Recently in William Gibson's blog Category

A small plot hint via William Gibson's blog, where he has been answering questions from some William Gibson Board fans, which mentions a central London location in Zero History, which also featured in Pattern recognition and in Spook Country:

William Gibson blog - Thursday, April 08, 2010 - 8.27 AM

From Bictaker:
Q In Pattern Recognition, Cayce visits Neal's Yard, which seemingly fits her character profile and compliments the storyline for me, as I find it a wonderful little corner of our metropolis. But, why Neal's Yard? Did you pick it at random - a pin in the map, had a previous chance visit created an impression, or was it recommended to you as an appropriately bohemian locale for the leading lady to frequent.

A If you know the 60s history, it's a Disneylanded bohemia. Very amiably Disneylanded, but still. But I think I sent her there because I'd seen a sign, a few years earlier, announcing a Pilates studio. Oddly, Neals Yard (some people insist on spelling it that way) is also glimpsed, literally on the run, in Zero History. My first British publisher was Victor Gollancz, on the other side of Covent Garden, so I have fond memories of Seven Dials when it was still somewhat seedy. Paul Smith had set up in Floral Street but there was still a certain sub-Soho grit.

[...]

"Neal's Yard" or "Neals Yard" ?

The missing apostrophe in Neals Yard is not due to the road sign erected by the Local Council's highways department perhaps it is the influence of mobile phone SMS text messaging abbreviations.

However, there is a growing trend in the United Kingdom, whereby illiterate local council bureaucratic jobsworths decide to drop the apostrophe and other punctuation in street signs and on maps. This also affects many place names named after Saints, e.g. The Daily Telegraph newspaper illustrates this point in an article with photos of

S^T_.. PAUL'S SQUARE

which has mutated into

ST PAULS SQUARE

in the centre of the city of Birmingham.

St. Paul's Square in Birmingham with and without the apostrophe Photo: PA via the Daily Telegraph - Apostrophes abolished by council

Note also the abbreviation of "Saint" simply to "ST" rather than to "ST." or the more complicated abbreviation illustrated above.

Inevitably, being Britain, there is an Apostrophe Protection Society which opposes this trend.

If you look at these Google Street View images>, you can see that the old street signs at the Monmouth Street entrance to Neal's Yard

and at the Short's Gardens entrance (note another apostrophe)

both still display the apostrophe in Neal's Yard, as do all of the shops and shopping arcades nearby.

Running through or past Neal's Yard CCTV

Anybody running through or past Neal's Yard, as hinted at in the William Gibson blog post above, might be picked up on the Closed Circuit TeleVision (CCTV) surveillance cameras which cover both of these entrances.

There are further CCTV cameras within Neal''s Yard proper, which appear to be connected via infra red laser data links to the Thomas Neal shopping arcade on the other side of Short's Gardens.

See London CyberPunk Tourist Guide - Covent Garden - Neal's Yard

There is also a Blue Plaque dedicated to Monty Python, where the famous eccentric British comedy series / industry began its initial recordings:

The Short's Gardens entrance to Neal's Yard has a water clock sculpture. One shop to west, is the Neal's Yard Dairy Cheese Shop, which harks back to the original use of the premises.

This shop produces an overwhelming taste and smell sensation, with real "live" cheeses such as Cheddar and Stilton etc.. and is one of cyberpunk fiction author William Gibson's favourite shops in this area :

Friday, August 31, 2007

A SOVEREIGN FOR SOUL-DELAY
posted 5:03 AM

Yesterday morning I walked around the corner to Neils Yard Dairy and bought myself 200g. of the Montgomery's unpasteurized cheddar.

Asked for it by name. The clerk, in a proper cheeseman's cap, wrapped my interestingly discoloured wedge in that special white paper they use, glossy on the inside, folding it that way I can never quite master.

Now it's 5:23AM PST, back in Vancouver, and the Montgomery's cheddar really *is* a sovereign medicine for jet lag. And that is the reason it costs almost as much as heroin, in America.

