This file is http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/harrison/Cyberpunk/cyberpunk.html
This is the Cyberpunk Reading List, accept no substitutions.
Date of this Post: 1/20/1995
Corrections, comments, criticisms, complements, additions, muta-
tions, deletions, etc. all to the complier and maintainer:
Jason Harrison @cs.ubc.ca
Thanks to:
Cris (concepcion@babson.bitnet)
Wendell Martin (wendell.martin@the_matrix.com)
Bryce Koike (bkoike@sdcc13.ucsd.edu)
Brett Kokegei (bjkokege@cs.adelaide.edu.au)
P. A. van Heusden (pvanheus@frodo.cs.uct.ac.za)
Simon Tong (stong@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)
J. H. M. Dassen (dassen@sthp.wi.leidenuniv.nl)
Stephen Jennings (stephen.jennings@channel1.com)
Jonathan D. Haskett (aj498@yfn.ysu.edu)
Michael Rogero Brown (michealb@sunrise.cse.fau.edu)
Matt Maxwell (mmaxwell@ucsd.edu)
J. A. Bowditch (edd919x@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au)
Liralen Li (li@inigo.data-io.com)
Thomas A. Bredehoft (tbredeho@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
Denis Amselem (amselem@dingolptl.jussieu.fr)
verge@cyberden.uucp
Rick Kleffel (rickk@emu.com)
Laurence Roberts (lroberts@bellahs.com)
Jason Barile (barilejb@ctrvax.vanderbuilt.edu)
Tim (space2@hardy.u.washington.edu)
Jim Boritz (bortiz@cs.ubc.ca)
@Man (atman@rahul.net)
Logan Joshua Ratner (ratner@owlnet.rice.edu)
Stefan Jones (sejones@srs4src.linet.org)
Andrew Jeanes (ae458@Freenet.carleton.ca)
Andy Micone (andym@inrird.com)
Chris Pepper (pepper@rockvax.rockefeller.edu)
Acker, Kathy
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** Blood and Guts in High School
Her influence is similar to that of Burroughs and Moorcock, but
Acker started out as a poet, so her prose is infused with the poet's
lust for words. That and moral outrage makes her sound very impor-
tant.
** Empire of the Senseless
Aldiss, Brian
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Enemies of the System
Bachman, Richard
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A.K.A. Steven King.
** The Running Man
Movie of this story starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Bagdikian, Ben H.
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** The Media Monopoly
Nonfiction.
Ballard, J. G.
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** Crash
The violence of car crashes and the eroticism of mechanized death
become the obscene focus of a group of car crash survivors and their
lovers.
** The Atrocity Exhibition
Ballard studied medicine in college and it shows here. Through a
series of fragmented `compressed novels', Ballard traces the break-
down of a doctor at a mental hospital.
``The Atrocity Exhibition'' was only the American release tiele. En
England, where it was originally released, it was ``Why I Wanna Fuck
Ronald Reagan''.
- Andy Micone
** Vermilion Sands
Barnes, Steven
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Gorgon Child
** Streetlethal
Bear, Greg
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** Beyond Heaven's River
** Blood Music
A genetic engineer first creates super-intelligent viruses and then
self-injects them when he is fired in an attempt to save his work.
The viruses spread across the world and produce a collision between
observer based information theory and reality.
** Eon
Earth, on the edge of nuclear war, becomes host to a modified aster-
oid from an alternate time-line. Among the items found within the
technically advanced micro-world is a history of the impending war.
Will this knowledge be used in time to advert disaster?
** Eternity
In order to keep the universe from unraveling, it is necessary to
destroy the gateway that was attached to the Thistledown. Sequel to
Eon.
** Forge of God
``Earth is the battleground for a war between robots over the fate
of life in the galaxy.''
- Chris Pepper
** Psychlone
** Queen of Angels
1990
** Strength of Stones
** The Wind from a Burning Woman (Anthology)
The Wind from a Burning Woman, Scatter Shot, Mandela, Hard Fought.
Belsito, Peter
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Notes from the Pop Underground
Interviews with SRL, Robert Anton Wilson, etc.
Benedikt, Michael
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** Cyberspace: First Steps
Nonfiction.
Benford, Gregory
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** Great Sky River
Berlyn, Michael
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** The Integrated Man
Bester, Alfred
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** Computer Connection
A group of immortals, while creating another of their kind, unwit-
tingly also create a man-machine symbiosis that soon threatens the
existence of humankind.
Also published under the name ``Xtro''.
** Golem 100
Eight women in a search for fun and excitement tap the unconscious
id of the megacity, producing a demon of startling power and mis-
chief.
