Thanks, Fred! ND owns it and said the same, so I'm very intrigued. I will add it to the pile.
I like the way the walls go out. Gives you an open feeling. Firefly is a good design. People don't appreciate the substance of things. Objects in space. People miss out on what's solid.
Early ,'Objects In Space'
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."
Pix - Jun 19, 2008 10:36:29 am PDT #6425 of 28370
The status is NOT quo.
Maysa - Jun 19, 2008 11:04:38 am PDT #6426 of 28370
Just finished Oscar Wao. I think I wanted to like it much more than I did. Which is a bummer.
Is the book as good as his short stories are? I love those, but I'm reluctant to read Oscar Wao, because sometimes good short story writers aren't such good novelists.
Volans - Jun 19, 2008 12:41:04 pm PDT #6427 of 28370
move out and draw fire
Question for the masses: If you were compiling a list of Must Read Cyberpunk / Metaverse Books (hi Sox), what would be on it? Nonfiction as well as fiction.
Signed, I can't get thru a Charles Stross book.
DavidS - Jun 19, 2008 12:45:03 pm PDT #6428 of 28370
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
If you were compiling a list of Must Read Cyberpunk / Metaverse Books (hi Sox), what would be on it? Nonfiction as well as fiction.
The compilation Storming the Reality Studio is great. I love it because they have a critical bibliography of all the cyberpunk precursors which cites things like one particularly dark and cool short story by Fritz Leiber as well as all the usual Ballard and PKD.
Synners - Pat Cadigan
Queen of Angels - Greg Bear
Schismatrix - Bruce Sterling
Those Alec Effinger books which have recently been reprinted. What was the first one called? When Gravity Falls or something? Those were good.
Gibson, Stephenson etc.
DavidS - Jun 19, 2008 12:48:16 pm PDT #6429 of 28370
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Oh, and even before there was a World Wide Web I remember using FTP to download bits from Steve Shaviro's Doom Patrol. Which starts with the Grant Morrison comic but uses it as a springboard to pursue a lot then-trendy 90s notions of post-modernity.
Very cyberpunky.
DavidS - Jun 19, 2008 12:50:36 pm PDT #6430 of 28370
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Also in historical mode, Bruce Sterling's original rabble rousing, name-calling, icon shattering punk-as-fuck zine Cheap Truth is all available online.
DavidS - Jun 19, 2008 12:54:24 pm PDT #6431 of 28370
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Heh. Here Sterling calls out the weaknesses in Neuromancer to praise Greg Bear's Blood Music. What a snot!
Kat - Jun 19, 2008 1:51:09 pm PDT #6432 of 28370
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
Is the book as good as his short stories are? I love those, but I'm reluctant to read Oscar Wao, because sometimes good short story writers aren't such good novelists.
I much preferred Drown. I think that Oscar Wao is episodic enough that it gets to some of his strengths as a short story writer. But Drown was so much better.
Steph L. - Jun 19, 2008 3:05:17 pm PDT #6433 of 28370
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine
Since cyberpunk came up, and it reminds me of my semi-annual plaint of "What is 'cyberpunk,' exactly?" (that's NOT what this post is about), it made me think of steampunk, and how when we were discussing steampunk quite some time ago (over a year ago, IIRC), Jilli mentioned The Anubis Gates, and I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but right after she mentioned it, I got it from the library, and although it took me a little bit to get into it, I *loved* it. LOVED. It's so sly.
Jessica - Jun 19, 2008 3:12:01 pm PDT #6434 of 28370
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Sterling calls out the weaknesses in Neuromancer to praise Greg Bear's Blood Music
According to your link, that particular article was written by Candace Berragus, not Bruce Sterling.
I'd add Walter Jon Williams Hardwired to Hec's list to round out the pulpy side of cyberpunk.
And, of course, Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne (A Tek Jansen Adventure).