# the bad opening of william gibson's peripheral novel summary: "double dickage." why does this seem the sort of novel that needs footnotes to be understood? it also fails answer the question "who are these people and why should we care?" even keeping a tab open to wikipedia won't help reduce the overly prime waft of raw sci fi limburger that would certainly be worth a quid if john smith stuck it up on smashwords in a year that has seen an ample abundance of more or less routine dystopian speculative fiction novels set in the unimaginative near future along limps william gibson's "the peripheral" - an exceptional waft of stale literary air it represents the didn't-wait-long-enough return of not only one of speculative fiction's most allegedly important intellectuals but also one of the most 'only slightly noteworthy' writers of the times. reading into the bizarre popularity of a william gibson (airport) novel can be a difficult challenging and often unrewarding task and ir latest is no exception ey takes unsuspecting and naive readers on a whirlwind tour into the future twice; the first set approximately three to four decades into the future and the other the early 22nd century. but it doesn't seem a task worth taking by the reader since gibson only has some mildly interesting things to say about time travel robotics nanotechnology and corporate financial and government corruption on a global scale through a tale that is nearly as darkly 'darkly depressing' as the one recounted in "neuromancer" - ir award winning debut novel that noted critic and fantasy writer lev grossman laughably regards as the most important novel of our time there appear unfortunately all too many ways to embarrassingly overstate how non-radical gibson's first and best novel was even when it first appeared at your local supermarket checkout in the 80s. ey combined a shattered neon drenched postmodern megacityscape - its miserabalist inhabitants rendered demigodlike by boring designer drugs bad 'tribal' tattoos and rampant surgical body modifications - with ir non paradoxically self-parodying vision of an n-dimensional virtual blandscape created by depressed networked computers through which pasty bandito-lite hacker nerds roam mindlessly like high plains drifters on bad ice when one such slacker-hacker 'case' (yes that's actually ir name) gets sudden withdrawl symptoms from this "cyberspace" - apart from uncle rico in napoleon dynamite gibson was among the first and only to use the ridiculous term - they'll do anything to get back in including embarking on a suicidal cyber-assault on an all but unhackable (notion of an) artificial intelligence uselessly violent and allegedly visionary - meaning it's all just a cheap bunch of smoke mirrors and untuned tv static - the stunningly overrated neuromancer proved not for the first or last time that science fiction is still no more or less than a mass-market paperback genre a still too crude tool by which an age shaped by and obsessed with technology can conveniently mis-understand itself while relying on literary techniques introduced in "virtual light" and especially "idoru" and perfected in "pattern recognition" "spook country" and "zero history" such terse often fragmented sentences brief chapters and realistictm dialogue appear for some dim-lightbulb readers as faint literary echoes of the hallucinatory prose written in ir early "sprawl trilogy" novels "neuromancer" and "count zero" - only even worse "the peripheral" is gibson's best minor work of speculative fiction since "idoru". flynne fisher lives with ir united states marine corps veteran brother burton a former member of its eye-rollingly 1337 'haptic recon' force who suffers from neural damage caused by dodgy implants ey received while serving in it. they volunteers as a substitute for a job they doesn't know ey has beta-testing some / another lousy virtual reality garme and (shock-horror) witnesses a murder in a predictably futuristic london building. (a murder that readers will repeatedly view through ir eyes. rashomon level subtlety however it is not) contacted digitally from that futuristic london by 'wilf netherton' a down on ir luck public relations specialist flynne journeys into that future as a "peripheral" hoping that they can help solve that murder. through ir "peripheral" they encounters a decaying far future london ruled by the "klept" the corrupt world government and one of its oh-so cynical espionage agents 'ainsley lowbeer' - yes that's actually ir name - jaded all knowing ageless. unexpectedly they becomes an important player in an effort by netherton and others to "change the course of history(tm)" resulting in a future far more benign than theirs "the peripheral" is an unsettling brilliantly flawed look into the sad near future of science fiction with gibson writing what must be seen as an exceptional fan fiction mashup of dystopian and time travel speculative fiction coupled with terminally boring nanotech driven cyberpunk and unmemorable world building of a kind best not associated with china mieville and neal stephenson's recent work especially noteworthy is ir largely uninteresting depiction of quasi time travel in which ir protagonists can only exchange messages digitally. sigh. gibson's conception of peripherals the flesh and blood biopunk analogues of robots should be remembered as a most undistinguished contribution to the mindlessly robotic genre that is speculative fiction ir fictional exploration of the corporate financial market and government corruption that extends from the all too recognizably familiar near future of heroine flynne fisher's small town united states to the nightmarish nanotech dominated london of the early 22nd century is an exceedingly janklily crafted and cliched dystopian vision that readers won't find in any other recently published dystopian fiction (if they're lucky) paradoxically these and other faults are precisely the reasons why "the peripheral" wil be seen by overpaid critics and other wide eye'd hipster fanboys as one of the most important novels published not only this year but so far this century sadly mis-reaffirming gibson's unquestionable status as 'one of the most visionary writers of our time'. as if. chinese fortune cookies seem more prophetic the opening of the peripheral with commentary "the haptics" **+** a poor choice of chapter title. "haptics" sounds like kojima san's use of "nanomachines" ie. "something vaguely futuristic and cool sounding" they didn't think flynne's brother had ptsd but that sometimes the haptics glitched ir. they said it was like phantom limb ghosts of the tattoos they'd worn in the war put there to tell ir when to run when to be still when to do the bad-arts dance which direction and what range. so they allowed ir some disability for that and ey lived in the trailer down by the creek. an alcoholic uncle lived there when they were little veteran of some other war ir father's older brother. they and burton and leon used it for a fort the summer they was ten. leon tried to take girls there later on but it smelled too bad. when burton got ir discharge it was empty except for the biggest wasp nest any of them had ever seen. most valuable thing on ir property leon said. airstream 1977. ey showed ir ones on ebay that looked like blunt rifle slugs went for crazy money in any condition at all. the uncle had gooped this one over with white expansion foam gone gray and dirty now to stop it leaking and for insulation. leon said that had saved it from pickers. they thought it looked like a big old grub but with tunnels back through it to the windows. **+** "they didn't think": who? 'they' just floats there. this is also a neuromancer era copy-paste of "the men in the black clinics ir last hope had admired the expertise with which they'd been maimed and then slowly shaken ir heads" **+** "bad-arts dance?" really? cos that sounds really badass **+** "sometimes the haptics glitched ir" who even talks like that? why is this even remotely acceptable writing? **+** "(..) they allowed ir some disability for that": clunky writing **+** "(..) ir father's older brother": we already know ir's an uncle - show us exactly how it matters which one **+** passive writing: consider instead "the summer (name) was ten burton leon and ir used it for a fort" **+** "girls": girlfriends or girls? **+** "smelled too bad": only accidentally suggests they would've gone there if it had only smelled a little **+** "when burton got ir discharge" - sounds vaguely venereal **+** "(..) the biggest wasp nest": don't discuss or hint at previous work? **+** "(..) leon said. airstream 1977": what? shouldn't the airstream be on another line? **+** "(..) ones on ebay that looked like blunt rifle slugs": could be better if changed to "like the blunt rifle slugs that littered the woods around ir property" or something **+** "went for crazy money": just plain bad **+** "the uncle had gooped this one over": 'gooped' sounds awkward **+** "gone gray and dirty now to stop it leaking and for insulation": hardly rolls off the tongue **+** "saved it from pickers": we know what you mean bill - just that your bad overlty-clipped imitation of chandler comes off more like mike hammer **+** '(..) but with tunnels back through it to the windows': clunky! coming down the path they saw stray crumbs of that foam packed down hard in the dark earth. ey had the trailer's lights turned up and closer through a window they partly saw ir stand turn and on ir spine and side the marks where they took the haptics off like the skin was dusted with something dead-fish silver. they said they could get that off too but ey didn't want to keep going back. **+** this entire paragraph is overly long - and still talks mysteriously about the they "hey burton," they called "easy ice," ey answered ir garmer tag one hand bumping the door open the other tugging a new white t-shirt down over that chest the corps gave ir covering the silvered patch above ir navel size and shape of a playing card **+** what jack burton from "big trouble in little china"? **+** names like "easy ice" come off as your dad trying too hard to be cool and 'vibe with da youff' - and sound like an awesomea-calypso **+** never mind what size and shape the patch is - what is it? now ey just got ir stuff out before ey hosed the inside every week or two like washing out tupperware. leon said the polymer was curatorial how you could peel it all out before you put your american classic up on ebay. let it take the dirt with it. **+** "hosed the inside": sounds like burton could do with a hosing especially with that discharge of ir **+** polymers are never 'curatorial': does this 'leon' generally keep ir head up ir arts? **+** talking about "ebay" somehow already horribly dates this novel burton took ir hand squeezed pulling ir up and in. **+** "squeezed" and "and in" seem unnecessary "you going to davisville?" they asked. "leon's picking me up." "luke 4:5's protesting there. shaylene said." ey shrugged moving a lot of muscle but not by much. **+** "luke 4:5": we know bill will explain all such details later but at least give us a clue or context bill **+** 'moving a lot of literary muscle and narrative weight' is what this novel does - and not by much that