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"Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 1:16:45 PM   
geekpenguin


Posts: 174
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From: Under the table
 Can anyone reccomend me some cyberpunk/sci-fi/dystopia type novels that are any good?

I need to research the genre for a novel I'm writing atm (for a uni course) and have no idea where to start!

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 1:29:23 PM   
DJ Satan


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From: White Vaart Lane
 Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash and The Diamond Age are both really good.

William Gibson is supposed to be the king of cyberpunk and started it with Neuromancer but I never really got into his books. They seem very dated, even if it was him who invented half of it (like the internet).

Although it's not a novel the Cyberpunk and Shadowrun Role playing games can provide plenty of genre source material - just take out the magic from Shadowrun.


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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 2:00:37 PM   
vernieboy


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Good precursors to Cyberpunk would be

Naked Lunch - William Burroughs
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K Dick
My Stars are Destination - Alfred Bester

All three books were written before Neuromancer which is heralded as the book that first help coin the phrase but they all have themes which could make them fit into this group

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 2:09:50 PM   
sharkboy


Posts: 6031
Joined: 26/9/2005
From: Belfast
 Stephenson is a good call, as is Gibson.  The other celebrated authors of the cyberpunk genre are Pat Cadigan (Synners or Fools are both decent reads) and Bruce Sterling (try his collaboration with Gibson - The Difference Engine - though it could be argued that its Victorian setting makes this more steampunk than cyberpunk).  To see the origin of the movement, look towards Philip K Dick, Samuel R Delaney and Alfred Bester.  For the British wave, Michael Marshall Smith or Neal Asher are good starting points (the former's Only Forward is brilliant, and quite a lot of his sci-fi output follows the classic "space noir" theme that helps define cyberpunk).

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 2:12:50 PM   
DJ Satan


Posts: 8602
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From: White Vaart Lane
quote:

ORIGINAL: vernieboy

Good precursors to Cyberpunk would be

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K Dick

All three books were written before Neuromancer which is heralded as the book that first help coin the phrase but they all have themes which could make them fit into this group

Isn't that just straight forward sci-fi (I haven't read the other two).

I think most cyberpunk has to contain one of two ideas - adventures/information in a virtual world or human\machine hybrids (not androids or replicants), often with a nice sprinkling of nanobots.


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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 2:37:59 PM   
sharkboy


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From: Belfast
 Another thought - if you're not restricting yourself to the written word, Japanese manga/anime is a very rich source of cyberpunk material.  I'm sure theres plenty of fans on here who can give you some recommendations, but I'll start with the obvious Akira and Ghost In The Shell.  And Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan graphic novels are well recommended too

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 2:42:05 PM   
DJ Satan


Posts: 8602
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From: White Vaart Lane
quote:

ORIGINAL: sharkboy

Stephenson is a good call, as is Gibson.  The other celebrated authors of the cyberpunk genre are Pat Cadigan (Synners or Fools are both decent reads) and Bruce Sterling (try his collaboration with Gibson - The Difference Engine - though it could be argued that its Victorian setting makes this more steampunk than cyberpunk).  To see the origin of the movement, look towards Philip K Dick, Samuel R Delaney and Alfred Bester.  For the British wave, Michael Marshall Smith or Neal Asher are good starting points (the former's Only Forward is brilliant, and quite a lot of his sci-fi output follows the classic "space noir" theme that helps define cyberpunk).


Good call on Michael Marshall Smith. Spares and Only Forward are brilliant.


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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 2:42:41 PM   
vernieboy


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Cyberpunk tends to be defined as a science-fiction subgenre characterized by countercultural antiheroes trapped in a dehumanized, high-tech future so you could argue the case that it would fit as cyberpunk

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 2:51:51 PM   
tftrman


Posts: 3192
Joined: 15/11/2005
Cyberpunk comic if you're able to get hold of it - Lazarus Churchyard by Warren Ellis and D'Israeli.
Virtual Light by William Gibson is also good, although a bit obvious.

DJ Satan - Do Androids...Has virtual reality as quite a pivotal plot device so it could be argued as being cyberpunk despite it being years before the phrase was actually coined.

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 3:02:06 PM   
geekpenguin


Posts: 174
Joined: 28/5/2008
From: Under the table
quote:

ORIGINAL: sharkboy

Another thought - if you're not restricting yourself to the written word, Japanese manga/anime is a very rich source of cyberpunk material.  I'm sure theres plenty of fans on here who can give you some recommendations, but I'll start with the obvious Akira and Ghost In The Shell.  And Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan graphic novels are well recommended too


Yeah :) I have seen Akira and started to watch GitS but couldn't get into it - I think I need to watch it again.

Ta for the suggestions everyone. I'm gonna go check out a bunch of these at the library tomorrow. If you think of any more, keep em coming. Appreciate it all!

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 3:18:14 PM   
DJ Satan


Posts: 8602
Joined: 26/10/2005
From: White Vaart Lane
 Out of all of them get "Snow Crash" first. All the cyberpunk tropes plus the coolest character name ever - Hiro Protaganist. 

_____________________________

Don't try to tell me that some power can corrupt a person
You hadn't had enough to know what it's like
You're only angry cause you wish you were in my position
Now nod your head cause you know that I'm right..alright!

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 3:22:15 PM   
sharkboy


Posts: 6031
Joined: 26/9/2005
From: Belfast
quote:

ORIGINAL: DJ Satan

Out of all of them get "Snow Crash" first. All the cyberpunk tropes plus the coolest character name ever - Hiro Protaganist. 


