Good non shadowrun cyberpunk books, help my search retarded'ness Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Switch to: Outline Standard Switch to: Linear+

[duke]

So finally got round to reading Snow Crash and got the taste for more (good) cyberpunk.
Its been a while since i have been on here (or more accurately lurked on here) but seem to remember this topic coming up quite regularly, however my attempts to search for a topic like this has met with failure!!

Any help ideas or links to old topics would be much appreciated

Cheers!

[WiredWeasel]

Well, definitely check out Gibson's other stuff as well...
Neuromancer (of course)
Burning Chrome
and Mona Lisa Overdrive

[duke]

Sorry guess i should of said Gibson as well but kind of assumed everyone had read him if only to see where it all started. From what i've gathered Gibson and Stephenson are the top of the pile when it comes to quality and i'm trying to figure out where to go next

Thanks anyway

[MJBurrage]

The Continuing Time series by Daniel Key Moran. The series covers a world in which an EU dominated UN has become the world government:

1. Emerald Eyes (ISBN 0-553-27347-7), covers the history of the world government, the fall of the US, the creation of genetically engineered near-humans & telepaths, and cybered UN "peacekeepers".
2. The Long Run (ISBN 0-553-28144-5), covers the exploits of a character who was a secondary player in the first book, but becomes one of the world's best hackers.
3. The Last Dancer (ISBN 0-553-56249-5), covers the character from second book, and his sister who plays a growing role. More trans-humanist than cyberpunk.

In addition to used paperbacks, the author has made his work freely available e-books.

The series is not traditional cyberpunk, since the characters are dealing with an oppressive world government rather than mega-corps, but the series includes cyberware, genetic engineering, AIs, and hacking. The author's primary career is as a computer programmer, and his vision of future hacking always rang truer to me than the Tron-like vision of more traditional cyberpunk.

I have used this world as an alternate background for a low-magic Shadowrun campaign. (genetic engineering templates as races, telepathy as magic)

[Gast]

Gibson has already been mentioned. Be sure to pick up the collection of short stories, I think it's called Burning Chrome in English. It's a fun and easy read before going to sleep, and about half of the stories really shaped Cyberpunk.

[Wesley Street]

Good (post)cyberpunk I've read:

• William Gibson's Bridge trilogy along with Pattern Recognition and it's sequel, Spook Country
• Greg Bear's Queen of Angels and its sequel, Slant
• Bruce Sterling's Schisamatrix Plus, Heavy Weather, Holy Fire, Distraction, Globalhead and The Zenith Angle
• Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs trilogy
• Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (The "Whuffle" system is probably what inspired P2.0) and Eastern Standard Tribe
• Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
• Rudy Rucker's Software, Wetware, Freeware and Limpware
• Douglas Ruskoff's Ecstacy Club
• Walter John Williams' Voice of the Whirlwind
• Pat Cadigan's Tea From an Empty Cup
• Robert Heinlein's Friday
• KW Jeter's Dr. Adder, Farewell Horizontal, and The Glass Hammer
• Max Barry's Jennifer Government
• Matt Ruff's Sewer, Gas and Electric
• Paul J. McAuley's Fairyland

[faultline]

I found the Parish Plessies novels ( Nylon Angel, Code Noir, Crash Deluxe) by Marianne de Pierres to be pretty good even though it does have a weird "alien invasion"-esqe plot throughout the series.

Still find William Gibson, and Neal Stephenson's works in the genre to be the best. Philip K. Dick has some good works as well.

Check out Richard Kelly's (writer of Donnie Darko) Southland tales, its divided into a 3 part graphic novel "prequel" and movie.

[TeOdio]

I really recommend Walter Mosley's Futureland. REALLY RECOMMEND. It is a collection of short stories that tie in together. He is not really known as a Sci Fi author, but there are some awsome themes that Shadowrun players can relate to. Most of the stories revolve around minority characters and as the Author is a black American that grew up at a time when our country was coming to grips with racial equality and bigotry, he provides a pretty unique and fresh perspective. The stories deal with crazy global terrorist organizations, racial, class, and gender intolerance, super powerful corporations and the megalomaniacs that run them. It has lots of themes pioneered by Dick, Gibson, and Stevenson, but set in a dystopia that really seemed more realistic to me than even some of the great settings created by those greats.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)

[Guru Nath Butter...]

