Difference Engine 20th anniversary edition

Hard to believe it's been 20 years since the original publication of The Difference Engine, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's seminal cyberpunk alternate history about a Victorian England dominated by mechanical computers. I was privileged to write the introduction to this 20th Anniversary special edition, which also includes new material from Bill and Bruce about the book's creation. It came out today, and I can't wait to get my copy!

The Difference Engine

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Book • Happy Mutants • History • science fiction • Steampunk

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Jake von Slatt

Oh cool! That’s one of Datamancer’s keyboards on the cover, the circle is complete.
Gorgonaut

I bought the Difference Engine on a whim, knowing nothing about it. Two hours later, I realized I was holding the Greatest Book Ever In The World. I love it when that happens. Several of Gibson’s books have held that title later on. Here’s hoping many more young people discover this and get hooked:)
http://www.dustcult.net/ Cory

How timely! I was just pondering this book again while reading through “The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood.” Gleick talks about Babbage in Chapter 4.
http://www.ddmcd.com/ Dennis D. McDonald

what a wonderful book. i want more like that!
Jorpho

I hope the publishers have the good sense in this edition to include “The Difference Dictionary”, which for some reason was only found printed in international editions in the past.

If they have even better sense they’d abridge Edward’s lengthy, meandering, and pointless encounter with a prostitute, but that would be too much to hope for.
- Jonathan Badger
  
  I agree that it was pointless, but if I recall from an interview with Gibson, the point was that section was written in the style of prurient literature of the time, and lengthy and meandering is pretty much what Victorian prose style is all about — had to fill up those three-decker novels somehow.
http://codebad.com/ Donny Viszneki

Been asking this for a while: Barnes and Noble links please.

The Amazon URL doesn’t even look like it benefits BoingBoing through their referral program, though I could be wrong.

Remember that Amazon is one of several companies that are throwing their weight against Wikileaks for its own sake.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1551115436 Michael Johnson

Amongst the machines, all this inhuman mechanization, is a really great (number of?) sex scene(s) that is utterly human, it fit as a great counterpoint. That, alone, is an amazing piece of work – just one of many in this book.
fxq

Great book, totally under-appreciated IMO.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/ Stefan Jones

I managed to get my old copy signed by both authors!

Ummm, hhmmmm, oh look, a link to a 20 year old NPR interview with bruces & Gibson on the writing of The Difference Engine:

http://home.comcast.net/~stefan_jones/difference_engine_npr2.ogg
JoshP

Nu’uh, it is so hard to be you sometimes…
But that makes it like 30 plus years since Neuromancer… which makes the collective maths…
Guest

Love this book! Read it in high school, and still have that old paperback copy- all fucked up from being shoved in pockets and backpacks… WIlliam Gibson is the shit. :D
https://twitter.com/misterjayem MrJM

it’s been 20 years since the original publication of The Difference Engine,

I refuse to believe that. REFUSE!
- GawainLavers
  
  Oh god I’m so old.
Flink Flack

This is the only book by Gibson that I didn’t like. In fact, I stopped reading after about 30 pages.
Kaleberg

I read it when it came out. It was what I call almost great. You can tell what the author was trying to do, but recognize that they didn’t quite make it. It was still entertaining, but it sort of fizzled out rather than exploding. The movie Dogs of War was like that too, almost great.