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I find Gibson entertaining, but I often get the feeling, reading his novels, that I’m in a product showroom. He mentions brand names strangely often, and a comm

I find Gibson entertaining, but I often get the feeling, reading his novels, that I’m in a product showroom. He mentions brand names strangely often, and a commercial style of speech is constantly leaking into his prose. I remember a description (I don’t remember which novel) mentioning the “high thread count” of the sheets on someone’s bed. I never expected to see that phrase outside of a product description. I doubt that there’s actual product placement in his books, but it feels like it. EDIT after reading replies: I agree with all the replies. I understood the brand-obsessed nature of the world he’s invoking. I may, however, have underestimated him, and not appreciated how he deliberately allows aspects of this universe to infect the authorial voice. Next time I read one of his books I’ll keep this in mind. I also sometimes enjoy the immersion into particular products, when Gibson goes into details about something I’d never heard of, such as Maybach automobiles.

ethbr0 5y ago
If that's from the Blue Ant trilogy, it's intended to have that effect. The underlying themes have a lot to do with individuality in a sea of hyperconsumerism. It's been a minute, but I think the Bridge trilogy also started nudging in that direction. Gibson likes to crib off emerging trends. Which is probably why he'd already abandoned writing hacker heroes by the 90s. (Bridge Laney having a somewhat different gift) Exhibit A for how that observation played out: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bed+sheets https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bed+sheets
- webmaven 5y ago
  > I think the Bridge trilogy also started nudging in that direction. Yes, but in a slightly different way. For example there is a scene in Virtual Light where one character is listening to another complain about how "you can't tell the difference anymore between the 'programs' and the 'commercials,' whatever that meant".
cgh 5y ago
Bland, soul-deadening consumerism is one of his major themes so what you noticed is intentional.
Taylor_OD 5y ago
Well one or two of his books specifically have characters who care a lot about those things and its a defining characteristic of them and its also a commentary on society and the obsessiveness of brands. Very similar to American Psycho but with a little more nuance. Did you think you were being subtly compelled to purchase the products mentioned? There's a big difference between Jack Links beef jerky getting 5 second of screen time in World War Z and defining a character by their obsession with brands.
- projectazorian 5y ago
  Buzz Rickson's released a William Gibson-branded product line after Pattern Recognition came out. Art imitating life...https://www.historypreservation.com/products-page/buzz-ricksons-william-gibson/ https://www.historypreservation.com/products-page/buzz-ricks...
- newsclues 5y ago
  His writing makes me yearn for a nice Japanese replica of American leather jackets.
  - jasonladuke0311 5y ago
    Oh boy is that ever a rabbit hole. There are probably dozens of extremely high-end, obsessively detailed labels that produce replica and Americana-inspired garments. Good resource if you are interested further: https://www.styleforum.net/threads/the-japanese-repro-clothing-thread-real-mccoys-freewheelers-etc.680313/ https://www.styleforum.net/threads/the-japanese-repro-clothi...
    - newsclues 5y ago
      https://hypebeast.com/2020/11/william-gibson-buzz-ricksons-fw20-parka-jacket-coat-collaboration https://hypebeast.com/2020/11/william-gibson-buzz-ricksons-f...
sharkjacobs 5y ago
> Q Why do you seem obsessed with brand name apparel et al in Pattern Recognition and Spook Country? > A You ain't seen nothing, yet! Actually the new one may explain that, a bit. Or just further convince some people that I'm obsessed. It's one of the ways in which I feel I understand how the world works, and there aren't really that many of those. It's not about clothes, though, or branding; it's about code, subtext. I was really delighted, for instance, to learn who made George Bush's raincoats. A company in Little Rock (now extinct, alas) but they were made of Ventile, a British cotton so tightly woven that you can make fire hoses (and RAF ocean survival suits) out of it. Which exists because Churchill demanded it, because the Germans had all the flax production sewn up. No flax, no fire hoses for the Blitz. The cultural complexities that put that particular material on Bush's back delight me deeply; it's a kind of secret history (and not least because most people would find it fantastically boring, I imagine). https://web.archive.org/web/20100430011750/https://williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/2010_04_01_archive.asp https://web.archive.org/web/20100430011750/https://williamgi...
- germinalphrase 5y ago
  FYI: ventile clothing is produced by a variety of companies still. A more common brand name of the fabric (treat with DWR) is Etaproof.
obstacle1 5y ago
It's almost like that style of commercialized prose forces you to recognize it as such and reflect on how crass it really is. And then you realize that that kind of dialogue is pretty much the one you are having with yourself 24/7, involuntarily, due to how mediated our experience is by commercial interests. Or maybe we just go back to building our adtech stuff, and the system marches on and on.
jefurii 5y ago
IIRC in an interview Gibson tells how one of his early artistic experiences was in a high-school draft class where they had to make meticulous drawings of everyday objects like pencils, including as much detail as possible.
germinalphrase 5y ago
There is a criticism about Gibson that generally runs: his prose is nicely developed, but there’s little future in his writing as he spends so much effort mining extant niche products/ideas. He might live on the front edge of now - but it’s still now.

