1991 cyberpunk science fiction. In a future California recovering from
the Semi-Medium One (the Big One is still waiting to happen), music
video creators, VR artists and corporate greed collide.
"I'm going to die," said Jones.
The statuesque tattoo artist paused between the lotuses she was
applying to the arm of the space case lolling half-conscious in the
chair. "What, again?"
Those are the opening lines. And it's not just a throwaway reference;
yes, Jones has died before, and there's a reason for that.
There are perhaps too many characters here: Gabe the failing
advertising man, Gina the music video producer who's being forced out
of the company she helped build now that it's been acquired by one of
the majors, Sam the teenage hacker, Gator, Jones, Fez, Rosa, Keely… in
a lesser book this wouldn't be a problem because they'd just be
background, but here they aren't just plot-dispensers, they feel like
actual people with their own desires and flaws.
The kid obviously wasn't used to alcohol. Young people, Mark
reflected sourly. They'd always had it too clean, too efficient,
even in their drugs. They took stuff that did one thing, or one
other thing, and it was all a terribly neat way to get toxed.
Sharpshooters; they couldn't stand up to the old cannonball.
And it's not at all obvious at first just what's going on. Here are
these individual stories, which seem to be crossing over, but how are
they going to interact and why does it matter? Like the significance
of various characters, that's a slow reveal, and the reader not used
to this kind of SF puzzle may find it a slog to get there, without
much in the way of signposts.
I didn't, though. This is cyberpunk that actually has the punk
sensibility. Where Gibson's heroes spend their time being jealous of
the Man's neat toys, Cadigan's wouldn't want to become the Man if you
paid them all the money. And some of them may get that choice. (And
I don't believe there's any gunplay in this book at all. What's
happening is far more significant than that.)
Oh, also, we have plenty of female characters, who aren't just there
to be hurt or to act as sex-dispensers for the hero. Funny how I
didn't notice that back in the day. I do now.
Even if the security guards had been interested enough to pop on the
fingertip-sized 'phones and take a listen, all they would have heard
was hard-core speed-thrash, in stereo. Speed-thrash was undergoing
yet another renaissance as a new generation discovered it was a
great way to make everyone over the age of twenty-five give ground
in a hurry, hands over ears. Sam was very fond of speed-thrash. She
was seventeen.
There's a fair bit of picaresque in the early chapters, but it's all
useful detail for the atmosphere of the world, and some of it will
turn out to be extremely important. Though I think that one of the
reasons I love this is that where Gibson says "oh yeah, we have this
technology, that lets us be cool in a whole new way", Cadigan says
"the introduction of this technology will cause major upheavals" and
looks into those human stories. This is a book about changing the
world.
And sure, the technical details don't match the present day. So what?
If they did, Cadigan would probably be ruling the world. (Which
might not be such a terrible thing.)
I've been very disappointed by many of my recent rereads of older
books. Not this one. I loved it when it came out, and I still love it
now. It doesn't rely on novelty for its effect; it's cyberpunk that
stands up in the modern day when we know all about that stuff, just as
well as it did when we were discovering it.
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