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Somebody really should mention John Brunner. His "Stand on Zanzibar" and "The Sheep Look Up" predate Gibson and Sterling by a decade and both those authors have
by johngossman 1y ago
Somebody really should mention John Brunner. His "Stand on Zanzibar" and "The Sheep Look Up" predate Gibson and Sterling by a decade and both those authors have cited his influence on their works. I love Neuromancer but Zanzibar is also brilliant.
- stevenwoo 1y agoZanzibar holds up as well or better than Neuromancer. I recently reread both and Molly having a clock in her eye inserts really dates that one bit in Neuromancer, the chyron like news updates in Zanzibar call to mind todays social media sound/video bites.
- johngossman 1y agoAgree. Same experience. Zanzibar (1968) is almost eerie sometimes.
- wpietri 1y agoIt has been a million years since I read Stand on Zanzibar, but that technique of giving a set of cultural snippets to paint a picture really stuck with me. These days I'll be reading news headlines or Reddit's front page and be struck by how easily I could compose one of those that would be perfect for a novel imagining our era. And it turns out a lot of people apparently have these "curtains for Zoosha" moments: https://infosec.exchange/@tychotithonus/114819416384262242 https://infosec.exchange/@tychotithonus/114819416384262242 https://infosec.exchange/@cjust/114820379745453988 https://infosec.exchange/@cjust/114820379745453988
- KineticLensman 1y agoTotally agree. "Stand on Zanzibar" has a modern-world feel to it although some parts have been visited by the Suck Fairy. "Shockwave Rider" is also interesting - IIRC characters use their landline phones to access large computer systems. Because Brunner never really goes into too many techy details - it's just phones and computers - it's less jarring to read now than books where technology-heavy authors such as Arthur C Clarke tried to describe in detail what future computing devices might look like.
- pimlottc 1y ago> Suck Fairy Well that’s a new one on me. https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Suck_Fairy https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Suck_Fairy
- michaelg7x 1y agoThe Shockwave Rider is brilliant, and the savant hero reflected in many subsequent works. Neo, anyone?
- ltbarcly3 1y agoStand on Zanzibar is often mentioned for it's amazing predictions, but if you actually read it I would be amazed if you didn't think it was crap.
- johngossman 1y agoYou should be amazed then. It's brilliant.
- int_19h 1y agoThere's also Vernor Vinge's "True Names" (1981), which arguably introduced the notion of cyberspace, while also being an early reference to things like the hacker ethos.