The Difference Engine

by Dr William Gibson

Bruce Sterling

The 20th anniversary edition of the classic steampunk novel
With new commentary by the authors
 
1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine, and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time. Three extraordinary characters race toward a rendezvous with the future: Sybil Gerard—fallen woman, politician’s tart, daughter of a Luddite agitator; Edward “Leviathan” Mallory—explorer and paleontologist; Laurence Oliphant—diplomat, mystic, and spy. Their adventure begins with the discovery of a box of punched Engine cards of unknown origin and purpose. Cards someone wants badly enough to kill for.

Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine took the science fiction community by storm when it was first published twenty years ago. This special anniversary edition features an Introduction by Cory Doctorow and a collaborative essay from the authors looking back on their creation. Provocative, compelling, intensely imagined, this novel is poised to impress a whole new generation.

• ISBN10: 0345532589
• ISBN13: 9780345532589
• Publish Date: 18 August 2014 (first published 6 November 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Spectra Books
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 283
• Language: English

Reviews

[empressbrooke]

When I read Neuromancer, I started out not understanding a thing that was going on, but finally made sense of everything by the end. When reading The Difference Engine, I had the opposite experience. The first segment was fully comprehensible, but afterward the book just turned to mush. What in the world happened? Who were all these characters? What was the conflict and what was at stake? Don't ask me, because I haven't a clue. I got more and more irritated as I got closer to the end and had to suffer through an increasing number of pompous blowhards' points of view. William Gibson is always a more difficult read for me, but this is the first time I felt let down.