New Rose Hotel
Encyclopedia
"New Rose Hotel" is a short story by William Gibson
, first published in 1984 in Omni
and later included in his 1986 collection Burning Chrome.
of their employees and the intellectual property
they produce. Corporations jealously guard their most valuable employees and go to great expense to keep them safe and happily productive.
There is little point in traditional corporate espionage as new products are developed at a lightning pace. There is no time to capitalize on the intelligence acquired from a rival firm. Here is where the protagonists of the story come into play, setting themselves up as shady middle-men in the world of corporate defection
s. Key scientists are cajoled, lured, bribed, and blackmailed into leaving their firms. The story follows two corporate extraction agents, the narrator and Fox, who are quickly betrayed after a successful operation. After they are betrayed by a partner, they are hunted by their former employer, who kills Fox and at the end of the story is seen hunting the narrator.
"New Rose Hotel" presents a bleak future as extrapolated from contemporary economic and social trends. Set in the Sprawl
, the same period and universe as Gibson
's Sprawl trilogy, it is solidly cyberpunk
in its style and vision.
adapted the short story as a feature film, New Rose Hotel, released in 1998; the film scrupulously followed the plot of the short story.
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
, first published in 1984 in Omni
Omni (magazine)
OMNI was a science and science fiction magazine published in the US and the UK. It contained articles on science fact and short works of science fiction...
and later included in his 1986 collection Burning Chrome.
Plot
Set in the near future, the story provides the reader with a glimpse into the niche criminal market of corporate defections. Huge megacorporations control and dominate entire economies. Their wealth and competitive advantage reside in the human capitalHuman capital
Human capitalis the stock of competencies, knowledge and personality attributes embodied in the ability to perform labor so as to produce economic value. It is the attributes gained by a worker through education and experience...
of their employees and the intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
they produce. Corporations jealously guard their most valuable employees and go to great expense to keep them safe and happily productive.
There is little point in traditional corporate espionage as new products are developed at a lightning pace. There is no time to capitalize on the intelligence acquired from a rival firm. Here is where the protagonists of the story come into play, setting themselves up as shady middle-men in the world of corporate defection
Defection
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
s. Key scientists are cajoled, lured, bribed, and blackmailed into leaving their firms. The story follows two corporate extraction agents, the narrator and Fox, who are quickly betrayed after a successful operation. After they are betrayed by a partner, they are hunted by their former employer, who kills Fox and at the end of the story is seen hunting the narrator.
"New Rose Hotel" presents a bleak future as extrapolated from contemporary economic and social trends. Set in the Sprawl
The Sprawl
In William Gibson's fiction, the Sprawl is a colloquial name for the Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis , an urban sprawl environment on a massive scale, and a fictional extension of the real Northeast Megalopolis....
, the same period and universe as Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
's Sprawl trilogy, it is solidly cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
in its style and vision.
Film
Director Abel FerraraAbel Ferrara
Abel Ferrara is an American film screenwriter and director. He is best known as an independent filmmaker of such films as The Driller Killer , Ms. 45 , King of New York , Bad Lieutenant and The Funeral .-Early life:Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent...
adapted the short story as a feature film, New Rose Hotel, released in 1998; the film scrupulously followed the plot of the short story.
External links
- "New Rose Hotel" at the William Gibson Aleph