Cyberpunk Reading List (updated and reviewed)
James Harrison
I spent a good deal of my past two summers at the local library reading the
books listed on past versions of the cyberpunk reading list posted to this
group. Although there is a `consenus' on what a book has to include to be
considered `cyberpunk' it never has really been agreeded upon. Included in
this list are book that ``looked'' like they were cyberpunk, I used my best
judgement when reading the jacket, etc.. If I (or a reputable source) has
read the book then a short review is also included.
I would appreciate hearing about new books, and receiving comments about the
list presented here. I do plan on updated the list and reposting it as
necessary. If you have a synopsis of a book then send that too please.
Any questions, send me email. Please do not post follow-ups to alt.cyberpunk
as it would only decrease the bandwidth further.
Thanks,
James Harrison
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Cyberpunk Reading List, (as of 9/29/92)
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.
Aldiss, Brian
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* Enemies of the System
Bachman, Richard
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* The Running Man
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.
Barnes, Steven
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* 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
slef-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's eminent destruction at the hands of a cowardly alien race
motivate the ships of The Law to attempt to save a small fraction of
humanity and its works.
* Great Sky River
* Psychlone
* Strength of Stones
* The Wind from a Burning Woman (Anthology)
The Wind from a Burning Woman, Scatter Shot, Mandela, Hard Fought.
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.
* 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, G.
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* Johnny Zed
Bethke, Bruce
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* Cyberpunk
* Elimination Round
Bova, Ben
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* Exiled from Earth
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.
Brin, David
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* 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.
Brunner, John
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* 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.
* 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.
* 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 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
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* Michaelmas
An electronic genius disguised as a news-reporter controls the run-
ning of the world with the help of his artificially intelligent
computer.
Burgess, Anthony
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* 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
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* 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
you inseams like a rabid brontosaurus, all told in a fragmented
prose style that still reads like the raw, beautiful poetry it is.
* Nova Express
Butler, Jack
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* Nightshade
The revolution of the Mars Colony brings to light tangling
alliances, the hidden goals of unknown power holders, and a vampire.
Cadigan, Pat
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* Indigo
* Mindplayers
Deadpan Allie is a sort of future psychiatrist who works on her
patients by entering virtual representations of their psyches.
* Patterns
Card, Orson Scott
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* 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.
Carlisle, Anne
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* Liquid Sky
Chandler, Raymond
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* 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.
Cross, Ronald Anthony
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* 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.
Delany, Samuel
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* Babel 17
The language of an invading civilization is found to be based upon
the concepts of AI computer languages and memes.
* 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
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* White Noise
As 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.
Denton, Bradley
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* Wrack'n'Roll
Setting alternate time-line, Punkers are 1/3 of populace.
Dick, Philip K.
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* 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.
Dickson, Gordon
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* 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.
Effinger, George Alec
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* 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
* When Gravity Fails
A series of brutal murders prompts a king-pin of the post-superpower
black market to adopt a police detective as a personal resource in
an effort to find the deranged killer.
Farren, Mick
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* The Long Orbit
Faust, Clifford
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* A Death of Honor
* The Company Man
Fjermedal, Grant
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* The Tomorrow Makers
Foster, Alan Dean
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* 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.
Gibson, William
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* 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
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.
Goulart, Ron
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* Barking Dogs
When 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
Hailblum, Isidore
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* The Mutants are Coming
Harrison, Harry
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* 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.
Hawke, Simon
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* Psychodrome
Heinz, Christopher
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* Ash Ock
* Leigh Killer
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 for precise positions with high toler-
ances.
Jeter, K. W.
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* 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
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* Metrophage
Art and crime meet, literally, in the streets when a strange virus
hits Los Angelas.
Kunetka, James
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* 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
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* 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.
* Nutrimancer
Lem, Stanislaw
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* 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.
Lewitt, S. N.
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* Cyberstealth
* Dancing Vac
Leyner, Mark
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* American Made
* 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 no other connection.