Interestingly, now (20th August 2009), the offices above this Neil's Yard Dairy are being advertised as "Trendy Offices to Let"

This is a copy of the Home House Club, Portman Square, which may very well feature in some form in William Gibson's novel in progress Zero History:

Home House Club, Portman Square

At the north west corner of Portman Square, where it meets the southern end of Gloucester Place are three 18th Century town houses, which have been converted into a luxurious private members club.

The Home House Club (pronounced "hume", after the Scottish / Berwickshire aristocratic clan, to whom at least one British Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home was a related) occupies Numbers 21, 20 and 19 Portman Square. The entrance to Number 21 is on the western, Gloucester Place side of the block, and Numbers 20 and 19 are on the main Portman Square façade.

This real life club, may have influenced the fragment of cyberpunk literary author William Gibson's next novel, mentioning as it does the character of Inchmale, who appeared in Spook Country

See some discussion on the official William Gibson board discussion forum
Inchmale's club in Portman Square, which speculates on a fragment of text (which may, or may not actually end up in a novel) released by the author on his blog on 1st January 2009.

CABINET (HAPPY NEW YEAR) posted 12:09 AM

Inchmale's club, in Portman Square, was called Cabinet. It was a peculiarly narrow place, apparently occupying half of the vertical volume of a townhouse whose expensively forgettable façade reminded her of a sleeping face.

[...]

Apart from a futuristic architect designed House bar at Number 21,

the interior decoration evokes 18th Century aristocratic opulence, including

Anthony Blunt Bedroom

Named after a former resident of House No 20 who had an apartment here after the Second World War during his tenure as Master of the Queen's Art Collection.

[...]

This blurb conveniently forgets to mention Anthony Blunt's espionage career as a KGB spook, linked to the notorious Philby, Maclean and Burgess spy scandals, which rocked the British intelligence services in the 1950s and 1960s, and which was covered up by the establishment for many years, and which led to the stripping of his knighthood, when it was eventually made public. The treachery of the Cambridge Five spy ring has been hugely influential on British spy fiction, drama, tv and films.

Latitude: N51:30:59 (51.516433)
Longitude: W0:09:24 (-0.156541)

More images of 21, 20, 19 Portman Square:

As with his previous novel Spook Country, the author William Gibson has published some fragments of writing which may or may not find their way into the final version of his next novel, which seems to be entitled Zero History.

William Gibson explains:

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

"WORK IN PROGRESS"
posted 6:05 PM

Those little bits of text I sometimes post are, for the reader, I imagine, a lot like visiting the set of a film. The scene you see shot, and remember, may not be in the film when it's released. Or, owing to the editing process, or even reshooting, it may be there but not remotely resemble what you saw shot.

For example, I titled an earlier fragment "The Gabriel Hounds". In it, a character sees some dogs (of sorts). Those dogs no longer have anything at all to do with that which is called "the Gabriel Hounds" in the draft today.

Apophenia. Faces in clouds.

And I'm actually rather careful not to put up enough to allow you to figure out what's really going on, in terms of the broader narrative.

1. CABINET (HAPPY NEW YEAR) - Thursday, January 01, 2009
2. HOLD THE COPROPHAGIA - Saturday, January 24, 2009
3. CRICKET - Sunday, February 01, 2009
4. THE GABRIEL HOUNDS - Tuesday, February 03, 2009
5. FIFTEEN - Sunday, February 08, 2009
6. SPECIES - Monday, February 09, 2009
7. BOHEMIAN - Thursday, February 12, 2009
8. AMATEUR - Sunday, February 15, 2009
9. GABBLE RATCHETS - Wednesday, March 04, 2009
10. MAQUETTE - Tuesday, May 12, 2009
11. WHAT'S IN A NAME? - Tuesday, May 26, 2009 (includes an image)

The Fragments of a Hologram Bill thread on the William Gibson Books discussion forum collects the published fragments into one thread, which are discussed and analysed on other parts of the forum and elsewhere.

Zero History is an excellent title, laden with many potential meanings, for what appears to be the direct sequel to Spook Country, which followed on from Pattern Recognition.

The fragments so far mention of some previously established characters like Hubertus Bigend, Reg Inchmale, Holly, Milgrim, Sleight, Pamela etc.

Locations include London and Conway, South Carolina (where William Gibson was born).