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This coming Tuesday, February 7 will be a "Thieves' Night" ("what can we steal from [William Gibson / Catherine Moore / insert name here...") discussion of two powerful stories: "The Winter Market" by William Gibson, and "No Woman Born" by Catherine Moore. Craig deLancey & Eric Scoles will facilitate.

The stories explore different aspects of the traditional SF questions about the nature and extent of humanity. In Gibson's story, a woman ravaged by congenital disease and drug abuse yearns for a chance to transcend her flesh. Moore's protagonist is a brilliant stage actress whose body is destroyed by fire and replaced with a marvellous metallic cyborg body, to which she somehow brings the illusion of human affect. Both stories are approached from the perspectives of men who admire them, and both have inspired a wide range of scholarly, critical response.

"The Winter Market" is a typically well-crafted early Gibson work, but like most of his work also functioning as a powerful narrative experiment. "No Woman Born" betrays some of the typical excesses of its time, but is arguably as thematically challenging as Gibson's work. 

Where to find them:

"The Winter Market" is anthologized in Burning Chrome, which collects most of Gibson's short work and readily available at most decent bookstores and libraries and in many used book stores. (I recommend checking Rick's Recycled on Monroe.) You may also be able to find copy online.

"No Woman Born" is widely anthologized, but probably most readily available in print as part of The Best of C. L. Moore. Again, you may also find it online. 

Teaser: 

This coming Tuesday, February 7 will be a "Thieves' Night" ("what can we steal from [William Gibson / Catherine Moore / insert name here...") discussion of two powerful stories: "The Winter Market" by William Gibson, and "No Woman Born" by Catherine Moore. Craig deLancey & Eric Scoles will facilitate.

Both stories are concerned with the essential questions of what it means to be human, explored through the conceits of mind-uploading (Gibson) and total-body-prosthesis (Moore).

"The Winter Market" is anthologized in Burning Chrome, which collects most of Gibson's short work and readily available at most decent bookstores and libraries and in many used book stores. (I recommend checking Rick's Recycled on Monroe.) You may also be able to find copy online.

"No Woman Born" is widely anthologized, but probably most readily available in print as part of The Best of C. L. Moore. Again, you may also find it online. 

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