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Neuromancer

Published in 1984, Neuromancer was author William Gibson's first novel. It won the 1984 Nebula award, the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award and Hugo Award the following year. The novel is considered to be the first proper cyberpunk novel.


Contents

Setting

Set in a dystopian future which many readers find chillingly plausible, this book explored ideas such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, genetic engineering, multinational corporations dominating the world at the expense of the nation-state, and cyberspace (a computer network called the Grid) long before these ideas were fashionable in popular culture. Gibson also explored the dehumanizing effects of a world dominated by ubiquitous and cheap technology, writing of a future where violence and the free market are the only things upon which one may rely.

In 1988, a video game adaptation, designed by Bruce J. Balfour, Brian Fargo, Troy A. Miles, and Michael A. Stackpole, was published by Interplay. The game had many of the same locations and themes as the novel, but a different protagonist and plot. It also featured an electronic soundtrack performed by Devo.

Characters

Case: The anti-hero. A drug addict and cyberspace hacker whose nervous system was burnt out by some of his business partners who used a Russian mycotoxin after he ripped them off. When Armitage offers to help him he jumps at the offer.

Molly: A "Razorgirl" who is recruited along with Case by Armitage. She has extensive body modifications, most notably blades under her fingernails which can be used like claws, an optimized reflex system and implanted lenses covering her eyesockets with added optical enhancements.

Armitage: He is (apparently) the main patron of the crew. Formerly a Green Beret named Colonel Willis Corto, who took part in the Screaming Fist operation. He was heavily injured both physically and psychologically, and the "Armitage" personality was constructed as part of experimental "computer-mediated psychotherapy" by Wintermute (see below), one of the artificial intelligences seen on the story (the other one being the eponymous Neuromancer) which is actually controlling the mission. As the novel progresses, Armitage's personality slowly disintegrates.

Peter Riviera: A thief who can project images using his implants. He is a drug addict, hooked on a mix of heroin and cocaine.

Lady 3Jane Marie-France Tessier-Ashpool: The shared current leader of "Tessier-Ashpool SA", a company running Freeside, a resort in space. She lives in the tip of Freeside, known as the "Villa Straylight". She controls the hardwiring that keeps the company's AIs from exceeding their boundaries of intelligence.

The Dixie Flatline: A famous computer hacker named McCoy Pauley known for surviving 3 "flat-lines" or brain deaths while trying to crack an AI. Before his death, Sense/Net saved the contents of his mind onto a ROM. Case and Molly steal the ROM and Dixie helps them complete their mission.

Wintermute: One of the two Tessier-Ashpool artificial intelligences. Somehow, Wintermute gained a minute amount of control of different computer systems all over the earth and on Straylight. His goal is to combine with Neuromancer and become a super-intelligence .

The Finn: One of Molly's old friends. He has all kinds of debugging and sensor gear that allow Case to confirm Armitage's toxic sack threat. Later in the book Wintermute uses his personality to talk with Case and Molly.

Julius Dean: A 115 year old man with a fetish for fashion. He is very paranoid even around friends and is constantly chewing ginger candy. Case often went to him for information or jobs.

Linda Lee: Case's girlfriend in Chiba. The book hints that she is killed by Julius.

Lupus Yonderboy: Leader of the Panther Moderns. Has pink hair, a chameleon suit, and many ear ports. He and the Moderns help steal the Dixie Flatline from Sense/Net.

Plot

Case, an out-of-work hacker and computer legend, has gotten his nervous system burned out by a Russian mycotoxin, rendering himself devoid of access to cyberspace. A few years later, he gets an offer he can't refuse, all he has to do is one simple hack at the right moment and the right time. He is teamed up with Molly, a razorgirl, Armitage, an ex-military commander, and Riviera, a doped-up personal light show, in order to achieve one simple goal: Find a head and hack it. But at what price?

Glossary

  • Hosaka — a computer system made by the Hosaka Corporation. It is used as a search engine in cyberspace, with the system responding to queries in multimedia format.

Reference

William Gibson, Neuromancer, 1984, New Ace SF Special, ISBN 0-441-56956-0

See also

External links

Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04