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Just finished reading City Come A Walkin' by John Shirley. I think I'd only read a few of his stories before. He was one of those authors perpetually "on my list" that I never quite got around to reading. But his recent stint on the guest-blog at boing boing got me motivated to pick up City when we were at the library earlier this month. It's Shirley first novel, and it's a bit rough around the edges. But the sheer manic drive carried me past the random bits of "weak" writing. (and yes, i'm aware of just how arrogant that sounds, but what else to we do as readers but make value judgements?). Originally published in 1980, City was in many ways a template for the cyberpunk that was to start appearing in the next few years (Neuromancer hit the shelves in 1984). Gibson wrote the intro to the Four Wall Eight Windows trade paperback and he's pretty direct about the importance/influence of Shirley: "I was somewhat chagrined, rereading it recently, to see just how much of my own early work takes off from this one novel." I don't think that makes City a better novel than Neuromancer but it's still a hell of a ride. Well and truly recommended