/lit/ - Literature

>>4646705
started it and bailed 10% in. Hate the writing, just hate it. Can't give you any examples right now because I haven't picked it up in a while but I remember feeling like I was sucking on a lemon the whole time. I understand he's seen as a figure of some importance in the genre though.

It might be one of the most overrated books I've ever come across. Even with other stuff that didn't match expectation, I felt I could see why it was so revered. With Neuromancer, it's a fun little science fiction adventure but, besides for a few predictions that came true, it's fluff. I don't know if his other stuff is any better but I feel like another book would be in the same spot in the literary canon were its predictions correct.

>>4646744
>started it and bailed 10% in.

Pretty much this.

>>4646750
It's one of those books that started something new or at the very least something people had for the most part hadn't seen before. But other writers have taken what he started and made it into something far more interesting to the point where Neuromancer feels dated/empty by comparison.

>>4646750
>All science fiction needs to be accurate

pfffhahahah

>>4646810
Not even sure how you could get that from his post.

OP - definitely agree with others on here with respect to the prose/writing style, but, after getting the hang of it (re-reading Part 1 twice) I enjoyed the sci-fi romp around the world.

Reading some of Gibson's other works right now including Virtual Light and Mona Lisa Overdrive, but, I feel he peaked with this first novel.

Pic related. Gibson's description of Night City taken from http://project.cyberpunk.ru/lib/neuromancer/.. It's pretty cool.

Reading it was an awful experience. I read the whole thing and couldn't tell you a thing about the plot. The only good parts were some of the world building descriptions. You can experience that better by reinstalling deus ex.

>>4646868
>and couldn't tell you a thing about the plot. The only good parts were some of the world building descriptions

I think this sums up the book pretty well. Like >>4646852
I actually enjoyed some of the descriptions in the book, but once characters start interacting or trying to do...anything, it all just falls apart. An example: The part where Linda Lee dies. I had to re-read that scene twice, because everything felt so clunky and with so little flow that I thought I had accidentally spaced out or skipped a page.

I love Gibson and while he is great at building worlds and setting scenes, he is overall pretty mediocre at actually writing a story.

Chops: I read The Sprawl trilogy, Burning Chrome, Virtual Light, and most of Pattern Recognition which was fucking terrible.

>>4646750
Neuromancer had such a huge impact that many of the concepts and ideas it presented were interpreted better in the books that it inspired.

I am reading it right now and while I can't say I dislike it, I seem to forget about everything once the chapter is over.

Remember the part with the ninja.

Neither do I.

Neuromancer is only good for inspiring cyberpunk theory.

Listen to this, OP:

https://soundcloud.com/virtualfutures/meltdown-nickland

>>4647068
Actually, just listened to the first minute or so and it's kinda annoying.

Here is the text version:

http://issuu.com/lukerobertmason/docs/meltdown-nick-land/1

I'm a big fan of William Gibson. My favorites are actually one of his earliest and one of his latest: the short story Burning Chrome (which you might be able to find online somewhere) and the book Pattern Recognition.

Neuromancer and the other Sprawl books are good, but I actually prefer the Bridge trilogy.

I'm sorry that not everyone seems to be able to enjoy him. No accounting for taste, I guess.

It was entertaining enough.

I think I enjoyed Pattern Recognition more than I did Neuromancer. Neuromancer is great though.

>>4646779
Pretty much.

I have no thoughts of the author, though I've heard he is an odd man.

I loved it, though I think the pacing is all over the place. I loved the characters, but the pacing is just god awful. For what essentially boils down into a heist novel, I think more than half the book is just gathering the team.

Paints a lovely picture but takes its damn time

Going to disagree with most of the people here. Gibson's writing is full of punch and grit. The characters are what make the story and their varying oddities, particularly Neuromancer/Wintermute and its desire to be a full consciousness. The heist is a secondary feature, albeit a fun one. I truly enjoyed the book and it's one of my favorite science fiction stories.

Agree with the above, but I always feel that with sci-fi novels that I would enjoy it so much more if it was a movie.

Also check out a recent novel called Daemon. The concept is really cool and the story has a bit of zing to it, but be warned, it's a two-part story, and the follow up novel sucks ass. It loses a lot of the awesomeness only to replace it with some hippie idealistic crap. At the same time some of the hippie idealistic crap was somewhat interesting, but still hippie idealistic crap.

