History Trivia / Neuromancer

** The book famously begins by likening the colour of the sky to that of [[SnowyScreenOfDeath a television tuned to a dead station]]. This originally conveyed a gray, dreary day, the colour of analogue static; before long, most televisions by the 90s would show a blue screen, while screens in the later 2000's on show a black screen, something that would change how the line is read by modern readers.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/ChrisCunningham was to direct a movie version of the novel. That was back in 1999, and nothing's come of it, so presumably the project's been cancelled. Another version is set to be in the works with Creator/TimMiller set to direct so.....

*** RAM was also ''exceedingly'' expensive prior to the price crashing in TheNineties; often it would be the most expensive part of the computer by an order of magnitude. High-capacity chips that held a megabyte or more did exist, but they were specialty items and cost the equivalent of hundreds or even thousands of dollars in today's money.

** The book famously begins by likening the colour of the sky to that of [[SnowyScreenOfDeath a television tuned to a dead station]]. This originally conveyed a gray, dreary day, the colour of analogue static; nowadays, most TV sets default, ironically, to a blue screen when there isn't a channel or anything to display.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/ChrisCunningham was to direct a movie version of the novel. That was back in 1999, and nothing's come of it, so presumably the project's been cancelled. Another version is set to be in the works with CreatorTimMiller set to direct so.....

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/ChrisCunningham was to direct a movie version of the novel. That was back in 1999, and nothing's come of it, so presumably the project's been cancelled.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Chris Cunningham was to direct a movie version of the novel. That was back in 1999, and nothing's come of it, so presumably the project's been cancelled.

*** This was referenced in Creator/NeilGaiman's novel ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', which opens with, "The sky was the perfect blue of a television, turned to a dead channel."
** One scene takes place in an arcade, which have gone the way of the dodo with the rise of home video game consoles.
*** However in Japan, where the scene in Chiba is located, video arcades are still common.
** [=VoIP=] apparently doesn't exist, and the only way to call someone from an airport is a bank of pay phones.
*** More recent editions include an introduction by Gibson apologizing for his failure to foresee the rise in cellular technology.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: Gibson wrote most of his early works on a ''typewriter''. A copy of ''Neuromancer'' printed in 1994 includes an afterword by the author on that subject. Included in the afterword is a reminder to his modern readers that the typewriter was the high-tech whizbang of the day. In 1981, the hottest computer on the mass market was the Apple II (not even the [=IIe=], yet), and that cost a bundle.

*** In Japan, however, video arcades are still common.

*** This was referenced in Creator/NeilGaiman's novel Literature/{{Neverwhere}}, which opens with, "The sky was the perfect blue of a television, turned to a dead channel."

* MagnumOpusDissonance: Because it was so influential, it's Gibson's most famous and acclaimed work. But in terms of literary merit, Gibson considers it one of his weakest. To be fair, it was the guy's first novel. His later novels would have more focus on plot and characterization.