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Wesley: All right. I'm going to let you all in on something you may have trouble comprehending. I assure you however-- Gunn: Vampires are real. Wesley: I was telling!
'The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
msbelle - Aug 07, 2007 5:49:39 am PDT #3573 of 28199
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb
DavidS - Aug 07, 2007 12:25:36 pm PDT #3574 of 28199
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
They had the new Wm. Gibson, Spook Country, at the bookstore.
I got sucked into it immediately. Part of it is that he's like a travel writer for the future (even when the future is now). There's a lot of time admiring the luxury items in a Gibson book, especially if they're imaginary.
Anyway, the protagonist reminded me of Gloomcookie a little bit.
I've decided that Gibson's supernow referentiality is always going to create....hmmm, there doesn't seem to be a word for it. Anachronisms in reverse?
Like the infamous line in Neuromancer about the sky being like a dead TV channel (meaning gray and staticky) and the world quickly shooting by that with widespread cable use so that the association would be with a blank blue screen instead.
This book uses an LA reference which would be perfectly apt for any Angeleno two years ago but is now defunct. He uses the location of Tower Records on Sunset as a reference point.
Which makes his book feel So Last Year.
Admittedly, it is set in 2006.
Polter-Cow - Aug 07, 2007 12:31:08 pm PDT #3575 of 28199
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
I read Neuromancer this weekend! It was hard to believe it was written in 1984, as it reminded me of Snow Crash.
DavidS - Aug 07, 2007 12:33:19 pm PDT #3576 of 28199
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
It was hard to believe it was written in 1984, as it reminded me of Snow Crash.
Well, Snow Crash copied a lot.
Though Gibson never named his protagonist Hiro.
Polter-Cow - Aug 07, 2007 12:38:27 pm PDT #3577 of 28199
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Well, Snow Crash copied a lot.
Sure, but I like Stephenson's prose style more. It's got esprit up to here.
DavidS - Aug 07, 2007 12:51:16 pm PDT #3578 of 28199
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Sure, but I like Stephenson's prose style more. It's got esprit up to here.
Huh. That's not something I would posit as Stephenson's strength over Gibson.
From the LA Times review:
Sentence for sentence, few authors equal Gibson's gift for the terse yet poetic description, the quotable simile -- people and products are nailed down with a beautiful precision approximating the platonic ideal of the catalog. An ex-bandmate now wears a " 'Bladerunner' soccer-mom look," a "Bluetoothed bouncer" patrols a bar and, when Gibson registers a "delirious surge of graffiti, a sort of street-fractal Hokusai wave," the phrasing is itself a delirious surge of pleasure-center prose.
Polter-Cow - Aug 07, 2007 12:57:09 pm PDT #3579 of 28199
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
That's not something I would posit as Stephenson's strength over Gibson.
What would you, then?
DavidS - Aug 07, 2007 1:07:45 pm PDT #3580 of 28199
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Trick question! Or rather I trapped myself because I don't consider Stephenson to be a better writer than Gibson.
Uh...Stephenson is an actual nerd who actually programmed and understands the science. Whereas Gibson is primarily interested in exploring the metaphoric implications of new technology.
Stephenson's climaxes don't peter out in trippy, apocalyptic Space Odyssey imagery.
Small spoiler for the book: A character recurs from Pattern Recognition, Hubertus Bigend. Speculation about that character's name on the interpipe suggests it may have been a nod to the character Recktall Brown in William Gaddis' book The Recognitions. Also, the Pynchonian tendency to name characters with broad, comic names. Also that whole era of metafiction's (late sixties, early 70s) fascination with Capitalism Equals Shit.
Polter-Cow - Aug 07, 2007 1:18:35 pm PDT #3581 of 28199
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
I feel like Stephenson is more user-friendly in his tone. Gibson's prose is denser and more detailed, as if he really, really wants you to know that he sees that world in his head.
Liese S. - Aug 07, 2007 1:27:24 pm PDT #3582 of 28199
"Faded like the lilac, he thought."
I hate Stephenson. Really, really hate him. Threw the book across the room, hate him. And damaged the cover. And Didn't Even Care!
I love Gibson. I cannot wait until I get my hands on Spook Country, but it will have to wait as I spent my book allowance on Vampire People.
eta: Hee! I missed hitting the post button. I think it happened because I'd left off a period, and the b.org will not allow such a travesty.