov; no one can do wooden characters and bland, unevocative prose like Asimov could.

wiredroach: Tachikoma: I never really liked Neuromancer. It just read as a pathetic attempt to copy Phillip K. Dick or Asimov. Now 'Caves of Steel' or 'Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?', those are some great books.

Huh? Gibson may have borrowed from a lot of places, but I don't think he ever borrowed anything from Asimov; no one can do wooden characters and bland, unevocative prose like Asimov could.

wh...I...a...FFFFFFFFFF

wiredroach:
Huh? Gibson may have borrowed from a lot of places, but I don't think he ever borrowed anything from Asimov; no one can do wooden characters and bland, unevocative prose like Asimov could.

I think science fiction tends to have two branches, one where the story starts from and revolves around a hardcore science-y idea, and another where the story is adventure/exploration/character driven. The best science fiction combines these two traits. But sometimes you get guys who just do one side or the other really well -- Asimov at one end, George Lucas (circa 1977) at the other.

Gibson is like Asimov in that he is also a good font of interesting science-y ideas, but not so great with things like character and storytelling. His writing style is a lot more interesting than Asimov, though.

DashFieldpaint: Neuromancer: great novel, classic novel. It's a better novel than Snowcrash. That being said, Snowcrash would make a better movie.

Snowcrash even reads like a movie. Neuromancer reads like... a novel.

Neuromancer was great. Snow Crash was entertaining, and would make a great movie, but the prose made me cringe. I don't know if it is just me, but Stephenson seems to have a really tin ear, and can't turn a phrase to save his life.

Quantum Apostrophe: Language will never evolve to the point where IT IS is a possessive pronoun though.

Ouch. I normally get that one right. I must need more caffeine or something.

/you're still an annoying grammar-nazi

jhva3: I don't know if it is just me, but Stephenson seems to have a really tin ear, and can't turn a phrase to save his life.

It's not just you. Stephenson makes great worlds (Diamond Age was very inspired), but his ability to hang a plot on the world is questionable at best. He also can't write an ending to save his life. It's like his publisher said "you should really wrap this up soon-ish", and so he just stops writing.

I read Hard-Wired, by Walte Jon Williams, before I ever read anything by Gibson. After that, Neuromancer was sort of meh...

metallion: I read Hard-Wired, by Walte Jon Williams, before I ever read anything by Gibson. After that, Neuromancer was sort of meh...

That was Walter Jon Williams... Either my 'r' key is sticking, or I just can't spell...