Idoru
From first page Berkley paperback September 1997: 21st century Tokyo, after the millennial quake. Is something different here, in the very nature of reality? Or is it that something violently new is about to happen... Colin Laney is here looking for work. He is an intuitive fisher for patterns of information, the "signature" an individual creates simply by going about the business of living. But Laney knows how to sift for the dangerous bits. Which makes him useful -- to certain people. Chia McKenzie is here on a rescue mission. She's fourteen. Her idol is the singer Rez, of the band Lo/Rez. When the Seattle chapter of the Lo/Rez fan club decided that he might be in trouble in Tokyo, they sent Chia to check it out. Rei Toei is the idoru -- the beautiful, entirely virtual media star adored by all Japan. Rez had declared that he will marry her. This is the rumor that has brought Chia to Tokyo. True or not, the idoru and the powerful interests surrounding her are enough to put all their lives in danger.
Stats for nerds
12recommend
59mentions
53people
2007–2026years
20% recommend78% neutral2% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Cool, I've been listening to the last 1.5hr or so of Idoru recently (sequel to Virtual Light). I really like Rez's bodyguard Blackwell.
Gibson's description, in Idoru, of Slitscan's audience is one of my favorite pieces of Gibson's writing, which is always about "the now" of when he wrote it. That particular description happens to be a really, really good description of the modern GOP.
I also recommend his collection of non-fiction magazine writings and paid talks, "Distrust that Particular Flavor". The important thing about Gibson is that his heart shines through all his work, and -- boy, oh boy! -- does this 2025 world need more heart!
Thanks popping up on my radar. Who knows where fate will lead us?
Peace be with you, brother. May you be blessed with all healing, health, and prosperity!
- William Gibson, Idoru. Heroine Chia Pet ends up (after some adventures, in cyberspace and meat) with place in the walled city. It's a good book.
- Interestingly, I'm actually a huge fan of Gibson's prose (reading Idoru rn, finished the Sprawl Trilogy and Burning Chrome last year), and even though I've been reading his stuff with the same neurological disorder I have now, I've never felt like I struggled to understand what he was saying.
- I'll just put out my list since it's probably what people browse those threads for.
I just finished it so I might be biased, but Miller's "A canticle for Leibowitz" is some of the best Sci-fi I've read. Extremely thought provoking, and you get the opportunity to read from someone coming from a very different place than your usual sci-fi writer. I loved the setting and the plot, monasteries are definitively a unique setting for Sci-fi (Think Il Nome della Rosa by Eco meets Mad Max)
Philip K. Dick also has a very unique outlook and is worth a read, either through "Do Androids dream of electric sheep" or "Ubick" (warning: Ubick is extremely weird)
Given my native tongue is French, I'll not forget Barjavel, excellent writing (although I read it in the original French). Like Miller, the philosophy is very different from your usual Sci-fi. La Nuit des Temps (or "The Ice People") and Ravage ("Ashes, Ashes") are great reads.
For Gibson, I'd recommend the Bridge trilogy ("Virtual Light", "Idoru" and "All Tomorrow's Paties") over Necromancer. Gibson writes prose like poetry, it's the best English literature I've read. His writing has a literal taste, sweet yet with a nuanced and rich flavor. Once you are into a book, each sentence is a pleasure to read. But he doesn't make any compromises for newcomers. Necromancer is really hard to grasp. Since the Bridge books are set in a world more similar to our own, it may be more approachable to someone new to the author.
Asimov and Clarke were very popular at their time. But I think they didn't age well. The recommendation in the OP of the Foundation series (though I recommend you limit yourself to the original trilogy) is alright. The idea is very unique, but the writing is poor, and well, gender has a weirdly backward role for a futuristic society.
OP is missing Clarke. Classic author who is responsible for 2001 A Space Odyssey. However, Clarke best work is "Childhood's end". Yeah, the new-age ending didn't age well, but it's still really good. "Rama" is good too, but the sequels do not hold up.
Greg Egan is very obtuse, you need a very good level of math to understand some of his work. But not all of his novels are intractable. I loved "Distress", it introduced me to a very different way to think about gender identity.
I'll second The Tchaikovsky recommendation from OP ("Children of Time") It's very high on my Sci-fi tier list. I'm surprised to see him in such a list, because he's not the conventional Sci-fi recommendation. But it makes sense, Children of Time is such a unique and excellent novel. The premise is insane, the story is excellent, and the writing tops if off. It works surprisingly well.
I'm a big fan of Charles Stross. Accelerando and Glasshouse are definitively very good. But I'll go and recommend "Saturn's Children". It's more his style: Very much like Tchaikovsky, his premises are insanely ridiculous and almost outrageous, but perfectly coherent. His work is so much fun! It's a blast to read through his novels.
- Idoru by William Gibson
- I tend to alternate between Sci-Fi/Thriller and How-to-write.
Donald Maass - The Emotional Craft of Fiction
William Gibson - Idoru
Dean Koontz - Strangers
Dean Koontz - Watchers
James Scott Bell - How to Write Best-Selling Fiction
Yudhanjaya Wijeratne - The Salvage Crew (fn FANTASTIC!)
Then a classic like:
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
While a bit over-produced, this one was fantastic. Shame they didn't do the whole series.
Neil Gaiman - The Sandman
Rob Grant - Red Dwarf
Steven Pressfield - Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t
An Audible membership, I think, is totally worth it. Sure, audio books are available at libraries. But one must wait and wait.