** The Demolished Man
Future peaceful earth, where telepaths prevent crimes by learning
about them before they occur, is shocked by one man's desperate
irrationality.
** The Stars My Destination
Body modification, corporate intrigue, baroque settings and charac-
ters, and a walk down the gray line that separates criminals from
the straight world. But its the protagonist's purely anarchic
belief in humanity that makes this book remarkable. Originally
Tiger! Tiger!.
Betanacourt, John Gregory
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Johnny Zed
** Rememory
Bethke, Bruce
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** Cyberpunk
** Elimination Round
Bey, Hakim
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Temporary Autonomous Zone
Bova, Ben
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** Cyberbooks
** Exiled from Earth
** The Dueling Machine
Bradbury, Ray
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** Fahreheit 451
Firemen are employed to burn thought provoking books that run con-
trary to the desires of those addicted to mass-media forms of enter-
tainment.
Brand, Stewart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Media Lab (at MIT)
Nonfiction.
Brin, David
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Earth
Although the world is falling apart, Arks provide homes for endan-
gered species while ecologists fight a losing battle against the
growing population. Meanwhile global computer nets bring
information to everyone and allow the elderly majority to vote for
laws that will help them. The application of string theory allows
new energy sources based upon gravitons to create the hope for a
better tomorrow if the knowledge is used by the right people.
** Postman
``In a post-apocalyptic world one man stumbles across a postal uni-
form and assumes the identify of a postman as a scheme to get food
and hospitality. What starts as an act become a symbol of hope for
people trying to rebuild society.''
- Jim Boritz
Brunner, John
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Children of Thunder
** Stand on Zanzibar
Over population in 2010 produces new fads, gene based child rearing
laws and the new poor: people who are paying for next-next season's
clothing this season.
1968
** The Jagged Orbit
Racial tensions are fueled by a personal armaments company inter-
ested in its profit margin in a world where personal contact is
typically avoided.
** The Sheep Look Up
The effects of poisons and contaminants upon the environment effects
an increase in the expression of recessive genetic mutations in both
humans and parasites (most other animals are dead) which eventually
causes even more problems in a overpopulated, abused, and now under-
resourced world.
1972
** The Shockwave Rider
Society has reached instability and everything changes rapidly in a
world where everyone is on the move. A national datanet allows the
government to monitor its citizens without their permission, while
research produces methods to measure wisdom in children.
``The child of a government program to promot `wisdomm' becomes an
electronic chameleon in his attempt to lose himself in a computer-
controlled society.''
- Chris Pepper
1975
** The Stone that Never Came Down
Plagued by unemployment, a right-wing moral movement, inflation, and
world-wide famine, the world is on the brink of war. A new drug
which improves memory and cognition saves the day --- providing
solutions to those who have been administered the drug.
Budrys, Algis
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Michaelmas
An electronic genius disguised as a news-reporter controls the run-
ning of the world with the help of his artificially intelligent
computer.
Bull
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Bone Dance
Burgess, Anthony
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** A Clockwork Orange
Gangs of teenagers run rampant performing acts of ultra-violence in
the near future. Palovian reconditioning is used as a solution to
the overcrowding of penitentiaries, producing physical sickness in
those whose thoughts turn to violence.
Burroughs, William S.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Cities of the Red Night
** Interzone
** Naked Lunch
``A blast of maniacal laughter from Hell. A combinations of comedy
as black as clotted blood, Dr Benway's twisted medical speculations,
tales of the criminal underground, and sexual fantasies that tear at
your inseams like a rabid brontosaurus, all told in a fragmented
prose style that still reads like the raw, beautiful poetry it is.''
- Larry McCaffery, ``Storming the Reality Studio''
** Nova Express
** The Soft Machine
** The Third Mind
** Ticket That Exploded
** Wild Boys
Butler, Jack
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Nightshade
The revolution of the Mars Colony brings to light tangling
alliances, the hidden goals of unknown power holders, and a vampire.
Cadigan, Pat
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Fool to Believe
** Fools
** Indigo
** Mindplayers
Deadpan Allie is a sort of future psychiatrist who works on her
patients by entering virtual representations of their psyches.
** Patterns
Collection.
** Synners
``A long, detailed look at a cyberpunk L.A. AI's, Virtual reality,
viruses, drug enhancements, megacorps... the usual. Multiple plot-
lines trace several major and minor characters' lives while describ-
ing the future in great detail. An interesting way to pass the
time, but a bit bogged down in itself.''
- Wendell Martin
1991
Califia
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Doc and Fluff
Card, Orson Scott
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Ender's Game
An alien threat forces the military leaders of Earth to look to
promising children to be the leader's of tomorrow's defense forces.
However the need for their leadership may arrive before the children
are adults.
