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William Gibson: No Maps for These Territories, by Mark Neale, Docurama, 2001, $24.95, DVD.
Neuromancer, by William Gibson, Ace Books, 2004, $25.
HAS IT really been twenty years since Neuromancer was first published as an Ace paperback original? What's perhaps more surprising is how fresh the story still feels - considering that the book is somewhat of a near-future thriller, and with all the other novels it has - let's be polite and say - inspired.
Yes, there are gaps in Gibson's future - who can imagine our present world without cell phones? - but Gibson was never trying to be prescient. As can be seen in the many novels and short stories that have appeared since Neuromancer's critical and popular success first dragged him into celebrity status, he has always been more concerned with story and character and investigating the Zen moment of now where the two collide and take on a life of their own.
Much has been made of Gibson's lack of technological know-how when he wrote the book (on a typewriter), but it just goes to show you that while research will always be an indispensable tool, imagination still remains the most vital component of good storytelling. Imagining story, the inner workings of his characters' minds, and the world in which it all takes place are all more important than research in the long run.
And while Gibson might not have been a computer geek himself, his coining of the term "cyberspace" - and perhaps more...