I actually just finished re-reading Count Zero last week. For me Neuromancer is so genre defining that it’s hard to compare anything else to it. Nonetheless, Count Zero is definitely worth a read and a worth successor. Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson is probably the second most genre-defining book in the Cyberpunk anthology. It’s a very different from Neuromancer, but still quintessentially Cyberpunk.
If you anime at all, I think Cowboy Bebop is a pretty great entry in the genre. To be honest, I can’t get into Anime and haven’t watched that version, but I really enjoyed the first season of Netflix’s cancelled live action adaptation. The internet leads me to believe that the Anime is even better.
Oh! I’ve read about Snow Crash but it looks too much like Ready Player One (the movie AFAIK and i know its the other way around probably) and the whole idea of the metaverse its not much up my alley but i will definitely give it a read too then!!
I’ve seen Cowboy Bebop and loved it its definitely has got more of the punk than the cyber although that might just be my impression of old era visual cyberpunk.
I find that usually the way I picture cyberpunk media like books, that don’t come with images as more modern tech. I’m sure that what William Gibson had in mind while writing Neuromancer was far more retro futuristic that what i imagined while reading it, which was more akin to BR2049.
Oh! I’ve read about Snow Crash but it looks too much like Ready Player One (the movie AFAIK and i know its the other way around probably) and the whole idea of the metaverse its not much up my alley but i will definitely give it a read too then!!
I touched on this in my own top-level reply. You’re not exactly wrong, but comparing Snow Crash to RP1 is frankly an insult to Snow Crash. If nothing else, I think Snow Crash is worth reading as one of the defining works of the genre, even if I don’t think it holds up as well as Neuromancer. RP1 on the other hand, I regret reading (I haven’t watched the movie). I would gladly take those hours of my life back if I could.
I find that usually the way I picture cyberpunk media like books, that don’t come with images as more modern tech. I’m sure that what William Gibson had in mind while writing Neuromancer was far more retro futuristic that what i imagined while reading it, which was more akin to BR2049.
Yeah, it’s funny. In a lot of ways Cyberpunk as a genre is dead because it basically just describes the current world with more neon and VR. Back when Gibson was writing Neuromancer, it wasn’t retro futurism he had in mind, it was just the future! A lot of the charm of Cyberpunk comes from the ways in which the 80s vision of the future differs from reality while still striking close to home.
Have you read The Peripheral? I have yet to start the second book (Agency) but I really enjoyed the neon-less future presented in the first one. It’s specifically what Gibson thought could happen as a result of where we were in 2016: less people, body-integrated tech, synthetic organisms (with a specific lack of AI that humans can use), etc. The 2023 chapter descriptions (Hefty-Mart, fabrication, the ‘viz’) come with the neon he predicted in the 80s. The 2073 chapters come with nano-tech, artificial cosplay zones, and a steampunk-ish view of how tech works (e.g., all anyone in the book knows is that the stubs are located on a server that’s ‘probably Chinese’).
I love me some Cyberpunk. Maybe it’s not dead, so much as we’re living in Gibson’s 80’s vision of 2023, and the next turn of the wheel is writing the future we want or are afraid of…What does 2083 look like?
I haven’t. I got tired of Gibson for a little while around the turn of the millennium. I think it was really just that I was too young to appreciate his later work when all I wanted was more neon-filled dystopia. I’ll add The Peripheral to my queue.
I love me some Cyberpunk. Maybe it’s not dead, so much as we’re living in Gibson’s 80’s vision of 2023, and the next turn of the wheel is writing the future we want or are afraid of…What does 2083 look like?
I hear that! It was especially good if neon-filled dystopia offered a way to be pertinent or at least meaningful in a present devoid of personality. I can make a difference to my collective or chosen tribe. I stand by the idea that saying cyberpunk is dead is akin to saying futurism is dead. It’s just that the aesthetic represented by the term requires change.
Officially staking my claim on ‘retro-cyberpunk’ as a term. I know trademarking it would embody exactly what it avoids so…meh…
RP1 on the other hand, I regret reading (I haven’t watched the movie). I would gladly take those hours of my life back if I could.
Your hate towards RP1 tells me i can trust your opinion xd. I might give it a read after count zero then maybe.
Back when Gibson was writing Neuromancer, it wasn’t retro futurism he had in mind, it was just the future! A lot of the charm of Cyberpunk comes from the ways in which the 80s vision of the future differs from reality while still striking close to home.
I agree but i wouldn’t call it dead, its just updated with a new aesthetic. Ideally good cyberpunk still should touch on the ideas of un checked capitalism and neo liberalism with a splash of neon, now it just updates the tech to the current era’s perception of future technology.
