View source for Count Zero

{{Short description|1986 book by William Gibson}}
{{multiple issues|
{{more citations needed|date = August 2024}}
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{{infobox book | 
| name          = Count Zero
| image         = CountZero(1stEd).jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
| author        = [[William Gibson]]
| illustrator   =
| cover_artist  =
| country       = [[Literature of the United States|United States]]
| language      = English
| series        = [[Sprawl trilogy]]
| genre         = [[Science fiction]], [[cyberpunk]]
| publisher     = [[Victor Gollancz Ltd]]{{not verified in body|date = August 2024}}
| release_date  = 1986
| media_type    = Print (hardback and paperback)
| pages         = 256
| isbn = 0-575-03696-6
| isbn_note = (first edition)
| preceded_by   = [[Neuromancer]]
| followed_by   = [[Mona Lisa Overdrive]]
}}
'''''Count Zero''''' is a [[science fiction]] novel by American-Canadian writer [[William Gibson]], originally published in 1986.<ref name=PooleGuardian1996/> It presents a near future whose technologies include a network of supercomputers that created a "matrix" in "cyberspace", an accessible, [[virtual reality|virtual]], three-dimensionally active "inner space", which, for Gibson—writing these decades earlier—was seen as being dominated by violent competition between small numbers of very rich individuals and multinational corporations.<ref name = KirkusReview/> The novel is composed of a trio of plot lines that ultimately converge.<ref name = KirkusReview/>

''Count Zero'' is the second volume of the [[Sprawl trilogy]], which began with ''[[Neuromancer]]'' and concludes with ''[[Mona Lisa Overdrive]]''.<ref name=PooleGuardian1996/> It was serialized in the January through March 1986 monthly issues of ''[[Asimov's Science Fiction|Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine]]'';<ref name = GibsonLangford_Lttr/> the January cover was devoted to the story, with art by [[Hisaki Yasuda]].{{citation needed|date = August 2024}} According to Gibson, the magazine version was edited with his permission to allow access to youth audiences in the United States.<ref name = GibsonLangford_Lttr/>

While Gibson did not introduce the concept or coin the term "[[cyberpunk]]", a subgenre of [[science fiction]] (nor particularly associated himself with it), he ''is'' considered to have first envisioned and described the concept of "[[cyberspace]]".<ref name = OEDcyberspace/><ref name = GibsonDavisWomack_unabridgedaudio_afterward/> The novel, ''Count Zero'', is nonetheless regarded as an early example of the [[cyberpunk]] subgenre.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wytenbroek |first=J R. |date=1989 |title=“Cyberpunk -- Necromancer by William Gibson / Count Zero by William Gibson / Burning Chrome by William Gibson.” |journal=Canadian Literature |volume=121 |pages=163 |via=canlit.ca}}</ref>

