Gaiman & Gibson

Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman, 1996. Fantastic as expected, based on what else I've read by Gaiman (Stardust, American Gods). Curiously, the Dante-esque plot and the motifs of an underground feudal society and esteem of rats, is painfully similar to China Mieville's King Rat of 2000. I actually didn't like King Rat very much and didn't finish it - which was disappointing largely because Mieville's The Scar is, no joke, my very favorite book of all time. Anyway, I'm sure Gaiman and Mieville know each other, and I wonder what they talk about when they talk about Neverwhere and King Rat...

Count Zero, William Gibson, 1986. Thrilling, freaky follow-up to Neuromancer. When I read Neuromancer, I could see how the movie The Matrix was a brazen copy, but I'm pretty sure Neuromancer doesn't even use the term "the matrix". Count Zero does contain that term, so I'm starting to think The Matrix is an homage to Gibson's entire opus, with bits taken from each one. I'm anticipating being irritated when the Neuromancer movie comes out and people complain that it's a rip-off of The Matrix.

The main difference between the Matrix movies and Gibson's work: in the movies the mystical stuff is allowed to stand in all its sappy, sentimental, he-is-the-one glory. With Gibson, the mystical stuff (a sort of cyber-vodoun in the case of Count Zero, the Rastafarian Zionists in Neuromancer), is only one perspective represented. With Gibson, you're never quite sure if, instead of god (or loa) pulling the strings, it's unthinkable wealth, corporate power, cutting-edge biometric circuitry, or a rogue AI that's causing all the unexplained mischief. I can't wait to read Mona Lisa Overdrive.