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Has anyone read his Bridge trilogy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_trilogy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_trilogy > The trilogy derives its name f

Has anyone read his Bridge trilogy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_trilogy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_trilogy > The trilogy derives its name from the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, which was abandoned in an earthquake and has become a massive shantytown and a site of improvised shelter. Seems sadly two heartbeats into the future for today’s Bay Area

pmoriarty 5y ago
Honestly, this sounds a bit like some of Philip K Dick's work, which was set in the Bay Area after a nuclear war... he wrote it about 50 years before Gibson, though I'm sure Gibson must add something original to the mix. I once asked Gibson whether he was influenced by Philip K Dick, and he said that he didn't read Dick when he was young, and was more influenced by Pynchon instead. Still, despite his denial, he seems to be retreading a lot of ground first covered by Dick himself.
- Apocryphon 5y ago
  I just started reading Bleeding Edge, which very much reads like a cyberpunk book in terms of dropping dozens of unelaborated references and allusions, or maybe like Douglas Coupland. Though I’d say it feels more like one of Bruce Sterling’s lighter works- Zeitgeist in particular- than something more like classic cyberpunk. (I’ve always associated the genre with brand-dropping, though that happens a ton in John Brunner’s work, which predates Gibson.) Independently, Pynchon also does that often, even in his novels not about high technology.
mindcrime 5y ago
Funny you would ask: I just finished All Tomorrow's Parties about a week ago, as the end of a massive read/re-read of William Gibson. I started with Neuromancer and read the Sprawl Trilogy and the Bridge Trilogy back to back. I'd read everything at least once before, except Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties, so this was a chance to kinda do it all at the same time, finish the stuff I had not read, and kinda have all this William Gibson in my head at more or less the same time. Having done all that, I'll add this; if you've only read Neuromancer, or even only read just the Sprawl Trilogy, definitely consider giving the Bridge Trilogy a shot. It's markedly different in many ways, but still very Gibsonesque and definitely worth reading. The big differences, IMO, are that the Bridge Trilogy books are less "futuristic" and have less focus on tech technology qua technology, and focus more on the people and their interactions and choices, etc.

pmoriarty 5y ago

Honestly, this sounds a bit like some of Philip K Dick's work, which was set in the Bay Area after a nuclear war... he wrote it about 50 years before Gibson, though I'm sure Gibson must add something original to the mix. I once asked Gibson whether he was influenced by Philip K Dick, and he said that he didn't read Dick when he was young, and was more influenced by Pynchon instead. Still, despite his denial, he seems to be retreading a lot of ground first covered by Dick himself.

Apocryphon 5y ago
I just started reading Bleeding Edge, which very much reads like a cyberpunk book in terms of dropping dozens of unelaborated references and allusions, or maybe like Douglas Coupland. Though I’d say it feels more like one of Bruce Sterling’s lighter works- Zeitgeist in particular- than something more like classic cyberpunk. (I’ve always associated the genre with brand-dropping, though that happens a ton in John Brunner’s work, which predates Gibson.) Independently, Pynchon also does that often, even in his novels not about high technology.

mindcrime 5y ago

Funny you would ask: I just finished All Tomorrow's Parties about a week ago, as the end of a massive read/re-read of William Gibson. I started with Neuromancer and read the Sprawl Trilogy and the Bridge Trilogy back to back. I'd read everything at least once before, except Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties, so this was a chance to kinda do it all at the same time, finish the stuff I had not read, and kinda have all this William Gibson in my head at more or less the same time. Having done all that, I'll add this; if you've only read Neuromancer, or even only read just the Sprawl Trilogy, definitely consider giving the Bridge Trilogy a shot. It's markedly different in many ways, but still very Gibsonesque and definitely worth reading. The big differences, IMO, are that the Bridge Trilogy books are less "futuristic" and have less focus on tech technology qua technology, and focus more on the people and their interactions and choices, etc.