Skinner's Room
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| "Skinner's Room" | |
| Author | William Gibson |
|---|---|
| Country |  Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction short story |
| Published in | Omni |
| Publication type | Periodical |
| Publisher | Omni Publication International |
| Media type | Print (Magazine) |
| Publication date | November 1991 |
"Skinner's Room" is a short story by influential cyberpunk author William Gibson. In the acknowledgements at the end of the novel Virtual Light, Gibson writes that the novel started as a short story titled Skinner's Room. Skinner is the name of one of the main characters in Virtual Light. The room mentioned in the title is a shack built atop one of the towers of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in San Francisco.
A version of this story appeared in the November 1991 issue of OMNI magazine. This version of the story concerns an unnamed girl and an old man named Skinner who live in the one-room shack built on top of the first cable tower of the Bridge.
[edit] Plot introduction
The story takes place in a near-future where the United States is in decline, having been negatively affected by some event referred to as the "devaluations." Skinner has lived on the bridge, and in his room, for a long time, but the girl arrived only three months ago.
The story reveals that, long ago, the Bay Bridge had been closed to vehicle traffic (for three years) and that the pressure to find a place to live had forced people to seize the bridge and set up a squatters' town there. The community that arose was vibrant and was watched by the world's media. The town grew in a piecemeal fashion, built from salvaged parts as well as material donated by, apparently, more wealthy nations. The girl is interested in the history of the bridge town, and at the end of the story Skinner has a dream in which he remembers being at the front of the crowd who seized the bridge (Skinner is the first onto the bridge) and scaled the towers.
[edit] Copyright notice
The story's copyright notice states that a slightly different version first appeared "in the exhibition catalog Visionary San Francisco, published by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art."
[edit] References
- Polledri, Paolo (1990). Visionary San Francisco. Munich: Prestal. ISBN 3791310607.
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