>>4646705

I was thinking of picking it up. I'd be glad if you want to read together, analyzing critically on the completed parts of each day.

>>4646705
I think if you enjoy neo-noir film, you will enjoy Neuromancer, and if you don't, you won't. It's an exercise in tone, which is pretty consistent all the way through, and there isn't much else to it.

I really enjoyed Neuromancer, but it's hard to, in good conscience, compare it to PKD or Zelazny or any of the other people who were making a point with their work.

>>4647953
OP - okay sounds interesting, when and how? Submit analysis in this thread?

>>4647042
Just sounds like you're a n00b at reading books.

I actually enjoyed the Blue Ant trilogy most out of all his books. Might be just because I'm interested in clothing... But hey.

>>4647105
I'm sorry that not everyone seems to be able to enjoy him. No accounting for taste, I guess.

OP - totally agree with you. Gibson does not spoon feed the sub-plots and I feel his style in Neuromancer is deliberately fast paced and choppy at times to increase the sense of urgency or the disjointed life that the protagonist lives.

>>4647916
I read Daemon a while ago and I remember it being pretty terrible. The story was akin to a B-movie in which an evil AI blows up planes and causes nuclear meltdowns by hacking into things. The conflict wasn't as much a conflict, as one side Mary Sue-ing its way through everything. The moral complexity was on the level of a 2012 video game with a good/evil meter.

At least, from what I remember of the book at least. I think there were people getting cut up, or something.

Wish they would just make a decent movie or game based off this goddamn book already!!!

inb4 deus ex, shadow run, matrix, blade runner blah blah blah...

pic related

>>4648201
But that is the exact feeling I had reading it. I wish there were a decent movie of Snow Crash. Or at least a shitty one.

>>4648218
Snow Crash was originally supposed to be some kind of movie/multi-media project as a matter o fact.

I missed this book when I was young and interested in cyberpunk. Couple months ago i decided to fill the vacuum and sent all trilogy to my Kindle.
So, I dropped it after 10%. like one of the first posters itt did. Maybe it was something cool and exciting at 80s, but nowadays i cant read dis sheet.

Good updated version of Neuromancer-style Cyberpunk is Ian McDonald's work, set in India / Turkey / Brasil. I recommend Cyberabad Days.

>>4647040
>many of the concepts and ideas it presented were interpreted better in the books that it inspired.

What are those books you speak of?

I liked it a lot, but that could very well be due to the fact that i was high as fuck when i read it. Good book (to me) but would be extremely difficult to translate to a visual medium like film.

>>4648223
A comic book.

Don't disrespect the Holy Trinity of Cyberpunk:
Neuromancer, Deus Ex and Blade Runner. To all those who be hatin the book lern2read.

>>4648279

If you want to have a genre/medium cross-section, include Ghost in the Shell.

60% in and forcing myself to finish it. It reminds me a lot of Windup Girl, but I must say Windup Girl was significantly better than this has been. Frankly I don't understand why Neuromancer is on so many lists of top sci-fi. I've read other sci-fi (Asimov, Clarke, Herbert, etc.) and it's much, much better than Neuromancer.

I think it's time that people stop recommending Neuromancer.

>>4648279

Is Blade Runner the least interesting of those three? I only saw it recently but it plays like a children's movie with violent themes.

>>4648293
that too.............

>>4648299

>Children's Movie

Bad description upon reflection. I should have said it plays out like an 80s action movie with heavy biblical allegories. Either way, the point I was trying to make it that the story is shit beyond the broad ideas it runs with about the nature of man and machine.

The visuals on the other hand are fantastic.

>>4648297
OP - My advice would is to actually stop reading the book and move onto something else for the time being. Come back to Neuromancer in a week or two and start from the beginning and really try to visualise the story. Hope this helps.

>>4648303
>The visuals on the other hand are fantastic.

I'm pretty sure the visuals are the main reason anyone even remembers Blade Runner.

>>4648297
OP - My advice is to actually stop reading the book and to move onto something else for the time being. Come back to Neuromancer in a week or two and start from the beginning and really try to visualise the story. Hope this helps.

BAAYYYYUUUL

>>4648322
lol wut?

It doesn't age well at all. When it came out it was a pretty big thing. Not necessarily for the writing but the premise. Now, today, even the premise is laughable and the book has very little resonance even in the SF community.

