DV8
Jun 26 2009, 12:51 PM
It's been a while since I read some good cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk/transhumanist fiction and I would like, if you could, to recommend me some of your favourite books in this genre. I'd be in you debt.
Thanks!
nezumi
Jun 26 2009, 01:11 PM
Anything by Bruce Sterling.
Diamand Age
Ancient History
Jun 26 2009, 01:14 PM
Well Deev, you might be familiar with Ian McDonald's Brasyl, River of Gods, and Cyberabad Days. Charles Stross' Halting State is definitely post-cyberpunk, though closer to slipstream - you should really check out his short story collection Toast though. John Shirley's collection Really, Really, Really, Really Weird Stories sorta defies ordinary labeling, but check it out too.
While not cyberpunk per se, I'm going to suggest High Aztech by Ernest Hogan, because it makes an awesome pseudo-trilogy with Headcrash (Bruce Bethke) and Snowcrash (Neal Stephenson).
Wesley Street
Jun 26 2009, 01:16 PM
*Cracks knuckles*
I'm going to skip all the standard 1980s Gibson/Cadigan/Bethke stuff because if you haven't read it by now it's going to seem silly and dated.
As far as Anglophone graphic novels Warren Ellis has that market cornered with Transmetropolitan (good at first, but like a cheap wine, has a weak finish) and Mek. Manga wise, Battle Angel Alita and Shirow's Ghost in the Shell are excellent visual primers on the more depressing aspects of post-humanism. The Euro-comics scene is putting out some interesting stuff and some of it has been translated into English. Sky Doll through Solelil/Marvel is one I'd recommend.
Bruce Sterling's Holy Fire. An old woman is returned to her youth via technological means. Actually, Schisimatrix Plus, while '80s, still feels pretty fresh today with its arguments about bio- vs. cybernetic enhancement.
Charles Stross' Accelerando is a series of three inter-connected short stories about a Richard Branson-ish visionary and his offspring. It's also available as a free ebook under the Creative Commons license so there's no financial reason not to read it. There's a sequel but I haven't read it yet.
Also a free ebook under the CC is Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Money has been replaced with whuffie, society is "Bitchun" (death is obsolete and there are no material good scarcities), and it contains the first reference I'd ever seen to a HERF gun. Doctorow's Eastern Standard Tribe is pretty good too.
I'm reading Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels now. Sleeving bodies is common practice and it's easier to send people through space as digital information than as meat bodies. The first novel reads like a Blade Runner riff and the second one is an anti-military-sci-fi/military-sci-fi-novel. They're not exactly high literature but they're enjoyable.
Tiger Eyes
Jun 26 2009, 02:35 PM
I love Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels.
Chibu
Jun 26 2009, 02:39 PM
I need to second Showcrash and Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson.
While I haven't had time to finish it yet (work, new baby, moving, etc.) The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks seems like it may fit the bill as well. While not quite cyberpunk, and more post-modern with a touch of fantasy, I like what I've read so far.
The Electric Church and it's sequel The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers are really good. I highly recommend them. This is cyberpunk. It's a gritty world, with a class dichotomy far removed from anything we even have today. He even goes as far as to specifically state the cyberpunk mindset, of style over substance; and to narrate it throughout the novels. The characters may be criminals, but more importantly the are sticking it to the man; saving the world. As a note, the third book, The Eternal Prison, is scheduled for release in August.
The Nylon Angel series by Marianne de Pierres is also very good. While i've only been able to get ahold of the first book, I have no doubt as the the quality of the others. These novels take place in another gritty cyberpunk world, set in Australia. Very good read, with lots of cyberpunk mindset.
With the possible exception of The Traveler, I think all of these books are Must-Read's for anyone who's a fan of cyberpunk. More importantly, for anyone who plays Shadowrun, so they can figure out what cyberpunk even means (*cries*).
Wesley Street
Jun 26 2009, 02:42 PM
QUOTE (Tiger Eyes @ Jun 26 2009, 10:35 AM)
I love Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels.
Have you read the non-Kovacs novel
Market Forces? It's in my "to-read" pile. Any thoughts?
Ancient History
Jun 27 2009, 01:47 AM
Now that I'm at home and can browse my own shelf, I'm going to suggest Black Glass, the "lost cyberpunk novel" by John Shirley (supposed to have been a collaboration 'tween him and Gibson) and American Flagg! by Howard Chaykin (there's a luvverly hardcover recolored collection out).
Tanegar
Jun 27 2009, 02:38 AM
Alastair Reynolds' "Inhibitors" trilogy (Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap) has some nifty info about a Transhumanist sect called the Conjoiners, especially the latter two books. Plus, the trilogy is just all-around awesome.
DV8
Jul 15 2009, 09:51 AM
Has anyone read anything by Jon Courtenay Grimwood? I've read Lucifer's Dragon and reMix and was wondering what neoAddix and redRobe were like.
The Jake
Jul 15 2009, 11:10 AM
I stumbled across this author Justina Robson. She wrote Silver Screen, which I read years ago and quite liked.
She's recently written a series of books which combine post Cyberpunk elements and magic - and struck me as very, very SR inspired.
The series I am referring to is Quantum Gravity series. Titles are Keeping It Real, Selling Out, Going Under and Chasing the Dragon.
Has anyone read these? I am thinking of buying them as they look VERY intriguing.
- J.
Eugene
Jul 15 2009, 05:54 PM
I'm not sure how 'post cyberpunk' it is, but Charles Stross' Halting State is a lot of fun.
Namelessjoe
Jul 15 2009, 06:00 PM
hi
if you like comicy stuff theres a flash series called Broken saints its neat and kinda gets me into the feel for cyberbunky stuff... i would say its on the cusp of distopia
Seriphen
Jul 15 2009, 06:06 PM
I would totally suggest the Charles Stross books. Also I really liked The Electric Church, didn't know it had sequals. Also The Nylon Angel series was intertaining to read.
Adarael
Jul 15 2009, 06:08 PM
Ken MacLeod's NEWTON'S WAKE and THE CASSINI DIVISION. Especially NEWTON'S WAKE. They're more space sf than earth-based, but involve self-upgrading AIs, the fact that death is relatively meaningless when you can back up your brain, and all kinds of neat stuff of that nature.
Octogenarihexate!
Jul 15 2009, 07:26 PM
QUOTE (Wesley Street @ Jun 26 2009, 07:42 AM)
Have you read the non-Kovacs novel Market Forces? It's in my "to-read" pile. Any thoughts?
It's a bit slow at times, and I found the main character to be a unsympathetic, self-pitying douchebag.
But if you like Morgan's style of writing, it is definitely worth reading, and firmly cyberpunk in outlook. Even if it's told from the other side, so to speak.
Hiroru
Jul 15 2009, 07:30 PM
While this may be a bit too post-cyberpunk (read: far future): Neal Asher's Polity books (griidlinked, Line of polity, brass man, some others I've not read yet) are good.
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