Difference between revisions of "Trouble and Her Friends"
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Important book for a variation on the cyberpunk theme of «meat» in the "realworld" of matter vs. «spirit/separable soul»/ (our terms) in cyberspace, where, in ''Trouble'', embodiment and social contexts in the realworld still have their effects. Cf. and contrast e.g., W. Gibson's ''[[Neuromancer]]'' and his Sprawl series more generally, and the older, slow-motion debate over the question William Schuyler formulated as, "When Am I Still Me?" — after prosthetics, implants and other augmentations/changes, e.g., in such stories as "[[No Woman Born]]" and "[[Masks]]," which see. In ''Trouble'' one may figuratively fly through the VR of cyberspace, but the wired-in body still counts; and on the "nets," in cyberspace, some walk and the two central characters can end up crawling, with bodily senses confused. Most of the time, though, bodily sensation in cyberspace is positive: With a "brainworm" connecting one to the nets, cyberspace can be perceived through all the senses, sensuously and, in some circumstances, sensually (for a brainworm-mediated sex scene, see pp. 236 f.). Significantly, being directly wired-in to the world of the net is presented as less «mechanical» (or term) than older interfacing without a "wire" and portal and implants. | Important book for a variation on the cyberpunk theme of «meat» in the "realworld" of matter vs. «spirit/separable soul»/ (our terms) in cyberspace, where, in ''Trouble'', embodiment and social contexts in the realworld still have their effects. Cf. and contrast e.g., W. Gibson's ''[[Neuromancer]]'' and his Sprawl series more generally, and the older, slow-motion debate over the question William Schuyler formulated as, "When Am I Still Me?" — after prosthetics, implants and other augmentations/changes, e.g., in such stories as "[[No Woman Born]]" and "[[Masks]]," which see. In ''Trouble'' one may figuratively fly through the VR of cyberspace, but the wired-in body still counts; and on the "nets," in cyberspace, some walk and the two central characters can end up crawling, with bodily senses confused. Most of the time, though, bodily sensation in cyberspace is positive: With a "brainworm" connecting one to the nets, cyberspace can be perceived through all the senses, sensuously and, in some circumstances, sensually (for a brainworm-mediated sex scene, see pp. 236 f.). Significantly, being directly wired-in to the world of the net is presented as less «mechanical» (or term) than older interfacing without a "wire" and portal and implants. | ||
| − | Scott can use "machines" for cybernetic devices — still with electromechanical drives in this 1994 novel — and this yields suggestive lines such as the following, many involving (minor Spoiler) the villain of the novel, "the Mayor" of Seahaven. Also, there can be "tight" defenses on the nets, and a layer of cybernetic defense beyond IC(E) — like Gibson's ICE — of a wall, with interesting images of confinement and constriction. | + | Scott can use "machines" for cybernetic devices — still with electromechanical drives in this 1994 novel — and this yields suggestive lines such as the following, many involving (minor Spoiler) the villain of the novel, "the Mayor" of Seahaven, who is not wired with a brainworm. Also, there can be "tight" defenses on the nets, and a layer of cybernetic defense beyond IC(E) — like Gibson's ICE — of a wall, with interesting images of confinement and constriction. |
(Literary note: Walls are significant in the fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin, notably in the opening of ''The Dispossessed'' [1974]. / Historical note, and very deep background: According to Karen Armstrong in ''Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence'' [2014], constraint and confinement were experienced by the Aryans of antiquity in the Punjab, for an intriguing parallel — we assume coincidental but which we will mention as more, if barely, possibly relevant — with the usage in Torah of "Mitzrayam" for Egypt: literally "constriction," escaped, as the Book of Exodus tells the story, in the Exodus. // Format/Grammar note: scenes set on the "nets" [cyberspace, the metaverse] appear in ''italics'' in the 1994 Tor edition, and are narrated in present tense, with asterisks instead of quotation marks for quotes.) | (Literary note: Walls are significant in the fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin, notably in the opening of ''The Dispossessed'' [1974]. / Historical