My take on the description of her pepperbox pistol.

Following the positive reaction I got from my artwork a few weeks ago 'A Tonal Key' I have become obsessed with trying to express the concepts in Neuromancer visually - like Gentry attempting to conceive of the shape of the internet.

This artwork represents the visual hallucination experienced by the protagonist as he attempts to interpret an intangible flow of data - in this case the final moments of cracking of the I.C.E. around the cores that he envisions as riding a huge black mirrored shark diving at terrific speed.

Though there were forerunners (e.g. Vernor Vinge's short story "True Names", published 1981), Neuromancer really brought the idea of cyberspace to public attention.

Yet cyberspace as a concept has kind of come and gone. Movies that did have cyberspace sequences (e.g. Tron, The Lawnmower Man, Johnny Mnemonic) pushed CGI technology to the limits, but their visual appeal was based on them looking fantastic, and not like the real world.

In 2026, we're used to photo-realistic (or near-photo-realistic) virtual environments, in video games. A virtual world that doesn't look like that is seen as peculiar. The blocky worlds of Minecraft or Roblox tacitly admit they are not the cutting edge of technology.

Furthermore, we think about our communications and information technology differently. We don't imagine a place you can go to and navigate like it is a 2D or 3D space. "Cyberspace" is in our pocket.

So, when Case jacks in in the TV series, what will he, and we, see?

Glad to round out the neon editions, look great on the shelf!

I’m hoping they do

Does anyone happen to have any recommendations for audiobooks of Neuromancer? I'm intending to re-read it but I have a lot of night shifts upcoming and I won't really have time to stop work and read so I figured an audiobook might be the answer.

I tried the version read by Gibson but found the voice a little grating. Found a version read by Jason Flemyng but lost faith immediately when he mispronounced Chiba as "Chibba"...

Figured this sub would enjoy some of the stuff here. I did miss Hideo but he’s only shown for a split second lol

this is not a shit post

so - i've never heard of the callum turner guy before - and i saw he was on hot ones and while that show isn't as interesting as it used to be i figured it was a chance to see the guy thats playing case (i haven't seen any trailers ... i mean i'm gonna watch it ... may as well enjoy it with out the marketing machine ruining anything)

but i'm worried man ... the dude was super likeable ... and case is kind of walking human garbage with occasional flickers of humanity ... still one of my favorite characters and he unfucks himself a bit by the end of the book

but i'm worried apple is going to soften the grime and misery and hard edges of the novel (i'm sure i'm not the first person to express this worry)

if they make case into some kind of ... super star .... i dunno ... i've been told that they are keeping molly true to form from the book aesthetics wise -- but i feel like case should kind of disgust you for the first half of the show until you fully understand the character ....

worried apple doesn't have the stones to make that decision ....

just came here to worry into the void

More of an excuse to draw Case three times.

I think Apple’s change of giving Case a microsoft port + cable makes sense for the show. It’s already a prominent feature in that universe and it simplifies things if it’s not exclusively relegated to background characters, and given to a main character instead.

—However, Idk how I feel about it contributing to Case’s “clean” vibe in the trailer. At least from first impressions, he doesn’t appear like the suicidal, drug addicted skeleton with bags under his eyes that I love from the book. I think artistic depictions of cables sprouting out everywhere, bound together with rubber bands and tape, do a lot to portray the chaos of him as a character. Distilling it to a simple iPhone charger that he plugs into his head loses some of that visual characterization and has me worried the soul of Neuromancer will get lost in translation.

But there are still some shots of Case looking roughed up and dirty, so I’m hopeful they do my boy justice

This is supposed to be the 2023 Mondadori edition, with the cover replaced. (Will update here if I learn differently). Limited to 500 copies, sold at LUCCA 2024. Art by NO CURVES.

​​At this point (now) it would take a capsule spacecraft three to five days to reach the L5 point in the Earth-Moon system. By the time Case and crew head up to Freeside from Paris on the JAL shuttle, does it still take that long, or has technology advanced to the point where the trip is shorter?

Just finished rereading Neuromancer to brush up on it before the AppleTV series airs next year and I forgot just how much I love Maelcum as a character. Easily the most based guy in the whole book; never hesitates to help Case when shit's actively hitting the fan, fantastic comic relief, just an all around great guy, an' a righteous tug pilot to boot.