>>4648322
I WANT ROOM SERVICE

>>4648318
I think I'm just going to plow through it. The first say 40% was very difficult to get through, but now that I've become accustomed to his writing style I'm able to read it much faster and understand it much more.

His writing style is rather unique compared to what I've previously read. There's lots of long descriptions of things, but important plot points receive little or no more attention than do the long descriptions. There's not usually much lead-up to the action of the plot. Out of nowhere he seems to find himself in the computer system with Dixie hacking into stuff.

>>4648330
I think people should stop recommending it to new Sci-Fi readers. I went from the Foundation Trilogy to Brave New World to Neuromancer. Neuromancer is way worse than the others.

The key to understanding William Gibson is to listen to psytrance and goa while reading.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9qqLrdOzDg

>>4648338
Jesus Christ. You just went full fucking pleb. I bet you think Asimov's Last Question is profound too, you dunce. Foundation trilogy is shit. Brave New World is shit. At least Neuromancer is still relevant today. Read Mona Lisa Overdrive and Count Zero as well before judging.

>>4648322

LET THE BAILING BEGIN

>>4648349
>Foundation trilogy is shit. Brave New World is shit.
They're two of the most widely recommended sci-fi book(s). Are you saying a majority of sci-fi enthusiasts are "plebs"?

More specifically, what is wrong with those two picks?

>I bet you think Asimov's Last Question is profound too
It's a fun story to be sure, but I've found some of Larry Niven's writing far more profound in the sci-fi genre, particularly his tale about AIs in The Draco Tavern.

>Read Mona Lisa Overdrive and Count Zero as well before judging.
Thanks for the recommendations; I'll take a look.

>>4648338
I agree with OP if you are in Part 2/3 and you are not quite sure what is going on with the Dixie construct, Panther Moderns, Armitage, Screaming Fist, Freeside, Tessier-Ashpool family etc. you are fucked and need to get the fuck out and reset.

>>4648322
>>4648332
>>4648353
Take over from another thread? Piss off back to /vg/ /pol/ /r9k/ /tv/ you degenerates!

>>4648360
I'm 2/3 in and I fully understand what is going on with each of those. I write a character list down on paper for every book I read, and each of those names appears on it along with an extremely brief description of who they are. Lady 3Jane was just added to the list, though we do not yet know much about her.

For Neuromancer only, I've found myself reading the Shmoop recaps after every chapter. http://www.shmoop.com/neuromancer/ Sort of embarrassing to admit, but it's 4chan. I'm sure you guys won't be too hard on me.

>>4648349
I didn't realize before, but Mona Lisa Overdrive and Count Zero are the sequels to Neuromancer.

Why would I need to read his entire body of work before judging? That's absurd. I will finish his one book, and I will judge him based on its contents. If the contents are poor, I won't suffer myself to read any more of his work.

>>4648362

>Has nothing better to do then police threads.
>calls random people on the internet
degenerates.

Nigga please

>>4648359
Foundation is outdated and poorly written. Some wankers come up with scientific marxism and use it to control the galaxy. Woooo. Such scifi. Blech. You think that's a realistic plot? Brave New World is more outplayed than Neuromancer. I see cheap dystopias done more often than true cyberpunks. I prefer Zamyatin's We personally. It's all basically genre fiction, even if it was written in the "golden age of scifi" -- personally I think the whole golden age idea is bullshit too. It's like all those plebs who listen to Led Zeppelin and complain about how rock and roll used to be so much better.

>>4646705
This book only changed my fucking life. Taught me to look at literature in a whole different way. Gibson taught me that it's not about what words mean its about how they sound in sequence. If anyone else hasnt noticed, he writes in a 4/3 pentameter where the stressed vowel is alternated within a two-word sequence and the syllables are always one more or one less. He also compresses sentence length by sticking "super" or "hyper" in front of a word, essentially making up his own words to convey a theme. He wrote Neuromancer and then never wrote another novel like it. I'd love to know what drugs he was on. Am I the only one that's obsessed with his prose more than his stories?

>>4648365
>judges an author's entire oeuvre based off a single work
Classic /lit/.

I have honestly never encountered a scifi book that handled the future of artificial intelligence as tastefully as Neuromancer.

People who don't like Neuromancer are the kind of people that think Her is a realistic scifi movie.

>>4648367
I've seen We recommended often before. I think I will add it to my growing Sci-Fi TBR pile.

