This one wasn't the one that converted me (Gibson ftw) but Mirrorshades expanded what I thought the genre could be.
Not every story is a winner, but enough try to stretch a bit that it's worth the read.
Helps to put your mind in the time, just before the 90s, before The Matrix but after Blade Runner, before "the metaverse" but after "the net" and "going online" were starting to enter conversations.
Does the "post-cyberpunk" in the title imply it's not about low-life people in a high tech environment but instead about the less criminally inclined, or do it mean something else?
Gernsback Continuum is still my favorite story since Borges' Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius. Physical reality seems pretty solid, but social reality is certainly "flexible." And all the tech I work with is a continuum of different ages smushed together; javascript client apps embedding COBOL apps complied to wasm bytecodes. SQL databases whose schemas predate some of the developers working on the apps that use them. Instruction Set Architectures that were invented when we still thought Raymond Lowey-esque fins and gills were the height of material design.
In a bit of synchronicity, I found my copy of Islands in the Net last week and am re-reading it after 35 years. It's pretty interesting to see which bits Bruce Sterling accurately predicted and which were a bit off the mark.
I just checked for my copy of this and its missing. : (
Great book. I like seeing how expansive the original cyberpunk was. I love William Gibson (and Bladerunner) but modern cyberpunk is but a hollow shell of Gibson's aesthetic.
I still have my faded paperback copy of this book, from 1986. I pulled it down off the shelf and got a jolt of nostalgia, thinking about reading it when I was kid and just being blown away by such a weird vision of the future. The cover was neat, the shades on were actually mirrored.
Can't believe I'm a reader and didn't realize this was a book genre. For some reason I always associated it with comic books, graphic novels, and movies. Not that there's anything wrong with those mediums. I'm just more of a book guy.
All of this is to say, these and some of other recommendations in this thread are recommendations I didn't know I needed.
HN isn't perfect, but neither am I. I really appreciate the breadth of topics and interests. Big shoutout to PG for starting it, to Dang and all of the other moderators, and to everyone that contributes. I've learned a lot over the years.
They say to never be the smartest person in the room. I'm not even in the top 100 here and totally fine with it.
This is from back when it was intellectual, and not a bunch of annoying people stapling circuit boards to their jackets and trying to be some sort of electrogoth. Content before the hollowing out.
Another great one is the Semiotext(e) SF anthology. I can't believe I was such a sucker to think cyberpunk was going somewhere interesting. It peaked 5 minutes in.
edit: in retrospect, I always felt that cyberpunk was just New Worlds going out with a (mostly American) bang.
I'm the one who put MIRROR SHADES online for free. All the others agreed. And why would we go asking for permission? We're cyberpunks! You might like to check out out my story anthology with Bruce Sterling, TRANSREAL CYBERPUNK. Existing in audio as well. And my recent JUICY GHOSTS novel, about toppling an evil US president.
I have find memories of this anthology! got into cyberpunk via gibson's "burning chrome" and sterling's "a good old-fashioned future", and I still think short stories were the best of the genre. I remember them a lot more vividly than I do the novels.
Since we're talking Cyberpunk here, I'll throw in a recommendation for a novel that isn't widely recognized as "Cyberpunk" per-se, but is probably "proto-Cyberpunk" at least. That novel being The Shockwave Rider[1] by John Brunner.
It has some elements in common with Cyberpunk and is just a plain fun read regardless of what genre label you apply.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 41.0 ms ] threadHow is this "free online edition" distinct from piracy, in that case?
Not every story is a winner, but enough try to stretch a bit that it's worth the read.
Helps to put your mind in the time, just before the 90s, before The Matrix but after Blade Runner, before "the metaverse" but after "the net" and "going online" were starting to enter conversations.
Rewired: The Post-cyberpunk Anthology
Some great stories in there and no bad ones at all. IMO
In a bit of synchronicity, I found my copy of Islands in the Net last week and am re-reading it after 35 years. It's pretty interesting to see which bits Bruce Sterling accurately predicted and which were a bit off the mark.
https://www.rudyrucker.com/mirrorshades/mirrorshades.epub https://www.rudyrucker.com/mirrorshades/mirrorshades.mobi
Great book. I like seeing how expansive the original cyberpunk was. I love William Gibson (and Bladerunner) but modern cyberpunk is but a hollow shell of Gibson's aesthetic.
All of this is to say, these and some of other recommendations in this thread are recommendations I didn't know I needed.
HN isn't perfect, but neither am I. I really appreciate the breadth of topics and interests. Big shoutout to PG for starting it, to Dang and all of the other moderators, and to everyone that contributes. I've learned a lot over the years.
They say to never be the smartest person in the room. I'm not even in the top 100 here and totally fine with it.
what are y'alls recommendations for cyberpunk-y books?
mine are,
• Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash
• Daniel Suarez - Daemon
• Daniel Suarez - Delta-V
• Shamus Young - Free Radical
niche tip for german-understanding people is 'Reda El Arbi - [empfindungsfæhig]'.
didn't finish Neuromancer yet, but i gotta start over because it's been too long.
Another great one is the Semiotext(e) SF anthology. I can't believe I was such a sucker to think cyberpunk was going somewhere interesting. It peaked 5 minutes in.
edit: in retrospect, I always felt that cyberpunk was just New Worlds going out with a (mostly American) bang.
It has some elements in common with Cyberpunk and is just a plain fun read regardless of what genre label you apply.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shockwave_Rider