Mona Lisa Overdrive

Mona Lisa Overdrive is perhaps the least successful of the Sprawl trilogy. Combining the framework of Count Zero with some of the opaque prose of Neuromancer, this novel feels more disjointed or jarring, although Gibson leaving the most intriguing aspect of the matrix for the final pages aligns so well with some of the religious themes of the novel, especially the paradigm of the matrix and Vodou. Nonetheless, one should be glad Gibson included Japanese characters of importance here, mainly Kumiko, since Japan and Japanese ideas are central to his vision. Furthermore, the reader is treated to more of the Sprawl, London in this unusual setting, and New Jersey and Florida. The bleak conditions and unequal society depicted are quite harrowing, but fit perfectly with the previous two novels in establishing Gibson's world. Moreover, the return of Molly makes this required reading, albeit less victorious than Neuromancer. Nothing is as it seems, and perhaps one will never know the first causes. 

Count Zero

Well, Count Zero is certainly a very different novel and not what I expected to be a follow-up to the famous Neuromancer. Unlike his famous first novel, Count Zero's prose is less Burroughs and more conventional while switching back and forth between three characters in each chapter until their stories intersect. While this makes the novel easier reading material, some of the magic and zany-ness of the first novel, set almost a decade before the events that transpire in Count Zero, is lost. Nonetheless, Gibson tackles in an interesting and postmodern way the consequences of AI becoming sentient and interacting with us in ways more aligned with Vodou and non-Western religions. Indeed, that is precisely the most interesting thing about this global dystopic future of zaibatsu domination and wealthy elites, becoming less human with each passing day, it seems, fighting for control of biochip innovations and power while changes in the Cyberspace resemble more and more Haitian Vodou possession and the intercession of powerful lwa.

In this regard, it is also interesting to note the much larger role played by black characters in this novel, African-Americans from the Projects of a New Jersey suburb, as their understanding of sentient fractures of the fusion of Wintermute and Neuromancer makes perfect sense within a Vodou worldview. Although sometimes reduced to stereotypical lines, specifically Jackie and Beauvoir, I found Beauvoir (perhaps a name inspired by the illustrious Haitian of that same name?) intelligent and his definition of Vodou as getting stuff done useful (paging Prothero?). And despite the skepticism and condescending remarks from various cowboys, observers, and dealers, the conceptual field of perception of the Vodouizan and their Haitian Creole speech and memory of mapou trees and possession, makes just as much sense as Marly's confrontation with the boxmaker (Gran Met). Indeed, perhaps that is the one of the powerful lessons of Count Zero regarding technological progress and innovation: the differences between the past traditions and advances in cybernetics are not so much linear but an entwined series of roots and routes. 

After discussing this novel via email with a relative, I think they are correct about this largely acting as a pot-boiler work in the so-called Sprawl Trilogy, with Gibson's use of Vodou, Rastafarians in Neuromancer and Japanese themes throughout the series as instrumental, conceptually and metaphorically, while also being post-modern and traditional simultaneously, as the Joseph Cornell-like boxes indicate. It would be an intriguing project to look at Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy in comparison with the neo-hoodoo novels of Ishmael Reed (and Japanese By Spring), Dany Laferriere's Japan-inspired novels that also feature Haitian and Japanese themes in conjunction, and some of the interesting research on mathematics and the sciences in African, Haitian, Rastafarian, or Santeria religions. Perhaps bones, charms, and computers have more in common than we realize? 

Neuromancer

William Gibson's Neuromancer is the kind of science fiction novel one could easily revisit on an annual basis. Like William S. Burroughs, the prose is a tad challenging, but like Philip K. Dick, Gibson is full of creative ideas and interesting theories on technology, mainly cyberspace, advances in artificial intelligence, and dystopic settings. Gibson, unlike Dick, actually has stronger female characters, mainly in Molly, and even throws in a Rastafarian space colony later in the novel, perhaps inspired by Dick and Nelson's influence from the Nation of Islam? Nor can one ignore the importance of dark and dangerous multinational corporations, bringing to mind an idea I've heard regarding Japan's contributions to the rise of corporations while also falling into some phildickian themes. Anyone looking for thought-provoking science fiction on film-like urban landscapes, metaphysics, technology, action-packed heists, and some perhaps accurate state of the world in the near future should read this. 

William Gibson

Interesting talk with William Gibson for all fans of science fiction. Highly recommend. He admits outright that part of his fiction is just transporting the horrid conditions of life in the Global South to North American cities, which is partly why dystopia in science fiction is already part of 'reality' in much of the world.