I can't say I had the same experience as you with the Foundation trilogy. I really enjoyed the psychohistory idea, and the plot twists and situations worked well for me, so well that I could barely put it down. I read the whole trilogy in less than a week.

>>4648370
Have you not read all of GRRM's ASOIF series? If not, then you can not judge him. Though you may have read the first book, nearly 300,000 words, you'd surely need to read at least another 11,000 words before you can judge him.

>>4648360
Guys don't worry about understanding the story just enjoy the prose and go along for the ride! Stop reading Warhammer and junk Scifi it's bad for your brain, this book is more like poetry, its not really about anything it just is what it is in a fluid metric sequence. Just enjoy it like a poem more than a novel.

>>4648375
lol your pleb is showing

>>4648375
Total pleb

Audiobook on YouTube of Neuromancer. The reciter helps with pacing and visualisation of the story.

http://youtu.be/Z99HbCDhTgM

>>4648369
>>4648376
OP - totally agree. I am surprised by the amount of hate this book is getting, but, on the other hand I understand the frustration of a virgin reader. You have to be a very flexible reader to adapt to his prose, but, like I said before I feel his delivery was INTENTIONAL in order to take you into the troubled mind of the protagonist.

>>4648365
Yes, they are the other two books in the Sprawl Trilogy, but these books are just loosely connected and Neuromancer is pretty much a stand-alone novel. It would be pointless to read the other two, if you already hated the first one.

At most, you can read some of his Cyperpunk short stories from Burning Chrome, though I cant imagine that it will change your opinion on Gibbson much.

>>4648376
I dont know if you are just sarcastic, but I see it like that as well.
I am always surprised how much I disagree with most of /lit/ in many cases. I absolutely loved Neuromancer, the atmosphere, the prose, the general mood. Nothing, like the often hailed Cyberadad Days, comes close.
But then I found highly acclaimed Sci-Fi novels like Dune, Consider Phlebas or Brave New World incredible dull and boring drivel.
Taste differs indeed, I guess.

This thread has convinced me to give the book a second chance, though I may just end up using the Audiobook that was posted.

>>4648411
OP - WOHOOO my work here is done!

>>4648411
OP - Post was deleted, don't know why. Anyway as I said before my work here is done!

>>4648407
No I actually was being serious someone said this book is hard for virgins to the genre and they're right, it's hard but it's a good kind of hard, the kind that makes you keep constantly asking questions. The first time I read this book I only understood half of what was going on but didn't care because the writing was so smooth and cool. Like a light suddenly becomes a "microlight" and a metal case is "a flask of spun aluminum." Its not just a gun it's a "fleschette"...wtf is a fleschette??? I don't know but I want one! See what I mean?

>>4648439
Read the rules, ponies are not allowed outside of their respective board.

>>4648407
Read more hard sci-fi. Try Greg Egan's Permutation City.

>>4648439
>people who like sci-fi are faggot bronies

no fucking surprises here

>>4646852
Thank you for the link.

Everyone, see pic and tell me this isn't awesome!!!

>>4648451
The Sprawl was a long strange way home over the pacific now

:'-)

>>4648443
OP - okay thanks...

Gibson is one of the only Sci-fi authors out there that produces actually LITERARY fiction. Maybe Stephenson could fall into this too. Neuromancer has been defining much of the face of sci-fi up until this day.
The Blue Ant trilogy is definitely worth a read even if you dislike neuromancer. Bleeding Edge even feels alot like the Blue Ant trilogy partly because Pynchon influenced Gibson somewhat i guess

>>4648447
OP - not a brony, just picked a random image from Google Images. Pure coincidence. Honest :)

>>4648462
Stephenson is just a geek subculture proponent who overestimates his own wittiness. Nothing literary about his stuff.

Hey guys I wrote something in the vein of Neuromancer, really short like 200 words. Trying to imitate Gibson's thematics and prose structure, did I come close?

http://pastebin.com/LBErL3cD

>>4648493
I knew there was a reason I stopped using hyphens. I read Neuromancer.

>>4648486
I would agree that applies to Snow Crash, but not Cryptonomicon or the Baroque Cycle. Even REAMDE maybe

>>4648442
OP - Or the imagery that the first line produces – “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” This is a great opening line – what do you imagine when you read this? I personally think of the black and white static, which is again a reference to a scorched / foggy sky.

