From: Alienthe@hotmail.com   
      
   Still catching up...   
      
   Kevin Calder wrote:   
   [snip]   
      
   > Whatever happened to chemical-virtual reality?   
      
      
   Neuromancer was full of chemical living and reading the   
   Paradigms Workshop Lexicon on "Dischism" you find the   
   following:   
      
       Dischism. The unwitting intrusion of the author's physical   
       surroundings, or the author's own mental state, into the text of   
       the story.  Authors who smoke or drink while writing often drown   
       or choke their characters with an endless supply of booze and   
       cigs.  In subtler forms of the Dischism, the characters complain   
       of their confusion and indecision -- when this is actually the   
       author's condition at the moment of writing, not theirs within the   
       story.  "Dischism" is named after the critic who diagnosed this   
       syndrome.  (Attr. Thomas M. Disch)   
      
   John Shirley had a serious drug problem that he describes   
   on his web pages and I wondered if he was the source for   
   Case. Then again also WmG did some experimentation too. The   
   lexicon entry suggests it might have been many experiments.   
   Several characters in Neuromancer are based on real people.   
      
   I haven't read Vurt but from what I have seen it involves   
   a fair bit of drugs induced virtual reality, perhaps the   
   closest thing to what you are asking for.   
      
   > Or are ya all just a buncha squares?   
      
   Personally I am rather boring. Excitement in R&D usually   
   means you are in serious trouble; having survived more   
   accidents than I can remember I try to remain boring.   
      
   ==<)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)