ebook Sales

Rosetta books has a sale on books from

1. Kurt Vonnegut 
2. to Ben Bova and 
3. Richard McKenna 
4. to Richard Matheson, 
5. Nancy Etchemendy, 
6. Barry Malzberg, and 
7. Poul Anderson

"Johnny Mnemonic" by William Gibson

This is post #500.

Nominated for the Nebula and Locus Poll awards, this originally appeared in Ben Bova and Robert Sheckley's Omni and reprinted in Joe Haldeman's Nebula Awards anthology, two retrospective field anthologies by David Hartwell, and the recent Victoria Blake anthology, Cyberpunk, among others.  After Neuromancer, it's arguably most representative of cyberpunk and possibly the reason it leads off the collection.  Both works feature Molly Millions, prototypical futuristic hired gun and bad -ss.*

Johnny Mnemonic has been carrying Ralfi's data in his head implants, but Ralfi was overdue, so they meet.  Ralfi had a bodyguard and Johnny a shotgun, but Ralfi has a neural disruptor, incapacitating Johnny.  Body-modified Molly drops in and offers her services to the highest bidder, which is Johnny.  She takes care of the bodyguard, and they exit.

Only Ralfi has the password to Johnny's data, but a drug-addicted, cyborg dolphin can access it.  Because they leave behind information wherever they go, Molly and Johnny hook up with the Lo Teks.  They meet an assassin.

Interesting mix of antiquated (microfiche) and futuristic technology (body modification for weapons and information storage).  It's prescient in its assessment of the necessity and ubiquity of information--the impossibility of hiding yourself, pieces of yourself dot along a trail of information.

* My current position does not allow me to write this word--at least I'd rather chance it.

"Fragments of a Hologram Rose" by William Gibson

This originally appeared in Unearth, a magazine for beginning writers--one that initially housed many major authors such as James Blaylock.  Parker moves through his dystopian world, being an indentured servant, but escaping from this without a notion as to why.  Parker almost but never recognizes his situation.  That's it.  A character shows us our future American dystopia.   Well written on a sentence level--the story's strength--it doesn't rise above it's parts.  Interesting from a Gibson-completist perspective and how Gibson's work gained incredible strength only four short years later with "The Gernsback Continuum" which appeared in Terry Carr's admired anthology series, Universe, and two stories in the illustrious Omni magazine under the editorship of Ben Bova, Robert Sheckley, Ellen Datlow: " Johnny Mnemonic" and "Hinterlands".  The former was nominated for a Nebula, both for the Locus Poll Award.