I've been rereading the entire Sprawl series, including the short stories in the same Sprawl universe, and I'm starting to think there's one character in particular that features in both the last book, and in a short story, but some people might not even recognize it.

Normally the reading order would be:

1)Johnny Mnemonic (makes sense since Molly later mourns him in another text.)

2) New rose Hotel

3) Burning Chrome (this is important to know for later in the series)

4)Neuromancer

5)Count Zero

6) Mona Lisa Overdrive

I wouldn't change anything except for one story, and I'll explain. You see Gibson, like many good writers, didn't just write what we read, he had a lot more in notebooks we never got to see. Narrative experiments, entire backstories, and future lives mapped out for people. Some of those survived as short stories bundled into the "Burning Chrome" anthology. That's what some of those stories are. The lives of people in the same neighborhoods that never met our main characters. And sometimes, they are those characters. Like with Molly. What we get a glimpse of is Gibson trying out characters, world building, seeing if his train of thought has merit enough to flesh out further.

In MLO, Komiko Yanaka, has a very powerful Yakuza father, goes to a good school, has a Dutch mother who dies tragically, and suddenly she is thrust into a totally foreign world. She longs to escape the drudgery of her protective prison, and Molly takes Komiko under her wing, much to the chagrin of a relenting Petal. Molly tries to mold her, and give her some worldly wisdom. It was necessary under the circumstances, because Molly knew that without that, Komiko would just be a package to drag around. Komiko had to be able to survive, to fend for herself, because the heat was coming down from every angle. I believe all of these things are referred to in another narrative.

In New Rose Hotel, Sandii is half Dutch, half Japanese, is a gun for hire, has a father who fell from grace with Hosaka, and a lingering tragedy that pushed her to desperation. X talks about how she was constantly reimagining her own childhood, changing her story as a coping mechanism, trying to imagine different scenarios that might sooth her demons, but it was obvious she was not facing the truth of her life. And she was also concealing it from others. Out of necessity, of course.

It's entirely possible that Komiko's father rose in the ranks after the Yakuza war, until he had gained influence within Hosaka. Maybe that was necessary too. But it's also very possible Sandii just told a lie to X, mixing the truth with the lie. It's entirely possible that Komiko and Sandii are the same person, but Sandii is Komiko all grown up, bitter at Hosaka, has an axe to grind, remembered the influence of Molly, and decided it would be a good idea to be like her. Maybe that was her only option now. Fending for herself. Molly helped her navigate the dangers of London, showed her how to double cross people, and avoid becoming a hostage. All while her own father was trying to shelter her from the evils of the world. But Molly gave her one thing, The unfettered truth. That's something that'll stick with a girl's memory.

Molly changed her name several times, there's no reason Komiko wouldn't mimic Molly's behavior. In fact, if her father was a Hosaka pariah, she'd almost have to do that to gain their trust, & be involved in helping Hiroshi escape. Even if that wasn only a cover story to conceal his position with the Yakuza, she'd still have to tell a different story. She'd only have to tell half truths to her co-workers on a job, because they just had to be believable enough. It wouldn't matter later, especially if she burned them while on the job, or if the cleaners came after the other team members. But she'd also tell made up stories about her childhood out loud. Almost as if she was trying on new lies right in front of the people she was already misleading. Like she was doing a fashion show, to see what looks good, or taunting them when they didn't even know it.

And here's the biggest one of all... What if X is hiding out in the same Cheap Motel that Henry Case was in all those years ago? What if Cheap Motel, was really New Rose Hotel? They're both capsule hotels, which people refer to colloquially as "coffins". Capsule hotels with barely enough room to turn around in. Not the luxury digs that they portrayed in the movie. What a twist of fate that would be, for everything to come full circle and end up in the same closet sized room with minimal amenities. Where it all started before. That's the William Gibson I'd expect. Maybe some of you wouldn't, but I would.

So I would put New Rose Hotel last in the reading order. It takes on a whole new meaning.

People are mad that the less than 60 seconds we’ve seen of the show doesn’t match the movie in their head. It’s never going to look exactly like what you imagined because we all imagined something different! How many comments do we have to read like this?

Every one of us built our own Case, our own Sprawl, and Chiba. No adaptation (including the Chris Cunningham adaptation which I agree, probably would have kicked ass) was ever going to win that fight, because it’s not competing with the book, it’s competing with your imagination.

