"Vineland" and "Neuromancer"

[Timothy C. May]

Because Bonnie and others have complained about getting two messages
(but only of the ones addressed to them as well, I think), I decided
to stop doing "group" replies, which on this list means the sender and
the list. So I just fired off a reply, only noticing as my fingers
were leaving the "s" (send) key that my answer would only go to the
original sender, not the list. (This list is set up this way, for
reasons I won't speculate on.)

I had most of my short message saved in a screen buffer, so here it is:

SGSMOOT wrote:

> On topic: Reading _Vineland_ I was reminded constantly of William Gibson's 
> _Virtual Light_. Gibson is no Pynchon (whatever you choose that to mean) but 
> very much of the setting and development seemed similar. I must confess - 
> _Virtual Light_ was my first experience reading a complete novel from a 
> computer screen. I purchased something called an "Expanded Book" and played 
> it back, so to speak, on a Mac. I wouldn't recommend it.
> 
> Of course, the Gibson book was published sufficienly later than _Vineland_ 
> for the influence to have flowed from the greater writer to the lesser... 
> (*dodging bricks from Gibson partisans*). 


I'm not a Gibson partisan, and even skipped a party in Oakland that he
was supposed to be at, but I think "Vineland" owes a bit to
"Neuromancer," Gibson's 1983-4 seminal novel. As lots of others have
noted, the whole "ninja woman" ("DC"?...don't recall her name, sorry)
theme in "Vineland" looked like it was influenced by the "Molly"
character in Gibson's works. (Molly? Hmmhh, does this mean Gibson is
Joyce?)

(I read "Neuromancer" back then when it first appeared and was
mightily impressed, partly because of the fresh ideas about
cyberspace--which was largely unrecognized as a space back then--and
partly because of the attitude. I'd have to rate "Neuromancer" as more
influential than "Vineland.")

--Tim May


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