Темы: Zero History, беспилотные летательные аппараты, дроны, роботы

Ещё два интервью Гибсона

Поскольку у писателя Уильяма Гибсона вышла новая книжка (Zero History), он теперь всем раздаёт интервью. Вот неплохие экземляры:

Vice Magazine

- You get into the concept of secret brands in Zero History. What do you see as being the appeal of a secret brand?
- I think that the Japanese probably pioneered this. They understand it. It’s about a world in which you can buy almost anything. If you wanted to go and buy some really expensive status apparel, you could probably do it in Kansas City, or somewhere in Nebraska. You just have to find a mall that has a big enough flagship store, and you can go in and get that stuff. And if you can’t get it there, you can get it on the web and have it sent to your door. So we have a situation where the devious idea of luxury goods has been undercut by its own total ubiquity. The secret brands idea says, “You’ve got a lot of money, but you can’t have this shit because you don’t have the right information.” It suddenly becomes exclusive again. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be about very expensive luxury goods. It works because it gives people a powerful sense of individual involvement.

Wired

- In the novel, Twitter’s consistently used as a communication and parenting device, depending on the spook.
- Well, I discovered Twitter while I was writing the novel, and I immediately saw its odd potential for being a tiny, private darknet that no one else can access. I’m always interested in the spooky repurposing of everyday things. After a few days on Twitter, what was most evident to me is that, if you set it up right, it’s probably the most powerful novelty aggregator that has ever existed. Magazines have always been novelty aggregators, and people who work for them find and assemble new and interesting stuff, and people like me buy them. Or used to buy them, when magazines were the most efficient way to find novel things.

Темы: Twitter, Zero History, Уильям Гибсон, Япония

Темы: Zero History, книги, Уильям Гибсон

Zero History

У Zero History, новой книги Уильяма Гибсона, появилась обложка и описание, так что дело, похоже, движется к финалу. Выйдет в сентябре, насколько я понял.

Как и ожидалось, это действие книги происходит в уже знакомом сеттинге Pattern Recognition и Spook Country; Губертус Бигенд в наличии. Никто не удивляется - все помнят, что Гибсон любит писать трилогии.

Вот краткое описание (нужно, видимо, делать поправку на неизбежную неточность издательских описаний, но ничего лучше всё равно нет):

Whatever you do, because you are an artist, will bring you to the next thing of your own. . . .

When she sang for The Curfew, Hollis Henry's face was known worldwide. She still runs into people who remember the poster. Unfortunately, in the post-crash economy, cult memorabilia doesn't pay the rent, and right now she's a journalist in need of a job. The last person she wants to work for is Hubertus Bigend, twisted genius of global marketing; but there's no way to tell an entity like Bigend that you want nothing more to do with him. That simply brings you more firmly to his attention.

Milgrim is clean, drug-free for the first time in a decade. It took eight months in a clinic in Basel. Fifteen complete changes of his blood. Bigend paid for all that. Milgrim's idiomatic Russian is superb, and he notices things. Meanwhile no one notices Milgrim. That makes him worth every penny, though it cost Bigend more than his cartel-grade custom-armored truck.

The culture of the military has trickled down to the street--Bigend knows that, and he'll find a way to take a cut. What surprises him though is that someone else seems to be on top of that situation in a way that Bigend associates only with himself. Bigend loves staring into the abyss of the global market; he's just not used to it staring back.

Похоже, из Spook Country в Zero History перекочевали не только эпизодические персонажи, но и главные герои. Странно. Такого ещё не случалось.

У книги есть блог - zerohistory.net.

Темы: Zero History, книги, Уильям Гибсон