The Talented Mr. Ripley – First Page
Tom glanced behind him and saw the man coming out of the Green Cage, heading his way. Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley‘s opening has shades of the first page of another book I’ve read for this blog, William Gibson’s Neuromancer. Both books open with a hard-boiled style, dark corners, shady bars, mysterious characters. (See Neuromancer’s … Continue reading
Neuromancer – Looking at the First Page
Reading the first page of William Gibson’s Neuromancer, here are some rapid-fire impressions. Setting is important. Gibson opens not with a description of a person, an action, or a line of dialogue, but with a scene setter. The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. This sort of … Continue reading
High Tech, Low Life
John Updike (who we might be reading next with his famous Witches of Eastwick) once wrote some simple rules for reviewing a book. The first is the most important, really the only rule a critic needs: Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he … Continue reading
Silly Reader, Sci-Fi is for Kids
I have a dear friend, a lady. She is dating a swell guy who also blogs — and he does a bang-up job of it. My dear friend had, I recall, a proviso set out at the start of their relationship: Her guy had to be cool with sci-fi. She’s totally geeked on the stuff … Continue reading
Book 2 – Neuromancer by William Gibson
The sky above the port was the color of a television, tuned to a dead channel. The poll brought in a three-way tie and we are going to go with the book ranked highest in the master list. Neuromancer wins by appearing on six of the twenty-four lists. In his All-TIME 100 Novels review of … Continue reading
Letters Republic 