** Speaker for the Dead
** Xenocide
Carlisle, Anne
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Liquid Sky
Chamberlin, Darrick
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Cigarrette Boy
``A convoluted fragemented future-war story told as a machine-
generated multimedia movie script.''
- @Man
Chandler, Raymond
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Big Sleep
Although set as a detective novel, the protagonist's multi-sided
personality and the writing style used by Chandler are quite similar
to the styles of present-day cyberpunk writers.
** The Simple Art of Murder
Essay.
``When reading it, replace `mystery novel' with `sci-fi novel' and
its amazing. Every complaint the Cyberpunk authors had about
`classic sci-fi' is there as a complaint about `classic detective
stories.' ''
- Logan Joshua Ratner
Chocholak, Michael
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Blood Musics
** Hot Wired
** Minds in Collision
** Red Spider, White Web
Cross, Ronald Anthony
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Prisoners of Paradise
The descendants of guests at a gigantic hotel carry on with their
day to day survival in their universe of elevators and hallways.
Meanwhile the hotel computer battles with its electronic head bell-
boy for control of the guests' destinies.
DeBrandt, Don H.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Quicksilver Screen
Defilippo, Paul
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Ciphers
DeHaven, Tom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Freaks' Amour
1986
Deitz, Tom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Matrix Man
1990
Delany, Samuel
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Babel 17
The language of an invading civilization is found to be based upon
the concepts of AI computer languages and memes.
** Dahlgren
** Nova
Elements numbered greater than 300 mined from suns about to go nova
power the machines of the 35th century. Humans equipped with cyber-
netic interfaces control the machines in a society that is con-
trolled by feuding families distributed over light-year distances.
DeLilo, Don
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** White Noise
A professor of the history of Nazism lives with his fifth wife and
the children of previous marriages in a small modern college town.
He tries to cope with the symbolism of grocery stores and the fear
of death realized by an airborne toxic event.
DeLint, Charles
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Svaha
``It has all the elements of contemporary Cyberpunk except for VR-
type `Net' (some would argue that his mystical `Dreametime' scenes
fill the role fo the Net nicely). If you are familiar with the
Cyeberpunk-based role-playing game Shadowrun then you will find much
of De Lint's setting familiar.''
- Andrew Jeanes
Denning, Peter J.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Computers Under Attack: Viruses, Worms, Hackers
Nonfiction, an Association for Computing Machinery publication.
Denton, Bradley
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Wrack'n'Roll
Setting alternate time-line, Punkers are 1/3 of populace.
Dery, Mark
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Cyberculture
Dick, Philip K.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** A Scanner Darkly
An undercover law enforcement officer who's real identity is so well
protected that his boss doesn't know who he is, is assigned the task
of watching himself deal with drug dealers, accept packages of money
from vending machines, and not be arrested for dealing with crimi-
nals even though eye-witnesses report his presence.
** Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The movie `Bladerunner' is based on this book that examines the
question of what it is to be human through the conflict between
renegade androids that want to be free, and the human bladerunner
sent to terminate them.
** Flow my Tears the Policeman said
A Television host, who is supposedly a genetically superior human
(manufactured) wakes up to find himself unknown. In a grimy future
world, with the aid of various drugs, a police general, and strange
chance, questions of reality and morality are examined: What is
reality, and what is our relationship with it? What is morality in
terms of things of like fate?
** The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
** VALIS
** Vulcan's Hammer
** We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
``The basis for `Total Recall' with Schwarzenegger's.''
- Chris Pepper
Dickson, Gordon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The R-Master
In a socialist-utopian future the use of a intelligence increasing
drug is carefully controlled as bureaucrats attempt to envelope the
world in their plans. Not cyberpunk.
Disch, Thomas M.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** 334
** Camp Concentration
1982
Drexler, Eric
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Engines of Creation
Nanotechnnology, nonfiction.
Effinger, George Alec
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** A Fire in the Sun
More entangling alliances shroud the existence of the Phoenix file
--- an agreement between two rivals over the control of world-wide
black markets. Sequel to When Gravity Fails.
** The Exile Kiss
The Hero and Kingpin introduced in `When Gravity Fails' are kid-
napped, framed, and dropped off in the desert. Hero returns later
to exact revenge. Sequel to A Fire in the Sun.
** When Gravity Fails
A series of brutal murders prompts a king-pin of the post-superpower
black market to adopt and `enhance' a local street tough as a per-
sonal resource in an effort to find the deranged killer.
Farren, Mick
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Mars: The Red Planet
1990
** The Armageddon Crazy
1989
** The Feelies
1990
** The High Orbit
** The Last Stand of the DNA Cowboys
1989
** The Long Orbit
** Vickers
Faust, Clifford
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** A Death of Honor
** The Company Man
Ferret, Tim
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** Alligator Alley
Fjermedal, Grant
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Tomorrow Makers
Nonfiction.