Though i have to agree with you that we are basically already living in a cyberpunk dystopia just without the neon and the body mods. We have the unchecked capitalism having set its roots in government and corrupting most things it touches along with massive cognitive dissonance from a good part of the population that gets fed info by outlets, which are all controlled by the same people, controlling them to do what they want. But we are all content as long as there is a modicum of food on the table and we get our soma (in the way of modern, designed to keep you addicted, entertainment in its different forms and stuff).
I actually just finished re-reading Count Zero last week. For me Neuromancer is so genre defining that it’s hard to compare anything else to it. Nonetheless, Count Zero is definitely worth a read and a worth successor. Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson is probably the second most genre-defining book in the Cyberpunk anthology. It’s a very different from Neuromancer, but still quintessentially Cyberpunk.
If you anime at all, I think Cowboy Bebop is a pretty great entry in the genre. To be honest, I can’t get into Anime and haven’t watched that version, but I really enjoyed the first season of Netflix’s cancelled live action adaptation. The internet leads me to believe that the Anime is even better.
Oh! I’ve read about Snow Crash but it looks too much like Ready Player One (the movie AFAIK and i know its the other way around probably) and the whole idea of the metaverse its not much up my alley but i will definitely give it a read too then!!
I’ve seen Cowboy Bebop and loved it its definitely has got more of the punk than the cyber although that might just be my impression of old era visual cyberpunk.
I find that usually the way I picture cyberpunk media like books, that don’t come with images as more modern tech. I’m sure that what William Gibson had in mind while writing Neuromancer was far more retro futuristic that what i imagined while reading it, which was more akin to BR2049.
I touched on this in my own top-level reply. You’re not exactly wrong, but comparing Snow Crash to RP1 is frankly an insult to Snow Crash. If nothing else, I think Snow Crash is worth reading as one of the defining works of the genre, even if I don’t think it holds up as well as Neuromancer. RP1 on the other hand, I regret reading (I haven’t watched the movie). I would gladly take those hours of my life back if I could.
Yeah, it’s funny. In a lot of ways Cyberpunk as a genre is dead because it basically just describes the current world with more neon and VR. Back when Gibson was writing Neuromancer, it wasn’t retro futurism he had in mind, it was just the future! A lot of the charm of Cyberpunk comes from the ways in which the 80s vision of the future differs from reality while still striking close to home.
I agree with this take 👍 I didn’t enjoy Snow Crash, but it was undeniably influential and in many ways prescient. I loved Neuromancer.
Have you read The Peripheral? I have yet to start the second book (Agency) but I really enjoyed the neon-less future presented in the first one. It’s specifically what Gibson thought could happen as a result of where we were in 2016: less people, body-integrated tech, synthetic organisms (with a specific lack of AI that humans can use), etc. The 2023 chapter descriptions (Hefty-Mart, fabrication, the ‘viz’) come with the neon he predicted in the 80s. The 2073 chapters come with nano-tech, artificial cosplay zones, and a steampunk-ish view of how tech works (e.g., all anyone in the book knows is that the stubs are located on a server that’s ‘probably Chinese’).
I love me some Cyberpunk. Maybe it’s not dead, so much as we’re living in Gibson’s 80’s vision of 2023, and the next turn of the wheel is writing the future we want or are afraid of…What does 2083 look like?
I haven’t. I got tired of Gibson for a little while around the turn of the millennium. I think it was really just that I was too young to appreciate his later work when all I wanted was more neon-filled dystopia. I’ll add The Peripheral to my queue.
I like that perspective!
I hear that! It was especially good if neon-filled dystopia offered a way to be pertinent or at least meaningful in a present devoid of personality. I can make a difference to my collective or chosen tribe. I stand by the idea that saying cyberpunk is dead is akin to saying futurism is dead. It’s just that the aesthetic represented by the term requires change.
Officially staking my claim on ‘retro-cyberpunk’ as a term. I know trademarking it would embody exactly what it avoids so…meh…
Though i have to agree with you that we are basically already living in a cyberpunk dystopia just without the neon and the body mods. We have the unchecked capitalism having set its roots in government and corrupting most things it touches along with massive cognitive dissonance from a good part of the population that gets fed info by outlets, which are all controlled by the same people, controlling them to do what they want. But we are all content as long as there is a modicum of food on the table and we get our soma (in the way of modern, designed to keep you addicted, entertainment in its different forms and stuff).
Snow Crash is worth a read. Very entertaining, and it gives you a glimpse into what a hellscape a Libertarianism ruled world would be.