''Signal to Noise'' () is a 1997

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 ...

novel by

Carla Sinclair Carla Sinclair (born August 15, 1964) is an American writer and journalist. She is of Western European and Armenian descent. She is co-founder of the collaborative weblog ''Boing Boing''. Along with her husband, Mark Frauenfelder, she founded the b ...

published by

Harper Harper may refer to: Names * Harper (name), a surname and given name Places ;in Canada * Harper Islands, Nunavut *Harper, Prince Edward Island ;In the United States *Harper, former name of Costa Mesa, California in Orange County * Harper, Il ...

. This is the author's first novel; she had previously written non-fiction works. - Posted online on May 20, 2010. It is set in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Tiffany Lee Brown Tiffany Lee Brown is an American writer and artist. She is from Oregon, currently living and working in Central Oregon. For many years she was known for her work in Portland. Author of ''A Compendium of Miniatures'' (Tiger Food Press, 2007), Brow ...

, writing in '' Wired'' magazine, stated that the "cybercultural parody" reflects "distinctive perspective on the foibles of the wired life" and "caricatures" people in the San Francisco technology environment. According to the author she took seven months to create the initial draft before selling it to the publisher, which asked for a substantial rewrite within a two month period; the publishers stated a dislike of the, in Sinclair's words, "too clichéd" criminal characters. Sinclair stated that the rewrite affected about 66% of the book. She did the rewrite during a pregnancy. Sinclair stated that she included elements she noticed in real life and that she "enjoyed" writing scenes portraying violence, citing an increase in adrenaline, rather than having them make her anxious.

Reception

In '' Wired'' magazine, Brown described it as "fast-paced" and stated that people familiar with the technology industry would enjoy it the most although she believed general audiences would also enjoy the book. She stated "If you're looking for the next

Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

, better go elsewhere." In

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

newspaper, Jon Lebkowsky noted that though ''Signal to Noise'' made reference to various 1990s cybercultural people and pop culture touchstones, "the book borrows less from ''Wired'' and more from

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

Elmore Leonard Elmore John Leonard Jr. (October 11, 1925August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thri ...

, and Carl Hiaasen."

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

posted a review stating that "the clothes, lunch hangouts, and familiar ambitions of this self-consciously cutting- edge scene" were a positive element but that it "goes downhill fast when it devolves into a breathless kidnapping/romance" as that resulted in "boredom".

References

1997 novels Cyberpunk novels Novels set in San Francisco {{1990s-sf-novel-stub