william gibson

The 25th anniversary of the publication of William Gibson's groundbreaking novel Neuromancer passed quietly last week. It's hard to believe that it's been that long since it was published since it seems so contemporary today, or at least much of it does. Someone used the anniversary as an opportunity to look at the technology of that book and just how much Gibson got right and how much he got wrong.

While we're looking back at influential SF authors, look no further than Philip K. Dick. Hollywood is in love with him and three decades after his death, his profile has never been higher. Here's a fascinating look back at the man during his time in Orange County, California from people who knew him then.

If Dick were alive and writing today, would he be making as much money as someone like Alastair Reynolds? He recently signed a 10-book deal worth £1 million with Gollancz.

Maybe you could be the next Dick, Gibson or Reynolds. A genre website has teamed up with Tor to host a contest to publish some unpublished author's novel. The catch is there is no cash advance. You will only get paid if your book starts netting royalties, something that's pretty hard to do with an unestablished writer.

I received a copy of William Gibson's Spook Country for my birthday and am anxious to read it. There has been much talk online from Gibson about how he's not writing science fiction anymore because we are living in a time that is indistinguishable from the science fiction futures he had created in past books.

One Guardian writer observed that this book could change the field of literary criticism. He notes how one fan has created a website, named after a magazine described in the book, to annotate the contents of Spook Country and anything that is written anywhere about it so chances are this very post and any of your comments may end up being referenced there.

If Gibson's not your cup of cyberspace, then here are some other recent science fiction book reviews that may mention titles worth seeking out. Even if you're not going to read the book, reviews are sometimes worth reading for their own sake. For example, I'm not interested in Harry Potter, but I couldn't resist Stephen King's review of the last book in the series.

William Gibson and Guy Gavriel Kay are arguably Canada's best-known science fiction and fantasy writers, respectively. Gibson's got a new book on the way called Spook Country and is a contemporary novel along the lines of his last title, Pattern Recognition. Is he done with genre writing, I wonder. Amazon's blog has a copy of his proposal for the book that he presented to his publisher.

Kay's latest book is called Ysabel. My wife, who's read everything he's ever written, didn't think much of it, but other reviews seem to be positive. The blog Bookninja has a far-ranging interview with him that touches on his book and other subjects.