>>4648536
Yeah that line is hailed at like the number 10 best opening line in a book somewhere. It's fucking perfect for describing the disgusting smog over New York harbor or something and interjecting a radioactive euphemism so we get a scifi vibe right away.

>>4648536
Everyone knows a TV on a dead channel produces a beautiful bright blue.

>>4648548
GTFO

>>4648548
Depends on your TV.

>>4648615
Try it out on your own TV if you don't believe it.

>>4648399
The whole point of a good fiction book is that it supposed to be easy to read. If I wanted difficulty I would read the Torah.

>>4648548
You aren't old enough to post here. This book was written when VCRs were hot shit.

>>4648641
That has never been the point. It's supposed to express something, to be a self contained equation. Some books just require a bit of background to understand the terms used.

>>4648641
sooooo.....the torah is not a good fictional book?

>>4648647

>>4648652
How much closer do you get to a world than using the language of it? Plebs just can't into machine-men of the 2cyberdeep4u.

Neuromancer is one of my favourite books ever. I read it many years ago and recently revisited it after getting Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive.

Definitely the best of the trilogy, I personally would have liked to see some of the same characters from Neuromancer reappear in CZ and MLO, and some do - Molly (such a badass) has one of the biggest parts in Mona Lisa Overdrive.

>>4648641
OP - Not necessarily the case, why should it be? Surely, a good fictional book transports the reader to a new and strange world, which Neuromancer does quite well; however, some effort is also required from the reader to understand the imagery and references Gibson uses in the novel?

>>4648664
Not to say that if you didn't enjoy Neuromancer you wouldn't like the rest of the trilogy - each can be read as a standalone book without any problem, and I know a few people who like Count Zero the best. I think all three are great. I think Mona Lisa Overdrive is a very close second to Neuromancer.

>>4648201
A movie adaptation has been in development for a long time now, but seems to be getting a little bit closer.

Vincenzo Natali is due to direct and has written the screenplay with Gibson himself. Natali's previous films have been excellent when compared to their tiny budgets (Cube, Cypher) so I have high hopes that this might not be totally terrible.

Liam Neeson and Mark Wahlberg have apparently been asked onboard. Mixed feelings about this: Neeson would be great as Armitage but Wahlberg as Case? Hmmm... I could possibly see him playing Riviera?

Big question is... who would play the best character? pic related

>>4648729
>Mark Wahlberg

Might've worked when he was younger.

>>4648738
Yeah, Case is supposed to be early twenties and I imagine him as a scrawny, drug-addicted nerd.

Not quite Mr. Beefcake.

>>4648729
Uma Thurman
Not what anyone wants, but it's probably what we will get.

>>4648729
If this actually comes to fruition I will anhero live on here.

>>4648749
I picture Molly as completely gender neutral, I don't even see boobs on her really, yet if they do a movie we're gonna get some Meghan Fox double-d little thing -___-

Caption: edeqotial Case

>>4648729
Rooney Mara would be ideal.

>>4648806
Unfortunately if Wahlberg is Case then this is the most likely outcome...

Aaron Paul would be great for Case.

>>4648796
Because you think it will never happen (It has been at least 10 years in development so far...) or because you think it might turn out like Johnny Mnemonic?

>>4648349
>Foundation trilogy is shit.
>Being this guy
It's like I'm on /mu/.

I liked the Foundation trilogy, though I'll admit I prefer Gibson's work, along with a good chunk of Neal Stephenson's stuff.

>>4648201
After Johnny Mnemonic I think I'm ok not having a movie.

>>4646705
I said this to someone recently but I'll say it again: Neuromancer is great if you're a 16 year old boy.

>>4648536
I remember reading somewhere a theory that the idea in that line was dark gray, not black and white static. A dead channel in that case being a TV channel broadcasting nothing, just the carrier wave, resulting in a CRT TV showing an off-black gray. It makes sense if you imagine what the foggy sky above a large city looks like: not quite black, and lit up by distant lights.

I don't know if Gibson himself ever said anything about that. Of course, nowadays whenever that line comes up the response is usually "HURR DURR BLUE TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES YOUNG PEOPLE DON'T KNOW WHAT TV IS"

Just finished this last night. Fucking amazing novel. I liked how the flatline got his own little cyber paradise in the end.
Seems like pretty much every cyberpunk anime touted as "original" straight up rips off gibson, which makes me sad.

