NEUROMANCER

Stephen Humphrey joins Troy and David on this episode where the novel Neuromancer is discussed. It looks like they are finally going to be bringing the book to the small screen, after a number of attempts.

Apple TV+ announced they are bringing Neuromancer to the small screen…

https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2024/02/apple-tv-announces-neuromancer-new-drama-based-on-the-multi-award-winning-science-fiction-novel-by-william-gibson/

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‘The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.’

The opening line says it all. Neuromancer was a game changer, a classic of the genre.

This is Stephen’s first guesting on the podcast, so Troy and David ask him what was his first childhood genre memory, and first genre love. They also ask him his favorite speculative genre author, novel, shorter work, movie, TV series, and TV episode.

Neuromancer won the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick award.

There is a William S. Burroughs influence / stream of consciousness in the novel. Almost like cut up poetry that tells a story. Gibson has said that Naked Lunch was an influence.

There is also an influence of music in the writing.

Should you assist A.I. in becoming sentient?

Gibson coined the term Cyberspace. Would the movie, The Matrix, existed without Gibson? Is Neuromancer a conversation about a world that we cannot see? As a novel of prediction, how accurate was it? Can we really see beyond the now? Would we miss WW3 if we blinked? Is everyone psychologically wounded in Neuromancer? Would a supermind care about humanity? Would they prefer to communicate with A.I. from the Centauri system?

And what are the traits of cyberpunk? Here are some of the things that exist in a lot of these stories…

DEFINING CYBERPUNK (from various sources)

= a sub-genre of science fiction
= a dystopian world
= THINK BLADE RUNNER
= features hackers and mercenaries
= power lies with big corporations and technology
= how people navigate the physical and cyber world
= technology evolves
= about the fragility of the human mind and body
= about the loss of control over decision-making
= often features addiction, which allows some to cope.
= Animals gone? (robot owl in B-R; horses in N)

Stephen Humphrey is a writer and radio presenter. He recently published a science/ecology book, ‘Paths of Pollen’ with McGill-Queens University Press. His nonfiction often explores science’s intersection with science fiction. As a result, he’s interviewed Gregory Benford, Robert J. Sawyer, Kim Stanley Robinson and Naren Shankar, showrunner for The Expanse—and, to date, three astronauts. He’s currently developing the science fiction serial Zone Boy and the Worm of Incidence, which has led to teaching himself electronic music. He’s performed his weird tunes around Toronto at Exit Points, Frequency Freaks and TEMOM (Toronto Electronic Music Open Mic). And then there’s the novel. Always the novel.

Paths of Pollen website: http://pathsofpollen.stephenhumphrey.ca/
Zone Boy stories:https://zoneboyworm.stephenhumphrey.ca/
Zone Boy One Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-479298104

John Carpenter’s The Thing. 1982 saw a plethora of great genre films, and this one got lost in the mix. How exactly do you compete with Blade Runner; E.T.: The Extraterrestrial; Tron; and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan? It did not do well at the box office. It had some poor reviews, most notably from Roger Ebert, who said, “…this material has been done before, and better…”

There have been a few films that took audiences and critics years, if not decades, to warm to, and this is one of them. It is now considered a classic of the genre, and often appears in top ten lists. It is favorably mentioned alongside Blade Runner and Alien. Its makeup effects, which at first was off-putting to some audiences and critics, were ahead of their time, and still stand up today.

This is Part 1 of a 2-Part episode.

Troy Harkin and David Clink, the Two Old Farts of this podcast, will look at the 1982 film in detail, but will also look at the 1951 film, and the 2011 prequel. There may be some discussion on the story, Who Goes There, by John W. Campbell (who has recently been cancelled), which the movies are based on. In the case of the Howard Hawks film, a much looser adaptation, whereas the John Carpenter film, starring Kurt Russell, was a much closer version.

About John W. Campbell being cancelled, here is an excerpt from an article titled: John W. Campbell Award Is Renamed After Winner Criticizes Him, published in The New York Times, August 28, 2019, and updated on Sept 1, 2019, written by Peter Libbey:

The decision to remove Campbell’s name from the award came after this year’s winner, Jeannette Ng, criticized him in her acceptance speech. “He is responsible for setting a tone for science fiction that haunts this genre to this very day,” she said. “Stale, sterile, male, white, exalting in the ambitions of imperialists, colonialists, settlers and industrialists.”

Click on this image to take you to the full article:

This episode is being broadcast on Saturday, May 27, 2023.

Troy and David are joined by two guests. Please see their bios and author photos below.

Carolyn Clink is David’s sister, and this is her first time being a guest on the TOF podcast. She lists the 1982 film, The Thing, as her favourite all-time genre movie. Being a first-time guest, Troy and David ask her about her early genre memories, and what her all-time genre faves are.

