William Gibson is known primarily as a novelist, with his work ranging from his groundbreaking first novel, Neuromancer, to his more recent contemporary bestsellers Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, and Zero History. During those nearly thirty years, though, Gibson has been sought out by widely varying publications for his insights into contemporary culture.
Wired magazine sent him to Singapore to report on one of the world’s most buttoned-up states. The New York Times Magazine asked him to describe what was wrong with the internet. Rolling Stone published his essay on the ways our lives are all “soundtracked” by the music and the culture around us. And in a speech at the 2010 Book Expo, he memorably described the interactive relationship between writer and reader.
Now these essays and articles are collected here together, with some in print for the first time. In addition, Distrust That Particular Flavor includes journalism from small publishers, online sources, and magazines no longer in existence.
This volume is essential listening for any lover of William Gibson’s novels. Distrust That Particular Flavor offers listeners a privileged view into the mind of a writer whose thinking has shaped not only a generation of writers but our entire culture.
William Gibson is credited with having coined the term "cyberspace," and having envisioned both the Internet and virtual reality before either existed. Many of his descriptions and metaphors have entered the culture as images of human relations in the electronic age, and he has an international reputation as the William Burroughs of the "wired" life. He is the author of Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Burning Chrome, Virtual Light, Idoru, All Tomorrow's Parties, Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, and Zero History. William lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife.
Robertson Dean has played leading roles on and off Broadway and at dozens of regional theaters. He has a BA from Tufts University and an MFA from Yale. His audiobook narration has garnered numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards.