I think I was seventeen old when I read Neuromancer for the first time. It changed my life, changed every idea I had about what was acceptable to write and what was not, changed my ideas about the future. It also inspired me to, rather embarrassingly, use the word “joeboys” in a short story for my sophomore Creative Writing class. And, even more embarrassing, inspired me to write a story called “The Osborn Continuum” about a BMX rider in the doldrums of the early Nineties who finds himself unexpectedly surrounded by… oh, the hell with that, nobody cares.
If you’ve read this month’s Road&Track, you already know that my piece on the BMW i8 this month amounts to a tribute of sorts to Mr. Gibson and his ideas of the future. But if you haven’t read it, now’s your chance.
It’s called Tomorrowland and it tells the story of my coastal trip in the i8. Check it out.
Nice shot from the Broadway bridge! How’d the car handle the lightrail tracks?
Pretty well. The tires aren’t *that* wide.
Was the picture of the pretty lady the raison d’être for all this verbiage? If so, we approve. If not, we clicked to read the article. Not. Moar pics.
Oh, you mean Sarah.
There are more pictures, but she’s fully dressed in all of them. I was short on time.
I’ve tried three different times to read Neuromancer, never could really get into it. I’ve spent a lifetime reading Sci-Fi but this particular book didn’t hold any appeal. The last time I tried, I made it to about the half-way mark before I gave up. I’m thinking this has to be one of those things where you read it at 17 and all that stuff was still new to you. Reading it for the first time as an adult? Not so life changing.
Or maybe I just quit before I got to the good part? Dammit, I really don’t want to try and finish it.
I don’t think Gibson’s writing style echoes in everyone’s head, the same way the modern fem-dudes like John Scalzi are unquestionably popular but do nothing for me. Charles Stross and Peter Watts are the only guys in the field I’m reading right now — and they are both third-rate writers with first-rate ideas.