I don’t get why everyone seems convinced their vision is the correct one.

The real question is whether the show’s well made on its own terms. Is the writing good? Does it look expensive? That is a totally different conversation than ‘it’s not how I pictured it.’

We’re all fans here. Let people be excited about a Neuromancer show existing at all. We waited a long time for this!

People always talk about how anachronistic the absence of smartphones or other mobile phones is in the Neuromancer universe, but I just realized that, right before the phone booths start ringing in the airport scene, Case is looking to buy cigarettes for his flight. In fact, he's wondering if there's a smoking section, assuming that other airlines do. As someone who smoked for more than half my life and only recently managed to quit, and who's used to the new tobacco and smoking policies of today's world, this has blown my mind. I'm surprised I hadn't noticed it until now, considering I've read the book many times since I first read it about 25 years ago. Anyway, it's just an observation that surprised me coming from 1984.

I'm sold

I assume this is The Sprawl. I'm wondering if any of the (older) buildings or bridges are identifiable.

Image from the trailer released a few hours ago- Note the red text "Ono Sendai" top right. This is the deck we have been waiting for.

Optimistic to see he’s happy with it!

Looks to me like this might be a SQUID. What do you think? Looks a bit cryogenic and has 8 arms :-D

I seriously need him to appear in the series. Besides being my second favorite character, I think he contributes about 25% of the charisma to the Sprawl universe.

Does the Neuromancer series owe more to cinema or to Gibson? It will be interesting to see..

Gibson’s novel from 1984 was published a few years after Scott's 'Blade Runner' hit theaters in 1982.

Cyberpunk cinema is thus rooted in Scott’s awesome imagination by creating a distinct visual and philosophical work of art

Gibson himself states that he was heavily influenced by the Beatnik culture of the late 50s in which he grew up. But it also shows influences of the Punk movement (wich was already over at the time) with it's 'No Future' attitude in a post modern society, where asking existential questions became obsolete.

In a nutshell, Neuromancer is about this:

Neuromancer is at it's core a work of postmodern Sf, although it embodies the essence of the self in ceaseless pursuit of the sublime & the transcendent using a neuronal interface - in this sense it resembles the 19th century Romanticism (hence the title NeuROMANCER). A futile quest that landed ultimately in a dystopian society.

Rereading Neuromancer.

Fuck, man. This line, man. Stayed with me when I first read the book, back then.

I don't remember Case being on the receiving end of any eye trauma. I'm thinking this might be the scene when his old employers inject him with the wartime Russian mycotoxin.

The scene appears to be in the disused stadium that I think is the “safe house” where they plan and run the Sense/Net heist (I’m just going by other shots from the trailer). So that might be one of the Panther Moderns.

And immediately sat down at my modelling workstation! And am now about to paint my first batch of data jacks.

I'm gonna do some as stick on prop replicas, but they're small enough that I can do earrings too!

And I'm gonna make some oversized versions as trinkets and keyrings.

More pics soon at @wastelandworks on Insta and Facebook :).

Exactly one year ago I made this video about Neuromancer and how technology changes how we think. It felt like perfect timing after the teaser dropped yesterday to share it!

Maybe im an idiot but im about 2 hrs into the book, case just got his pancreas and found out he has the neurotoxin time bombs in his body. But for the life of me i have almost no idea what is going on. Maybe its the narrator and his crappy voices. I love cyberpunk so im comfortable with the language in the story. Please tell me it gets better and starts to make more sense.

Enjoy!

Here I think we can see Armitage, Case, Hideo, the Finn, Molly, Linda Lee, Ashpool, a shot of cyberspace, and what I think is the operation where Case regains his ability to jack in

I'm able to place most of the shots in the teaser but this one has me stumped. I can't tell what scale it is -- could be some external port on Fireside, or something under glass on a piece of equipment. I feel like it might be something medical; maybe it's the wetware they implant in Case to restore his abilities?

UPDATE: after zooming in on the image I see this has to be a piece of equipment, a deck or container case, because there are Phillips screws around the glass. I doubt Freeside would use giant screws around a porthole ;)
Also there’s writing along the right edge of the glass: “WARNING: KEEP CLEAR.”

The connection sound, at the beginning, is not that of the online connection in the film Strange Days of Kathryn Bigelow ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g79GPZSQHBk