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[scarred]

Alfred Bester

[KharBevNor]

Named after the writer I believe as a sly reference to The Demolished Man, sinc the guys a psychic? Never got much into Babylon 5.

Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tension, apprehension and dissension have begun.


Gibson is influential firstly because of his ideas, and secondly because he also came along at just the right time: science fiction had not been cool in any way for maybe a decade. Sci-fi had a really good time in the 60s, what with the space race, New Maps of Hell and the publication of some of the best science fiction of all time and a similiar golden period of sci-fi cinema. Then it kind of died off weirdly until by the end of the 70's. Neuromancer (and Burning Chrome) came at just the right time. It made sci-fi cool, got people thinking about the upcoming information age, and has profoundly influenced a LOT of sci-fi since. I think you'd probably be pretty hard pressed to find any science fiction novel of the last 20 years that hasn't been influenced on some level or remove by William Gibson.

There's a lot of sci-fi that has to be read a bit like that. I mean, Asimov's prose was often clunky as hell and Arthur C. Clarke wrote some dross, but it's the ideas behind them that are fascinating. William Gibson invented the word 'cyberspace'. I'm pretty sure he also invented the term 'surfing' and the idea of cybersex too.

[Buttfranklin]

Stars My Destination was way better than Demolished Man, IMO.  I think Alfred Bester himself said as much.

[KharBevNor]

Yes but I'm pretty sure as the dude is a psychic spy/cop that the specific reference is to The Demolished Man, irrespective of whichever is the better novel, a matter upon which I made no proclamations whatsoever!

[Buttfranklin]

Yeah, you're right.  Giving credit where credit is due, Neuromancer is hella influential, but the fact is is that if you're like me and read Demolished Man and Stars My Destination before picking up Neuromancer, you're going to be pretty disappointed.  Neuromancer was very similar to them, except with a bigger emphasis on the grit of setting and the style (which Gibson keeps mistaking for actual prose) ramped way, way up.  It's definitely an important book, and if someone is super duper into sci-fi it's important to read it to see how influential it was and see how it changed a lot of our society in interesting ways.  But the book itself was pretty boring to me when I've already read about most of these ideas in a book that had such a memorable and cool climax like Stars My Destination.  (Although I might be a bit 'colored' for the ending considering I grew up with a synesthesic brother and knew pretty much exactly what Bester was doing and thought it was massively cool.)

All power to Neuromancer for revitalizing the sci-fi genre!  But Stars My Destination was an infinitely more entertaining read for me.

[Lines]

FINALLY got vol. 1 of Absolute Sandman today and I'm already to issue 15. I am definitely hooked and am loving it.

[Buttfranklin]

Sandman's pretty good!  Nothing super striking, but it is very memorable and you'll be thinking about it for a while.  Has lasting power.

[De_El]

Have since finished One Fearful Yellow Eye, and am about 50 pages from the end of The Man in the High Castle, which, though I do consider myself a fan of PKD, I had not yet previously read.  Really interesting in terms of how it deals with culture clashes, imperialism and speculative alternate history, but not really enough to unseat Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said as my favorite novel of his.  As I've read this, I've been going back and forth between it and an anthology called New European Poets.  

By the by, the library couldn't find its copy of Wise Blood when I wanted it. I should remember to try again next time I go.