Count Zero by William Gibson

Count Zero

I feel like I've read the Sprawl series as a set of flashbacks. I started with the most recent, Mona Lisa Overdrive, slammed all the way back to Nueromancer, and then wound up filling in the final blanks in the middle. I don't know if it's because I have all the pieces now or just the way this one was put together, but Count Zero is my favorite of the three. (The only big flaw being the complete lack of Molly).

But what's not to like? Corporate rule may be my "favorite" form of dystopia in fiction - it's just so god damned possible these days - and Gibson loves it as much as I do. There's less out and out techbabble and more story (necessary, I guess, when you have at least three plot lines tangling up together and no dearth of worthwhile characters to follow) - although, as usual with the godfather of cyberpunk, most of the techy stuff is right on the nose some 20+ years later.

From what I understand, the reason Gibson let his image of the internet wander so far is that he really didn't have much of a clue about computers when he started writing these things. He heard a few things about it, came up with ideas that sounded cool to him, and went with it. That's how he wound up presenting us with steampunk computers and fractured AI personalities mimicking Vodun spirits and the web itself as a sort of shared hallucination of infinite space and possibility. He didn't know what was considered impossible, so he went ahead and invented it anyway.

Having finished all three of his Sprawl novels, I'd like to see a book of short stories by different authors set in that vast urban landscape. Jack Womack, China Miéville, maybe even someone like Haruki Murakami. Just an idea.

final thought: Putting aside his agile story-telling, his amazing tech predictions, and his ability at world-building, you know what I really do appreciate about Gibson? He offers a sort of hope for his characters at the end, and us through them. Not everyone makes it, but those who do are often better off, thanks to dumb luck and their own effort, at the end than they are at the beginning. And after 8 months of nearly unmitigated dark resolutions, that's something worth having.

Virtual Light by William Gibson

Vitual Light

Okay, now that I've read VL, I need to go back and reread Idoru, the next book in Gibson's Bridge Trilogy. I enjoyed it at the time, but I think having a basis for some of the characters would open it up a little wider for me.

Let me just say, Virtual Light was a much-needed break after the bleakness of most good dystopian fiction. Gibson didn't write about a society that's worked out all the kinks and put down all the uprisings, but about one not far from our own. Fascist and getting more so all the time, police state on the way, but still with enough wiggle room for the drunks and artists and regular folks to go on about their business without too much hassle. He offers hope-within-despair, such as the "AIDS saint" J. D. Shapely and his life-giving blood, murdered by Christian thugs while still passing his gift on to those who will accept it.

What I enjoyed most about VL were the backdrop and details. The bridge, in all its piecemeal glory, really drew me in. But then, I'm a fan of found space and urban warrens. The religious sect that believes the Lord can be seen in old movies and tv shows could be spun into a whole new book and still keep my interest. The different drugs and dealers, the cargo-ship mall, the Nightmare Art Gallery - that's the kind of story telling I like. Rich and real, even when it's completely off the wall.

And, in the end, the day is saved by the balance struck between the legal and the illegal, both attempting to keep their side in power. I find that telling. You show me a society with no crime but many laws, I will show you a society I'd rather die than join. The underground is as necessary to a full life as sewer systems and literacy.

final thoughts: I honestly can't believe it took me this long to read this one. Not the best thing going, but a damn good read.