Sandra Kasturi makes her third appearance as a guest. Sandra first appeared on the Season 1 episode 13 and 14 on Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes (September 2021). She next guested on Season 3 episode 2 and 3 on Folk Horror (July 2022?), which took a careful look at The Wicker Man and MidSommar. Sandra joins Bev Vincent and Ira Nayman as guests who have appeared on three different topics.

Carolyn Clink is a poet living in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

She won the Aurora Award for Best Poem/Song in 2022 for “Cat People Café” and in 2011 for “The ABCs of the End of the World.”

Her genre poetry publications include: Weird Tales, Analog, Imaginarium 2012: the Best Canadian Speculative Writing, Polar Starlight, Polar Borealis, On-Spec, Tesseracts, Frost Zone Zine, Eye to the Telescope, Tales of the Unanticipated, Room, and all 5 volumes of Northern Frights.

Sandra Kasturi is an award-winning poet, writer, and editor, with work appearing in many places including ON SPEC, several Tesseracts anthologies, and 80! Memories & Reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin.

Her two poetry collections are: The Animal Bridegroom (with an introduction by Neil Gaiman) and Come Late to the Love of Birds (both from Tightrope Books).

Sandra recently won second prize in The New Quarterly’s Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest. She is also the winner of the Sunburst Award for her story “The Beautiful Gears of Dying” and ARC Magazine‘s Poem of the Year Award for “Old Men, Smoking.”

We are celebrating the 75th birthday of Stephen King with Bev Vincent’s wonderful new book from Epic Ink, Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences. 

Our three part series splits up Bev’s six chapters, so we will look at two chapters in each episode.

PT 1 covers 1950 – 1979:

CHAPTER 1: The Future Artist as a Young Man (1950-1969)
CHAPTER 2: The Doubleday Years (1970s)

PT 2 covers 1980 – 1999:

CHAPTER 3: Midas Touch (1980s)
CHAPTER 4: Experimentation and Change (1990s)

PT 3 covers 2000 – 2022:

CHAPTER 5: After the Accident (2000s)
CHAPTER 6: King of Crime (2010 and beyond)

Bev Vincent’s latest work is: Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences. 

Bev is also the author of The Dark Tower Companion, The Road to the Dark Tower, and the Stephen King Illustrated Companion.

In 2018 he co-edited the anthology Flight or Fright with Stephen King. He is the author of the Ogilvie Affair and co-author of Dissonant Harmonies.

His short fiction has appeared in places such as Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Borderlands 5, Ice Cold, and The Blue Religion.

With this appearance Bev joins the Three Timers Club, if you will. The Hat Trick Union. 

Bev was our season one, episode seven podcast guest on: The Dead Zone;
and our season two, episode four podcast on:
On Writing.

Buckaroo Banzai

This is a cult film that must be seen to be believed.

Troy Harkin and David Clink invite back Ira Nayman (see bio below) for their episode that looks at a film that Gene Siskel predicted would become a cult classic.

The witty dialogue, the unusual plot developments, and John Lithgow’s manic delivery make this film very watchable. With each viewing, you get more out of the film, you see more, and you realize that there is a lot to it. There is method in the madness.

Peter Weller plays Buckaroo Banzai, a scientist and rock star. He develops a device that allows him to travel through matter, and this opens up a whole can of worms.

Jeff Goldblum is a piano playing surgeon / cowboy. Will he join the Hong Kong cavaliers? Will Buckaroo and his motley crew save Earth from the Red Lectroids? Is Penny Priddy somehow connected to an old flame from Buckaroo’s past? And why are there so many people called John? And what about that watermelon? Listen to the podcast to find out.

Ira Nayman is a writer who keeps getting speculative fiction in his humour.

His eighth novel, The Ugly Truth, will be published by Elsewhen Press in 2022.

His 21^st short story, “Girls Rule the Steampunk World!”, will be published in the next Brave New Girls anthology in July, 2022.

Les Pages aux Folles, Ira’s website of social and political satire, will celebrate 20 years of weekly updates in September, 2022.

He was the editor of Amazing Stories magazine for three years.

Before he was a prose geek, Ira was a script geek. He took three years of screenwriting for his undergrad degree at York University and wrote for Creative Screenwriting magazine.

“Shrinkage” could not be held to one episode. The smaller something becomes, we guess, the more you need to to talk about it.

For those who missed part 1, Shrinkage is another term for miniaturization. making things small. Imagine if you are an inch tall, and you have to fight off a spider, or a cat.

Troy Harkin and David Clink are at the cottage, but this time they are at a campfire, as they continue to talk about shrinkage, while being eaten alive by insects.

Troy Harkin will sing an original song about shrinkage. Not to be missed.

Our special guest is Cam P. Fire. See author photo and bio below..

Cam P. Fire is hot right now.

His favorite MASH character is major Burns.