>>4649063
You're correct. Most younger readers have never seen a tube television that still did that. It's a strange grey that looks grey almost like the TV is off but you can tell that it's actually on.

>>4648963

I don't understand how you could say that about a book that has inspired many other authors in the same genre.

Srsly?! Mark Wahlberg as Case? That's just straight up retarded. Aaron Paul on the other hand is a perfect fit.

>>4649406
Though Gibson's writing style is very good, it's essentially teenage boy wish fulfillment. Cool loser with a mysterious past is given the opportunity to be a badass and gets to bone the supercool vinyl clad mirrorshade hottie.

>>4649063
I always assumed it was a mottled grey, like with static. Speaking of things the kids don't see these days though, overnight test patterns and those corny signing-off videos are mostly a thing of the past as well. Everyone just does infomercials all night nowadays.

>>4649433
You must have a very sad life if you have to trash talk a book in which you admit the writing is good simply to feel superior. Not to mention, I think the wish fulfillment aspects are pretty inconsequential to the overarching themes (I didn't even remember Case boning Molly)

>>4649433
Isn't that every book? Most of the time one of them dies, but it doesn't make it bad when that doesn't happen.

All cyberpunk stresses the same thing: In a future filled with technology, people with currently less than useful skills reign supreme.

>>4649420
Would be terrible casting yes.

Here's a wish list

Case - Aaron Paul
Molly - Shannyn Sossamon
Armitage - Liam Neeson (have just got him in mind now)
Riviera - Michael Fassbender
Finn - Bryan Cranston

>>4649445
What the fuck are you talking about? I said Gibson's writing is good, but the story and overarching themes are really not particularly great. Get the fuck over yourself.

I'm not even saying that Gibson didn't have some amazing ideas. He did. But basically go back and re-read it (Clearly you need to if you don't remember the Case/Molly sex) You'll be surprised.

TLDR: Go listen to moar VNV Nation in your parent's bedroom.

>>4649467
You seem overwrought.

Also, nothing wrong with a little VNV nation so long as you ignore the dopey lyrics. Why would he listen to it in his parent's bedroom though?

>>4649467
Story and overarching themes are excellent. I dunno how they can be not particularly great while the ideas are amazing. Methinks you just want to sound cool by saying "lel only for 16 year olds, i'm so much more mature than that" or, in other words, you're a colossal fag.

my advice:
-read the first ~3 chapters of neuromancer
-stop reading
-never read another "cyberpunk" hock of loogie shit ever again
-I warned ya

Go read when gravity fails next OP. Don't ever read the Neuromancer sequels if you value writing with dignity and class. Just don't

>>4649563

>>4649433
Most stories could be spun that way, shut te fuck up

>still bitching about pulp stories as if theyre intended to be 2deep but fail

/lit/ STILL cannot into this type of story
You guys are no different from tumblr girls complaining that dracula has no romance

>>4648279
>no Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep...

>>4649612

>>4648279

>>4648303
it's pretty much all about the vibe man. the visuals, the music, the acting.

though I disagree with you about the story being shit, blade runner is a near perfect film IMO

Well we can all dream...

http://youtu.be/mFRVPAF2rFo

>>4649648

Gtfo

>>4648201
Lol what I had no idea there was a game out until I saw your pic! Check link

http://youtu.be/2NtKddSf1H4

Just finished this. I don't recommend it.

Just finished it. I would recommend it.

>>4649605
>dracula has no romance
WUT: The novel had more then enough romance

>>4646819
Not the guy you responded to, but he does mention "predictions" twice as two redeeming qualities of the book. It's not about predictions, it's about letting your imagination run wild with some new technology and taking it to where you think the logical conclusion is.

I read neuromancer and I thought it was pretty cool. Taken in its historical context, I'd say it is fantastic. It's considered amazing because it essentially started the whole cyberpunk genre and style of sci-fi.

>>4651683
The point wasn't that Neuromancer was trying to predict anything. It was that the book just happened to "correctly predict" surging technology after the fact. That's why its most fondly remembered these days. If the "predictions" hadn't come "true", or if another book had them instead, THAT book would have taken Neuromancer's place, and Neuromancer would have just been a quirky sci-fi book that exists, that people happen to know about.

