Post At9CDgE6JwpHZhdcZM by mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz
(DIR) More posts by mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz
(DIR) Post #At9BU35myQEdAgzXLk by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-16T11:29:21Z
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You might remember the opening line “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” William Gibson, Neuromancer But did you know that Gibson is a serial offender when it comes to describing the sky weird? In ‘Idoru’ the sky is “like a sky-blue paint chip submitted by the contractor of the universe” … I require an in-person apology from the author for this affrontery to the art of metaphor. The sky was “sky-blue”?! Sir. How dare
(DIR) Post #At9Bq23RVrEGK7NPQO by jenesuispasgoth@pouet.chapril.org
2025-04-16T11:33:13Z
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@futurebird with him specifically, I always wonder how much is some kind of "meta-irony" on top of whatever satire or social commentary he wants to make with a given book. :)
(DIR) Post #At9C9XdkIpdPmoeyMS by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-16T11:36:48Z
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The perfect book to read when writing is one you like, but secretly (arrogantly) think you could out do. It’s important to read good writing to get better at writing— (this is why reading nothing but fan fiction is bad if you want to make original work IMO) Still ,if you’re over-awed by a work it might be too discouraging and better explored when you aren’t in the middle of your own project.
(DIR) Post #At9CD0GSKnkpQqPuPQ by CharlotteEowyn@chaosfem.tw
2025-04-16T11:37:22Z
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@futurebird i think he got so much praise for the first one he felt a need to try and repeat the magic. The rest of the Sprawl trilogy was imaginative (I had to read Idoru and Mona Lisa Overdrive in college, but Neuromancer was never required reading) - but not as good as Neuromancer.
(DIR) Post #At9CDgE6JwpHZhdcZM by mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz
2025-04-16T11:37:24Z
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@futurebird Laurie Anderson used "It's a sky-blue sky" *because* it was an absurd tautology in her song "Let X = X".She's the kind of artist who William Gibson might have actually been familiar with, come to think of it.(Googling this revealed a Wilco song that seems have have been doing something similar)
(DIR) Post #At9CJ2Sn4VqRzP42Yi by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-16T11:38:31Z
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@jenesuispasgoth I do think it’s a joke. People gave him such a hard time about that line and there’s nothing wrong with it IMO.
(DIR) Post #At9CUObf5JFHqmd47s by phpete@mastodon.coffee
2025-04-16T11:40:33Z
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@futurebirdI love considering the social & technological evolution that changed readers'interpretation of said color from a miserable gray to a beautiful blue.
(DIR) Post #At9Cf1K3zfjcp2Sogi by jenesuispasgoth@pouet.chapril.org
2025-04-16T11:42:31Z
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@futurebird I am no writer – I barely wrote a few short stories in my life (and almost never shared them). But for example the style in Neuromancer (and less so in the other 2 books of the trilogy) has inspired me greatly to write again each time I read it, because the style has a nervousness, and with rather short sentences, yet with weird metaphors and comparisons. :)I think Gibson has written much better novels since, but not as "inspiring" writing-wise, if that makes sense.
(DIR) Post #At9D3TOlGCH0qcJyU4 by projektionsyta@mastodon.nu
2025-04-16T11:46:54Z
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@futurebirdI read it as: paint chip, colour "Sky Blue".
(DIR) Post #At9KIDU3PbqvVom3Oa by beaker@freeradical.zone
2025-04-16T13:07:58Z
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@futurebird Just yesterday I read Roberto Bolaño describe a "dog-colored dawn" which is so vague yet poetic, the phrase has stuck in my head. From _The Spirit of Science Fiction_ (English translation Natasha Wimmer)
(DIR) Post #At9LP9OV7CwkoH2y7U by mikeolson@mastodon.social
2025-04-16T13:20:28Z
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@futurebird Well now I want to know what you're reading.
(DIR) Post #At9PDx7on5ODOC9xUO by kat@weatherishappening.network
2025-04-16T14:03:15Z
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@futurebird @chrisamaphone nah this sentence is great… and i’m also of the opinion that many of these later examples are him intentionally calling back to the opening line of Neuromancer, and playing with the interesting fact that “the color of a television, tuned to a dead channel” had shifted from a static gray to an artificial blue over the course of those years, and could mean either depending on the age and assumptions of the reader.
(DIR) Post #At9PS628SywT4XFItE by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-16T14:05:49Z
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@kat @chrisamaphone Probably true but I choose to be offended.
(DIR) Post #At9QIbr3Oujgp36QfA by kat@weatherishappening.network
2025-04-16T14:15:18Z
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@futurebird @chrisamaphone hey i’m not gonna yuck your yum but it got reposted into my feed & i wasn’t gonna just let it slide by 😂 particularly as someone who tried to imitate the deceptively unadorned style of Gibson et al in my misspent cyberpunk youth. not that every sentence or even book of his is a polished gem, but in cases like this, i think the misdirection (you can’t say the sky is “sky-blue”! but wait, what he’s saying is it looks artificially, unnaturally so) are entirely the intent
(DIR) Post #At9XrdnIsgYyeV038K by llewelly@sauropods.win
2025-04-16T15:40:06Z
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@futurebird it's a clever reference for the fans ... if they're not too jaded.
(DIR) Post #AtA5as4CXnPAy9WvCa by th@social.v.st
2025-04-16T21:57:58Z
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@futurebird was the sky one of the official x11 colors?
(DIR) Post #AtCbq9hgq2XQrWFhxY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-18T03:08:42Z
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@Linebyline @th I think maybe some numbers were cut out.