==Publication history==
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Volume 2 of the [[Sprawl trilogy]], ''Count Zero'' follows ''[[Neuromancer]]'' (1984), with the series being concluded by ''[[Mona Lisa Overdrive]]'' (1988).<ref name=PooleGuardian1996>{{cite web|author = Poole, Steven |author-link=Steven Poole | date = 3 October 1996 | title = Virtually in Love | work = [[TheGuardian.com]] | url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/1996/oct/03/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror | access-date= 8 August 2024}}</ref> It appeared in serial form in ''[[Asimov's Science Fiction|Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine]]'',<ref name = GibsonLangford_Lttr/> in the January, February, and March 1986 issues (the January being the 100th of that magazine),{{citation needed|date = August 2024}} where each part was accompanied by black and white art produced by J. K. Potter.{{verify source|date = August 2024}}{{citation needed|date = August 2024}} The January cover of the magazine was devoted to the story, with art by [[Hisaki Yasuda]].{{citation needed|date = August 2024}} According to a published letter from Gibson, the magazine version was edited with his permission to contain less swearing and sexual content, in part to allow access to youth audiences in the United States.<ref name = GibsonLangford_Lttr>{{cite letter | author= Gibson, William |author-link= William Gibson |recipient= Dave Langford  |subject= Changes to the serialisation of 'Count Zero' |language= en-us |date= February 1986| orig-date = Orig. Date Unknown | url= |format= |location= |publisher= |access-date= |archive-url= |archive-date= |url-status= |author-mask= |mode= |id= }} as presented in {{cite journal | author = Langford, Dave | date = February 1986 | title = Ansible 45... / Shameless Self-Promotion: The Letter Column | journal = Ansible | volume = 45 | format = self-published web-blog | url= http://news.ansible.co.uk/a45.html | access-date=8 August 2024 | issn = 0265-9816 | location = Reading, England | publisher = Dave Langford | quote = Wm Gibson: 'Dear Fellow Hugo-Winner... I would like to point out, for the benefit of my massive and utterly devoted British following, that the version of my second novel, Count Zero, which will run in serial lumps (three) in Asimov's SF, is a special Lite version with reduced motherfucker-count and no graphic but intensely poetic and moving descriptions of oral sex... [further graphic details redacted]. I should also point out that these changes were made under my supervision and with my express approval. I agreed to go along with them, after due soul-searching, when it was pointed out to me how urgently young people in small towns in the US need fiction of this sort, and how much my new car is going to cost.'}}</ref>

It was originally published in book form,{{clarify|date = August 2024}} in 1986.{{citation needed|date = August 2024}}

==Title allusions==
{{more citations needed section|date = August 2024}}
The title of the book is a [[pseudonym]] of the main character [[Bobby Newmark]],{{citation needed|date = August 2024}} and is also claimed by Gibson to be a word-play on the [[computer programming]] term ''count zero interrupt''.{{citation needed|date = August 2024}} As presented on the front leaf of the book,{{clarify|date = August 2024}}{{citation needed|date = August 2024}} there is a programming direction that states, "[o]n receiving an interrupt, decrement the counter to zero",{{quote without source|date=January 2023}} that is, the title refers to a "count zero interrupt",{{according to whom|date = August 2024}} an [[interrupt]] of a [[process (computing)|computing process]] that decrements a [[Counter (digital)|programming counter]] to zero.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} A 1982 edition of [[Charles Sippl]]'s computer dictionary<ref>Charles Sipple is father of [[Roger Sippl]].{{relevance inline|date = August 2024}}{{citation needed|date = August 2024}}</ref><ref>This is purported to be the first such dictionary.{{relevance inline|date = August 2024}}{{citation needed|date = August 2024}}</ref> defines a "count zero interrupt" as "[a]n interrupt level that is triggered when an associated (clock) counter pulse interrupt{{technical inline|date = August 2024}} has produced a zero result in a clock counter".<ref>{{Cite book | author = Sippl, Charles Roger | date = 1982 | title = SAMS Computer Dictionary | edition = 3rd | page =  | location =  | publisher =  | isbn =  | url=http://archive.org/details/SAMS_Computer_Dictionary_Third_Edition_1982_Charles_Roger_Sippl | access-date =  | quote = }}{{full citation needed|date = August 2024}}</ref>{{page needed|date = August 2024}} The term, however, is not one generally understood.{{according to whom|date=August 2024}}{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

