What are you reading right now?

OccultHawk · 10-31-2018, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

I just started reading his books last year after meaning to check him out since sometime in the early 90s. I like him. So far I've read Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Virtual Light. I'm about to start Burning Chrome.

Virtual Light will be my first and last. I never read anything that tried so hard and failed so badly.

Oriphiel · 11-01-2018, 04:06 AM

I never thought the day would come when I would like a Free Jazz masterpiece while Hawk hates it

But that's basically what's happening here

OccultHawk · 11-01-2018, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oriphiel

I never thought the day would come when I would like a Free Jazz masterpiece while Hawk hates it

But that's basically what's happening here

Maybe if there had been just one paragraph that didn’t mention punk hair cuts, tattoos, or piercings. It’s not free jazz but more like the musical equivalent to the Residents. Cute costumes but the music sucks. And tries way too hard.

Oriphiel · 11-01-2018, 04:38 AM

It's literary Free Jazz, hallucinatory Sci-Fi, a psychosomatic autopsy of the inevitable conclusion of Capitalism, crack addicts and captains of industry both reaching for warmth with equal anathema

I find the acid prose beautiful, and feel like you maybe focused on the honestly pretty basic and accessible descriptions of people (compared to how much time and effort he spends elaborating on locations and circumstances) because they were what you could understand, and thus what you could criticize

Which is the same way that I usually approach actual Free Jazz, which almost invariably comes off as try-hard and boring to me. I quickly find something in it that I can comprehend so I can use that as a basis for comparative criticism

Life is funny

Oriphiel · 11-01-2018, 04:51 AM

But at the same time, I can totally get why his writing would come off as try-hard edgy, since it's so heavily rooted in that beat Keruoac style, which I thank Crom every day never really influenced me personally as a writer (despite the fact that I loved On The Road when I was a kid)

That **** gets very old very fast

I'm not even sure why Gibson specifically hit me so hard as an author, since even back then I didn't have much of a tolerance for that style beyond just a few books, but something about the way he basically takes crackhouses and titty bars, rent-a-cops and trillionaires, drugged out hackers and elite soldiers, and manages to find and bring out warmth and life and insane beauty in them, even at their worst moments, and yet coldness and despair and disillusionment even at their best moments, just sucker punched me

**Janszoon** · 11-01-2018, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

Virtual Light will be my first and last. I never read anything that tried so hard and failed so badly.

I liked it, but I liked his Sprawl Trilogy books more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

so what I’m thinking is in Virtual Light Gibson didn’t shine light on a possible conclusion of capitalism beyond a simple amplification of the present (a present that’s becoming more distant everyday)

compared to say Ursula K. Le Guin‘s The Dispossessed

Gibson’s universe is a three page digression by Le Guin. That’s how deep the disparity runs.

I’ve never read The Dispossessed (I do own it though so I’m sure I’ll read it in the near future) but I’ve found Le Guin pretty hit or miss. The Lathe of Heaven is one of my favorite sci-fi books, but The Left Hand of Darkness and The Word for World Is Forest are pretty meh.

11-01-2018, 04:06 AM	#2 (permalink)
Oriphiel Ask me how! Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: The States Posts: 5,354	I never thought the day would come when I would like a Free Jazz masterpiece while Hawk hates it But that's basically what's happening here __________________ ---------------------- \|---Mic's Albums---\| ---------------------- ----------------------------- \|---Deafbox Industries---\| -----------------------------

11-01-2018, 04:38 AM	#4 (permalink)
Oriphiel Ask me how! Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: The States Posts: 5,354	It's literary Free Jazz, hallucinatory Sci-Fi, a psychosomatic autopsy of the inevitable conclusion of Capitalism, crack addicts and captains of industry both reaching for warmth with equal anathema I find the acid prose beautiful, and feel like you maybe focused on the honestly pretty basic and accessible descriptions of people (compared to how much time and effort he spends elaborating on locations and circumstances) because they were what you could understand, and thus what you could criticize Which is the same way that I usually approach actual Free Jazz, which almost invariably comes off as try-hard and boring to me. I quickly find something in it that I can comprehend so I can use that as a basis for comparative criticism Life is funny __________________ ---------------------- \|---Mic's Albums---\| ---------------------- ----------------------------- \|---Deafbox Industries---\| -----------------------------

11-01-2018, 04:51 AM	#5 (permalink)
Oriphiel Ask me how! Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: The States Posts: 5,354	But at the same time, I can totally get why his writing would come off as try-hard edgy, since it's so heavily rooted in that beat Keruoac style, which I thank Crom every day never really influenced me personally as a writer (despite the fact that I loved On The Road when I was a kid) That **** gets very old very fast I'm not even sure why Gibson specifically hit me so hard as an author, since even back then I didn't have much of a tolerance for that style beyond just a few books, but something about the way he basically takes crackhouses and titty bars, rent-a-cops and trillionaires, drugged out hackers and elite soldiers, and manages to find and bring out warmth and life and insane beauty in them, even at their worst moments, and yet coldness and despair and disillusionment even at their best moments, just sucker punched me __________________ ---------------------- \|---Mic's Albums---\| ---------------------- ----------------------------- \|---Deafbox Industries---\| -----------------------------