Pattern Recognition - William Gibson

Another brilliant book by Gibson, and the first in the Blue Ant/Hubertus Bigend trilogy. The likable but neurotic protgagonist, Cayce (pronounced "Case"), is a coolhunter - a precog who uses her sensitivity to brands and logos to serve as a consultant to major franchises, helping them make branding choices based on what she senses will become trendy or not. In her spare time, Cayce and her online otaku friends obsess over "the footage" - segments of breathtaking, unearthly films scattered across the net, discovered a fragment at a time. Cayce's life changes when an exceptionally powerful employer hires her for a special consulting job, and draws her into a web of intrigue, Soviet mafia, and mystery...

I also really identified with Cayce, and many of her reflections resonated with me, such as, "Does she feel liminal, now, or simply directionless?"

Gibson's 3 Trilogies:

The Sprawl Trilogy:

• Neuromancer
• Count Zero
• Mona Lisa Overdrive

The Bridge Trilogy:

• Virtual Light
• Idoru
• All Tomorrow's Parties

The Bigend Books:

• Pattern Recognition
• Spook Country
• Zero History

The Transmigration of Timothy Archer - Philip K. Dick

Just finished reading Philip K. Dick's The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (1982), published posthumously. (For those who may not know, transmigration is "the religious or philosophical concept that the soul or spirit, after biological death, begins a new life in a new body that may be human, animal or spiritual depending on the moral quality of the previous life's actions.")

The novel is set in the 1960s and 1970s, and follows the descent into drug addiction, radical religion, and madness of a deeply entwined but unhappy circle of five friends - intelligent but lonely Angel Archer, "professional student" at Cal Berkeley and poetic grass fiend, her disaffected husband, Jeff, whose maniacally intensive study of Wallenstein and Hitler becomes a pointless bid for his father's attention, Jeff's father, the dreamy but brilliant Bishop Timothy Archer, who unwittingly destroys himself and his friends, the Bishop's secret lover, the spiteful barbiturate addict Kirsten, and Kirsten's angelic son, the schizophrenic Bill.

The action begins on the day of John Lennon's death, with Angel's attempts to make sense of the "retributive fate" which has enveloped her life and destroyed those closest to her. For all this darkness, the book is a fairly light read, with some good humorous bits. For Philip K. Dick enthusiasts, it is also an interesting window into his thoughts in later years, and perhaps his most mature piece of writing. Although the repetitive nature of some of the lines was at times tedious for me, I believe it was a deliberate stylistic choice to evoke the obsessive nature of Angel's thoughts, and was effective for that purpose.

Bishop Archer's darkly comic misadventures are in fact based on the doings of the unfortunate Bishop James Pike - definitely worth reading a bit about that man, although save it for after you've read the novel - spoiler alert!

The World Jones Made

Recently read The World Jones Made by Philip K. Dick. This novel is set in 2002 on a post-apocalyptic earth that has been nearly destroyed by radiation and is filled with bizarre and disturbing mutants. The populace is ruled by a Federal World Government, aka Fedgov, and has been bullied into adopting Relativism, a philosophy that has led to the legalization of hard drugs and public acts of perversion. The plot revolves around the messianic fervor aroused by the titular character, Jones, and explores the issues of liberty and free will.