Ford, John
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Web of Angels
Foster, Alan Dean
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Cyber Way
Navaho rituals provide a method of communicating with an abandoned
database of knowledge and power which can either be exploited for
man's good or detriment.
Galouye, Daniel F.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Simulacron III
Gardner, Howard
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** New Minds Science
Congnitive science, nonfiction.
Garreau, Joel
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Edge City
Gerrold, David
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One
``How will we know when and if machines become self-aware rather
than just presenting a really good simulation of self-awarness.''
- Jim Boritz
Gibson, William
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Burning Chrome (anthology)
** Count Zero
Free-agent AIs roam cyberspace and involve themselves in the affairs
of more worldly parties. Sequel to Neuromancer.
** Mona Lisa Overdrive
A member of the cloistered family destroyed in Neuromancer, members
of the Yakuza, and others take an interest in a girl born with the
capability to interface directly to the net without the need for
external hardware.
** Neuromancer
An artificial-intelligent computer controls the interests of a
super-powerful family has discovered a method to free itself from a
crippling case of multiple personality disorder.
** The Difference Engine
See review under Sterling, Bruce.
** Virtual Light
1993
Goulart, Ron
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Barking Dogs
Cops are outgunned by crooks using untraceable laser pistols. One
cop turns renegade and arms himself with an over the counter lie-
detector, a laser-proof vest and his own laser in order to identify
and destroy those responsible for the lucrative laser-gun trade.
** Cowboy Heaven
An aging cowboy movie star is replaced by a sophisticated android
when he falls sick in an attempt to avoid insurance losses on his
next movie. Not cyberpunk.
** Crackpot
Grant, Glenn
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Mimetic Drift
Green, Terrence M.
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** Barking Dogs
Hafner, Katie
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** Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers
Nonfiction.
Hailblum, Isidore
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Mutants are Coming
Hamit, Francis
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** Virtual Reality: Adventures in Cyberspace
Nonfiction.
Hammett, Dashell
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Maltese Falcon
``As for the Maltese Falcon. Rent it. Watch it. Live it. I
didn't think anyone hadn't seen the old movie classic (Humphrey
Bogart). It's as true to the book as any movie ever was to a book.
In short, the description you gave of The Big Sleep will do. (Chan-
dler admired/idolized Hammett.)
In fact, Chandler wrote the screenplay from Hammett's book.''
- Logan Joshua Ratner
Hand, Elizabeth
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Winterlong
Harrison, Harry
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Make Room! Make Room!
The movie `Soylent Green' was based on this story set in a future
over-crowded Manhattan where although water, food, and shelter
shortages are rampant, the only solution the government has legis-
lated is required retirement at 65.
** The Turing Option
Hawke, Simon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Psychodrome
Heilein, Robert
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** The Unpleasent Profession of Jonathan Hoag
``The universe is a VR art project.''
- Chris Pepper
Heinz, Christopher
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** Ash Ock
** Leigh Killer
Hopwood, Lyle
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** The Technophobe
1989
Hubbard, L. Ron
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** Eulogy For Lisa
Huxley, Aldus
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** Brave New World
Savage meets the modern world in a conflict over what it means to
control one's own destiny or wish to. Set in a deterministic soci-
ety that breeds its members with high tolerance for precise posi-
tions.
Jeter, K. W.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Death Arms
The son of a famous assassin is dragged and coerced into finishing
his dead father's long unfinished business. Not cyberpunk.
** Dr. Adder
** Farewell Horizontal
Ask and Receive is the main information services provider on an
artificial satellite orbiting the earth that has a way of always
coming out on top in any transaction. A graphic arts designer seeks
new clients and discovers a few dark secrets the omni-potent corpo-
ration rather he didn't know.
** Infernal Devices
The son of a master clock worker deals with his departed father's
creations as they are used for both evil and scientific means in
post-Victorian England.
** The Glass Hammer
Shipments of illegal computer chips from the robotically controlled
labs of silicon valley in a post-nuclear world are the backdrop for
this story. Meanwhile, the control of South American workers is
made easier as they are drawn to the networks coverage of the action
filled runs which include offensive SDI satellites seeking the cars
and drivers but never quite hitting them.
Kadrey, Richard
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Kamikaze L'amour
** Metrophage
Art and crime meet, literally, in the streets when a strange virus
hits Los Angelas.
1988
Kelly, James Patrick
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** Freedom Beach
** Mr. Boy
1990
** Wildlife
Kessel, John
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Corrupting Mr. Nice
Krueger, Myron W.
