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Neuromancer [message #73095] Sat, 25 May 2013 10:58 Go to next message
keithl is currently offline  keithl
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Message-ID: <1356@vice.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 27-Jun-84 00:14:11 EDT
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Posted: Wed Jun 27 00:14:11 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 22-Jun-84 20:40:55 EDT
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<>

Neuromancer, William Gibson, Ace Specials, $2.95 ppb.

This book seems like a three way cross between Bladerunner (the movie),
True Names by Vinge, and the Ophiuchi Hotline by Varley.  The book
follows protagonist Case from the criminal underworld of Chiba City,
Japan, to the space habitat Villa Straylight.  He is a computer "cowboy",
whose job is to crack computer systems and steal data.  The world he works
in, cyberspace, is reminiscent of the artificial world in True Names, but
a lot more deadly.  The scenery is gloomy, violent, and high-tech.  
The characters are burned out, drug-ridden, and jaded.  The computers are
Machiavellian.  Authority appears (briefly) in the form of the Turing
police, who work to destroy artificial intelligences that grow beyond
certain bounds.  The love interest is Molly, a surgically modified
mercenary, or "razorgirl".

I won't recommend this wholeheartedly, because it is rather strange,
downbeat, and doesn't have much of an ending.  BUT, the language is
good, the concepts are fascinating, and the imagery is splendid.
Very realistic extrapolation.  Worth checking out if you can handle
a little gloom.

-- 
Keith Lofstrom
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Re: Neuromancer [message #73102 is a reply to message #73095] Sat, 25 May 2013 10:58 Go to previous messageGo to next message
brucec is currently offline  brucec
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Date: Fri, 22-Jun-84 15:18:53 EDT
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Posted: Fri Jun 22 15:18:53 1984
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I bought "Neuromancer" because I was curious to see if the book carried the
ideas in "True Names" any further.  I didn't think that the concept of
cyberspace was at all well developed or described (though it would probably
look all right in a movie, in fact it reminded me of the arcology cityscape
of "Bladerunner"), so I was somewhat disappointed.

Once I got over the disappointment at the book being something other than
what it was hyped up to be, and what I'd hoped it was, though, I found it
generally good reading.  Keith Lofstrom is right, it is very gloomy, and
rather anti-climactic, but the subcultures which are shown are
well-visualized and the characters are more than just cardboard (even the AI
is believable, if not comprehensible).  Not great, but worth reading.

Incidently, does anyone out there remember a series of short stories
published in Amazing (or maybe Fantastic (great magazine titles, no?)) in the
early '70s, based on a character by the name of Queer Sal?  The tone (hi-tech
punk) and the mood (gloom and doom) of "Neuromancer" remind me of them.

				Bruce Cohen
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Re: Neuromancer [message #74510 is a reply to message #73095] Sun, 26 May 2013 21:07 Go to previous messageGo to next message
rpw3 is currently offline  rpw3
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Message-ID: <3683@fortune.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 24-Jun-84 15:05:27 EDT
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Posted: Sun Jun 24 15:05:27 1984
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+---------------
| Neuromancer, William Gibson, Ace Specials, $2.95 ppb.
| 
| This book seems like a three way cross between Bladerunner (the movie),
| True Names by Vinge, and the Ophiuchi Hotline by Varley.
+---------------

Don't forget "Coils", by Zelazny & Saberhagen, or "Fireship" by Joan Vinge.

"Neuromancer" had a fairly convincing social milieu, a good deal more complex
than "Fireship" (although therefore not as elegant), and the technology is more
convincing than the (totally unjustified) various one-off ESPs of "Coils".

Rob Warnock

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Re: Neuromancer [message #117473 is a reply to message #73095] Mon, 23 September 2013 18:07 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: long@oliveb.UUCP (Dave Long)
Message-ID: <264@oliveb.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 19-Feb-85 20:42:25 EST
Article-I.D.: oliveb.264
Posted: Tue Feb 19 20:42:25 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 20-Feb-85 06:45:47 EST
References: <5719@rochester.UUCP> 
Reply-To: long@oliveb.UUCP (Dave Long)
Organization: D&L U., Thaumaturgy
Lines: 11
Summary: 

[movl (pc),4(pc)]

    "Neuromancer" is certainly a good book.  Does anyone know if William Gib-
son has written anything else besides "Neuromancer", "Burning Chrome", and
"Johnny Mnemonic"?  In "Neuromancer", Molly Millions (from "Johnny Mnemonic")
talks for a while about what happened to her and Johnny after the end of
"Johnny Mnemonic".  Is there any similar connection with "Burning Chrome"?
(I have a hunch that the deck jockey might be the same one from "Burning
Chrome", but I can't check it out right now.)

						Dave Long
Re: Neuromancer [message #117663 is a reply to message #73095] Mon, 23 September 2013 18:31 Go to previous message
jcp is currently offline  jcp
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Message-ID: <151@osiris.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 24-Feb-85 18:02:59 EST
Article-I.D.: osiris.151
Posted: Sun Feb 24 18:02:59 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Mar-85 07:39:02 EST
References: <755@topaz.ARPA>
Organization: Johns Hopkins Hospital
Lines: 9

"Johnny Mnemonic" and "Burning Chrome" both appeared in OMNI about
a year and a half and two and half years ago, I think (I dug up the
back issues when I bought "Neuromancer"). Both of them share characters
with "Neuromancer", but definitely precede the events in the book.
Molly Millions figures prominently in "Johnny Mnemonic" and "Neuromancer" -
the book tells you something about what happened after the short story
ended. All three are excellent reading, I highly recommend them.

jcpatilla
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