William Gibson Books www.williamgibsonboard.com www.williamgibsonboard.com Spook Country *SPOILERS OK* WG answers questions at B&Ns CENTER STAGE (archived 06-18-2008)
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CENTER STAGE
Talk about Books & Authors : CENTER STAGE: William Gibson : Re: William Gibson's Latest: Spook Country William_Gibson Hi. I'm three days from finishing the paperback tour for Spook Country, so until Tuesday night I won't actually have all that much internet access (or time), but I'll be happy to try to answer some questions anyway. I'll be able to answer more when I'm back in Vancouver on Wednesday. 06-15-2008 08:25 AM melaniejackson I'm reading Spook Country now and enjoying it very much. Many of your stories read like blank verse poetry and I find myself reading them that way-- which is to say, slowly and savoring not just what is said but HOW it's said. That is a compliment :-).... will there be other stories with the characters from Spook Country? 06-15-2008 09:22 PM William_Gibson I'm reluctant to say. Discussing work in progress isn't good for my process. That said, I never think of a book with characters from a previous book as a sequel, in the ordinary sense. I think of it as "set in the same world". But I want a reader who hasn't read Pattern Recognition to be able to enjoy Spook Country. I don't plan narrative arcs over the course of multiple books, but then I don't plan narrative arcs, period. I try to find them as I write, which is something else entirely. 06-15-2008 09:45 PM fashionpolice Hi! I'm wondering which books you are reading right now. Or more specifically, is it even possible to read anything when you're in a different city every day while on your paperback tour? Which books are waiting for you on your nightstand when you return home? 06-16-2008 02:13 AM William_Gibson Re: Current Reading Just started The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. Most of tour I read Julian Cope's Japrocksampler and July issue of Forteam Times (which has a fine article on Jack Womack and his work). Before that, Junot Diaz' super-fine The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The stuff on my bedside table is chosen for soporific value. 06-16-2008 06:15 AM mimesis Hi! Since i finished reading Spook Country one of the things that stayed with me and i found myself thinking about was Titos music. I imagine it as a mix between Burial (Untrue) and fennesz and Ryuichi Sakamotos cendre. My question is, did you think of and listen to any particular artists music when you wrote Tito, and is music important to you when you write? //m 06-16-2008 05:55 AM William_Gibson I wound up with a much clearer idea of the Curfew's business history than of their music. More than I used in the book, I mean. In my experience, when you talk to a musician about a band you were in, that's what they remember, and tell you (if they're being honest). Music is important to me, though I suspect I regard it as a species of narrative, and don't want to listen to one narrative while I try to write another. I also suspect I think of prose fiction as a species of music. 06-16-2008 06:26 AM konrads Hi, In Your books You have always created heroes, who's actions appear to be small on grand scale of things, but actually tip those scales. Where did the prototypes came from? If You could pick a time, place and skill-set, would You still write books? 06-16-2008 08:29 AM William_Gibson I've just never been much taken with the capital-H heroic. Basic human-scale efforts mounted by characters who are themselves actually frightened is what convinces me. Just based on basic life-experience and my reading of history. 06-16-2008 11:04 PM relaxing I enjoyed the return of Afro-Carribean spirituality in Spook Country. In Count Zero it was implied that a deity such as Papa Legba, god of the crossroads, might be an artificial intelligence. Can we infer the same of Tito's use of religion in his systema -- that 'Eleggua' could be an imaginative name for some technological means of navigating the crossroads? 06-16-2008 09:16 AM William_Gibson I wanted to leave it as ambiguous as possible, as to whether or not Tito's gods are anything more than experientially real. The important thing for me was that his family be a different kind of "faith-based initiative". 06-16-2008 11:06 PM fashionpolice Re: Current Reading Thank you for your very speedy reply. 