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** Artificial Reality
Nonfiction.
** Artificial Reality II
Nonfiction.
Kunetka, James
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Nature's End
Similar to Earth by David Brin: the bio-sphere is falling apart.
The solution proposed by the Depopulationists is to kill 1 of every
3 people via lottery. Will this remove the burden on the bio-
sphere? Would starvation solve the problem anyway? What do you do
with a third of seven billion corpses? Will the survivors have the
will to go on? Will our four heroes save the day? No, yes, cremate
them, probably not, read the book.
Laidlaw, Marc
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Dad's Nuke
The balance of power in a self-sufficient neighborhood walled off
from the religious fanatics, is threatened by `Dad' Johnson's acqui-
sition of a nuclear power source and his neighbor's home built
missile launcher.
** Kalifornia
** Nutrimancer
Landreth, Bill
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Out of the Inner Circle.
Hacking, nonfiction.
Lem, Stanislaw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Fiasco
``A novel, with nominal elements of archetypal characters -- the
physcist, the cyberneticist, the theologist, the pilot -- who jour-
ney to another star to meet a race of ETs call the Quintans. More
pessimistic thought on SETIs that's hugely entertaining, and the
only decent description of interstellar travel *ever* written that's
not ``lets's jump into hyperspace'' and not a thinly-veiled Ph.D.
doctrine in theoretical physics.''
- Rick Kleffel
** Imaginary Magnitude
``Introduction to books of the 21st century. Includes an introduc-
tion to a scholarly work on computer generated literature, a work by
a man who attempted to teach bacteria the english language, a
self-modifiying encyclopedia, an introduction to a lecture by the
first on-line AI, and, of course, an introduction. Extremely witty
and so packed with truly (for want of a better term) ``mind
boggling'' ideas that can sustain many, many readings.''
- Rick Kleffel
** Memoirs Found in a Bathtub
The effects of a complete disintegration of paper and how this
completely stops for the most part the flow of information, and how
this affects society.
** One Human Minute
``Reviews of books of the future. An incredible essay on ``The
Upside-Down Evolution'' (Weapons Systems of the 21st Century), a
review of a sort of computerized Guiness book, and a very pessimis-
tic lecture on SETI and the creation of life on earth.''
- Rick Kleffel
** Short story about brains in vats imagining brains in vats
Levy, Steven
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Hackers
Nonfiction.
``Examines the world of non-destructive computer hackers and the
origins of computer centered culture in the context of three differ-
ent hacking environments.''
- Jim Boritz
Lewitt, S. N.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Cybernetic Jungle
``An anti-megacorp revolution in a Latino CP world. Paulo is a
street fighter out to get the corporation that destroyed his family.
Zaide is a netrunner with a craving for power. They get together to
shake up the world.''
- Wendell Martin
1992
** Cyberstealth
``Top gun in space with hero being a gypsy street urchin who goes
from rags to riches when adopted by a planetary governor. The plot
is his handling of a friend's death while testing a new stealth
fighter in the backdrop of a civil war. The secondary plot is the
hunt for a spy among the pilots.''
- Cris
** Dancing Vac
Leyner, Mark
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** American Made
** I Smell Esther Williams
** I was an Infinitely Hot and Dense Dot
** My Cousin My Gastroenteronlogist
Short stories, or prose poetry with a schizophrenic style of many
cyberpunk writers but little other connection.
** Steroids Make My Friend Jorge Kill His Speech Therapist: An ABC
Does anyone have the full title?
Lint, Charles de
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Svaha
Littell, Jonathan
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Bad Voltage
``...a book that makes me think of an attempt to "modernize" Anthony
Burgess' work. I don't know if it's done on purpose, but the
similarities are definitely there.''
- Bryce Koike
Maddox, Tom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tmaddox@netcom.com
** Halo
Markoff, John
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers
Nonfiction.
Martin, George R. R.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Armageddon Rag
As an ex-hippie investigates the death of the manager of a band for
a rock and roll magazine, he finds that the death involves an singer
killed in the sixties and the possible start of armageddon. Not
cyberpunk.
Mason, Lisa
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Arachne
1990
McCaffery, Larry
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Storming the Reality Studio: A Casebook of Cyberpunk and Postmodern Fic-
tion
A review of cyberpunk and post-modernism: thesis: We don't read
science fiction, we live it.
McDonald, Ian
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Out on Blue Six
Personal happiness factors are constantly monitored in an attempt to
maintain a constant level of emotional sustainability within a
walled-off mega city. Self-intelligent computers act behind the
scenes as they attempt to calculate whether humanity has regained
the ability to rule itself.