was you burton. last month. on the news. that funeral in carolina. **+** is this novel. being narrated. by. bill shater? ey didn't quite smile. **+** "ey didn't quite smile" only seems cool yet there's simply not enough to go on for it to sound anything other than awkward you might've killed that boy. **+** man that 've' looks awkward on the page ey shook ir head just a fraction eyes narrowed. **+** what is this guy some kind of lone wolf clint eastwooden name taker and heart breaker? scares me you do that shit. **+** what scares ir? shaking ir head by fractions while ir eyes narrow? you still walking point for that lawyer in tulsa? **+** clipped hyper-militaristic terms like "walking point" only works if you're in vietnam still using shotguns as bongs "ey isn't playing. busy lawyering i guess." "you're the best ey had. showed ir that." **+** "best ey had" - what lay? "just a garme." telling herself more than ir. **+** can bill get any worse? "might as well been getting himself a marine." **+** what like leon used to get himself a girl? they thought they saw that thing the haptics did then that shiver then gone. **+** "that shiver then gone" - yep it gets worse "need you to sub for me," ey said like nothing had happened. "five-hour shift. fly a quadcopter." **+** the full stop between "five-hour shift" and "fly a quadcopter" - and the mere use of 'quadcopter' - should be an example of nearly everything wrong with gibson's cheesy style / with every unwieldy slab of cyberpunk fiction that emulates it unconsciously or not they looked past ir to ir display. some danish supermodel's legs retracting into some brand of car nobody they knew would ever drive or likely even see on the road. "you're on disability," they said. "aren't supposed to work." **+** "(..) retracting into some brand of car nobody they knew would ever drive or likely even see on the road" is somehow supposed to pass for 'penetrating and insightful commentary into teh zeitgeist' but is simply dire gazing into the collective navel thinly dressed up as something deep ey looked at ir. "where's the job?" they asked. "no idea." "outsourced? va'll catch you." **+** please just say "veteran's association" "garme," ey said. "beta of some garme." "shooter?" **+** and you thought sin city was bad (apart from marv) "nothing to shoot. work a perimeter around three floors of this tower fifty-fifth to fifty-seventh. see what turns up." "what does?" "paparazzi." ey showed ir the length of ir index finger. "little things. you get in ir way. edge 'em back. that's all you do." **+** "ey showed ir ir length" would have been no less cheesy "when?" "tonight. get you set up before leon comes." "supposed to help shaylene later." **+** what's with the comma between window-cleaner-brand sounding 'shaylene' and 'later'? "give you two fives." ey took ir wallet from ir jeans edged out a pair of new bills the little windows unscratched holograms bright. **+** ooh holograms - this must be the futuristic william gibson type future we were promised (and got for our sins) folded they went into the right front pocket of ir cutoffs. "turn the lights down," they said "hurts my eyes." **+** one imagines a cheap arts scene out of jackie brown starring bridget fonda as some jail bait from the midwest rings on ir toes and coke up ir nose ey did swinging ir hand through the display but then the place looked like a seventeen-year-old boy's bedroom. they reached over flicked it up a little. they sat in ir chair. it was chinese reconfiguring to ir height and weight as ey pulled himself up an old metal stool almost no paint left on it waving a screen into view. **+** nobody except bill cares where it's from **+** if your novel's opening is indicative bill speculative fiction appears to have almost no paint left on it **update patch**: a gibson flanboi responds jd / [email protected] / submitted on 2015/03/14 at 9:45 am i'm sorry you din't get gibson. ey has a singular style and if you don't like it that's ok. pretty sure i could break down the opening chapter of any book and criticise the writing and word choices for no reason.. but i have better things to do. submitted on 2015/03/14 at 12:27 pm | in reply to jd. dear unidentified corpse thank you for taking the time (and obvious effort) to reply. that you did in such a concise manner is at least a sign this post displayed the minimum of discourse necessary to evoke the need to respond at all no need to apologies for an inability to 'get' gibson. many no doubt din't. nerd kulture's need to be seen aggressively defending it's ideological purchases in the brightly lit marketplace of mainstream speculative narratives seems an important factor while gibson's 'singular style' often seems lifted wholesale from the hardboiled school there is still much to say about it's direct influence on the paperback sci fi of today the first time many read neuromancer they knew it was the coolest thing ever read. but then at that point they hadn't read very much either. fortunately they discovered bruce sterling's "the artificial kid" and ir shaper / mechanist universe which hold far more interest as novels of ideas. "the peripheral" while a work of delicate construction and intense plotting stylistically reads like a whole cut scene from the straight to unrewound-betamax world of johnny mnemonic regarding 'breaking down the opening chapter of any book and criticize the writing and word choices' - one hopes the difference between critique and criticism is clear as for having better things to do - to paraphrase lennon "life's what happens while you're playing with your glands." right john? // republic of bob