Neuromancer.

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

“It’s not like I’m using,” Case heard someone say, as he shouldered his way through the crowd around the door of the Chat. “It’s like my body’s developed this massive drug deficiency.” It was a Sprawl voice and a Sprawl joke. The Chatsubo was a bar for professional expatriates; you could drink there for a week and never hear two words in Japanese.

William Gibson, Neuromancer 

If you know, you know.

For existing fans of Neuromancer, William Gibson's groundbreaking 1984 cyberpunk masterpiece, seeing the glowing neon title at the end of the Apple TV production announcement was redundant - all we needed to see was the word "Chatsubo" and we knew what was happening. 

In some ways, Neuromancer is the Holy Grail of science fiction adaptation, a quest which may well end badly for the participants.  Paradoxically, the great challenge in adapting Gibson is that he's such a good writer, which make it's almost impossible to capture his distinctively sparse, laconic style* in another medium.

There have been several attempts to adapt Gibson to the big (and little) screen. 1998's New Rose Hotel, based on Gibson's 1984 short story of the same title, stars the epic combination of Christopher Walken and Willen Dafoe as a pair of freelance corporate extraction experts hoping that they've found the big score that will set them up for life.

It's perhaps not a great film, but it far more effectively captures the moody neo-noir feeling of Gibson's writing than 1995's flawed Johnny Mnemonic.  Originally planned as a low-budget art film version of the original short story, the eventual studio release failed to match the quality of its source material on a number of different levels.

Amazon's episodic version of The Peripheral is a loose adaptation of the 2014 time travel-alternative reality novel, but does an acceptable job of visualizing the near and far future versions of the world that Gibson describes in the book.  The casting of Chloë Grace Moretz as Flynn Fisher was a particularly good choice, and it's unfortunate that the series didn't receive a second season that might have allowed it to further develop its characters and storyline. 

And now, Neuromancer prepares to take its place in the gauntlet. The casting looks good - I'm okay with Callum Turner as Case the hacker, and Dane DeHaan is an interesting choice for the psychopathic Peter Riviera - but ultimately, it's going to come down to look and feel.  If it doesn't have the right flavour, the right style, it's not going to work.

As per Apple's teaser, the series is in production now, and it's expected not to be released until sometime in 2026 at the earliest.  On behalf of the book's extensive fan base, good luck. And, to quote Ru Paul: "DON'T fuck it up." 

- Sid

* if you ever have the opportunity to hear Gibson read from his work, I strongly advise that you do so.  All other reasons aside, it means that going forward, you can quite clearly hear his voice when you read his work.

Canada Day 2025: Canuck Live.

Happy Canada Day, everyone - a sentiment which has added significance this year, given the degree to which our country has come under attack by President Trump over the last few months.  And it is at times like these that we turn to our national icons - icons like Captain Canuck, guardian of Canadian sovereignty for the last 50 years.

It speaks to the character's strength that, since his modest (and, to be honest, slightly amateurish) comic book debut in 1975, Richard Comely's all-Canadian superhero has experienced reincarnation after reincarnation in the world of print, and it's long past time that he made the transition to other media.  I realize that there's a well-trodden path for animated comic book adaptations, but let's set our sights a bit higher.

The CBC is long overdue to enter into the world of comic book franchising, and really, what better candidate could there be than Canada's best known superhero?  If a live action Captain Canuck series garnered the same kind of viewership that even the least popular Marvel adaptations seem to be able to pull in on Disney+, it would stave off the threat of budget cuts for decades. 

It's a shame that Alan Ritchson is American, his physical presence and earnest style would make him an ideal Captain Canuck, but I feel that the casting has to be Canadian, right across the board.  I know that Edmonton-born Nathan Fillion has been a long-time fan candidate to play the Captain, but as he edges up into his 50s, the role may call for a younger actor (not to mention his upcoming commitment as Green Lantern Guy Gardner in the new Superman movie.). And, no offense to Ryan Reynolds, but it might be for the best if he stayed in his lane as Deadpool, I think that this part calls for someone with a less sarcastic persona.  Hmmm...Shawn Roberts, perhaps?

