Reading this NYT review of William Gibson’s Distrust That Particular Flavor was like meeting a like-minded stranger on the subway. You don’t ever think you’ll run into them again, but you get a warm glow knowing there are people out there who are on the same trip you are, and see things in generally (if not particularly) the same way.
Distrust is a collection of short stories, but Gibson has that “world skewed out of focus, and then skewed back in again differently” quality that I love. My favorite quote of the article:
“The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.â€
Everytime I see a low-flying airplane, a garbage truck, or a surprisingly-not-crazy person talking to thin air via Bluetooth, I get that “already and not yet” feeling of Gibson’s.
The article talks about a cell phone with a charm attached, “a hybrid of high technology and magic wand. EveryÂthing … seems to be a this grafted onto a that.”
Riding the Metro, I’ve been struck by the side-along-ness of the past, present, and future. I see a hulking blond man who should really be carrying an axe and pillaging some town in northern France — but he’s looking confused by the Dasani bottle that looks tiny in his massive paw.
The past and the future can feel a lot like peas and carrots swimming around in present-tense broth. Cheers to William Gibson for writing about it, and NYT for letting me know he did.