My personal faves (apologies for any repeats):

Bad Voltage, by Jonathan Littel !!Ding Ding All Time Champion of the Genre!!
When Gravity Fails series by George Alec Effinger
Shockwave Rider or Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove
Streetlethal series by Stephen Barnes
Bone Dance by Emma Bull (this book resembles Shadowrun or Rifts more than any other cyberpunk book out there)

I also Recommend Voice of the Whirlwind by Walter Jon Williams, and anything Bruce Sterling or Pat Cadigan have ever written including Mirrorshades, the Cyberpunk Anthology.

[Yoan]

George Alec Effinger's Budayeen series;
* When Gravity Fails (1987)
* A Fire in the Sun (1989)
* The Exile Kiss (1991)

"Budayeen Nights" is also a good collection of short stories set in the same universe.

[Fuchs]

"Friday" from Heinlein was pretty "shadowrunnish" in my opinion, if not really cyberpunk.

[faultline]

Looks like I've got a list of new books to look into. Just need to let my wallet recover from my splurge on the SR4 books.

[Wesley Street]

Used bookstores are your friend. Most of the stuff I've listed can be found in paperback format for less than $5.00 a pop. I haven't purchased a book at full price for well on a decade now.

[nezumi]

Metrophage was definitely a good book. Can't remember the author.

[Sticks]

The Electric Church & The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers

[psychophipps]

Walter John Williams "Hardwired" which, to this day, shows the best version of the true power of the megacorps, IMO. This classic CP novel is by and far still considered one of the best and shows an interesting swap in the two lives of the main characters as the novel progresses.

[paws2sky]

Bad Voltage, by Jonathan Littel !!Ding Ding All Time Champion of the Genre!!

Hell-fuckin'-yeah! I'm glad there's someone else out there that loves that book (apparently) as much as I do. Fantastic cyberpunk novel dealing with everything from thrill gangs to fascist police to hackers to megacorp shenanigans. Highly recommend it.

(The main character was the inspiration for my first Shadowrun character back in the SR1 era.)


I'll also throw this one out: Cybernetic Jungle by S.N. Lewitt


-paws

[Meriss]

Also your local library wouldn't mind seeing another friendly face. Most times they're free. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Hmmm. What else.

Gibson and Stephenson are stilling the grandaddies of the genre. Try looking for the occaisional less know author or even (if you don't mind wading through a royal ton of slash) fanfics.

Oh, don't forget the official Shadowrun books.

Never Deal with A Dragon etc. (Title may be wrong. Author escapes me)

[DrKuha]

I've always viewed Phillip K. Dick as perhaps one of the best Sci Fi writers period. That some of his stuff has a distinct cyberpunk feel is good. But you're going to have sift to find it. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is his only novel that could actually be seen as cyberpunk. Anything else with that theme will be in short story form. Stuff like "Paycheck," "We Can Remember it for you Wholesale," etc.

I don't know, has anyone read any Harlan Ellison? I guess it's not cyberpunk, but some of his stuff has a similar feel to it.

[Black Jack Rackh...]

People keep mentioning Gibson but I noticed of those who mentioned names, everyone forgot Idoru. I absolutely loved this one. The Grotto? CLASSIC!!!

Mark

[Wesley Street]

I mentioned it without mentioning it by name. It's the second book of the Bridge trilogy: Virutal Light, Idoru, and All Tomorrow's Parties. I'm probably in the minority but I like the Bridge trilogy better than the Sprawl books.

[crizh]

I say this a lot, Vacuum Flowers by Michael Swanwick.

It slightly predates most Cyberpunk and the flavour is a little different but if you like skillwires and Bunraku parlours you'll love it.

A lot of folks don't like Walter Jon Williams' later work but I really enjoy Aristoi. Don't ever let me near a nano-forge in SR......

[crizh]

Stupid mobile..

Sorry about the dp...

[nezumi]

As happenstance would have it, many fans of cyberpunk are also fans of the internet, and so an inordinate number of these stories are also posted for free online. I found an interesting site (which I believe ended in an .ru suffix) which posted quite a library.

[Wesley Street]

Cory Doctorow publishes his novels online as free downloads. I usually buy them in print as I like to throw the man a buck.