06-16-2008 11:29 AM Stephanie William, Would love to hear about the tour - what is a typical book signing like for you? Stephanie 06-16-2008 02:56 PM William_Gibson Arrive early, sign stock, read from book, invite questions, sign people's books. Return to hotel, eat room-service sandwich, avoid coffee, phone home, get up early and go to airport. 06-16-2008 11:10 PM sentinel Artists and the artistic process figure a lot in your books. Why are you drawn to this? 06-17-2008 08:59 AM William_Gibson Anybody without an artistic bone in their body is a hypothetical construct, for me. 06-17-2008 03:00 PM arkangl Why does the French character in 'Spook Country' (Odile) have a French accent, while none of the French people in Count Zero did? Ever since your first novel, you have used accents with what appears to be a significant amount of glee. Care to elaborate on that? 06-17-2008 09:09 AM William_Gibson Awareness of accent is modulated by the POV character. Hollis is more aware of Odile's accent than Alejandro, say, might be. And Hollis is less aware of it the longer she hears her. 06-17-2008 03:02 PM UberDog Are you Melanie Jackson the lit agent? 06-17-2008 10:47 AM William_Gibson No. Nor am I author of The Miracle Worker. 06-17-2008 03:03 PM justy One strand that has appeared in your fiction since "The Winter Market" is the notion of celebrity and artistic fame. (this sort of picks up on sentinel's question, but diverges). You've created from whole cloth Lo/Rez and The Curfew, and I'm curious to what extent your own encounters with celebrities had an effect on those representations? Since you've gotten the chance to cover, for example, a U2 tour for Wired, do you still get tongue tied as a fan (in much the same way *we* might)? 06-17-2008 10:55 AM William_Gibson Celebrity makes me uncomfortable, either side of the fence. 06-17-2008 03:05 PM UberDog I was thinking about Justy's post and it occurred to me that therein is unlined a basic question that I have always had in the back of my mind with regards to your work. Do you believe in the self? As an inherent, a priori sort of proposition? Or would you lean more toward the Sartrean idea of there not being any sort of persisting self but instead a series of choices, a "radical freedom?" I remember you once said something about people becoming a kind of chemical pathology (this was in No Maps) and it struck me that man as a chemical entity would, to me, preclude the existence of a genuine self. With so many of your characters caught up in that which is bigger than they, patterns and systems which some can observe (Bigend, Laney, Cayce) and other's are merely buoyed along with (Rydell, Chevette)I wonder if you think we as human beings have actual intentionality or whether this is merely, "a benign user illusion." In lieu of the above question (which is quite likely a headache for the tour weary non-self)can you tell me what you might do if you were just starting out as writer and trying to find representation? Any "Gibsonesque" ideas for marketing one's self before publication in the age of cyberspace? -Chris 06-17-2008 11:07 AM William_Gibson I think we have selves, rather than "a self". 06-17-2008 03:06 PM georgy Do you sometimes come across works (in music and cinema), people, events or places that strike you as being exactly what you were thinking of when writing your novels ? Of course I don't mean works derivative of your own creations, like "The Matrix", but things that YOU identify as being a concrete realization of your designs. How do you feel then? 06-17-2008 11:46 AM William_Gibson I do sometimes find bits of my "world" in the world, but I think of myself as a naturalistic writer. 06-17-2008 03:08 PM 4Rchie Hello Mr. Gibson, With regard to new technology and applications, particularly when it comes to the Internet, do you tend to get more "Ah ha!" moments when the application is put to use in silly ways, or when it is used with world changing, altruistic goals in mind? For example, on youtube, Randy Pausch's Last Lecture has over 2.5 million views, while the "Leave Britney Alone" kid has over 6.5 million views. P.S. Thanks for all the books and thanks, especially, for Rydell. 