People with only a casual awareness of the Captain's existence won't know that there's a full complement of supporting characters to flesh out the cast: Redcoat, Kébec, and the Steeltown Hammer, as well as opponents like the villainous Mr. Gold, master assassin Blue Fox, and the enigmatic alien Kyro-Na.

And let's be clear, there's no room for anything camp here: in this day and age, Captain Canuck should have the same gritty street-level gravitas that we saw in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but set in a myriad of appropriate Canadian locales.

I can see it all: acrobatic midnight combat on the container cranes at the Port of Vancouver, grueling manhunts through the unforgiving icy wilderness north of Nunavut, bullet-fast car chases across the flatlands of the Prairies, life and death confrontations on the outside deck of the CN Tower*, spy versus spy in the halls of Parliament Hill, parcour pursuit over the tiled rooftops of Québec City, and amphibious assaults on storm-wracked citadels standing guard over the rocky shores of Newfoundland.

I'd like to think that it would become a bit of a prestige thing for Canadian actors and celebrities to do guest spots on the show. It's not hard to imagine that Prime Minister Mark Carney might even do a cameo - after all, he showed well on The Daily Show, and who knows, it might even help him in the polls.  

So, we're ready to go - does anyone know who to call at CBC?  Or maybe that's too high level, all we need to do is just get onto the right elevator with the right person and make our pitch...

- Sid

* Did everyone know that there's a CN Tower experience called the Edgewalk that puts you on the outside of the tower, 116 stories up at the Summit level, in a full body fall protection harness so that you can lean out over the edge?   And I'm supposed to pay them to do this? 

P.S. If you'd like to get a feel for what a Captain Canuck series might be like, there's a six-episode series from 2014 available on YouTube™:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFinqPnt7So&t=72s

The animation is somewhat primitive, but the voice cast has some street cred, such as Kris Holden-Ried from The Umbrella Academy, Tatiana Maslany from Orphan Black and She-Hulk, and Laura Vandervoort from Smallville and V.

Truth! Justice! Freedom! Reasonably priced love! And a hard-boiled egg.

All the little angels rise up, rise up.
All the little angels rise up high!
How do they rise up, rise up, rise up?
How do they rise up, rise up high?
They rise heads up, heads up, heads up, they rise heads up, heads up high!

Terry Pratchett, Night Watch 

The 25th of May: Día del Orgullo Friki (Geek Pride Day), Towel Day, and, the anniversary of the Glorious Revolution of the 25th of May - may all the little angels rise up.

- Sid 

Tempting, but...

I can't decide what the strangest part of this situation is - the fact that this hobbit-sized spaceman-with-a-globe was originally a $300 item, that I could buy it now for a mere $99.99, that someone even decided to manufacture such a thing, or that someone in the London Drugs purchasing department would decide to add this to their inventory.  Regardless, I'm going to pass on the last chance opportunity, tempting though it is, and if I decide that I've made a horrible mistake, it shouldn't be that hard to find another one, right?

- Sid 

 

 

Flashback Friday: I'm a rocket....man.

2012:  the Raygun Gothic Rocketship, Pier 14, San Francisco.

- Sid 

 

"...if there is such a thing!"

On my last day at my job before starting retirement, my direct supervisor asked me if I had any parting words, specifically from my perspective as a science fiction fan. 

I instantly said, "Oh, Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - DON'T PANIC.  Best possible advice going forward."  

He chuckled and replied that he had been expecting "So long and thanks for all the fish" from the book of the same name, also by Douglas Adams - I agreed, also a good genre goodbye.

Hindsight being what it is, I woke up this morning and realized that I could have given him Agent Smith's classic speech from The Matrix:

I ... hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell, if there is such a thing! I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it. It's -- it's repulsive! Isn't it? I must get out of here. I must get free... 

