I find most of Gibson's characters to be two-dimensional.
It was almost shocking to read Pat Cadigan and find really interesting, complex characters in a cyberpunk setting.
Jayne: Here's a little concept I been workin' on. Why don't we shoot her first? Wash: It is her turn.
'Serenity'
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."
DavidS - Aug 08, 2007 7:47:38 am PDT #3627 of 28200
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Miracleman - Aug 08, 2007 7:49:56 am PDT #3628 of 28200
No, I don't think I will - me, quoting Captain Steve Rogers, to all of 2020
Walter Jon Williams' Hardwired is also pretty good cyberpunk. But, again, the main character, Cowboy, is kind of an emotional blank. He does things he's passionate about, but somehow the passion never actually comes across.
I noticed the same things about his characters in Angel Station as well.
DavidS - Aug 08, 2007 8:09:07 am PDT #3629 of 28200
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Let me deviate briefly from this cyberpunk survey to share an interesting interview with Patrick McGrath about the gothic literary sensibility.
Back to cyberpunk: Has anybody read Greg Bear's Queen of Angels?
I loved it but nobody ever talks about it.
Jessica - Aug 08, 2007 8:21:29 am PDT #3630 of 28200
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Yep, I've read it a couple of times. Love Greg Bear.
Polter-Cow - Aug 08, 2007 8:25:24 am PDT #3631 of 28200
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
At Comic-Con last year, Ray Bradbury named Greg Bear as an up-and-coming sci-fi writer to watch, as he had sort of mentored him after he came up to him at a signing and asked to correspond with him when he (Bear) was a boy.
DavidS - Aug 08, 2007 8:27:37 am PDT #3632 of 28200
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
At Comic-Con last year, Ray Bradbury named Greg Bear as an up-and-coming sci-fi writer to watch,
I think Bear has established himself as more than up-and-coming, though I'm sure that's Bradbury's perspective since he mentored Bear.
But Bear's been publishing regularly since the early eighties.
Polter-Cow - Aug 08, 2007 8:32:08 am PDT #3633 of 28200
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Yeah, he said he'd won more awards than he had, and that we probably knew him. But I'd never heard of him.
Jessica - Aug 08, 2007 8:37:59 am PDT #3634 of 28200
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
I think Bradbury meant it as a joke...
In an odd bit of synchronicity, a friend of mine will be chatting live with Greg Bear over on Gather later this month.
Miracleman - Aug 08, 2007 10:18:50 am PDT #3635 of 28200
No, I don't think I will - me, quoting Captain Steve Rogers, to all of 2020
I've read Bear's Blood Music. Creepy and weird. But very good.
DavidS - Aug 08, 2007 10:21:00 am PDT #3636 of 28200
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
I've read Bear's Blood Music. Creepy and weird. But very good.
Yeah, Blood Music is excellent. But it's not a book I'd reread.
Whereas, like Jessica, I'd gladly reread Queen of Angels because I really enjoyed being in that world.
Got any used bookstores nearby, MM?