(no subject)
Dec. 19th, 2002 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drcuriosityNeil Gaiman, thou art a jammy bastard, and I love you for it.
-- William Gibson, Neuromancer
Nasty, staticky, leaden grey, right? Enter the Gaiman, living in a land of different signals:
-- Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere
Complete and utter rip-off, but delivered in such a matter that (a) it's an amusing homage, to those who know Neuromancer and (b) it isn't belaboured and doesn't seem out of place with the rest of the work, so those who don't get the reference will pass it by in blissful ignorance.
This is one of the things I most appreciate about his skill as a story-crafter. Meaning passes through layers, and while there are many little nods, influences and references for the broadly-read or fanatical, the rest of the story flows around them so seamlessly that they don't detract at all from the flavour of the piece - much as a master chef can hint at spices for the palate of the connoisseur, but still produce a dish that the regular man can consume, enjoy, and happily digest.
It is this level of storytelling and wordcraft that simultaneously intimidates and inspires me. I should write more, even if I never reach that level of puissance.
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel..."
-- William Gibson, Neuromancer
Nasty, staticky, leaden grey, right? Enter the Gaiman, living in a land of different signals:
"The growling was the roar of traffic, and he was coming out of an underpass in Trafalgar Square. The sky was the perfect untroubled blue of a television screen, tuned to a dead channel."
-- Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere
Complete and utter rip-off, but delivered in such a matter that (a) it's an amusing homage, to those who know Neuromancer and (b) it isn't belaboured and doesn't seem out of place with the rest of the work, so those who don't get the reference will pass it by in blissful ignorance.
This is one of the things I most appreciate about his skill as a story-crafter. Meaning passes through layers, and while there are many little nods, influences and references for the broadly-read or fanatical, the rest of the story flows around them so seamlessly that they don't detract at all from the flavour of the piece - much as a master chef can hint at spices for the palate of the connoisseur, but still produce a dish that the regular man can consume, enjoy, and happily digest.
It is this level of storytelling and wordcraft that simultaneously intimidates and inspires me. I should write more, even if I never reach that level of puissance.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-12-18 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-18 08:53 pm (UTC)Although it happens to be nothing different from what happens in the art world, either.
no subject
Date: 2002-12-18 10:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-19 05:09 am (UTC)Ja. That is all.
no subject
Date: 2002-12-21 09:20 pm (UTC)If books aren't good, then have a pro-Canadian, Apple "Switch" Parody advert in Quicktime!
http://bantha.cjb.net/stuffins/john/index.php
(I sent this to you via ICQ, but don't know if it got there.)
no subject
Date: 2002-12-21 11:55 pm (UTC)....I like to draw...o__O
no subject
Date: 2002-12-20 02:16 am (UTC)My little sister (maybe 11?) enjoys his books as much as I do
He's a New Zealander isn't he?
no subject
Date: 2002-12-20 03:31 am (UTC)