==Plot==
{{long plot|section|date = August 2024}}

===Introduction===
In ''Count Zero'' Gibson presents "a high-tech near-future of linked super-computers... [a matrix that] has given rise to "cyberspace," an "inner" space something like a three-dimensional video display... [in a] world is dominated by multinational corporations... a few fabulously rich individuals, and the cutthroat competition between them."<ref name = KirkusReview>{{cite web | author = Kirkus Staff | date = 26 March 1986 | title = "Count Zero" by William Gibson | work = [[KirkusReviews.com]] | url = https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-gibson/count-zero/ | access-date = 8 August 2024 | quote = Something like a cross between Gibson's hugely successful debut, Neuromancer (paperback only), and his short story about futuristic corporate dirty tricks, "New Rose Hotel." We're in a high-tech near-future of linked super-computers; this matrix has given rise to "cyberspace," an "inner" space something like a three-dimensional video display (cf. the movie Tron); the world is dominated by multinational corporations, plus a few fabulously rich individuals, and the cutthroat competition between them. The three plot lines here eventually intertwine.}}</ref> Seven years after the events of ''Neuromancer'', strange things begin to happen in the Matrix, leading to the proliferation of what appear to be [[Haitian Vodou|voodoo]] [[Loa|gods]] (hinted to be the fractured remains of the joined AIs that were Neuromancer and Wintermute). Two powerful [[multinational corporations]], Maas Biolabs and Hosaka, are engaged in a battle for control over a powerful new technology, a biochip, using hackers and the Matrix as well as espionage and violence.

===Expansive plot summary===
As with later Gibson works,{{citation needed|date = August 2024}} ''Count Zero'' has multiple story-lines; in it, a trio of plot lines ultimately converge:<ref name = KirkusReview/>

'''Thread One''':  In the southwestern US, Turner, a corporate [[mercenary soldier]], has been hired by former partner Conroy to help Christopher Mitchell, a brilliant researcher and [[Grinder (biohacking)|bio-hacker]], make an illegal career move from Maas' corporate fortress built into a [[Mesa (geology)|mesa]] in the Arizona desert to Hosaka, a rival corporation. The attempt is a disaster, and Turner ends up escaping with Angie Mitchell, the scientist's young daughter, instead. Implanted in her brain by her father, she carries the secret plans of the construction of the valuable "biosoft" that has made Maas so influential and powerful.  This "biosoft" is what multibillionaire Josef Virek (see thread three) ruthlessly pursues so that he can make an evolutionary jump to something resembling [[omniscience]] and [[immortality]]. During their flight from both Maas and Hosaka agents, Turner and Angie stay with Rudy, the former's estranged brother, and Sally, his partner and caretaker. Rudy identifies a device implanted in Angie's skull: her father had apparently altered her nervous system to allow her to access the Cyberspace Matrix directly, without a "deck" (a computer with an interface directly into the user's brain), but she is not aware of this. During their stay, Turner has a one-night stand with Sally and then leaves with Angie. In the Sprawl he meets with Bobby's group in a shopping mall besieged by agents of Maas and Conroy.

'''Thread Two''':  In Barrytown, New Jersey a young amateur computer hacker, Bobby Newmark, self-named "Count Zero", is given a piece of black market software by some criminal associates "to test". When he plugs himself into the matrix and runs the program, it almost kills him. The only thing that saves his life is a sudden image of a girl made of light who interferes and unhooks him from the software just before he flatlines. After fleeing his house (which is immediately thereafter destroyed) he meets Lucas, Beauvoir, and Jackie, a group fascinated by and dedicated to the recent appearance of voodoo deities in Cyberspace, who take him into their protection as they are collectively targeted by various corporate agents. It is eventually revealed that Bobby's mysterious savior is Angie (see Thread One); the two only meet physically at the very end of the book.

'''Thread Three''':  Marly Krushkova, the former owner of a Paris art gallery whose reputation was destroyed when she was tricked into trying to sell a forgery, is recruited by ultra-rich, reclusive art [[patron]] Josef Virek to find the unknown creator of a series of futuristic collage boxes styled after the work of [[Joseph Cornell]]. Unbeknownst to her, the reason behind Virek's interest in these boxes is related to indications of biosoft construction in the design of one, which he suspects may be contained in the others.