06-17-2008 12:36 PM CoreyMaley Greetings Mr. Gibson, In interviews and in person, you speak about the process of writing as partially involving discovering characters, who seem to be rather autonomous. From there, it seems that the characters dictate what will happen, rather than you controlling the characters to get a particular narrative arc out of their actions. Looking back (or perhaps looking forward), does it seem to you that these characters could have done something else, something other than what they did in their respective novels, perhaps resulting in a very different story arc? Or does it seem that their actions really were determined all along, just unbeknownst to you at the time? Thanks very much, and it was good to see you in Princeton. Corey 06-17-2008 01:49 PM UberDog "I think we have selves, rather than "a self"." I'm going to put that in the Sartrean category then. Getting over The Miracle Worker thing will take more time. 06-17-2008 03:36 PM Gromit Hi! Hubertus Bigend is a wonderful creation. What led you to him - did he come into existence because of the need for a character to trigger Cayce's actions in PR, or did you already have a proto-Bigend lurking somewhere - just waiting for the right narrative? (And do you have any idea just how unnerving the thought of Tom Cruise with more teeth is?) ;-) 06-17-2008 07:32 PM William_Gibson Bigend actually emerged from the experience of sitting up late at night in the otherwise deserted offices of Ridley Scott Advertising, in Soho, talking with Chris Cunningham. The Blue Ant offices in Pattern Recognition are a lot like RSA's offices. In fact I assumed the Blue Ant had replaced RSA there and that it was the same building. The characters generally arrive via a process akin to seeing faces in clouds. Except that the clouds are loose mental accumulations of "stuff". 06-18-2008 03:45 PM digitalprimate Dear Mr. Gibson, When you are writing a passage for the first time, are you conscious of how some sentences or paragraphs are more latinate and flowing in an almost Faulknerian sense versus passages where you take a more direct, almost clipped approach? Or is that something determined by character POV or are you simply too engaged in the process to be aware of it? 06-17-2008 07:40 PM William_Gibson Variation in sentence structure feels like switching drums. And is as instinctive, as non-cerebral. Or like dancing. I can neither drum nor dance, BTW. 06-18-2008 03:48 PM colinpeters Mr. Gibson, I recall you having said that you are no longer writing science fiction (or at least fiction set in the future) because it is no longer possible to imagine the future. Is this just for you, personally, or do you think this applies to other writers as well? Or, to put it another way, are writers who write SF now wasting their time? 06-17-2008 08:53 PM William_Gibson The only science fiction I'm really interested in reading now is science fiction that would have been literally impossible to write a decade ago. Not much of that around. John Clute has been suggesting for a while now that sf is in process of becoming an "historical category" (not an actual quote). 06-18-2008 03:54 PM UberDog You just mentioned that you had more strata behind Hollis' career than made it in the novel. I was wondering if you had any gristle like that left over regarding why 1911 was such a huge nodal point besides the Currie association. 06-17-2008 11:52 PM William_Gibson The nodal point idea, for me, was that nodal points are not "events", but something else. Fractal shifts in the fabric of the zeitgeist. 06-18-2008 03:58 PM remotepush as has already been suggested, your writing can be almost poetic. i have found this to be most pronounced with spook country. on my first read i felt that at times i was deciphering artifacts with every sentence. i really didn't get that with the second read, but that was a more stolen read, so to speak. as someone who dabbles in writing, i am particularly fascinated by how sentences unfold. to what extent do you get the words down first time, and to what extent do you get the rough, and have to go back through a draft writing the *good* stuff into what is already there? 06-18-2008 04:31 AM William_Gibson I revise constantly, more or less from the top. Everything is deeply overwritten, but less so toward the final third. Word-processing did away with "drafts", for me. 06-18-2008 04:00 PM save_the_bunnies What is your interest in the charater name "Bunny"? Have you ever regretted dropping it from Spook Country? How much are you influenced by reader feedback from online and advance copies? 06-18-2008 09:44 PM William_Gibson I never go back and re-read my own work, unless there's some pressing professional reason to. If "Bunny" is a repeating character-name, it's because I repeatedly forget having used it before. As to why "Bunny", I have no idea. Actually I do sometimes re-read parts of The Difference Engine for fun, but that never feels as if I wrote it. Nor Sterling either. Author some spooky third party. 