note, and very deep background: According to Karen Armstrong in ''Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence'' [2014], constraint and confinement were experienced by the Aryans of antiquity in the Punjab, for an intriguing parallel — we assume coincidental but which we will mention as more, if barely, possibly relevant — with the usage in Torah of "Mitzrayam" for Egypt: literally "constriction," escaped, as the Book of Exodus tells the story, in the Exodus. // Format/Grammar note: scenes set on the "nets" [cyberspace, the metaverse] appear in ''italics'' in the 1994 Tor edition, and are narrated in present tense, with asterisks instead of quotation marks for quotes.) | ||
<blockquote> | <blockquote> | ||
Revision as of 17:43, 18 January 2022
WORKING
Scott, Melissa. Trouble and Her Friends. New York, NY: Tor, 1994. For reprints, honors, and reviews, see Internet Speculative Fiction Database at following link.[1]
Important book for a variation on the cyberpunk theme of «meat» in the "realworld" of matter vs. «spirit/separable soul»/ (our terms) in cyberspace, where, in Trouble, embodiment and social contexts in the realworld still have their effects. Cf. and contrast e.g., W. Gibson's Neuromancer and his Sprawl series more generally, and the older, slow-motion debate over the question William Schuyler formulated as, "When Am I Still Me?" — after prosthetics, implants and other augmentations/changes, e.g., in such stories as "No Woman Born" and "Masks," which see. In Trouble one may figuratively fly through the VR of cyberspace, but the wired-in body still counts; and on the "nets," in cyberspace, some walk and the two central characters can end up crawling, with bodily senses confused. Most of the time, though, bodily sensation in cyberspace is positive: With a "brainworm" connecting one to the nets, cyberspace can be perceived through all the senses, sensuously and, in some circumstances, sensually (for a brainworm-mediated sex scene, see pp. 236 f.). Significantly, being directly wired-in to the world of the net is presented as less «mechanical» (or term) than older interfacing without a "wire" and portal and implants.
Scott can use "machines" for cybernetic devices — still with electromechanical drives in this 1994 novel — and this yields suggestive lines such as the following, many involving (minor Spoiler) the villain of the novel, "the Mayor" of Seahaven, who is not wired with a brainworm. Also, there can be "tight" defenses on the nets, and a layer of cybernetic defense beyond IC(E) — like Gibson's ICE — of a wall, with interesting images of confinement and constriction.
(Literary note: Walls are significant in the fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin, notably in the opening of The Dispossessed [1974]. / Historical note, and very deep background: According to Karen Armstrong in Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence [2014], constraint and confinement were experienced by the Aryans of antiquity in the Punjab, for an intriguing parallel — we assume coincidental but which we will mention as more, if barely, possibly relevant — with the usage in Torah of "Mitzrayam" for Egypt: literally "constriction," escaped, as the Book of Exodus tells the story, in the Exodus. // Format/Grammar note: scenes set on the "nets" [cyberspace, the metaverse] appear in italics in the 1994 Tor edition, and are narrated in present tense, with asterisks instead of quotation marks for quotes.)
[Trouble and her lover Cerise "walk the nets" on their way to infiltrate virtual Seahaven:] The IC(E) is tight here [...]. Not that I couldn't break it, Trouble thinks, even so deep in it, I could break free, but it wouldn't be easy, and it wouldn't be elegant. And, most of all, it would be more than obvious. ¶ They are inside a preliminary wall, she realizes at the edge of a major system. (p. [317], also p. 318; opening ch. 12])
She [Trouble] studies it [... and] The pattern of the thorn wall shifts and shimmers, writhing as though alive [...] and then, quite suddenly, she sees it, sees the key. [...] The wall of IC(E) vanishes as though it had never been. ¶ She stands at the edge of a space so mundane that it must mirror reality [...]. [...] The Mayor stands in the center of that space, frozen in the heart of his machines, at one with his machines [...]. (p. 347)
The Mayor was standing exactly as she'd seen him last, frozen in the heart of his machines, hands splayed wide over the control surfaces, wires and chip boards wreathing him. (p. 366)
RDE, finishing, 14Jan22 f.
