''Distrust That Particular Flavor'' is a collection of non-fiction essays by American author

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...

, better known for his speculative and science fiction novels. ''Distrust'' consists of twenty-six pieces written over a period of more than twenty years. The anthology includes a range of formats, including essays, magazine pieces, album reviews, and forewords from other published works.

Background

Since making a name for himself as a leading figure in the

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...

genre with his

Sprawl trilogy The Sprawl trilogy (also known as the Neuromancer, Cyberspace, or Matrix trilogy) is William Gibson's first set of novels, composed of ''Neuromancer'' (1984), ''Count Zero'' (1986), and ''Mona Lisa Overdrive'' (1988). The novels are all set in t ...

of novels, Gibson has been primarily known as a writer of science or speculative fiction. However, beginning in the late eighties, he has regularly penned non-fiction pieces for various publications. Gibson credits his

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

for the idea of a collection; according to the writer, the book was intended to bridge the gap between ''

Zero History ''Zero History'' is a novel by William Gibson published in 2010. It concludes the informal trilogy begun by ''Pattern Recognition'' (2003) and continued by ''Spook Country'' (2007), and features the characters Hollis Henry and Milgrim from the la ...

'' (2010), his then-most recent novel, and his next work of fiction.

Content

The pieces in ''Distrust That Particular Flavor'' were written between the late 1980s and 2010. Some were originally published as magazine articles in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', and '' Wired''. Some appeared as forewords to books by other authors. Several speeches appear in written form for the first time. In "

Disneyland with the Death Penalty "Disneyland with the Death Penalty" is a 4,500-word article about Singapore written by William Gibson. His first major piece of non-fiction, it was first published as the cover story for ''Wired'' magazine's September/October 1993 issue (1.4). T ...

", which originally appeared in a 1993 issue of ''Wired'', Gibson reflects on the state of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Criticisms in the article resulted in the Singapore government banning ''Wired'' from the country. The essay "Rocket Radio", which appeared in ''Rolling Stone'', covers the evolution of communications from the crystal radio to the Internet. Written in the late 1980s, it features Gibson theorizing on the future of the then-nascent Net. "Dead Man Sings" takes a more autobiographical note; memories of his childhood are interspersed with an exploration of visual and audio media, and their effect on time. The writer delves into

psychogeography Psychogeography is the exploration of urban environments that emphasizes interpersonal connections to places and arbitrary routes. It was developed by members of the Letterist International and Situationist International, which were revolutiona ...

in his review of Peter Ackroyd's '' London: The Biography'', entitled "Metrophagy: the Art and Science of Digesting Cities". Several pieces cover music and fine arts. "Any 'Mount of World" is a review of a

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from live ...

live album. Gibson is a fan of the group. "Introduction: The Body" looks at the Australian-Cypriot performance artist

Stelarc Stelarc (born Στέλιος Αρκαδίου ''Stelios Arcadiou'' in Limassol in 1946; legally changed his name in 1972) is a Cyprus-born Australian performance artist raised in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine, whose works focus heavily on ex ...

. The collection features Gibson's writings on three of his favourite authors,

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

and H.G. Wells. The writer's various obsessions feature in other pieces, such as vintage watches (pursued through

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

) and his interest in classic denim.

List of contents

*"Introduction: African Thumb Piano" – not previously published *"Rocket Radio" – first published in ''Rolling Stone'', June 15, 1989 *"Since 1948" – WilliamGibsonBooks.com, November 6, 2002 *"Any ’Mount of World" – ''Addicted to Noise'', March 2000 *"The Baddest Dude on Earth" – ''Time International'', April 29, 2002 *"Talk for Book Expo, New York" – not previously published *"Dead Man Sings" – ''Forbes ASAP'', November 30, 1998, supp.: 177 *"Up the Line" – not previously published *"

" – ''Wired'', issue 1.04, September 1993 *"Mr. Buk’s Window" – ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', September 20, 2001 *"Shiny Balls of Mud: Hikaru Dorodango and Tokyu Hands" – ''

Tate Magazine ''Tate Etc.'' is an arts magazine produced within Britain's Tate organisation of arts and museums. It has the largest circulation of any art magazine in the world. The magazine was edited by Simon Grant from its launch in 2004 until the Autumn 202 ...

'', issue 1, September/October 2002 *"An Invitation" – foreword to ''Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings'' (2007), Jorge Luis Borges, New Directions Press *"Metrophagy: The Art and Science of Digesting Great Cities" – ''

Whole Earth Catalog The ''Whole Earth Catalog'' (WEC) was an American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by Stewart Brand several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. The magazine featured essays and articl ...

'', Summer 2001. *"Modern Boys and Mobile Girls" – ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', April 1, 2001. *"My Obsession" – ''Wired'', issue 7.01, January 1999 *"My Own Private Tokyo" – ''Wired'', issue 9.09, September 2001 *"The Road to Oceania" – ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', June 25, 2006 *"Skip Spence’s Jeans" – ''Ugly Things'', issue 21, 2003 *"Terminal City" – introduction to ''Phantom Shanghai'' (2007),

Greg Girard Greg Girard (born 1955) is a Canadian photographer whose work has examined the social and physical transformation in Asia's largest cities for more than three decades. His most recent book, ''Tokyo-Yokosuka 1976-1983'', published 2019, completes ...

*"Introduction: "The Body"" – foreword to ''Stelarc: The Monograph'' (2005), Marquard Smith, MIT Press *"The Net Is a Waste of Time" – ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...

'', July 14, 1996, page 31 *"Time Machine Cuba" – '' Infinite Matrix'', January 23, 2006 *"Will We Have Computer Chips in Our Heads?" – ''Time'', June 19, 2000 *"William Gibson's Filmless Festival" – ''Wired'', issue 7.10, September 1999 *"Johnny: Notes on a Process" – ''Wired'', issue 3.06, July 1995 *"Googling the Cyborg" – Talk for the Vancouver Institute, February, 2008

References

{{William Gibson 2012 non-fiction books Essay collections Works by William Gibson G. P. Putnam's Sons books