Walter Scott's review of Frankenstein gives a nice sense of the emerging consciousness of something like science fiction as a particular class of storytelling.
Thanks Swenson! I must have been only seven or eight the first time I played Zork and I never stopped hoping I would find ancient tunnel system under my neighborhood.
I wrote an essay about some of my gaming inspirations that just posted at the Mulholland Books blog: [www.mulhollandbooks.com]
When I was writing Soon I Will Be Invincible I mostly had Jonathan Lethem's book Fortress of Solitude in mind - I'm always surprised people don't remember that book more.
I have another superhero book forthcoming and it's quite different - I didn't want to come back to that genre unless I felt I had something genuinely new to say there. I think it's going to be cool.
I haven't thought about that the Change War in forever! Is it me or is Leiber kind of a forgotten man of SF/F literature? Because of his sexual politics, maybe? I suppose Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road was a tribute.
I loved the "Giant Headset" devices. I never tried the arcade version (Dactyl Nightmare?) but on the PC games I tried (System Shock, Flight Unlimited), they produced a vivid illusion of being in a space, even on pretty low resolution display. It's too bad they never found a commercial niche - too expensive, not enough software support. Someday they'll come back!
To those who covet: my sister does these on a retail basis, smaller scale - hemoglobin, insulin, enzymes of all sorts. Custom work. She can hook you up.
@bluewyvern: I'm seeing Warren on Friday and will bug him about it. Someone needs to make a sequel - I bet EA owns the rights from when it bought Origin.
I thought this was going to be about the old Origin game "Martian Dreams" - an early Warren Spector game, steampunk about fifteen years before it became fashionable.