Though Richard K. Morgan has come close to overtaking him in my literary affections, Mr. Gibson will forever be my favorite author. He has penned other stories of quality -- I reserve particular affection for Idoru --, but Neuromancer is Mr. Gibson at the pinnacle of his powers. My favorite author's best book... You know where this is headed, don't you?
In a dystopian Earth of the 22nd century, in which corporate interests have thoroughly undermined the power of the traditional nation state, everything is for sale. Case is a particularly talented computer hacker who operates within the Matrix, a virtual-reality Internet of the future in which single humans cohabit with megalithic corporations to create billions of instantaneous interactions across a synergistic landscape. Case is much more than just a participant in his collective hallucination; he is a Console Cowboy, a mercenary and a thief of information, a criminal willing to work for the highest bidder. For it's not just the thrill of the job that keeps him alive; it's the exhilaration of leaving behind the limitations of mortal flesh and surfing out into the sea of data, becoming there an immortal mind, thoughts wrapped inside an identity unchained from human bondage. This creates in Case an arrogance which eventually catches up to him in a Tennessee hotel where his employers, from whom he had cockily stolen money, inject him with a poison that burns away his brain's ability to reach the Matrix. His talent gone and his future prospects reduced to petty drug deals, Case is almost out of options when the hand of Fate reaches down and plucks him out of the mud, choosing him for a mission that will change his world forever. True, he'll have to work for and alongside madmen to fulfil his new contract, but if, against all the odds, he succeeds, he might just be freer and wiser than the man he was before the Tennessee hotel.
Neuromancer is not just wonderfully and chaotically plotted, its 1984 publication gave birth to an entire genre of science fiction (Cyberpunk). It gave us novels and video games. It coined terms like Cyberspace which entered the common parlance after Neuromancer. More than that, it predicted, by a decade and a half, the Internet which has come to dominate so much of our existence. And though Mr. Gibson's vision of a virtual internet hasn't yet come to fruition, it is so ubiquitous, so much a conduit of our information flow, that Mr. Gibson's dream is inevitable.
Despite the passage of a quarter century, Neuromancer, unlike many other near-future pieces of science fiction, hardly feels dated. True, the dominance of Japanese techno-culture feels a bit pre-21st century; what's more, the nation state's demise to the corporation as societal organizer and law-giver has a tinge of overwrought cynicism about it, but these are tiny quibbles in a novel that beats back the test of time by being ahead of its time. From feminism, to the ethics of cloning and personal servitude, to the rise of artificial intelligences, there's something in Neuromancer for everyone. I'm both saddened and relieved that there has never been a film. It would be venerate and cheapen this unrivaled work of future fiction.
For those of us who consider writing their calling, there will always be work that leaves us with an overwhelming feeling of inadequacy. Unless one is supremely blinded by an arrogant sense of superiority, this experience is a rite of passage which causes us to question our own abilities. What is my voice? What do I want to say with it? And how elegant will I be with my words? While in this questing state, the skill and grace of the masters will seem as distant as the countless, glittering suns in our sky. But if we don't dream, if we don't try, we will never be all of what we could be. Mr. Gibson is my glittering sun. And though I hold this hope to my heart, I don't imagine I, or many others, will ever look upon him as an equal. (5/5 Stars, but really, what's the point of rating it...)
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