Andrew Kuchling<p>I read a news item about Amazon's TV adaptation of William Gibson's novel THE PERIPHERAL, and thought the idea sounded intriguing. The show got cancelled after a single season, so there's no point in watching it now -- I read the book instead.</p><p>In the book, protagonist Flynne Fisher lives in an economically-depressed rural area in a near-future US, with her mom Ella and her ex-military brother Burton. Burton is doing odd jobs, one of which is supposedly beta-testing a new VR game.</p><p>He lets Flynne sub for him in the game, where she's operating a drone in a futuristic city and during this, she witnesses an apparent murder. But it's not actually a game: the people of 70 years in the future, who live in a world of bioengineering and 3D-printed bodies, are using an unspecified mechanism to communicate with the past and outsource some tasks, like drone operation, to people in the past.</p><p>Now someone in the future would like to eliminate Flynne as a potential witness, and it turns into a proxy battle as the future people, with publicist Wilf Netherton as our POV character, begin manipulating the global economy of Flynne's time. To help with the investigation, Flynne dials into the future in a teleoperated body that's called a peripheral, giving the book its title.</p><p>Lots of clever ideas here, and Gibson's prose is excellent. Each chapter alternates between Flynne's familiar and increasingly risky world, and Wilf's exotic and unfamiliar one. Somewhere between Flynne and Wilf, there was a polycrisis event called the Jackpot that's an unspecified mix of climate change, technological disaster and political crisis that killed off 80% of humanity.</p><p>(Ha ha, those sci-fi writers with their whimsical escapist fantasies!)</p><p>Overall I liked the book, but it left me unsatisfied. Spoilers in the next post... (1/2)</p><p><a href="https://dmv.community/tags/WilliamGibson" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WilliamGibson</span></a> <a href="https://dmv.community/tags/ThePeripheral" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ThePeripheral</span></a> <a href="https://dmv.community/tags/sf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>sf</span></a> <a href="https://dmv.community/tags/mystery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>mystery</span></a> <a href="https://dmv.community/tags/books" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>books</span></a> <a href="https://dmv.community/tags/bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>bookstodon</span></a></p>
mastodon.nzoss.nz is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
This is a te reo Māori & English instance, for folks in Aotearoa NZ. We've talked openness, technology, improving our society since 2017.
Administered by:
Server stats:
40active users
mastodon.nzoss.nz: About · Profiles directory · Privacy policy
Mastodon: About · Get the app · Keyboard shortcuts · View source code · v4.4.3
#ThePeripheral
0 posts · 0 participants · 0 posts today
Strypey<p>Just finished season 1 of The Peripheral, based on a 2014 Gibson novel of the same name. It seems season 2 was cancelled, which is disappointing. But I'd still recommend it. Each of the 8 episodes has enough of an internal arc to make them satisfying to watch, while still wanting more, as does the season as a whole.</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/tags/TV" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>TV</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/tags/SciFi" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>SciFi</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/tags/ThePeripheral" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>ThePeripheral</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/tags/cancelled" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>cancelled</span></a></p>
Teresa<p><a href="https://mas.to/tags/Introduction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Introduction</span></a><br>Hi! I’m Teresa, another lost bird from the great <a href="https://mas.to/tags/TwitterMigration" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TwitterMigration</span></a> of 2022! 😅</p><p>
I might be an illustrator. Might.<br><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.art/@teresamacedo" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>teresamacedo@mastodon.art</span></a></span>
</p><p>No idea what I’m doing.<br>
Hobbies:
<br>• <a href="https://mas.to/tags/SciFi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SciFi</span></a> - <a href="https://mas.to/tags/StarTrek" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>StarTrek</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/StarWars" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>StarWars</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/Stargate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Stargate</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/Foundation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Foundation</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/NightSky" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NightSky</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/ThePeripheral" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ThePeripheral</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/TheExpanse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TheExpanse</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/ForAllMankind" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ForAllMankind</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/Dark" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Dark</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/ResidentAlien" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ResidentAlien</span></a><br>• I do watch other stuff such as <a href="https://mas.to/tags/GoT" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GoT</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/LoTR" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LoTR</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/Acapulco" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Acapulco</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/Succession" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Succession</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/TheMorningShow" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TheMorningShow</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/TheBoys" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TheBoys</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/GrandTour" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GrandTour</span></a> etc<br>• And <a href="https://mas.to/tags/F1" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>F1</span></a><br>• <a href="https://mas.to/tags/Books" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Books</span></a> 📚
<br>• Very BASIC <a href="https://mas.to/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> 😆<br>
• Catsitter - to my spoiled <a href="https://mas.to/tags/cats" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>cats</span></a></p>
TrendingLive feeds
Mastodon is the best way to keep up with what's happening.
Follow anyone across the fediverse and see it all in chronological order. No algorithms, ads, or clickbait in sight.
Create accountLoginDrag & drop to upload