`IDORU' A TALE OF VIRTUAL COMING-OF-AGE.Byline: Marcia Abramson Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire Title: ``Idoru'' Author: William Gibson (person) William Gibson - Author of cyberpunk novels such as Neuromancer (1984), Count Zero (1986), Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Virtual Light (1993). Neuromancer, a novel about a computer hacker/criminal "cowboy" of the future helping to free an artificial intelligence from its Data: 304 pages, G.P. Putnam's; $24.95 Our rating: Three Stars The prophet of cyberspace Coined by William Gibson in his 1984 novel "Neuromancer," it is a futuristic computer network that people use by plugging their minds into it! The term now refers to the Internet or to the online or digital world in general. See Internet and virtual reality. Contrast with meatspace. speaks not with thunderous tones but with the gentle voice of a father in ``Idoru.'' William Gibson has a teen-age son and daughter now, and they're right there in his latest novel. It's much softer and sweeter than his now-classic ``Neuromancer'' and the more recent best seller ``Virtual Light.'' ``Idoru'' doesn't open any mind-blowing windows into the near future, though it's something of a sequel to ``Virtual Light.'' Instead, it's a coming-of-age story. Sure, it has nanotechnology and new virtual universes and Web gangsters, but that's not what's really important. The focus of the story is Chia Pet Chia Pets are a brand of collectible animal figurines manufactured and originated by the San Francisco, California based company Joseph Enterprises, Inc. Chia Pets achieved widespread popularity in the 1980s following the 1982 release of a ram, the first Chia Pet. McKenzie - her name was ``chosen from something cycling past'' her mother on the Home Shopping Home Shopping commonly refers to the electronic retailing / home shopping channels industry, which includes such billion dollar companies as HSN, QVC, eBay, ShopNBC, Buy.com, and Amazon.com. Channel. She's a teen-age princess of the near future. She has her own software agent in her custom-crafted computer, and her room is what Gibson called ``a mutating media node'' when he described his own children's domains in a 1995 interview. For Chia, the world has always been ``digital, effortlessly elastic, instant recall supported by global systems she'd never have to bother comprehending.'' Even so, Chia can't believe her favorite rock star, the Rez half of the megagroup Lo Rez, wants to marry a virtual woman, a Japanese idoru, who's generated out of what looks like a vacuum cleaner vacuum cleaner, mechanical device using a draft of air to remove dust, loose dirt, or other particulate matter from dry surfaces. It is especially useful on highly textured surfaces, such as carpets and upholstery, that are difficult to clean by wiping or brushing. canister. The idoru is a big rock star herself, but Chia and the rest of the Net fan club are worried about Rez. That's the main problem with the plot; would anyone worry if Michael Jackson Noun 1. Michael Jackson - United States singer who began singing with his four brothers and later became a highly successful star during the 1980s (born in 1958) Michael Joe Jackson, Jackson wanted to marry a household appliance? One of the girls finagles a credit card, and Chia is sent off to Tokyo on an adventure that will teach her all kinds of things: Watch your step, make your own judgments, and of course, there's no place like home. Her traveling companion is a Japanese boy, slightly older, with an equally swell computer and an equally messy room. Along the way they hook up with Laney, a young computer savant sa·vant n. 1. A learned person; a scholar. 2. An idiot savant. [French, learned, savant, from Old French, present participle of savoir, to know who can predict what people will do from reading their trail in cyberspace. Rez's entourage wants Laney to keep tabs on their now-erratic meal ticket. They're three sweet kids, and they stay that way, despite everything that happens. That must be reassuring to dad Gibson. He's become uneasy about his virtual child - the concept of cyberspace - so much that he recently proposed sending any word with the ``cyber'' prefix over the virtual Reichenbach Falls Reichenbach Falls, waterfalls, total drop 656 ft (200 m), S central Switzerland, where the Reichenbach River joins the Aare River. Upper Reichenbach Falls is one of the highest cataracts (c.300 ft/90 m high) in the Alps. It is familiar to readers of A. . But the real kids, well, they're all right. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: William Gibson's ``Idoru'' is much softer and sweeter than his now-classic ``Neuromancer'' and ``Virtual Light.'' |
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