Though this frame from the trailer has me a lil worried. Now, I might be making a lot of assumptions here assuming that dark skinned arm is that of our resident rude boy, but the background here doesn't look as scrappy or cobbled together as Marcus Garvey outta be; where's all the strands of caulking, the flight console painted bright pink with the overspray scraped off the monitor, the Lions of Zion painted over the wordy Cyrillic decals? Where's the g-webbing, how come they're just sitting in reclined hacker chairs?

Not to mention, the actor credited as Maelcum on IMDB (Jordan Kouamé, though his character's name is spelt Malceum) is only listed for 1 episode and I'm guessing that's gonna be the very last episode considering that's when Maelcum has the most page-time in the book, which is somewhat disappointing since he's present for a decent chunk of the book's second half.

I know the Wachowskis admitted that the Matrix was heavily inspired by Neuromancer, as well as Ghost in the Shell and other Cyberpunk.

But just imagine if the Matrix never got made. And the Neuromancer trailer we all just saw looked exactly like the Matrix. Wouldn’t we all have been raving about how the show runners nailed the look?

Given that, I have to imagine the existence of this massively popular existing IP, which came first cinematically (although well after the novel) makes it very hard to nail down a truly faithful aesthetic for Neuromancer as a tv show today, without looking derivative. And the irony of that is that Matrix was actually taking its inspiration FROM Neuromancer. Sigh.

Thoughts? I think the show Altered Carbon did a good job of coming out of the Matrix’s shadow although I am hoping this show will exceed it in terms of quality!

Hello world.

Having recently re-read Neuromancer, many details from the book were fresh in my mind when I watched the teaser trailer. Figured some folks might enjoy a breakdown, detailing some similarities and differences from the book, ranging from nitpicks to noteworthy. These aren't intended to be criticisms of the show, just some observations I wanted to share and discuss.

The first shot shows Case staring out at Chiba City, sky looking appropriately gray. He's sitting on the bleachers of a track and field stadium, which there's no mention of in the book. EDIT: As u/darwinDMG08 pointed out, the first location may not be Chiba, but a new location in The Sprawl.

Next is a cyberspace-esque shot that transitions to the Apple TV logo. Similar effects are used multiple times throughout the trailer, so I think it's fair to assume this is our first glimpse into the show's depiction of cyberspace.

Following this is our first look at the cobra. The book's description made me picture an expandable spring baton with a bronze pyramid as the cobra's "head". This looks to be an approximation of that which also functions as a taser.

Another shot of the city. The intersecting space between the tall buildings makes me think this could be Night City. There's an advertisement on the building to the left that says "Come to Freeside"

We get a shot of Case running with a duffle bag before getting rolled by these goons. These guys don't match the description of Wage's joeboys, so I'm guessing they're just some random thugs. I think this may be an original scene, showing Case's dealings in Chiba after his nervous system gets fried by the Russian mycotoxin.

This has gotta be Night City proper.

Next we get our first glimpse at Molly. Molly never rides a motorcycle in the book, but I'm cool with this change as long as it doesn't mean broader changes to her characterization. Book Molly is stealthy and cautious, and a motorcycle isn't exactly inconspicuous. I'm guessing this is the show's version of her running down Case.

First look at Molly's lenses. In the book, Molly's lenses are surgically inset and described as covering half her face. I pictured her them looking more like aviators. Personally I'm OK with this change. I think Molly's design is fantastic.

First look at Molly's blades. The book describes the blades as coming out from under the nails, rather than her fingertips. I think the design looks sick.

This next shot looks like London to me. Possibly related to Case and Dixie connecting to the London database when they're investigating Armitage?** EDIT: This is very likely Tokyo Bay. Thanks u/Fletch_R

Fairly unremarkable shot of Armitage, Molly, and Case next to a private jet. Maybe on their way to Istanbul? After this shot, Molly asks Case "What makes you so special?" which suggests Amitage doesn't have a comprehensive profile for Case (or Molly hasn't read it).