Its just like the whole "Star Trek had cellphones before cellphones existed!" situation. The show wasn't trying to be at the forefront of technology; it just had futuristic shit that people either intentionally or unintentionally ended up copying.

>>4652183
It's not solely about "predictions", it's also about establishing and popularising the aesthetic.
>if if wouldn't have ended up being influential then some other book would have
You could say that about any book ever.

Top kek

It has a cool title. That's about all I can say for it.

I can't believe it still hasn't been made into a movie.
I really wish it would have been made in the 80's.

Lel

Speaking of William Gibson, anybody read The Difference Engine? It was pretty mediocre, though it had a very cool setting.

I have read The Difference Engine and thought it was okay, not good, though. Gibson tends to have pretty good world building. I think someone mentioned it before that Neuromancer is his best novel.

We should do a reading on this thread.

No

>>4647105
It's funny really. I hate Gibson with a passion and really only liked Neuromancer and Burning Chrome.

The other two Sprawl books were shit, and on a personal level, I think he's a complete cunt.

>>4648349
The rest of the trilogy had obvious cash-in written all over it. I'd only recommend it to people I was trying to prove Gibson was shit to.

>>4648370
Sadly, I wish I hadn't judged him on just Neuromancer. It would have saved me time reading everything else, waiting for the lightning to strike twice. I could have finished everything else that he wrote that was good before my tea got cold.

>>4648369
>>4648399
Sort of this. I love Neuromancer. It's fucking amazing, and I read and listen to it over and over again.

>>4649445
> (I didn't even remember Case boning Molly)

Bull-fucking-shit. It's the, bar-none, absolute worst bit of the entire book. I mean, utter horseshit in word form. I cringe every fucking time.

>>4648738

>Imagining Wahlberg lisping his way through Neuromancer like he did in The Happening.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

>>4654588
You mean you didn't love Case playing with dem nipples?

>>4654585
>The rest of the trilogy had obvious cash-in written all over it.
Is it wrong that I don't judge genre fiction by sequels or follow-up series? I find it more sincere than the european model of literary fiction where the author splits a single book into parts so he can get enough government grants to live off.

>>4654985
The only part that convinced me he'd even touched a woman before writing that was Molly bitching about Case getting fingerprints on her inset shades. That had the ring of truth.

>>4655371
Yea the scene pretty much boiled down to "Molly decided to touch Case's balls, and Case decided to touch Molly's bewbs. Then they totally DID IT, because doing it is awesome."

>>4646705
2edgy5me

Seriously, i put the line at people putting 2 pairs of sunglasses at night in a dark room while being drug addicts with "dark and mysterious" past and being hackers and martial art masters at the same time.

If i was 15 it would be my wet dream i bet, but just as snow crash, when you are over 20 it all comes off as tryhard and totally unbelievable.
Also teh fact Gibson sounds like some upper middle class spoiled twat who had as much contact with any crime as his tv cable allowed dosnt help.

All this made it impossible for em to focus on anything he had to say about technology or social trends.

>>4655617
I'm quite the opposite. I like my fiction to either maintain reality or go BALLS TO THE WALL. Nothing is worse than all the shit in in the middle.

>>4656578
The stuff in the middle is called good s-f.

The stuff Gibso Writes, and as much as i hate this phase, is a male power fantasy and self insert and excuse for him to make his own spank material.
We dont get 1/4 into the book without having sex with sexy nijna hackers, come on, i cant take this seriously.

>>4655560
Yes, never mind that it is Molly Millions again.

>>4657375
This. Within 24 hours of his junkie girlfriend double crossing him, then getting wasted, post-op to repair his nervous system, while forcibly going cold turkey, and in a coffin hotel, he bones Johnny Mnemonic's old girl.

>>4657375
>>4657657
this may be a valid argument for neuromancer but gibson's writing has evolved since the 1980s

not that you've read pattern recognition or anything

I really enjoyed it myself. Not superduper amazing, but a book doesn't have to be great to be great.

>>4657667
Maybe, but since the 80's he's become an insufferable prick who's shit I wouldn't read even if it was the finest work ever written in human language.

And honestly, that's just joking about the unbe-fucking-lievably bad sex scene in Neuromancer. It's otherwise clearly the best thing he ever wrote.

I don't really care much for the author. I did manage to read all of the book. I will not recommend it to low level readers. I did recommend it to my cousin and he liked it.

I want to also do a read through ppl.