06-18-2008 09:50 PM save_the_bunnies Thanks for the reply. If no one else is around, I guess I'll have another go.... Why is Rydell from Knoxville? Are there any plans to collect various unreleased articles/stories done for periodicals over the years? Thanks for all the great books too! 06-18-2008 10:25 PM William_Gibson I may have been thinking of Cormac McCarthy's Suttree, which is set in Knoxville, and is a favorite novel of mine. I grew up not that far from Knoxville. I like the idea of a place like Knoxville in a near-future sf novel. 06-19-2008 02:53 AM fashionpolice Pamela Mainwaring In Pattern Recognition it appears that Pamela Mainwaring has been fired from Blue Ant. (Bigend says that Pamela Mainwaring is "no longer with us" and Dorothea states "she was easy", i.e. providing Dorothea with information before she hooked up with Blue Ant) Pamela's back in Spook Country - any story behind this or did Bigend just rehire her because of her particular skill set? 06-19-2008 09:31 AM William_Gibson Re: Pamela Mainwaring [ NEW ] Not to spoil the illusion, but there's no there, there. It isn't as though I know anything more about these characters other than what I reveal in their most recent adventures. I assumed PM was re-hired because Bigend liked her, for some unknown reason. I liked the tights she wore in PR, so maybe he did too. U2 used to have a "dedicated" travel agent who wore tights like that, and could instantly print you up any required air-ticket from a gizmo in her purse. Though now I think about it, that was before electronic ticketing, so PM's use of same may have constituted an anachronism in PR. 06-19-2008 11:20 AM fashionpolice SPECTACLES, TESTICLES, WALLET, AND WATCH Does Hubertus Bigend wear a watch? and if so which watch(es) does he wear? One of the things I find fascinating about Hubertus Bigend is his choice of the items he buys, wears, and consumes - the Stetson hat, the H2, the Brabus, the maglev bed, etc. They're all on the very edge of being garish but yet remain in the area where they are still fascinating that you could be gravitated toward them without thinking you'd look like a Russian oligarch if you owned them yourself. 06-19-2008 09:46 AM William_Gibson He's wearing one the size of an ashtray, in Spook Country. Perhaps it's an Anonimo: http://www.anonimousa.com/who_s_wearing 06-19-2008 11:23 AM fashionpolice Re: Pamela Mainwaring [ NEW ] Thanks for the replies - (scuttles off to look for tartan print tights) 06-19-2008 12:21 PM AishaNumbers Hi again, My favourite is Milgrim. Is he named for the Milgram Experiment in obedience to authority, by any chance? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment 06-19-2008 01:08 PM William_Gibson "Milgrim" is a non-uncommon name in the American south. 06-19-2008 08:38 PM nirhere Do you relate your writing to present politics ? Are you interested in middle east politics (I felt a strong relation between ideas I found in pattern recognition to notions I have about the Israeli\Palestinian - at least it's coverage in the media) I find that the "conversation" between the political entities led itself to a lack of conversation - to a long monologue based on something that resembles an intelligence/official report, a state in which both sides reduct their hopes to dealing with an never ending present, quite a messy speech for here, but can you relate ? Best. 06-19-2008 01:39 PM William_Gibson I don't have that much in the way of an expressed political philosophy, and generally discount politically didactic fiction (narratives constructed exclusively to illustrate an expressed political philosophy). 06-19-2008 08:42 PM sentinel Have you ever been (or are you now) interested in making THINGs? Obviously, books are also satisfying objects - but I mean using your hands and tools directly to sculpt or mend or assemble. A vase, or a bookcase or a model airplane or a pair of mittens? 06-19-2008 02:21 PM William_Gibson I've made all kinds of things, generally not very well. I've never learned to operate a sewing machine, but I can make a simple leather belt from scratch, build a rather bad but functional chair, use a graduated set of micro-mesh abrasive pads to polish a badly-worn acrylic watch crystal to transparency, build and paint a Bandai Gundam kit... So, generally, yeah. (I *love* MAKE magazine. "You don't really own anything until you've voided the warranty.") 06-19-2008 08:48 PM save_the_bunnies Is there any specific reason that you haven't been as outspoken about the current US election process as you were last time around? 