Michael Offutt discusses William Gibson (Guest Post)

I don't remember if I found Mike Offutt or if Mike Offutt found me, but we've been fan of each other's work for about a year or so. Anyway, he got a deal for SLIPSTREAM, which I reviewed here. It's a good nudge of hard sci-fi to the face. You should definitively read it if you like your sci-fi infused with a strong zest of cyberpunk. Think William Gibson's nerdy little brother meets David Cronenberg. Mike blogs out of SLC Kismet, so check it out.


William Gibson is the author of Neuromancer. More so than any other author, he shaped the creation of SLIPSTREAM which is my attempt at writing a science-fiction story that embraces the noir-ish atmosphere of the cyberpunk genre. The first time that I read the opening line to Neuromancer:

“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”

 I was hooked.

Neuromancer is written in almost purple prose. But I like it. It won the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Philip K. Dick Award in the year it was released. For those of you that don’t know what these are…it’s an honor that is stratospheric in comprehension.

 Neuromancer is about a guy named Case who is a hustler in the dystopian underworld of Chiba City, Japan (set somewhere in the future). This is a book that captured the essence of the movie “The Matrix” twenty years before “The Matrix” ever became a film. This is a book that foretold the coming of the internet, and the Blade Runner-ish cities that would rise in Japan and China. The dominant theme in Neuromancer is the evolving relationship between humanity and technology and how scientific advances will one day blur the lines dividing the two. Gibson’s human characters rely on electronic enhancements to survive. How is that any different than our reliance on computers? How long will it be before we will need computer storage put into our brains in order to be competitive in the marketplace and make a living? How long will it be before quadriplegics can control robotic appendages with their own thoughts?

At the core of SLIPSTREAM is an all-powerful A.I. who goes insane. The question I ask in my book is “What would happen if God had a nightmare?” My “Chiba City” is named “Kilvarough City” and it looks exactly what Blade Runner’s Los Angeles would look like if it threw up on itself. If you choose to read it, I hope you find that it does justice to the cyberpunk world of Mr. Gibson and those writers that followed in his footsteps.

I have a contest for the release of my book. I will pick one random person who comments on this post to win a $5 Amazon Gift Card and a SLIPSTREAM jeweled spider (the same person wins both prizes). The jeweled spider really sparkles in the sunlight. I hope whoever wins it really likes it. Also, please make sure that your email is linked to your signature in some way . And yes, the crystal spiders play an important role in my book

Rules: 

1) Mark my book “To Read” on Goodreads. 

2) Comment on this post.

 3) Tweet this post if you have twitter. You don’t have to sign-up for twitter. It’s the “honor” system.  That’s it. I will choose a winner on Saturday, May 19th. And thank you, Ben, for having me on your fine blog.


BUY SLIPSTREAM HERE