The Peripheral

William Gibson returns with his first novel since 2010 s" New York Times" bestselling "Zero History." Where Flynne and her brother, Burton, live, jobs outside the drug business are rare. Fortunately, Burton has his veteran s benefits, for neural damage he suffered from implants during his time in the USMC s elite Haptic Recon force. Then one night Burton has to go out, but there s a job he s supposed to do a job Flynne didn t know he had. Beta-testing part of a new game, he tells her. The job seems to be simple: work a perimeter around the image of a tower building. Little buglike things turn up. He s supposed to get in their way, edge them back. That s all there is to it. He s offering Flynne a good price to take over for him. What she sees, though, isn t what Burton told her to expect. It might be a game, but it might also be murder." 威廉．吉布森（William Gibson） 以打字機創作《神經喚術士》（Neuromancer），卻寫下、定義了科幻文學的「電馭叛客」（Cyberpunk）類型，並創造「網路空間」（Cyber Space）一詞，更拿下科幻文學界三大獎：雨果獎、星雲獎與菲利普狄克獎，創下至今無人打破的紀錄，更暢銷六百多萬冊。 在尚且無人理解電腦或虛擬實境的時代，他的小說打造出近未來的驚人景象。除去躍進未來，他更與另一位知名大師布魯斯．史特林（Bruce Sterling）合作，回溯工業革命時電腦的前身，寫下小說《差分機》（The Difference Engine）。至此算是完全奠定他的大師地位。2014年，他跳脫舊系列，以電玩遊戲的背景創作全新小說，以硬派筆法將政治權謀融入懸疑殺人，並放置在一個絕對科幻的架空未來，佐以穿梭時間的情節，讓讀者墜入他筆下炫麗的科幻世界...