McLoughlin, John
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Helix and the Sword
Milan, Victor
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Cybernetic Samurai
After a limited nuclear exchange, scientists in Japan work to create
the first artificial consciousness. Trained in the way of Bushido
--- the warrior code --- it unifies Japan through its influence in
an effort to stop WW4.
** The Cybernetic Shogun
The offspring of the cybernetic samurai disagree about what role
they should play in the world's affairs following the fourth world
war. Sequel to The Cybernetic Samurai.
Miller, Walter
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** A Canticle for Leibowitz
``In a post apocalyptic world that has returned to the dark ages
what would happen as people began to rediscover technology and how
would they deal with knowledge from the past.''
- Jim Boritz
Minsky, Marvin
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Society of Mind
Nonfiction.
** The Turing Option
Moorcock, Michael
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Cornelius Chronicles, vol 1, 2 & 3
The semi-complete story of the life/lives of Jerry Cornelius, Nobel-
Prize winning scientist and rock and roll musician. The existential
plotting, ambiguous sexuality of the main characters, and the
general low-life/high brow feel makes these very important works in
the canon.
Moran, Daniel Keys
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As of 8/13/92:
P.O. Box 667, Van Nuys, California 91408
dmoran@batpad.lgb.ca.us or uunet!cerritos!batpad!dmoran
** Armageddon Blues
** Emerald Eyes
Biogenetically engineered in a post-superpower world controlled by
the UN Peace Keeping Forces, an extended family of telepaths fight
for their personal freedom.
** The Last Dancer
Taken from the PR Release:
Set principally in 2076, though there is a lengthy section set
50,000 years in the past. The book is principally about Denice
Castanavers, during a TriCentennial Rebellion. Trent is in the book
for about one hundred pages.
``The last Dancer'' expands the stage on which events are taking
place; you'll finally learn something substantial about the Continu-
ing Time at large, as opposed to learning only about post-
Unification Earth.
May not see release until Mid-1993
** The Long Run
Seven years after the United Nations Peace-Keeping-Forces nuked the
telepaths developed from the Superman Project, Trent the Uncatchable
bumps into Denice. What follows is their attempt to evade the PKF
who stumbled upon the two. Trent, using his skills, humiliates the
PKF in the Earth-Moon system in an attempt to teach them a lesson.
Sequel to Emerald Eyes.
Murphy, Pat
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The City, Not Long After
Newman, Kim
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Night Mayor
Niven, Larry and Steven Barnes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Dream Park, Barsoom Project, California Voodoo Game
``Live role-playing with mechanical and holographic aides compli-
cates the security chief's investigations.''
- Chris Pepper
Odom, Mel
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Lethal Interface
Orwell, George
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** 1984
Big Brother holds control over the populace through observation,
heavy-handedness, and fear in a world where information and personal
relations are always suspect.
Parsegian, V. Lawrence
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** This Cybernetic World
Cybernetics, nonfiction.
Piercey, Marge
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** He, She and It
Platt, Charles
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Freezone
1989
** Less Than Human
1986
** The Silicon Man
1991
Poyer, M. C.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Stepfather Bank
Pynchon, Thomas
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** Gravity's Rainbow
The best cyberpunk ever written by a guy who didn't even know he was
writing it. Pynchon's most difficult (and rewarding) book puts you
into the bad brains of soldiers, scientists, hookers, losers, etc.,
during WWII, when science was about to change everything.
** Slow Learner
Short Story
** The Crying of Lot 49
** V
``About a person in love with a bomb, which is a great lead in to
Gravity's Rainbow.''
- Andy Micone
** Vineland
Quick, W. T.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Dreams of Flesh and Sand
1998
** Dreams of Gods and Men
1989
** Singularities
1990
** Systems
** Yesterday's Pawn
Redd, Robert
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Hormone Jungle
Rheingold, Howard
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Artificial Reality
Nonfiction.
** Artificial Reality II
Nonfiction.
Robinson, Kim Stanley
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Gold Coast
** The Memory of Whiteness
Robinson, Spider
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** Mindkiller
``A duet of lives, a true decker and a smuck professor, somehow the
lines tie in with a man who has the power to erase memories.
There's a cool wirehead in there (direct wiring to pleasure cen-
ters), a touch of bondage, hacking, and a CP lifestyle. And a touch
of Robinson moralizing. Sigh...''
- Liralen Li
Rucker, Rudy
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** LimpWare
** Masters of Space and Time
** Semiotext(e)
1989
** SoftWare
1982
** Spacetime Donuts
``It's basically about a [u|dis]topian society where a big computer
runs everything. There are some people who fill out the forms for
the computer, and others, called Dreamers, who plug into the com-
puter while asleep. The society is pretty static, because the
computer isn't creative. But then a group of new people, called the
Angels, appear on the scene. They're able to plug themselves
directly into the computer without frying their brains, because
they've gotten used to mental overstimulation through studying math-
ematics and theorectical physical and doing lots of acid.''