Lint, Charles de
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* Svaha
Littell, Jonathan
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* Bad Voltage
Martin, George R. R.
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* The Armageddon Rag
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.
McCaffery, Larry
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* 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
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* 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
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* The Helix and the Sword
Milan, Victor
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* 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.
Moorcock, Michael
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* 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
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* 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 Long Run
Seven years after the United Nations Peace-Keeping-Forces nuked the
telepaths developed from the Superman Project, Trent the Uncatchable
bumps into Denise. What follows is their attempts 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.
Orwell, George
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* 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.
Pohl, Frederick
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* Beyond the Blue Event Horizon
Discovery of the CHON-processor in the Ort cloud.
* Gateway
Discovery of the Gateway Asteroid.
* Heechee Rendezvous
The return of the Heechee from their black hole.
* Man Plus
The colonization of Mars is the backdrop for the creation of mon-
strous cyborgs capable of surviving in the harsh environment.
* The Annals of the Heechee
Communication with the Assassins is established.
Poyer, M. C.
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* 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.
* The Crying of Lot 49
* Vineland
Quick, W. T.
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* Dreams of Flesh and Sand
* Dreams of God and Men
* Singularities
* Systems
* Yesterdays Pawn
Redd, Robert
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* The Hormone Jungle
Robinson, Kim Stanley
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* The Gold Coast
* The Memory of Whiteness
Robinson, Spider
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* Mindkiller
Rucker, Rudy
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* Masters of Space and Time
* SoftWare
* Spacetime Donuts
* The 5th Franz Kafka
* The Secret of Life
* WetWare
On the moon, sentient robots want to interface with human beings to
create a man-machine symbiosis. Sequel to Software.
* White Light
Shelley, Mary
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* Frankenstein
Shepard, Lucius
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* Green Eyes
* Life During Wartime
Shiner, Lewis
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* Deserted Cities of the Heart
* 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.
Shirley, John
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* A Song Called Youth 1: Eclipse
* A Song Called Youth 2: Eclipse Penumbra
* A Song Called Youth 3: Eclipse Corona
* A Song Called Youth 4: 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.
* Heatseeker
* Transmaniacon
Silverberg, Robert
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* 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
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* Agent of Chaos
* Little Heroes
* Other Americas
* Streetman
Stapledon, Olaf
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* Last and First Men
* Star Maker
Sterling, Bruce
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* Crystal Express (anthology)
Five stories from the Shaper/Mechanist saga, two cyberpunk stories,
and four fantasy.
* 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.
* Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology (editor)
* Schismatrix
A Shaper revolutionary, disowned from his own colony, plays Shaper
against Mechanist in his rise to power.
* 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.
* 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.
Stone, Robert
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* Dog Soldiers
Stone's post-Beat style and vision of America as a morally bankrupt
party town tearing itself apart is a harrowing as Conrad's `Heart of
Darkness'. The difference is that like most cyberpunk, the action
could be happening right next door.
Strieber, Whitlet
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* 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.
Swanwick, Michael
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* In the Drift
* Stations of the Tide
* 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.
Tiptree, James, Jr.
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* The Girl Who was Plugged In
Varley, John
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* Millenium
Time travelers rescue humans who would have been killed in disasters
and take them to the future. Not cyberpunk.
Vinge, Joan D.
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* Catspaw
* Psion
Vinge, Vernor
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* Marooned in Realtime
As the survivors of humanity travel jump forward in time, safely
secured within their bobbles, someone is left behind who may have
stopped a coup by 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.
Weaver, Michael D.
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* 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
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* Angel Station
Two biogenetically bred orphans steal back their father's spaceship
and fight for their economic freedom beyond the stars.
* 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.
* 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.
Wilson, Robert C.
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* 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.
Wolverton, Dave
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* On My Way to Paradise
Womack, Jack
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* Ambient
* Terraplane
Yarbo, Chelsea Quinn
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* Hyacinths
--
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James Harr...@cs.ubc.ca `RPCing as fast as the network will let me.'