{"id":1144,"date":"2021-02-27T23:33:32","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T07:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/?p=1144"},"modified":"2023-09-18T03:03:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T10:03:09","slug":"william-gibson-flashes-of-excellence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/william-gibson-flashes-of-excellence\/","title":{"rendered":"books: William Gibson flashes of excellence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Early William Gibson is so white-hot, not just the fantastic Sprawl series (<em>Neuromancer<\/em>, <em>Count Zero<\/em>, <em>Mona Lisa Overdrive<\/em>) but also his short stories, adaptations, and explorations. <a href=\"\/gibson\/biblio.htm\">My 30-year-old web page<\/a> captures all his output back then, including the rarities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s unrealistic to expect that level of achievement throughout a career, and his subsequent trilogies are pleasant nearer futures with drily comic observations, a lot of cultural and branding references, engaging characters, and not a lot of plot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He&#8217;s picked up steam in the 2010s&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div id=\"review-DistrustThatParticularFlavor\" class=\"review\">\n  <h3>Distrust That Particular Flavor<\/h3>\n\n<figure style=\"float: left; margin: 0 1em 0 0\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo\" src=\"\/\/covers.openlibrary.org\/b\/isbn\/978042525299-4-L.jpg\" alt=\"book cover of 'Distrust That Particular Flavor'\" height=\"250\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n    <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Distrust_That_Particular_Flavor\">\n  \n  Distrust That Particular Flavor\n    <\/a>\n  \n  by\n    <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/William_Gibson\">William Gibson<\/a>\n  \n  <span style=\"font-size: smaller\"><br>ISBN <a title=\"Book sources for ISBN 978-0-425-25299-4\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/9780425252994\">978-0-425-25299-4<\/a><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"description\">\n  <abbr class=\"rating\" title=\"3.5\">\n    \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606\n  <\/abbr> Short non-fiction essay collection is essential for \u201cDown the Line,\u201d his sensational reverie on moving pictures from cave paintings in flickering firelight to a kid playing VR kung fu with classic movie characters.\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both; margin-bottom:24px\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\", \"@type\": \"Book\", \"author\": \"William Gibson\", \"isbn\": \"978-0-425-25299-4\", \"name\": \"Distrust That Particular Flavor\", \"review\": {\"@type\": \"Review\", \"author\": {\"@type\": \"Person\", \"name\": \"skierpage\", \"sameAs\": \"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/people\/skierpage\/#me\"}, \"datePublished\": \"2021-02-27\", \"name\": \"\", \"reviewBody\": \"Short non-fiction essay collection is essential for \\u201cDown the Line,\\u201d his sensational reverie on moving pictures from cave paintings in flickering firelight to a kid playing VR kung fu with classic movie characters.\", \"reviewRating\": {\"@type\": \"Rating\", \"ratingValue\": 3.5}}}\n<\/script>\n\n\n<div id=\"review-ThePeripheral\" class=\"review\">\n  <h3>Elegiac projected future sadness<\/h3>\n\n<figure style=\"float: left; margin: 0 1em 0 0\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo\" src=\"\/\/covers.openlibrary.org\/b\/id\/10499185-L.jpg\" alt=\"book cover of 'The Peripheral'\" height=\"250\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n    <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Peripheral\">\n  \n  The Peripheral\n    <\/a>\n  \n  by\n    <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/William_Gibson\">William Gibson<\/a>\n  \n  <span style=\"font-size: smaller\"><br>ISBN <a title=\"Book sources for ISBN 978-0-399-15844-5\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/9780399158445\">978-0-399-15844-5<\/a><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"description\">\n  <abbr class=\"rating\" title=\"4.5\">\n    \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\n  <\/abbr> The usual late Gibson: really short chapters intercutting, straightforward weak plot, the characters include a hollow man and a plucky young woman, it leads to a high-tech shootout. Add the tired Macguffin of time travel and my expectations were low. But the time travel has a clever twist, so that the intercutting is between here and now and a far future that\u2019s post-post-apocalyptic; the rural dead-end and war veteran kids are fantastically well portrayed; the future has a bizarre trash cult. It\u2019s the best late Gibson, and I enjoyed re-reading it.\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both; margin-bottom:24px\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\", \"@type\": \"Book\", \"author\": \"William Gibson\", \"isbn\": \"978-0-399-15844-5\", \"name\": \"The Peripheral\", \"review\": {\"@type\": \"Review\", \"author\": {\"@type\": \"Person\", \"name\": \"skierpage\", \"sameAs\": \"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/people\/skierpage\/#me\"}, \"datePublished\": \"2021-02-27\", \"name\": \"Elegiac projected future sadness\", \"reviewBody\": \"The usual late Gibson: really short chapters intercutting, straightforward weak plot, the characters include a hollow man and a plucky young woman, it leads to a high-tech shootout. Add the tired Macguffin of time travel and my expectations were low. But the time travel has a clever twist, so that the intercutting is between here and now and a far future that\\u2019s post-post-apocalyptic; the rural dead-end and war veteran kids are fantastically well portrayed; the future has a bizarre trash cult. It\\u2019s the best late Gibson, and I enjoyed re-reading it.\", \"reviewRating\": {\"@type\": \"Rating\", \"ratingValue\": 4.5}}}\n<\/script>\n\n\n<div id=\"review-Agency\" class=\"review\">\n  <h3>Hilary Clinton lost<\/h3>\n\n<figure style=\"float: left; margin: 0 1em 0 0\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo\" src=\"\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/8\/89\/Cover_Art%2C_Agency_by_William_Gibson.jpg\" alt=\"book cover of 'Agency'\" height=\"250\"><\/figure>\n<p>\n    <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Agency_(novel)\">\n  \n  Agency\n    <\/a>\n  \n  by\n    <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/William_Gibson\">William Gibson<\/a>\n  \n  <span style=\"font-size: smaller\"><br>ISBN <a title=\"Book sources for ISBN 978-1-101-98693-6\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Special:BookSources\/9781101986936\">978-1-101-98693-6<\/a><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"description\">\n  <abbr class=\"rating\" title=\"3.5\">\n    \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606\n  <\/abbr> Gibson returns to the setup from The Peripheral. In interviews he talked about how Trump\u2019s presidency threw his plans for the book into disarray, so he adds an alternate history to the time travel Macguffin which comes across self-indulgent. It\u2019s nowhere near as strong as The Peripheral, continuing its themes but shifting the present-day thread from rural hurt to the same urban fl\u00e2neur vibe as his previous trilogy e.g. Zero History.\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both; margin-bottom:24px\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\", \"@type\": \"Book\", \"author\": \"William Gibson\", \"isbn\": \"978-1-101-98693-6\", \"name\": \"Agency\", \"review\": {\"@type\": \"Review\", \"author\": {\"@type\": \"Person\", \"name\": \"skierpage\", \"sameAs\": \"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/people\/skierpage\/#me\"}, \"datePublished\": \"2021-02-27\", \"name\": \"Hilary Clinton lost\", \"reviewBody\": \"Gibson returns to the setup from The Peripheral. In interviews he talked about how Trump\\u2019s presidency threw his plans for the book into disarray, so he adds an alternate history to the time travel Macguffin which comes across self-indulgent. It\\u2019s nowhere near as strong as The Peripheral, continuing its themes but shifting the present-day thread from rural hurt to the same urban fl\\u00e2neur vibe as his previous trilogy e.g. Zero History.\", \"reviewRating\": {\"@type\": \"Rating\", \"ratingValue\": 3.5}}}\n<\/script>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did I do this?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This blog post has bits of JSON-LD describing my book review that in theory tell search engines what I&#8217;m explaining. The post &#8220;<a href=\"\/blog\/2020\/05\/web-book-reviews-yet-again\/\">book reviews yet again<\/a>&#8221; has the gory details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Early William Gibson is so white-hot, not just the fantastic Sprawl series (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive) but also his short stories, adaptations, and explorations. My 30-year-old web page captures all his output back then, including the rarities. It&#8217;s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/william-gibson-flashes-of-excellence\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1144"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1802,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions\/1802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}