ArtLung

William Gibson, Gravy, and a Video

William Gibson: The Rolling Stone 40th Anniversary Interview : Rolling Stone

I find myself less pessimistic than I sometimes imagine I should be. When I started to write science fiction, the intelligent and informed position on humanity’s future was that it wasn’t going to have one at all. We’ve forgotten that a whole lot of smart people used to wake up every day thinking that that day could well be the day the world ended. So when I started writing what people saw as this grisly dystopian, punky science fiction, I actually felt that I was being wildly optimistic: “Hey, look — you do have a future. It’s kind of harsh, but here it is.” I wasn’t going the post-apocalyptic route, which, as a regular civilian walking around the world, was pretty much what I expected to happen myself.

It’s a rather nice surprise that I’ve not been consumed by nuclear fire, I’ll tell you that.

Well, we made it out of the cold war and into this one, and sometimes I feel like this line from Platoon:

All you got to do is make it out of here. It’s all gravy, everyday the rest of your life, gravy.

Bonus: we live in a world where we can pull up videos like this anytime — it’s, aptly, a peppy song about feeling sad:

I’m not sure aptly is a word, but I’m feeling thankful this week. I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Peace to you all.


posted this 16 years ago.
What else did he post in November 2007?

(Tuesday November 20th 2007 at 1:39am)

Comments: 1

Love the Muffs, love Kim, I have all their records, have seen them live again and again… I think it’s they’re done though.

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