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Deep Gibson

Zero History Penguin Cover The interview of William Gibson, in The Paris Review, was much deeper about his personal life than I expected. There’s a lot of depth on his time on Wytheville, Virginia and how it influenced his conceptions of science fiction and writing. Also his draft-era Vietnam angst and transition to Canada. Didn’t know he had a wife and son.

In addition, I’ve always thought of the nominal Bigend Trilogy (Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, Zero History) as a science fiction series, but the books are really contemporary thrillers. As Gibson puts it, there’s just enough to make them work like science fiction.

And the story of his first paid publication is priceless. A long read but well worth the time invested.

With the start of a new year, and the anniversary of my Kindle ownership, I’m thinking of rereading the Bigend trilogy in its entirety. I’d like to do it on the Kindle, but the prices of the electronic editions is mildly daunting.

Apropos of nothing, according to Wikipedia, Bigend was born the same year I was.

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