06-19-2008 11:04 PM sentinel Thank you for all those replies. These two questions got overlooked from page two, so I'm reposting them here: 4Rchie Hello Mr. Gibson, With regard to new technology and applications, particularly when it comes to the Internet, do you tend to get more "Ah ha!" moments when the application is put to use in silly ways, or when it is used with world changing, altruistic goals in mind? For example, on youtube, Randy Pausch's Last Lecture has over 2.5 million views, while the "Leave Britney Alone" kid has over 6.5 million views. P.S. Thanks for all the books and thanks, especially, for Rydell. 06-17-2008 12:36 PM CoreyMaley Greetings Mr. Gibson, In interviews and in person, you speak about the process of writing as partially involving discovering characters, who seem to be rather autonomous. From there, it seems that the characters dictate what will happen, rather than you controlling the characters to get a particular narrative arc out of their actions. Looking back (or perhaps looking forward), does it seem to you that these characters could have done something else, something other than what they did in their respective novels, perhaps resulting in a very different story arc? Or does it seem that their actions really were determined all along, just unbeknownst to you at the time? Thanks very much, and it was good to see you in Princeton. Corey 06-17-2008 01:49 PM William_Gibson Q: With regard to new technology and applications, particularly when it comes to the Internet, do you tend to get more "Ah ha!" moments when the application is put to use in silly ways, or when it is used with world changing, altruistic goals in mind? For example, on youtube, Randy Pausch's Last Lecture has over 2.5 million views, while the "Leave Britney Alone" kid has over 6.5 million views. A: "Silly" ways. What I meant, years ago, by "the street finds its own uses for things". Q: In interviews and in person, you speak about the process of writing as partially involving discovering characters, who seem to be rather autonomous. From there, it seems that the characters dictate what will happen, rather than you controlling the characters to get a particular narrative arc out of their actions. Looking back (or perhaps looking forward), does it seem to you that these characters could have done something else, something other than what they did in their respective novels, perhaps resulting in a very different story arc? Or does it seem that their actions really were determined all along, just unbeknownst to you at the time? A: I never think about what they might have done differently. To me, the book consists of what they did in the book. When I'm not actually writing about them, they aren't "around". And with that, adios everyone, and thanks! 06-21-2008 02:47 AM ... This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sentinel400, |
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Did anyone NOT on the WGB ask\get answered any questions?
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There is a world outside WGB? No shit? --- Reading, meanwhile, is an activity subsequent to writing - more resigned, more civil, more intellectual. |
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I've heard rumors....but haven't, like, you know, *looked*, you know? |
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Ha! Zeitgeist! See there, peeps? --- Reading, meanwhile, is an activity subsequent to writing - more resigned, more civil, more intellectual. |
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i think the fractal shifts are more important.
and now i'm half tempted to get a fractal shifts in the zeitgeist t-shirt! |
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updated june 19
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Thanks for the archival job, Sentinel.
_____________________________ Albert's path is a strange and difficult one. |
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Only if you wear it with your PJs. --- Reading, meanwhile, is an activity subsequent to writing - more resigned, more civil, more intellectual. |
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Briefly, the dude just speaks. Iz good. Space must flow past the ports like wine from a pitcher |
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Geek sitcom outtake jokes. Space must flow past the ports like wine from a pitcher |
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He chimed in on some stuff I thought he wouldn't bother with.
