Burning Chrome

Burning Chrome

William Gibson

Science Fiction / Essay

Ten tales, from the computer-enhanced hustlers of Johnny Mnemonic to the technofetishist blues of Burning Chrome. Johnny Mnemonic (1981) The Gernsback Continuum (1981) Fragments of a Hologram Rose (1977) The Belonging Kind (1981) with John Shirley Hinterlands (1981) Red Star, Winter Orbit (1983) with Bruce Sterling New Rose Hotel (1984) The Winter Market (1985) Dogfight (1985) with Michael Swanwick Burning Chrome (1982)
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Distrust That Particular Flavor

Distrust That Particular Flavor

William Gibson

Science Fiction / Essay

William Gibson is known primarily as a novelist, with his work ranging from his groundbreaking first novel, "Neuromancer," to his more recent contemporary bestsellers "Pattern Recognition, Spook Country," and "Zero History." During those nearly thirty years, though, Gibson has been sought out by widely varying publications for his insights into contemporary culture. "Wired" magazine sent him to Singapore to report on one of the world's most buttoned-up states. "The New York Times Magazine" asked him to describe what was wrong with the Internet. Rolling Stone published his essay on the ways our lives are all "soundtracked" by the music and the culture around us. And in a speech at the 2010 Book Expo, he memorably described the interactive relationship between writer and reader.These essays and articles have never been collected-until now. Some have never appeared in print at all. In addition, "Distrust That Particular Flavor" includes journalism from small publishers, online sources, and magazines no longer in existence. This volume will be essential reading for any lover of William Gibson's novels. "Distrust That Particular Flavor" offers readers a privileged view into the mind of a writer whose thinking has shaped not only a generation of writers but our entire culture.
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The Miracle Worker

The Miracle Worker

William Gibson

Science Fiction / Essay

NO ONE COULD REACH HER. Twelve-year-old Helen Keller lived in a prison of silence and darkness. Born deaf, blind, and mute, with no way to express herself or comprehend those around her, she flew into primal rages against anyone who tried to help her, fighting tooth and nail with a strength born of furious, unknowing desperation. Then Annie Sullivan came. Half-blind herself, but possessing an almost fanatical determination, she would begin a frightening and incredibly moving struggle to tame the wild girl no one could reach, and bring Helen into the world at last....
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Disneyland with the Death Penalty

Disneyland with the Death Penalty

William Gibson

Science Fiction / Essay

" Disneyland with the Death Penalty " is an article about Singapore written by William Gibson. His first major piece of non-fiction, it was first published as the cover storyfor  Wired  magazine's September/October 1993 issue (1.4). The article follows Gibson's observations of the architecture, phenomenology and culture of Singapore, and the clean, bland and conformist impression the city-state conveys during his stay. Its title and central metaphor—Singapore as Disneyland with the death penalty—is a reference to the authoritarian artifice the author perceives the city-state to be. Singapore, Gibson details, is lacking any sense of creativity or authenticity, absent of any indication of its history or underground culture. He finds the government to be pervasive, corporatist and technocratic, and the judicial system rigid and draconian. Singaporeans are characterised as consumerists of insipid taste. The article is accentuated by local news reports of criminal trials by which the author illustrates his observations, and bracketed by contrasting descriptions of the South-East Asian airports he arrives and leaves by. Though Gibson's first major piece of non-fiction, the article had an immediate and lasting impact. The Singaporean government banned  Wired upon the publication of the issue, and the phrase "Disneyland with the death penalty" became a byword for bland authoritarianism that the city-state could not easily discard.
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Idoru tb-2

Idoru tb-2

William Gibson

Science Fiction / Essay

Amazon.com The author of the ground-breaking science-fiction novels Neuromancer and Virtual Light returns with a fast-paced, high-density, cyber-punk thriller. As prophetic as it is exciting, Idoru takes us to 21st century Tokyo where both the promises of technology and the disasters of cyber-industrialism stand in stark contrast, where the haves and the have-nots find themselves walled apart, and where information and fame are the most valuable and dangerous currencies. When Rez, the lead singer for the rock band Lo/Rez is rumored to be engaged to an "idoru" or "idol singer"–an artificial celebrity creation of information software agents–14-year-old Chia Pet McKenzie is sent by the band's fan club to Tokyo to uncover the facts. At the same time, Colin Laney, a data specialist for Slitscan television, uncovers and publicizes a network scandal. He flees to Tokyo to escape the network's wrath. As Chia struggles to find the truth, Colin struggles to preserve it, in a futuristic society so media-saturated that only computers hold the hope for imagination, hope and spirituality. – This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Book Description The New York Times bestselling author takes readers to 21st-century Tokyo after the millennial quake–where something violently new is about to erupt... –This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Count Zero s-2

Count Zero s-2

William Gibson

Science Fiction / Essay

Turner, corporate mercenary, wakes in a reconstructed body, a beautiful woman by his side. Then Hosaka Corporation reactivates him for a mission more dangerous than the one he’s recovering from: Maas-Neotek’s chief of R&D is defecting. Turner is the one assigned to get him out intact, along with the biochip he’s perfected. But this proves to be of supreme interest to certain other parties — some of whom aren’t remotely human. Bobby Newmark is entirely human: a rustbelt data-hustler totally unprepared for what comes his way when the defection triggers war in cyberspace. With voodoo on the Net and a price on his head, Newmark thinks he’s only trying to get out alive. A stylish, streetsmart, frighteningly probable parable of the future and sequel to Neuromancer . Niminated for Locus and BSFA Awards in 1986. Nominated for Hugo and Nebula awards in 1987.
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A Brief History of Britain, 1660-1851

A Brief History of Britain, 1660-1851

William Gibson

Science Fiction / Essay

How Great Britain was born - from the restoration to the Great Exhibition. In 1660 England emerged from the devastations of the Civil Wars and restored the king, Charles II, to the throne. Over the next 190 years Britain would establish itself as the leading nation in the world - the centre of burgeoning Empire, at the forefront of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. However, radical change also brought with it anxiety and violence. America is lost in the War of Independence and calls for revolution at home are never far from the surface of everyday life. In this scintillating overview of the era in which Britain changed the world, and how that nation was transformed as a result. William Gibson also looks at the impact of this transformation had upon the ordinary men and women. This the is the third book in the four volume Brief History of Britain which brings together some of the leading historians to tell our nation's story from the Norman Conquest of 1066 to the...
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