- Laurence Roberts
** The 57th Franz Kafka
** The Hacker and the Ants
** The Secret of Life
** Transreal!
Includes ``The 57th Franz Kafka''.
1991
** WetWare
On the moon, sentient robots want to interface with human beings to
create a man-machine symbiosis. Sequel to Software.
** White Light
Russo, Richard Paul
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Destroying Angel
``"The electrifying new cyberpunk thriller...beyond the future shock
of blade runner..." goes the blurb on the cover. This is an incred-
ibly predictable Terminator meets Blade Runner story set in a bor-
ingly typical CP world. The entire plot is spelled out on the back
cover and through the cover art. Pass''
- Wendell Martin
1992
** Subterranean Gallery
Ryan, Thomas
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Adolescence of P1
``Are the desires for feeding and reproduction sufficient to drive
self-awareness. How far would a self-aware machine go to preserve
its existence.''
- Jim Boritz
Shelley, Mary
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Frankenstein
Shepard, Lucius
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Green Eyes
``A bringing back of the dead to idiot-savant capabilities for `re-
search' purposes. A strangely compelling blend of voo-doo, science,
death, living, and the use of power. [What no taxes?] Cyber only
in voo-doo science giving incredible power, definitely Punk.''
- Liralen Li
** Life During Wartime
Shiner, Lewis
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Deserted Cities of the Heart
1988
** Frontera
The first privately funded mission to Mars after the collapse of
NASA turns nightmarish when the protagonist finds himself programmed
to bring something back to Earth, at any cost.
** Slam
1990
Shirley, John
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** A Song Called Youth 1: Eclipse
1987
** A Song Called Youth 2: Eclipse Penumbra
1988
** A Song Called Youth 3: Eclipse Corona
1990
** City Come A 'Walkin'
** Heatseeker
Collection.
** The Brigade
** Total Eclipse
A large scale story on the re-emergence of fascism as a major polit-
ical force, told in a vivid, hallucinatory prose style.
** Transmaniacon
1979
** Wetbones
Sieber, Ulrich
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** International Handbook on Computer Crime
Nonfiction.
Silverberg, Robert
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Shadrach in the Furnace
In this version of 1984, a united world is monitored and ruled by an
ancient leader who periodically receives organ transplants from tar-
geted members of the healthy populace. A cancerous virus plagues
the world, slowly consuming those who do not receive regular doses
of the secret antidote.
** The World Inside
Spinrad, Norman
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Agent of Chaos
** Little Heroes
1987
** Other Americas
** Streetman
** The Iron Dream
Stapledon, Olaf
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Last and First Men
** Star Maker
Stephenson, Neil
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** Snow Crash
Originating on alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo, this strange tale follows a
hacker/ninja pizza delivery boy as he saves the world with the help
of the mafia and a juvenile delinquent courier chick.
1992
Sterling, Bruce
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Crystal Express (anthology)
Five stories from the Shaper/Mechanist saga, two cyberpunk stories,
and four fantasy.
``Some duds. Some doozies. Worth buying for the Shaper/Mechanist
stories and `Green Days in Brunei'.''
- Stefan Jones
1989
** Global Head
``More short stories. Some duds, some doozies, and few MIND BLOW-
ERS. `Our Neural Chernobyl' and `The Shores of Bohemia' made my
brain ache for days.''
- Stefan Jones
** Involution Ocean
``Very strange tale of a drug addict who goes to sea (sort of) to
ensure a supply of the monkey on his back. Strange parallels to
Moby Dick. A first novel, but it doesn't show. Very good.''
- Stefan Jones
** Islands in the Net
A brilliant fast-track couple investigates the threats of anarchy to
their culture from those who aren't so well off.
1988
** Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology (editor)
1986
** Schismatrix
A Shaper revolutionary, disowned from his own colony, plays Shaper
against Mechanist in his rise to power.
1985
** The Artificial Kid
An action-adventure movie star's existence is threatened by the
unseen forces controlling his world when an undead leader returns to
life after a long sleep.
1980
** The Difference Engine
In 19th century England, Babbage's Analytical Engine is a reality,
allowing the government to keep an eye on its citizens as everything
done is recorded by the engines of the police and government. Crim-
inology and pure mathematics are born at the same time as the envi-
ronmental effects of steam engines and information loss via heat
death impact the residents of London.
** The Hacker Crackdown
``Uneven but generally good coverage of the Sundevil raids. Hackers
vs. Feds.''
