Let me elaborate a bit.
At the time I was certain I'm going to check out at 27. I walked the walk, allright. My level of paranoia was a all time high and along it delusions of grandeur.
When I turned 28 I was dissapointed and got depressed. Looking back now I find my self ridiculous, and attempt to laugh at myself.

So... what was it that led you to believe that 27 was your number?

As I said delusions of grandeur.
In retrospect I think I wanted to live fast, die young and leave a good looking corpse. And that I would've been counted among those great who checked out at 27. In reality I would've died a sad loser, and remembered as such.

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:
Oh, yeah? TMZ hasn't invaded Finland yet, huh?

I think every writer starts out both consciously emulating his heroes and subconsciously loathing that he/she does so.

It's largely a necessary step in finding one's own voice.

I still catch myself using too Gibson-esque tropes from time to time.

Great statement! This has prevented more then one stab at writing from ever making it off my hard drive.

I think I have an inkling as to why my "initial" run-through with SC was soured.

After my first read of the hardcover edition, I made the mistake of listening to the audiobook read by Robertson Dean (sp?) - which although he has a nice voice, I don't get the impression he thinks much of the text. He makes listening to the story a fucking chore. His "voice" for Hollis sounds mocking to me, same for Milgrim.

I'm sure it is just a personal preference, but it really put me off.

I'm part way through the re-read now and am enjoying it much more this time. Picking up on little things. More questions are surfacing though - primarily about the big picture items. I'll blather about those when it's not so late at night.

quote:

Originally posted by mikethecat:

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:
Oh, yeah? TMZ hasn't invaded Finland yet, huh?

I think every writer starts out both consciously emulating his heroes and subconsciously loathing that he/she does so.

It's largely a necessary step in finding one's own voice.

I still catch myself using too Gibson-esque tropes from time to time.

Great statement! This has prevented more then one stab at writing from ever making it off my hard drive.

Yeah, it sucks but it's necessary.

Everyone has to start somewhere.

It's interesting, writing is mostly somehting that requires a bit imitation in the same way language does.

Though I suppose it applies to all art, no?

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:
Though I suppose it applies to all art, no?

I agree.

About my reaction to SC: I found content of the container to be utterly hilarious anticlimax.

Let me explain that anticlimax bit:
When reading the story I was conjuring up images of some superhi-tech or sci-fi stuff in the container.
When there was almighty dollar inside I couldn't but laugh out loud

I thought of it as one big practical joke too.

William Gibson said so as well. Now I can't find where he said it.

Pretty sure he did though.

Hollis saw making the money traceable as a practical joke.

quote:

Originally posted by Buell:
Hollis saw making the money traceable as a practical joke.

No she didn't. The closest she comes to making a comment on it is in Chapter 82. BEENIE'S. In response to The Old Man explaining what they've done she says:

quote:

“You’ve made laundering it difficult.”
“Impossible, I would hope,” he said.
“And what will the result of that be?” Hollis asked.
“A world of trouble,” the old man said, “for someone. A lot of that may depend on the driver, in the end. We really don’t know. Although we’ll certainly”—and he smiled more widely than she’d seen him do before—“enjoy finding out.”

Although WG refers to it as a practical joke, none of the characters really think of it that way,exactly. It may be darkly funny. But it's a serious statement.

quote:

“Why’s he doing this, whatever it is?”

“He used to be in national security, American government. Career man. Retired a few years before 9/11. I think he went a bit feral, frankly, after the attacks. Frothing, really. Not a good idea to get him on the topic. He’d been hugely well connected, it seemed. Friends everywhere. And the lot of them pissed as well, at least to hear him tell it. Old spooks. Most retired, some not quite, some soon forced out because they wouldn’t toe a party line.”

“There’s more than one of him, you mean?”

“Not really, no. I find it easiest to think of him as slightly off, really. I imagine they do too, though it doesn’t stop them giving him help, and funding. Amazing what you can do with a little money, when you’re given a free hand. He’s as sharp as anyone I’ve met, sharper, but he has obsessions, topics he’s queer about. One of them, a big one, is people profiting from the war in Iraq. He gets onto things, things he learns certain people have done. Through his various connections, he hears things, puts bits together.”

“What for?”

“So that he can fuck with them, frankly. Fuck them up. Over. Sideways, if he can manage it. Loves it. Lives for it.”

(from 73. SPECIAL FORCES)

quote:

Originally posted by Boogerhead:
I thought of it as one big practical joke too.

Definitely more than a practical joke (the Joke's a Knife). If not for their training, the team would be dead and probably some innocents too including Hollis, more like a higher moral Panther Moderns team with military tactical and intelligence training. Speaking of the Panther Moderns, the run on Sensenet in _Neuromancer_ was definitely no practical joke either; killed alot of innocents and injured more.

signed The Mall Ninja

Darkly funny, smelly funny, whatever funny..
All I know is I laughed my ass off when it was revealed that the container contains cash money.

I bet 1st 8" of my member that nobody saw that one coming.

As to what the dollars inside might represent (if anything but their face-value) I'll leave the interpretation to everyone's own discretion as I'm still composing my own thoughts over the matter.

quote:

Originally posted by Buell:
I bet 1st 8" of my member that nobody saw that one coming.

I did, but I do not want the payoff.

The Oral Roberts of D&D...I mean Spook Country...WHAT?...Churches don't launder money...people launder money...I mean soles...I mean Jesus washed people's feet...wait ...what?

I got everything except the D&D reference.

Only people who ran cleric-thieves understand "Wait a minute...clerics can't use s-words...can they!?"

quote:

Originally posted by Eric:
Only people who ran cleric-thieves understand "Wait a minute...clerics can't use s-words...can they!?"

OK, first of all, what does D&D have to do with Spook Country?

Second, what the hell did you backstab with, a mace? And was it still backstab or was it backbash?