VIRTUAL LIGHT

By William Gibson

William Gibson set the tone for our technological future in his first novel, Neuromancer, by describing a virtual reality-driven info-world as Òcyberspace.Ó Gibson's dark future vision Ñ like a haunted , corporate Blade Runner world where cyberspace is the mirror of reality Ñ fills the dreams of scientist and artists alike. As one of the founders of the Cyberpunk literary movement, Gibson's work has moved him out of the insular science fiction world and into mainstream literature with his Cyberspace trilogy: Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive.

The problem is how to follow that up. Initially, Gibson delayed the pressure of the Òwhat nextÓ question by collaborating with Bruce Sterling, ano ther cyberpunk pioneer, on the Victorian cyberpunk novel The Difference Engine. Finally, another novel, ostensibly set in the same world as the Cyberspace trilogy, has arrived.

Virtual Light is easier to follow than the Cyperspace books, because it is b asically a two-tiered mystery novel (think Dashiell Hammett): two characters are drawn together in a situation constructed by unknown and outside forces. Pretty straight-forward, except that it is set in Gibson's amazing world, which possesses enough of o urs to be familiar, but enough difference to fascinate. The key to Gibson's magic is the speculation on what social response to technological change will be. Never opting for the easy road that a lot of science fiction takes Ñ merely writing a narrative s et in a new ÒrealityÓ Ñ Gibson shows us the threads which connect our here-and-now to his future. For example, the home of one of the protagonists is a squatter's city on the Golden Gate Bridge. After an earthquake drops part of the center span of the bri dge into the Bay, the street people of San Francisco take over the bridge and transform it into a place for themselves. After building homes and shops from old trailer and car parts, the bridge people reform themselves into a community of mutual support w hich feeds off it's status as ÒoutsideÓ the mainstream society. The unsanctioned, unmonitored quality of the bridge community provides it with an economic niche, which keeps the whole thing together.

William Gibson is unparalleled as a writer if you fac tor in his use of language and ability to think as a futurist. While Virtual Light may not possess the dark brilliance of his earlier work, Gibson does not fail to offer new and distinctive views of what the future holds. Once the film version of Neuroman cer hits next year, Gibson will become the sort of cultural force that Lucas and Spielberge were in the 80's. Why wait? (Bob Boster)