Though Transmet's Spider Jerusalem must be a close second

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Post #: 12
RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 10/2/2009 3:25:51 PM   
DJ Satan


Posts: 8602
Joined: 26/10/2005
From: White Vaart Lane
quote:

ORIGINAL: sharkboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: DJ Satan

Out of all of them get "Snow Crash" first. All the cyberpunk tropes plus the coolest character name ever - Hiro Protaganist. 


Though Transmet's Spider Jerusalem must be a close second

True. Although I never really regarded Transmet as cyber.

But it is essential reading.


_____________________________

Don't try to tell me that some power can corrupt a person
You hadn't had enough to know what it's like
You're only angry cause you wish you were in my position
Now nod your head cause you know that I'm right..alright!

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Post #: 13
RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 11/2/2009 2:03:16 AM   
ilovebeerme


Posts: 4531
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Magic Beans
 China Mieville is most definitely worth a look. He's more Steampunk or Weird Fiction than cyberpunk but he ticks all the boxes and writes some wonderful stories. Look out for Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Looking For Jake (short stories)

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 11/2/2009 10:51:03 PM   
DJ Satan


Posts: 8602
Joined: 26/10/2005
From: White Vaart Lane
 Slightly off topic but while flicking through Wikipedia I saw that The Diamond Age is being made into a 6 part TV Series by Sci-Fi channel with George Clooney as Executive Producer.  

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Don't try to tell me that some power can corrupt a person
You hadn't had enough to know what it's like
You're only angry cause you wish you were in my position
Now nod your head cause you know that I'm right..alright!

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 11/2/2009 11:48:36 PM   
BlueBalls


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From: Movie hell...
 Whilst I wouldnt call them Cyberpunk, if you want excellent Sci Fi, Phillip K. Dick is your man

The Man in the High Castle
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Ubik
Valis

Just to name but a few, but nearly everything he has written is fantastic.

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 12/2/2009 2:24:27 AM   
Olaf


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quote:

ORIGINAL: geekpenguin

Can anyone reccomend me some cyberpunk/sci-fi/dystopia type novels that are any good?



Not a cyberpunk novel, but Nineteen Eighty-Four is the finest example of a literary dystopia that I can think of.

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 12/2/2009 9:13:08 AM   
tftrman


Posts: 3192
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Olaf


quote:

ORIGINAL: geekpenguin

Can anyone reccomend me some cyberpunk/sci-fi/dystopia type novels that are any good?



Not a cyberpunk novel, but Nineteen Eighty-Four is the finest example of a literary dystopia that I can think of.


Hell yeah, possibly my favourite book ever.

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 12/2/2009 1:02:38 PM   
BigKovacs


Posts: 3143
Joined: 6/4/2006
From: Textile Street.
 The Takeshi Kovacs series by Richard Morgan is very good, particularly the first one; Altered Carbon. He owes a lot to Gibson but is more accessible and his action is more dynamic. Over all I'd start with Gibson though, he really is the daddy regarding Cyber Punk.

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 12/2/2009 1:03:31 PM   
BigKovacs


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From: Textile Street.
 Oh Jeff Somers Avery Cates short series are also very good, brief but slick.

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 21/2/2009 12:42:09 AM   
Lydia_H


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I read Neuromancer recently as my first Cyberpunk novel and I loved it! Have ordered most of Gibson's other work as a result.


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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 21/2/2009 3:47:56 AM   
directorscut


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Neuromancer is like an electric shock to the nervous system (I imagine).  The sequels are more laid back due partly because of the multiple storylines (two in Count Zero, three in Mona Lisa Overdrive IIRC).  But both are still very good.  MLO has interesting connections to The Matrix Revolutions.  

Want to get into his second trilogy, but I can't find the time. 

Someday.



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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 1/3/2009 5:21:25 PM   
HIroProtagonist


Posts: 294
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From: Dudley, West Midlands
quote:

ORIGINAL: DJ Satan

Out of all of them get "Snow Crash" first. All the cyberpunk tropes plus the coolest character name ever - Hiro Protaganist. 


'tis indeed a cool name Basically everyone beat me to it, but you should check out:
  • William Gibson
  • Neal Stephenson
  • Richard Morgan
  • Some Philip K. Dick


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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 1/3/2009 5:50:18 PM   
Rgirvan44


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 Harlan Ellison wrote what many regard as the first real cyberpunk story with his short "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" - pretty sure Gibson points to it as a direct influence.

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RE: "Cyberpunk" Novels - 1/3/2009 7:09:56 PM   
Dirty Hartigan


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From: Manchester
quote:

ORIGINAL: DJ Satan

Slightly off topic but while flicking through Wikipedia I saw that The Diamond Age is being made into a 6 part TV Series by Sci-Fi channel with George Clooney as Executive Producer.  


I read that too a while back - talk about ambitious, proper SF!

quote:

ORIGINAL: BlueBalls

Whilst I wouldnt call them Cyberpunk, if you want excellent Sci Fi, Phillip K. Dick is your man

The Man in the High Castle
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Ubik
Valis

Just to name but a few, but nearly everything he has written is fantastic.


I guess Phillip K. Dick is kind of the father of cyberpunk - certainly the film version of Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? is the first cyberpunk film.

< Message edited by Dirty Hartigan -- 1/3/2009 9:20:11 PM >

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