ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES - Softcover

William Gibson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140292802 ISBN 13: 9780140292800

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

Colin Laney, sensitive to patterns of information like no one else on Earth, currently resides in a cardboard box in Toyko. His body shakes with fever dreams, but his mind roams free as always, and he knows something is about to happen. Not in Toyko; he will not see this thing himself. Something is about to happen in San Francisco... The mists of San Francisco make it easy to hide, if hiding is what you want, and even at the best of times reality there seems to shift. A gray man moves elegantly through the mists, leaving bodies in his wake, so that a tide of absences alerts Laney to his presence. A boy named Silencio does not speak, but flies through webs of cyber-information in search of the one object that has seized his information. And Rei Toei, the Japanese Idoru, continues her study of all things human. She herself is not human, not quite, but she's working on it. And in the mists of San Francisco, at this rare moment in history, who is to say what is or is not impossible...

About this title

Review:

Although Colin Laney (from Gibson's earlier novel Idoru) lives in a cardboard box, he has the power to change the world. Thanks to an experimental drug that he received during his youth, Colin can see "nodal points" in the vast streams of data that make up the worldwide computer network. Nodal points are rare but significant events in history that forever change society, even though they might not be recognizable as such when they occur. Colin isn't quite sure what's going to happen when society reaches this latest nodal point, but he knows it's going to be big. And he knows it's going to occur on the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, which has been home to a sort of SoHo-esque shantytown since an earthquake rendered it structurally unsound to carry traffic.

Colin sends Barry Rydell (last seen in Gibson's novel Virtual Light) to the bridge to find a mysterious killer who reveals himself only by his lack of presence on the Net. Barry is also entrusted with a strange package that seems to be the home of Rei Toi, the computer-generated "idol singer" who once tried to "marry" a human rock star (she's also from Idoru). Barry and Rei Toi are eventually joined by Barry's old girlfriend Chevette (from Virtual Light) and a young boy named Silencio who has an unnatural fascination with watches. Together this motley assortment of characters holds the key to stopping billionaire Cody Harwood from doing whatever it is that will make sure he still holds the reigns of power after the nodal point takes place.

Although All Tomorrow's Parties includes characters from two of Gibson's earlier novels, it's not a direct sequel to either. It's a stand-alone book that is possibly Gibson's best solo work since Neuromancer. In the past, Gibson has let his brilliant prose overwhelm what were often lackluster (or nonexistent) story lines, but this book has it all: a good story, electric writing, and a group of likable and believable characters who are out to save the world ... kind of. The ending is not quite as supercharged as the rest of the novel and so comes off a bit flat, but overall this is definitely a winner. --Craig E. Engler

About the Author:

Williams Gibson was the first author to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick award also known as the “triple crown” of Science Fiction, on his debut novel Neuromancer. He lives in Canada and continues to write award winning critically acclaimed science fiction.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0140292802
• ISBN 13: 9780140292800
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 277