These plotlines come together at the end of the story. Virek—the hunter of immortality and unlimited power—becomes the hunted. It is hinted that multiple AIs inhabiting cyberspace are the fragmented, compartmentalized remains of two AIs, Neuromancer and Wintermute (introduced in the first book of Gibson's Sprawl series, ''Neuromancer''), having joined. The AIs were designed by the head of a multi-generational techno-oligarchical family, the Tessier-Ashpools. These AI units now interface with humanity in the form of different Haitian voodoo gods, as they have found these constructs to be the best representations of themselves for communicating.  Hackers worldwide are becoming aware that there is something weird loose in the cyberspace matrix, but most are reluctant to talk about (or deal with) "voodoo spooks" supposedly haunting cyberspace.  The "voodoo gods" gave Mitchell the information to develop the biosoft, instructing him to insert a biosoft modification in his daughter's brain, and then sent the Cornell boxes into the world to attract and enable the disposal of the malicious Virek.

A pair of epilogue chapters resolve the fates of the protagonists, until ''[[Mona Lisa Overdrive]]''. Angie has attained celebrity status as a simstim star, and has entered a relationship with Bobby who is employed as her 'bodyguard'. Marly has returned to Paris and now curates one of the largest art galleries in the city. Turner has returned to his childhood home (the same one occupied by Rudy and Sally earlier in the book) to raise the child conceived during his affair with Sally; Rudy was killed by Conroy's agents when they were trailing Turner and Angie.

The Cyberspace Matrix, a synergistically linked computer network of databases that encompasses all information on Earth, has become home to sentient beings. But most of humanity remains unaware.

===Characters===
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[[File:Countzerobook.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Cover of the April 1987 [[Ace Books|Ace]] paperback edition with cover art by [[Rick Berry (artist)|Richard Berry]].]]

'''Bobby Newmark'''. At the beginning of the novel, Bobby is a small-time "cowboy" ([[Hacker (computer security)|hacker]]) who wants to be a big name in cyberspace. He is given what he naïvely trusts is an "ICE breaker" (hacking software), unaware that he is in fact being used to test some unknown software to see what it does. He is directed to use the software to infiltrate a [[black ICE]] database which nearly ends up killing him. The acronym ICE is shorthand for "Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics". The most formidable of these data defense networks are powerful enough to trace back and kill any hacker making an attempt to defeat them. This is legally sanctioned or is, at least, not illegal. But at the last moment Bobby is rescued, while in Cyberspace and dying, by an image of a girl, Angela Mitchell, who is somehow able to enter cyberspace without using a "deck" (computer).

Bobby realizes his target must now know where he lives, so he flees. Shortly after leaving his apartment, he is brutally mugged for his deck and left for dead, only to be rescued and given medical attention by the owners of the software Bobby tried out, a small group who are very interested in what happened to him in Cyberspace. Bobby and Angela (who are roughly the same age) meet at the end of the book. Bobby makes a minor appearance in the third Sprawl novel, ''Mona Lisa Overdrive''.

'''Turner'''. Turner (the only name by which he is known in the novel) is a [[mercenary]] who is employed by various [[corporations]] to help vital employees of competing corporations "defect" to Turner's employers.  The novel begins with an account of a job in [[New Delhi]] in which Turner was nearly killed by a Slamhound, a type of mobile [[bomb]].  After three months of reconstructive [[surgery]] in [[Singapore]], Turner takes a vacation in [[Mexico]], where he meets and becomes sexually involved with a woman named Allison.  While on the beach with Allison, Turner sees a familiar yacht close to shore and a powerboat from the yacht approaching the beach, bearing the logo of the Hosaka Corporation.  Turner tells Allison to leave while he waits for the raft's passenger to come ashore.  He already knows that the passenger is Conroy, another mercenary with whom Turner has worked in the past.  Conroy recruits Turner for another "extraction" job; this time, Conroy and Turner are to help a man named Christopher Mitchell leave Maas Biolabs for Hosaka.  Mitchell carries with him the expertise to design and manufacture "biochips", a technology superior to the nearly ubiquitous silicon [[microprocessors]] of the era.  Maas Biolabs holds the patents and secrets to biochip technology and will use every means it can to prevent Mitchell's escape.  Conroy also reveals that Allison is a "field [[psychologist]]" working for Hosaka to monitor Turner and help his recovery.