Cool. --- Reading, meanwhile, is an activity subsequent to writing - more resigned, more civil, more intellectual. |
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Wee clamoring wigbers, squeaking delightedly, hopefully -- what's not to like? I'z a hamster in a Gibsosphere. Space must flow past the ports like wine from a pitcher |
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http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/board/message?bo...ad.id=1961&jump=true
CENTER STAGE Talk about Books & Authors : CENTER STAGE: William Gibson : William Gibson: The Books [ ... ] William_Gibson All of this infers an awful lot, and too much for me to sort out here, but it seems to me that the writer-reader interface is "automated" by the internet, to a new degree, but is not in itself so very new. 06-19-2008 11:30 AM Stephanie While it makes perfect sense that an author wants to have a readership - fans, if you will - do you agree that the artistic quality that is inherent in writing means an author should focus on the work, not the recipient of the work? I do know what you mean about the inevitability of the reader getting inside the author's head somewhat, but to what extent does the author let him in, and to what extent does he push him out? I would imagine that varies according to the individual. I will add that I truly hope all of the authors I read will continue to write that great story, and if they please themselves, they'll please me. Stephanie 06-19-2008 08:26 PM William_Gibson I sat in on a brainstorming session for a new brand of clothing, last year. Very high-end outdoor-wear company planning a very specifically-targeted sub-brand. In the course of that, the company's president explained to me that their most successful products were always the result of an employee inventing something to meet a very personal need, while ignoring all other factors. The least successful were the result of "listening to feedback from the mall", via distributors. I believe this to be equally true of fiction. 06-19-2008 08:55 PM |
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http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/board/message?bo...ad.id=1963&jump=true
CENTER STAGE Talk about Books & Authors : CENTER STAGE: William Gibson : June 16-20: William Gibson Maria_H As part of Barnes & Noble's Upstairs at the Square series, William Gibson will be at our Union Square store on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 7:00 PM with Martha Wainwright. They will discuss and perform their work in conversation with journalist Katherine Lanpher, who hosts the program. Admission is free, and no tickets are required. Seating is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Hope to see you there! 06-13-2008 03:25 PM Stephanie Hi William, Welcome! I'm Stephanie, the moderator for Center Stage. It's a privilege to "meet" you here. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on your work. Question: When you coined the term "cyberspace" back in 1982, did you ever envision what we've now come to know as cyberspace? Stephanie 06-16-2008 02:49 PM William_Gibson History (i.e. the real future, when it becomes the present) is always infinitely more complex than any piece of fiction. 06-18-2008 05:07 AM mr_moncrief Mr. Gibson, I had the great pleasure of witnessing the Austin, TX signing and discussion. You were extremely patient with the "microphone situation" and kept everyone laughing. Thanks. Here's a list of questions I didn't have a chance to ask. Answer if you like. 1. You seem to welcome change. Has this been something that has always come easy or is it something you must constantly work at? Ever think you'll use the phrase, "Back in my day.."? 2. The Curfew - was it inspired by the likes of The Clash or The Cure? 3. Some "televangelists" are under suspicion of money laundering. Any coincidence that this would also be the group accepting money in your book? 4. Would you consider yourself an optimist, pessimist, or realist? 5. What do you think about the Node Magazine website that was published from one of your early release copies? Plagiarism? 6. Ever consider co-writing again or other mediums? 7. What are your thoughts on technology as it applies to education? I work at a new school where every room has a digital projector and most have interactive Smartboards. The students respond using wireless radio-frequency remotes. Grades are posted online, digital copies of assignments, secure blogging, etc. Are children really the future? William Gibson fan for life, Dakota Moncrief mr.moncrief@gmail.com 06-16-2008 10:56 PM William_Gibson 1. You seem to welcome change. Has this been something that has always come easy or is it something you must constantly work at? Ever think you'll use the phrase, "Back in my day.."? Everything changes anyway, so welcoming change is simply a lot more comfortable. 2. The Curfew - was it inspired by the likes of The Clash or The Cure? I never had any very clear idea of what their music was like. They probably had a few releases on the Factory label. 3. Some "televangelists" are under suspicion of money laundering. Any coincidence that this would also be the group accepting money in your book? Just a lucky guess. ;-) 4. Would you consider yourself an optimist, pessimist, or realist? Realist, on a good day. 5. What do you think about the Node Magazine website that was published from one of your early release copies? Plagiarism? Free advertising. And very well done. Even outright piracy (which this isn't) is simply a kind of tax on fame (*and* free advertising). 6. Ever consider co-writing again or other mediums? I'd like to have my own line of vinyl figures, and see them in Giant Robot and Juxtapose. 