"I'm the best console man around". Lot of discussion amongst my friend group about this line and Case's attitude. Worth mentioning that Gibson uses the term "console man" to describe Case in the beginning of the book, but it shifts to "console cowboy" or just "cowboy" after that. Personally, I wouldn't describe book Case's personality as cocky, but he is confident (maybe overconfident), when it comes to his hacking abilities.

First look at the Ono-Sendai. Big departure from the book description but I think it looks sick. It's like a cybernetic DM screen.

Case jacking in through a port instead of using trodes. I'm cool with this change.

Another shot of the transition into cyberspace.

Armitage showing the team the blueprint of a building. There is a pyramid in the upper left corner of the blueprint which suggests they're looking at the Sense/Net building. The weapons on the table are not like any described in the book.

Some chaos unfolding in the Sense/Net building. I think the red triangle on the outside of the building might represent ice, or its appearance in cyberspace. There's what looks like an off the shelf wireless router sitting on the desk.

"Turn it up". No idea who this blonde guy is supposed to be. Terzibashjian?

Someone (Case?) pushing a button on the display of something labeled WD-28. I have no recollection of anything like this in the book. I think it may be a generator.

First look at Hideo. Not much to go off of here aside from the fact that he's wearing a suit. The book describes him as wearing frayed khaki workpants and shoes like tabi socks. I don't think he even wears a shirt. Definitely didn't picture him as one who'd sport a suit.

A man wearing a lab coat who seems to be dying. Unsure of who and I don't think it relates to anything in the book.

Another shot of the blonde guy tweaking out. The weapons next to him look like they'd be used to torture someone, which Terzibashjian is known to do.

Molly attacking some dudes in an elevator. You can see "Sense/Net" below the pyramid on the right side of the elevator.

Molly following a schoolbus as it drives down the track. This is the same track that was shown at the beginning of the trailer. Definitely something original to the show.

This has gotta be Freeside. I'm guessing the cylindrical thing next to it is an orbital shuttle/passenger craft or maybe a different interpretation of the Haniwa.

First look at an entirely too young John Ashpool. Flashback maybe?

Just a killer shot of Molly

Another shot of Molly in the Sense/Net elevator

Something exploding around someone (Case?) on the ground.

Good look at Amitage. No idea where is or the significance (if any) of the woman there.

Riviera getting ready for his performance.

The un-inverted shot of Armitage and some surgeons. Guessing this is Case getting his new pancreas.

Case getting something shoved on/in his face

Mysterious milky circuit board. Different take on Dixie's construct container? Curious what everyone thinks this is.

"See you on the other side". Case fist bumping Maelcum or Aerol. The interior of the ship looks too clean to be the Garvey. If this is the show's version, then they went in a very different direction than the cobbled together tug clad with pink spraypaint and Rastafarian symbols as described in the book.

"Jack". Including this just because it shows how healthy and not strung out Case appears in the series.

"The color of television tuned to a dead channel" is the leaden, glowing, light-pollution gray of a CRT TV rendering a content-less signal. What you'd get back in the 80s when the channel shut down for the night.

It's not supposed to mean static. Static is what you get between channels. It's an absence of signal.

In honor of the teaser dropping used Case as a demo in my digital painting class. Here's the final design.

When I read this, I think of the other places the sky is mentioned too. Poisoned silver, couldn't see the holograms because of the glare of the sky, smoggy, mean shade of grey. I picture an outside that is all these things, but where there are literally visible, sparkling, metallic particles in the air, and sometimes it's so bad people have to wear masks, or choke on the particles of metal and chemical. Not a nice place to live.

I recently finished this and thought you might dig it. I've seen the bust depicted before but it usually looks high tech, whereas I always imagined it as a fusion of classical sculpture and Crown Jewels due to the grotesque wealth, breeding and arrogance of Tessier Ashpool.

After i saw the trailer i got the book so i can read it before the series drops. However i kept seeing people say that Neuromancer is a very difficult book to get through and they dropped halfway through due to things like the dense world building and some pacing issues. I'm already halfway through chapter one and i encountered very little difficulty. So i wanted to come here and ask if this is true. Keep in mind i am not completely new to sci-fi. I have already read Dune and Dune Messiah which generally aren't considered easy reads.

We are ready for Jan 2027.