The Shockwave Rider!

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Look what came in the mail! The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner. Brunner was one of the biggest names in science fiction when he wrote this novel, and in many ways this was a high-water mark in his career. It is also the book wherein Brunner contributed a new word to the English language when he named the computer "worm." (For those unfamiliar with the term, a computer virus is downloaded into a computer via attachments, where a worm is an independent agent that finds its own way in.)

This beautifully-made edition comes from Subterranean Press, and I had the honor of writing its introduction.

While working on the introduction, I realized that because Brunner was writing a near-future novel, its hour arrived not long ago and it is now an alternate-history novel. Where much of its pleasure originally came from wondering how many of its predictions would come true, today that pleasure consists of seeing which predictions came true (a surprising number) and which did not. Meanwhile, the plot is still involving.

John Brunner had the sad distinction of being the first science fiction writer to die while attending the World Science Fiction Convention. I was there, in Glasgow, when the rumor ran like wildfire through the convention: John Brunner collapsed and was taken to the hospital! Followed shortly by: He's dead.

There was a hastily-created memorial to Brunner at the convention and, again, I was there. Robert Silverberg, obviously heartbroken by the death of a friend, spoke movingly of the man, his life, his career, and his works. Then, brilliantly, he said that since a writer was a form of entertainer, rather than a minute of silence he was going to request a minute of applause.

The response was thunderous.

And it's anticlimactic to mention this but . . .

If you want to buy a copy, you can order it here.  Or, you know, just go to centipedepress.com and wander about, occasionally lusting after the books there.

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