On the other hand, perhaps not the ideal farewell - telling them not to panic was definitely a more diplomatic choice.

- Sid 

Worldcon 2025: "And the nominees are..."

Without very much fanfare, the World Science Fiction Association has released the slate of nominees for the 2025 Hugo Awards, which will be presented at the upcoming Seattle Worldcon, taking place in August. The full list of nominees can be found here:

https://seattlein2025.org/wsfs/hugo-awards/2025-hugo-award-finalists/

As a member of the WSFA, I'm able to vote on this year's awards, although I have to admit that I'm not familiar with all the nominees. I've chosen to address this shortcoming by concentrating on the Best Novel category, simply because it's probably easiest to obtain copies of the books that have been nominated, rather than trying to chase down all the short fiction or fanzines. (Although I should be able to research the Best Artist category online.)  The nominees for Best Novel are:

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US, Tor UK)

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press, Sceptre)

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (DAW)

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Tor)

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey, Hodderscape UK) 

I'm not sure when voting will open, but fortunately I'm a bit of a speed reader, so I should be able to run through all six of the nominees this week without much difficulty, especially now that I'm retired.  I'm familiar with Adrian Tchaikovsky and T. Kingfisher, but the other authors are new to me - regardless, it should be an enjoyable reading session!

 - Sid

Treat yo' self.

In the wake of my recent retirement decision, I decided to get myself a going away gift, a little something to mark the event. 

Surprisingly, it was an easy decision: the Gerry Anderson* web site had just announced the return of their Space: 1999 Eagle** schematic T-shirt to their online catalogue - cost per was a little more than I would normally spend on a T-shirt, but, as per the title, sometimes you have to indulge yourself.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a limited edition item:  they were originally out of stock when I stumbled across the Gerry Anderson site and added myself to their mailing list, but to the best of my knowledge they only had 150 of the shirts printed as restock.  Regardless, I'm pleased to add this to my fan wardrobe, and my sincere thanks to Louise at Gerryanderson.com for helping out with my address error. (It's probably a good idea to confirm that you haven't accidentally inverted two of the numbers in your street address before you place your order.)

 - Sid

* In case there are people reading this who don't know who Gerry Anderson is, he and his wife Sylvia worked together to create the legendary British Supermarionation children's programs such as Fireball XL-5, Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, as well as live action series like UFO, Space Precinct, and of course, Space: 1999. 

** I always thought that the Eagle transporter was a quite well thought-out option for lunar and vacuum usage.  The modular design that allowed for the addition of cargo and passenger modules, first introduced as part of the Thunderbirds series, was a clever idea, and the NASA-influenced combination of main engines and directional thrusters seemed like a practical approach to low and zero-gravity manoeuvring.

That being said, the external view of the cockpit didn't really match up with the interior layout, and there are a few episodes where Eagles are used as planetary landers, which made no sense at all - all of the features that made them such believable vacuum spacecraft would make them about as flight-ready as a thrown brick for atmospheric usage. 

Survival Hints for the Retirement Map.

I just gave notice to my employers of the last 15 years - in two weeks, I start retirement.

My plans for this new phase of my life are very much like the guidelines for successfully playing The Long Dark, one of my favourite games:

Get enough sleep.

Eat properly, and stay hydrated.

Keep my energy level up.

Avoid cabin fever by going out, exploring the world, and discovering new things.

Make sure that I stay warm and dry.

Avoid being killed by wolves or bears. 

And every now and then, take a minute to just look around and appreciate how incredible it all is.

Overall, not a bad set of rules for life, although really, I'm not VERY worried about the wolves and bears one.

- Sid 

P.S. By the way, I'd love to get a retirement job at a used bookstore, if anyone reading this knows of an opening please leave a comment. But not right away, I'd like to explore the zen of sleeping in for a few months.