"Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by
billions of legitimate operators, in every nation ... A graphic
representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in
the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the
nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city
lights, receding."
In 1984 William Gibson invented the word cyberspace in his seminal novel Neuromancer
and today, nearly 25 years later, a growing and significant number of
people are spending increasing amounts of time and money inside
'computer generated constructs', whether they be perhaps the most
analogous to Gibson's idea of cyberspace (Second Life), game-like
(World of Warcraft) or social (facebook).
So when we first started dabbling in
Second Life we quickly realized that something interesting Penguin
could do would be to bring William Gibson into this strange new place,
a place he seemed to have predicted and described years ago (though
he disputes this). Unsurprisingly many of the older residents of Second Life are hardcore sci-fi and cyberpunk fans and dotted around the virtual landscape are a number of sims with a
suitably dystopian
theme. And perhaps now we have a great opportunity to connect an
author and his fans in a totally new, and in this case totally
appropriate, environment.
Over the next few weeks - to celebrate and, yes, promote his new novel Spook
Country - we're planning a range of William Gibson activities in Second Life; we're screening his fine and strange movie No Maps for These Territories;
there's a competition to design an avatar for the man himself; we're
giving away shipping containers packed with Gibson goodies and at the
beginning of August, William Gibson himself will be coming into Second
Life to read from Spook Country and answer questions.
If you want to join in, log into Second Life,
join the Penguin Readers group or get in touch with me virtually by
sending an IM to Jeremy Neumann. We're looking forward to sharing a
consensual hallucination with you.
Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher
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Warren Adler, author of The War of the Roses, Random Hearts, The Sunset Gang, and many other bestselling novels, takes on the New York of his childhood in Funny Boys, coming next month from Overlook. In this darkly funny comedy of errors about success, the mob, and finding true love, Warren Adler's memorable story of a young comedian (tumler) in the Borscht Belt era is a sweeping American tale. For a sneak preview of Funny Boys, pick up a copy of Adler's short story collection New York Echoes, or visit the author's website.