- Stefan Jones
Stoll, Clifford
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Cuckoo's Egg
Nonfiction.
``How much trouble would you go to in order to solve a 75 cent
discrenpancy between a bunch of Unix accounting programs?''
- Jim Boritz
Stone, Robert
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Dog Soldiers
``Stone's post-Beat style and vision of America as a morally bank-
rupt party town tearing itself apart is as harrowing as Conrad's
`Heart of Darkness'. The difference is that like most cyberpunk,
the action could be happening right next door.''
- Mondo 2000 (?)
Strieber, Whitlet
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Nature's End
See review under Kunetka, James.
Sturgeon, Theodore
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** More Than Human
``What if the next stage of evolution were a collective being?''
- Jim Boritz
Swanwick, Michael
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Gravity's Angel
Collection.
** Griffin's Egg
1990
** In the Drift
1985
** Stations of the Tide
1991
** Vacuum Flowers
A clone designed by a secret master genedesigner engages in a quest
to find her purpose and origins after being cast adrift memoryless
towards an asteroid colony. The colony organism that now exists on
Earth is also interested in her since her personality is rock solid,
an interesting state for an imprinted clone.
1987
Thomas, Thomas T.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Crygender
** Me
``A computer virus become self-aware and learns about the struggle
for survival.''
- Jim Boritz
Thomas, Wes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Virtual Reality: Adventures in Cyberspace
Nonfiction.
Tiptree, James, Jr.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Girl Who was Plugged In
Varley, John
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Millenium
Time travelers rescue humans who would have been killed in disasters
and take them to the future. Not cyberpunk.
** The Opiuchi Hotline
1977
Vinge, Joan D.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Catspaw
Sequel to Psion: Our hero return from obscurity to stop a megola-
manic religious politician from enacting a Hilteresque final solu-
tion.
** Psion
A half-breed alien is recruited into a special program to help
refine his psionic powers in the hope that he or someone else will
be capable of stopping a mad telepathic criminal.
Vinge, Vernor
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Across Realtime
Contains ``Marooned in Realtime'' and ``The Peace War'', along with
``The Ungoverned'' from ``True Names and Other Dangers.''
** Marooned in Realtime
As the survivors of humanity jump forward in time, safely secured
within their bobbles, someone is left behind who may have stopped a
coup by an unscrupulous tele-evangelist.
** The Peace War
The threat of war is obliterated when the capability to permanently
seal one's enemies inside of impenetrable shells is discovered.
However, the inventor bides his time in the peaceful dictatorship.
** Threats and Other Promises
** True Names and Other Dangers
The government, controlled netrunners, and an unknown entity battle
for control of the world's computer resources.
Watkins, William John
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Going to See the End of the Sky
** The Centrifugal Rickshaw Dancer
Weaver, Michael D.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Mercedes Nights
The cloning of a popular movie star/sex-symbol presents its own
problems when the original discovers the duplicity.
** My Father Immortal
A family that prepared to survive WWIII and then awaken to rule over
the survivors, finds that the bioengineered survivors don't need or
want their interference or rules.
Williams, Walter Jon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Angel Station
Two biogenetically bred orphans steal back their dead father's
spaceship and fight for their economic freedom beyond the stars.
** Aristoi
** Facets (anthology)
** Hardwired
Twelve years after Earth loses the Earth-Orbital war, panzerboys
perform illegal runs from the west coast where the orbital shuttles
land, across what once was America, to the northeast, encountering
frequent organized resistance.
1986
** Solips System
** Voice of the Whirlwind
A clone with 15 year old memories searches for both his missing
memories and for the people who killed him and who wish to use his
training for their own goals.
1987
Wilson, Robert C.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Memory Wire
Artificial holographic crystals created by an alien race and mined
from a huge meteorite impact in South America promote illegal trade
and a reporter's quest for knowledge of their secrets.
1987
Wingrove, David
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Chung Kuo I: The Middle Kingdom
** Chung Kuo II: The Broken Wheel
** Chung Kuo III: The White Mountain
Wolfe, Gene
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Book of the New Sun
Wolverton, Dave
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** On My Way to Paradise
Womack, Jack
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Ambient
1987
** Elvissey
** Heathern
** Terraplane
Wyndham, John
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** The Chrysalids
``In this post-apocalyptic story some humans have begun to develop
telepathic abilities. Will they survive or will they be destroyed
by the religious fervor that demands that all deviations from the
true form be destroyed?''
- Jim Boritz
Yarbo, Chelsea Quinn
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Hyacinths
Zahn, Timothy
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Cobra
** Cobra Bargain
** Cobra Strike
Zamyatin, Yevgeny
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** We