Howling at the Moon

The S.O.B. Letter Column

Bob Robles

How is the summer for your family? We have children coming and going: camp, work, out with friends....Just acquired a new game (rare event indeed), 'Here I stand' Do any of your readers have experience/opinions of the game they wish to share? One book: Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. Mr Gibson is probably better knwon as the "father of the cyberpunk genre". In his previous novels he has constructed quite the dystopian future for us; one chock full of cool technology, violence, and thought provoking commentary on human nature. This novel is sent in the present, but deals with similar themes of technology and the human condition. This is a very different novel for those looking for a novel building on William Gibson's prior works. There is only a single character and plot line, much internal dialogue, and a very slow build up to the novel's finish. His observations are as keen as ever, but I thought there was not much in terms of suspense or even emotional attachment to the main character to keep me hooked. If you really like William Gibson I think you will like his observations of the present. If you have never read him and really want to get your socks knocked off, start at the beginning with 'Neuromancer'.

[The summer is treating us fairly well. We went to visit Celeste's aunt and uncle in West Virginia in late June. The boys enjoyed the trip, especially the trip to the new annex of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum near Dulles. It's essentially a huge hangar with many planes in it including an SR-71 Blackbird, the Enola Gay, a Concorde, and the original space shuttle prototype Enterprise. The boys are still talking about it.]