7. What are your thoughts on technology as it applies to education? I work at a new school where every room has a digital projector and most have interactive Smartboards. The students respond using wireless radio-frequency remotes. Grades are posted online, digital copies of assignments, secure blogging, etc. Are children really the future? Children will really *live* in the future, that's for sure. 06-18-2008 05:13 AM UberDog Technology and education makes me think of tech and books which makes me wonder what Mr. Gibson thinks about the future of publishing under the aegis of the affordable E-Book or "electronic paper." It seems to me that either being mass adopted by readers will have profound effects on the industry. the industry, conversely, seems to be playing the same "ostrich in the sand" game as both the music and film industry have done before them. What is the role of publisher in a world with a 5 dollar e-book reader? What is the role of agent? 06-17-2008 11:56 AM William_Gibson An affordable eBook that people actually enjoy using will be publishing's equivalent of cassette tape and MP-3s, all at once. End of a very ancient monopoly on the means of production, but not as abrupt, maybe, as the end of that monopoly in recorded music. Ever think about the carbon footprint of print media? Books and magazines, as we remember each time we move, are very heavy. 06-18-2008 05:19 AM Stephanie William, I was thinking of this, and thinking of the amount of space my books take up in my home- picturing the paperless futuristic house- clean, uncluttered... sounds like a dream. And then, I think of lying in the chaise on the beach or by the pool with a terrific book in hand, and I cannot imagine trying to fuss with battery power while spending a whole afternoon reading. Perhaps solar power will keep me reading electronically. Stephanie 06-18-2008 09:27 PM William_Gibson I think of my friend John Clute's living room in Camden Town, which when I first saw it was lined in part with albums on vinyl (the term "album", used this way, itself refers to an extinct and generally forgotten platform, the multi-disc 78RPM sets sold in book-like packaging). Eventually, John succeeded in methodically replacing each album with the CD of the same music, funding this operation with the sale of vinyl, and freeing up considerable wall (and room!) space. But with the advent of the MP3, the smaller shelves of CDs were soon replaced by a single VERY small shelf, on which he keeps his iPod. The difference between the space taken up, plus the weight, of the vinyl, and the iPod, in a North London flat, amounts to having a whole extra ROOM! 06-19-2008 11:44 AM UberDog I think e-paper, some gross refinement of OLED will solve some of those issues. You'll get the local paper on the same sheet of "paper" as you read Bill's next novel. In fact, you can likely toggle between the review of the book and the book itself while simultaneously checking out Mimetic Engineer's (the Node guy) hypertext armature of said book. It does open up a new way in which the novel is read. 06-18-2008 10:30 PM William_Gibson Yep. ePaper. Everyone will own *one* very nice book, eventually, with absolute look-and-feel bookiness. But it will be whatever book you desire it to be, when you open it. 06-19-2008 11:46 AM remotepush as britain shifts the goal posts on keeping suspects in detention without charge, and sweden introduces greater electronic survielance laws, and this kind of restriction on freedom becomes the norm, how do you see the next few years in spook terms? is this going to be an influence/contributing current to your new work, or did you work that out of your system with spook country? 06-20-2008 05:17 AM William_Gibson The new transparency ulimately works both way. Digital tech makes it easier for governments to keep track of individuals, but harder for governments to keep a secret. It's all much more porous than the analog version. Watch the Bush administration's remaining dirty laundry emerge, over the next decade; it'll happen faster than we expect, due to that porosity. 06-20-2008 09:34 AM William_Gibson I'm going to Seattle today to get ready for my induction into the SF Hall of Fame, but I'll check in later to see if there are any questions. Thanks to everyone for turning up! 06-20-2008 09:36 AM fashionpolice Congratulations on your induction in the SF Hall of Fame! Thank you for all of your great books as well as for your blog on your own website - www.williamgibsonbooks.com ! It was a pleasure meeting you at your events in London and Paris. All best! F.P. 06-20-2008 09:44 AM William_Gibson First day of the big ol' induction weekend, this one in support of the Clarion West sf-writing workshop. Last day of my Center Stage appearance, so thanks and best wishes to everyone! 06-21-2008 02:42 AM ... |
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just noticed this Sentinel, but thanks very much for bringing my question back to the man's attention. And thanks, mr. G., for answering
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Wait, does this mean I can't ask him if he sings, harmonizes, or whistles?
I'd really like to know. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nurturing my inner clown. |
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Yup, it's too late.
But maybe he'll read your post here and reply on his blog _____________________________ Albert's path is a strange and difficult one. |
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One could only hope...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nurturing my inner clown. |
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