911's Impact on William Gibson's 'Pattern Recognition'
By Drog, Section News Posted on Sun Feb 09, 2003 at 05:00:33 AM PST
In an interview with Toronto' Globe & Mail, science fiction author William Gibson told how on the morning of September 11, 2001, the future caught up with him and it was unlike anything he ever could have imagined. Coincidentally, the terrorist attacks provided the perfect twist for his latest novel Pattern Recognition, which cannot truly be defined as being science fiction. "I think I've got enough hard-core science-fiction readers who aren't even going to realize that the book's not set in the future," laughs Gibson. Before 911, Gibson still hadn't figured out what was distressing his main character, Cayce. Suddenly, he had her background story--her father is missing, presumed dead, somewhere in Manhattan on the morning of Sept. 11. "It was the strangest feeling I've ever had as a novelist," says Gibson. "And I hope it never happens again. It was very peculiar, especially for a science-fiction writer, because when you're writing about the future, sometimes you get an idea for an event that could have happened in your imaginary construct that would have changed everything. Okay, the moon blew up. That means everything is different. There's no emotional cost to it. But watching [Sept. 11] happen and experiencing the emotion, that changed the whole meaning of the story -- as well as everything else in the world."
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