Turner is a disciplined professional, but is troubled by memories of past jobs that ended tragically as well as his relationship with his gifted brother Rudy (who is a reclusive [[alcoholic]] and [[drug]] addict).  Turner comes to realize that the unsuccessful attempt to "bring over" Christopher Mitchell from Maas to Hosaka resulted from a betrayal and suspects that Conroy is behind it.  He also recognizes that Angie Mitchell was sent out from the Maas facility by her father, and that she is in grave danger. He resolves to protect her while finding out who is pursuing her and why.

'''Marly Krushkhova'''. Marly, prior to the beginning of the story, operated a small art gallery in Paris.  She became notorious as a result of the disgrace from attempting to sell a forged box [[Assemblage (art)|assemblage]] that was supposedly a lost piece by the American sculptor [[Joseph Cornell]]. She was unaware that the piece was a fake, having been duped by her then-lover Alain, the gallery's co-owner, who had embezzled money from the gallery to finance the forgery. Unemployed and living with her friend Andrea, Marly receives a job offer from the immensely wealthy businessman Josef Virek.  During her interview, conducted via a very advanced [[simstim]] link, Virek informs Marly that he has collected several remarkable box assemblages similar to those created by Cornell.  Virek then hires Marly to find out who is producing the pieces, offering her unlimited financial support during the course of her search.

Although Marly welcomes the opportunity to get out of her current situation, she does not fully trust the mysterious and secretive Virek.  This mistrust only deepens when it becomes clear that she is being followed and monitored by Virek's agents, in particular Virek's right-hand man, Paco.  Marly tries to stay a step ahead of Virek and Paco while discovering the identity of the boxes' creator.

==Impact and reception==
{{expand section | with = further source-derived content on the contemporaneous and more recent review and analysis of this work, in the context of the trilogy | small = no | date = August 2024}}

In this and his earlier [[Neuromancer]] work, Gibson—while not creating, naming, or (per [[Jack Womack]]) much wishing to be associated with the term—nevertheless became associated with the [[cyberpunk]] moniker subgenre of [[science fiction]]; more importantly, he is considered to have first envisioned and described the concept of "[[cyberspace]]".<ref name = OEDcyberspace>{{cite web | author = OED Staff | date = 8 August 2024 | title = Cyberspace (Etymology) | work = [[OED.com]] | url = https://www.oed.com/dictionary/cyberspace_n?tl=true&tab=etymology | access-date = 8 August 2024 | quote = Apparently coined by William Gibson (see quot. 1982). }}</ref><ref name = GibsonDavisWomack_unabridgedaudio_afterward>{{cite AV media |people= Gibson, William (author); Dean, Robertson (narrator); [[Jack Womack|Womack, Jack]] (afterword) | date= June 30, 2011 | orig-date = July 1984 | title= Neuromancer |trans-title= |type=  |language=  |url= https://www.amazon.com/Neuromancer-William-Gibson-audiobook/dp/B0058R83CW/ |access-date= 8 August 2024 |archive-url= |archive-date= |format= unabridged audiobook, in streaming format, in U.S. English |time= 22:35-22:13 mins. remaining |location= New York, NY  |publisher= Penguin Random House Audio |id= |isbn= |oclc= | asin  = B0058R83CW |quote= [End Credits; Afterword by Jack Womack] For if Gibson in truth had nothing to do with the making of cyberpunk, as it came to be known—he didn't create it, didn't name it, and after it  was cursed with its catchy moniker, didn't want a whole lot to do with it—in the most genuine sense, he did create ''cyberspace''. Not merely the word—see the OED—the place. }}</ref> The ''Count Zero'' novel is regarded by some,{{who|date = August 2024}} as an early example of the [[cyberpunk]] subgenre.{{citation needed|date = August 2024}}

