Mar 10
Click for larger image
Click for larger imageIt’s a Two-fer Tuesday: New Romancer Foreign Edition Special
Good Show Sir Comments:
1. Winner of the Philip Dick-Award for questionable hyphenation.
2. No. You should only wash Claude on the “delicates” setting.
Thanks to Helmut and Alain!
Published 1987, 1988
(Average: 6.57 out of 10)
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March 10th, 2020 at 10:21 am
1: “I’m getting the band back together – I’ve got the keytar right here!”
2: “Damn floatation tanks – I told you we should have gone swimming with dolphins instead!”
March 10th, 2020 at 1:03 pm
1. James Fox joins the New Romantics in an ill-advised 1983 remake of ‘Performance’.
2. Someone rush-read ‘Johnny Mnemonic’ and missed the key detail that Jones was a dolphin.
March 10th, 2020 at 1:56 pm
After the disastrous attempt to solve racism by making everyone pretend to be a Chinese, a better solution was discovered: dye everyone a uniform grey.
March 10th, 2020 at 2:48 pm
These actually aren’t too bad in terms of capturing the vibe of the book, particularly for the 80s, where authors and cover illustrators were often very much not on the same page.
The French one does seem to show a guy with a seriously weird rear skull lobe, though.
March 10th, 2020 at 2:50 pm
1. Visionary William Gibson thinks pay phones will never go away.
2. Barclay Shaw cashes in.
March 10th, 2020 at 4:05 pm
William Gibson lost a lot of weight between ’88 and ’89.
March 10th, 2020 at 4:47 pm
@Francis Boyle: I blame “Blade Runner.”
@Ryan: I dunno, that second cover seems a bit cliche to me, enough so that as @Bibliomancer points out, it was used for a completely different novel: “naked women (and occasionally dudes) in test tubes” has been an SF trope for a long time. https://imgur.com/gallery/lFk8r0F
March 10th, 2020 at 4:59 pm
1. China’s stolen version of TARDIS technology contained high levels of lead, cadmium and arsenic.
March 10th, 2020 at 5:27 pm
@Bruce – Yes. That is why we have the popular people-in-bottles tag.
March 10th, 2020 at 6:12 pm
1. A neu romancer? Might you be looking for a brand new lover? Someone to lie with you and doesn’t notice all the other cyber punks?
2. “Hey! Don’t pee in the pool pod!”
March 10th, 2020 at 6:42 pm
“Case tried to use the phone booth to call up Cyberspace, but a human in a vat was already jacked in, blocking the line. Muttering a fashionable Neo-Chinese curse, Case hung up and went to look for another booth…”
March 10th, 2020 at 7:18 pm
1. Hey, that cyberpunk is wearing Geordi’s eye visor and Lt. Uhura’s ear plug communicator! Little thief.
2. You’d think with those calves he’d be a better swimmer.
March 10th, 2020 at 7:29 pm
The falling down guy from #2 is Peter Boyle.
March 10th, 2020 at 9:12 pm
@Tat Wood 2: And when they found out, it was too late to change it, they had to settle for painting him dolphin coloured.
March 11th, 2020 at 1:47 am
@Tag Wizard: huh, missed that one. (Possible alternate tag: Humans under Glass)
@A.R. Ygnve: cyberspace will be installing a second line any day now.
March 11th, 2020 at 8:09 am
More airbrush, please! — Art director’s notes for the German cover.
As for the French cover, nothing says future times like a baggy strapless jumpsuit.
March 11th, 2020 at 2:55 pm
@Tracy: Slappy’s a big Billie Eilish fan.
March 11th, 2020 at 11:24 pm
@B’man: good catch on the reused cover #2. Cheap French bastids.
#1 does illustrate a lot of the stuff in the book and is apropos to the time. Although it looks as if the artist suddenly found out the book cover was wider than he thought and had to hastily add blobs to either side.
I was wondering why the German cover didn’t mention the Hugo Award, and then I realized der blurber didn’t know said award has never used the “Gernsback”. (West) Germany hosted a Worldcon before this, so bad show blurb department.
March 12th, 2020 at 2:12 am
@Tracy: it’s held up by SCIENCE.
March 14th, 2020 at 12:35 pm
Long time lurker, also long time pedant; I think the hyphen’s there so as to retain the pun in the English title (Neuromancer/New Romancer), with is completely lost in the French version.
March 16th, 2020 at 1:20 am
@Fiona: What an excellent first comment! You’re probably right. And now my brain radio is playing Spandau Ballet. I know your comment’s true
March 16th, 2020 at 10:26 am
Now I wish I had a useful comment to add.
March 16th, 2020 at 7:12 pm
That’s never stopped me.
March 16th, 2020 at 10:46 pm
Me neither.
July 23rd, 2020 at 7:14 pm
I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a one word book title hyphenated on the cover. lol
July 24th, 2020 at 12:25 pm
That’s a v-
ery go-
od po-
int.
July 25th, 2020 at 3:11 am
Dammit, the brain radio’s stuck on Spandau Ballet again.