ethbr0 5y ago

If that's from the Blue Ant trilogy, it's intended to have that effect. The underlying themes have a lot to do with individuality in a sea of hyperconsumerism. It's been a minute, but I think the Bridge trilogy also started nudging in that direction. Gibson likes to crib off emerging trends. Which is probably why he'd already abandoned writing hacker heroes by the 90s. (Bridge Laney having a somewhat different gift) Exhibit A for how that observation played out: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bed+sheets https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bed+sheets

webmaven 5y ago
> I think the Bridge trilogy also started nudging in that direction. Yes, but in a slightly different way. For example there is a scene in Virtual Light where one character is listening to another complain about how "you can't tell the difference anymore between the 'programs' and the 'commercials,' whatever that meant".

cgh 5y ago

Bland, soul-deadening consumerism is one of his major themes so what you noticed is intentional.

Taylor_OD 5y ago

Well one or two of his books specifically have characters who care a lot about those things and its a defining characteristic of them and its also a commentary on society and the obsessiveness of brands. Very similar to American Psycho but with a little more nuance. Did you think you were being subtly compelled to purchase the products mentioned? There's a big difference between Jack Links beef jerky getting 5 second of screen time in World War Z and defining a character by their obsession with brands.

projectazorian 5y ago
Buzz Rickson's released a William Gibson-branded product line after Pattern Recognition came out. Art imitating life...https://www.historypreservation.com/products-page/buzz-ricksons-william-gibson/ https://www.historypreservation.com/products-page/buzz-ricks...
newsclues 5y ago
His writing makes me yearn for a nice Japanese replica of American leather jackets.
- jasonladuke0311 5y ago
  Oh boy is that ever a rabbit hole. There are probably dozens of extremely high-end, obsessively detailed labels that produce replica and Americana-inspired garments. Good resource if you are interested further: https://www.styleforum.net/threads/the-japanese-repro-clothing-thread-real-mccoys-freewheelers-etc.680313/ https://www.styleforum.net/threads/the-japanese-repro-clothi...
  - newsclues 5y ago
    https://hypebeast.com/2020/11/william-gibson-buzz-ricksons-fw20-parka-jacket-coat-collaboration https://hypebeast.com/2020/11/william-gibson-buzz-ricksons-f...

sharkjacobs 5y ago

> Q Why do you seem obsessed with brand name apparel et al in Pattern Recognition and Spook Country? > A You ain't seen nothing, yet! Actually the new one may explain that, a bit. Or just further convince some people that I'm obsessed. It's one of the ways in which I feel I understand how the world works, and there aren't really that many of those. It's not about clothes, though, or branding; it's about code, subtext. I was really delighted, for instance, to learn who made George Bush's raincoats. A company in Little Rock (now extinct, alas) but they were made of Ventile, a British cotton so tightly woven that you can make fire hoses (and RAF ocean survival suits) out of it. Which exists because Churchill demanded it, because the Germans had all the flax production sewn up. No flax, no fire hoses for the Blitz. The cultural complexities that put that particular material on Bush's back delight me deeply; it's a kind of secret history (and not least because most people would find it fantastically boring, I imagine). https://web.archive.org/web/20100430011750/https://williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/2010_04_01_archive.asp https://web.archive.org/web/20100430011750/https://williamgi...

germinalphrase 5y ago
FYI: ventile clothing is produced by a variety of companies still. A more common brand name of the fabric (treat with DWR) is Etaproof.

obstacle1 5y ago

It's almost like that style of commercialized prose forces you to recognize it as such and reflect on how crass it really is. And then you realize that that kind of dialogue is pretty much the one you are having with yourself 24/7, involuntarily, due to how mediated our experience is by commercial interests. Or maybe we just go back to building our adtech stuff, and the system marches on and on.

jefurii 5y ago

IIRC in an interview Gibson tells how one of his early artistic experiences was in a high-school draft class where they had to make meticulous drawings of everyday objects like pencils, including as much detail as possible.

germinalphrase 5y ago

There is a criticism about Gibson that generally runs: his prose is nicely developed, but there’s little future in his writing as he spends so much effort mining extant niche products/ideas. He might live on the front edge of now - but it’s still now.