[[David Langford|Dave Langford]] reviewed ''Count Zero'' for ''[[White Dwarf (magazine)|White Dwarf]]'' #76, and stated that "This may not have the impact of ''Neuromancer''{{'}}s first window on Gibson's future, but it's a far better novel."<ref name="WD76">{{cite journal  | last =Langford | first =Dave | author-link =David Langford | title =Critical Mass  | journal =[[White Dwarf (magazine)|White Dwarf]]  | issue =76  | pages =9   | publisher =[[Games Workshop]]  | date = April 1986  }}</ref> ''Count Zero'' was nominated for the [[Locus Award|Nebula]] and [[BSFA Award|British Science Fiction Awards]] in 1986,<ref>{{Cite web |last5=America |title=Count Zero |url=https://nebulas.sfwa.org/nominated-work/count-zero/ |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=The Nebula Awards® |language=en-US}}</ref> as well as the [[Hugo Award|Hugo]] and [[Locus Award|Locus]] awards in 1987.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/?page_id=33 |title=Hugo Awards, 1987 |publisher=Thehugoawards.org |date=1987-09-01 |access-date=2012-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302094259/http://www.thehugoawards.org/?page_id=33 |archive-date=2009-03-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=sfadb: Locus Awards 1987 |url=https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards_1987 |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=www.sfadb.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Count Zero by William Gibson |url=https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=199 |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=Worlds Without End |language=en}}</ref>

==Further reading==
<!--Please place in order of publication, oldest to newest.-->
* {{cite web | author = Kirkus Staff | date = 26 March 1986 | title = "Count Zero" by William Gibson | work = [[KirkusReviews.com]] | url = https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-gibson/count-zero/ | access-date = 8 August 2024 | quote = }} This contemporaneous work is a standard Kirkus-type review; note, all caps presentation of title on the web is substituted by title case and title in quotes here.
* {{cite web|author = Poole, Steven |author-link=Steven Poole | date = 3 October 1996 | title = Virtually in Love | work = [[TheGuardian.com]] | url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/1996/oct/03/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror | access-date= 8 August 2024}} A comprehensive piece by a longstanding reviewer at this British newspaper, that covers the trilogy about a decade after its appearance.
* {{cite AV media |people= Gibson, William (author); Dean, Robertson (narrator); [[Jack Womack|Womack, Jack]] (afterword) | date= June 30, 2011 | orig-date = July 1984 | title= Neuromancer |trans-title= |type=  |language=  |url= https://www.amazon.com/Neuromancer-William-Gibson-audiobook/dp/B0058R83CW/ |access-date= 8 August 2024 |archive-url= |archive-date= |format= unabridged audiobook, in streaming format, in U.S. English |time= 30:03-00:25 mins. remaining |location= New York, NY  |publisher= Penguin Random House Audio |id= |isbn= |oclc= | asin  = B0058R83CW |quote= }} Unabridged audiobook version of the preceding novel in the series, with an afterward providing historical and cultural perspective by [[science fiction]] author [[Jack Womack]].
* {{cite web | author = Woods, Alexander V. | date = 6 December 2020 | title = Cyberpunk Review: Count Zero by William Gibson | work = CyberpunkMatrix.com | url = https://cyberpunkmatrix.com/2020/12/06/cyberpunk-review-count-zero-by-william-gibson/ | access-date = 8 August 2024}} A recent review that presents summary descriptions of the three main characters, but that is otherwise of  limited historical scope.

==See also==
* [[Simulated reality]]

==References==
{{citation style|1=section|date = August 2024}}
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{ISFDB title|2195}}
* [http://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?ID=199 Count Zero] Chapter 1 excerpt at Worlds Without End

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{{William Gibson}}

[[Category:1986 American novels]]
[[Category:1986 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Cyberpunk novels]]
[[Category:Dystopian novels]]
[[Category:Fiction about malware]]
[[Category:Novels by William Gibson]]
[[Category:Novels first published in serial form]]
[[Category:Sprawl trilogy]]
[[Category:Victor Gollancz Ltd books]]
[[Category:Works originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction]]
[[Category:Books about computer hacking]]