Hong’s Cave

It just proves that I am much quicker with fictions…

Anyway, this is William Gibson’s latest. One surprising (?) thing was that this book wasn’t really a science fiction. It’s more of a mystery novel with some technology thrown in.

The setting is definitely now (or some time around 2002), with reference to the 9-11 incident and Google (actually, Google was fairly big, I thought). The main technological elements of the book would be web-based message boards, watermarking and Google.

Aside from those, it’s pretty much about our protagonist, Cayce Pollard, looking for something, getting caught up in the process, and finding something much bigger than herself.

Somewhat disappointed by the lack of its “Sci-Fi”-ness, I thought about previous Gibson works, and trying to find some commonalities. I think his antagonist is always someone following up on some seemingly innocent things and discovering it being much bigger than his/herself. But mostly, these things happens quietly whose affects aren’t apparent to most other people.

Also, another common element, I thought, was incorporating emerging (and new) technology and cultural phenomena. From an old interview, I read when he wrote Neuromancer, he didn’t even know what “modem” did exactly. But he did recognize the emergence of the network connectivity and the sub-culture that followed.

I think he’s been doing it. Just like many of his fans, he seems to get fascinated by a lot of “new” stuff related to technology and its sub-cultures. His interests in Internet communities, digital video, cell phones, and Japan seem to stem from this.

In the earlier days, this all worked because his imagination was able to contribute significantly to form those sub-cultures, but lately most of his efforts seems that he’s just trying to keep up.

This is not a science fiction, in my “book.” His writing style is very distinctive, but as far as a mystery novel goes, it’s just passable. Frankly, I am a bit disappointed and being worried that we won’t ever see an old time Gibson.