So /lit/eraries, What's you're favorite Cyberpunk books?
I just started reading Neuromancer again for the 2nd time. I read it when I was back in highschool and loved the hell out of it. As I don't remember much of what happened I figured I return to it.. I gotta say it doesn't hold the same charm. In fact I'd say it's a tad cliche to me.
But that being said, what are your favorite Cyberpunk / Sci fi books, and authors? I recently read to books by Alastair Reynolds, which I wasn't too thrilled with either. I'm starting to loose my faith in good sci fi or cyber punk. What do you guys recommend for a good, solid, fun, but serious Cyberpunk or Scifi novel?
Neuromancer got me into both philosophy of mind and AI theory for the rest of my life, just with that one scene where the flatline laughs the same way twice.
Snow Crash. Published in 1992, it may as well have been written yesterday.
Naked Lunch, really, I'm not trying to be pretentious or obnoxious. I don't think Cyberpunk like Neuromancer could possibly exist without Naked Lunch
>>7415816
Look, sci-fi is in a painful transistory period at the moment and will not produce anything of merit for at least ten more years, and cyberpunk has been dead since 1994. Of the former you must go back and read the golden age literature from the 60s, of the latter you must abandon all hope.
It probably seems cliche because it's the source of many things that are now cliche.
>>7415847
Look, at the picture. See the skull, the part of bone removed
>>7415816
>Neuromancer
>cliche
It was the first of its kind. Is it even possible for it to be cliche?
there's only two sci fi series that hold my attention: book of the new sun and the sprawl trilogy.
the rest of sci fi lit can suck my peepee
>>7415880
So if I rewrote The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch but replaced psychs with the Oculus Rift and set it somewhere stupid like a Philippino fishing village would it be any more original?
>>7415897
I always pictured the plot to Ready Player One being something like this
Reading "Hardwired" for nostalgia. Also giggles: so stilted.
>>7415816
Count Zero, by Gibson as well.
Also I liked a lot Virtual Light.
I'm sorry anon, I have no other authors except Gibson/Sterling. I tried reading others but in the end they are the best imho.
Gibson came to Lexington recently to sign his new book "peripheral". Down to earth guy. When asked about the birth of cyberpunk and neuromancer he says he and his friends were "just striking out on their own". Got my sprawl trilogy books autographed too. Good times
>>7416937
how's peripheral?
>>7415816
Ahhh, I'll always have a soft spot for this book. I used to talk to this cute /lit/ girl who was big into cyberpunk, and Neuromancer was her favorite book. I picked up a copy to try to impress her. I didn't really enjoy it but it did get me into reading. I wonder what she's up to now...
>>7416412
I looked this book up and it sounds interesting, do you think a male would enjoy reading it?
>>7417144
>do you think a male would enjoy reading it?
U wot
>>7417166
ayy, apparently there is two books called Hardwired. The first result I found was
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25208536-hardwired
I think you were talking about the book by Walter Jon Williams
Burning Chrome, an anthology of short stories by William Gibson (and a couple other authors) is one of the best cyberpunk collections out there.
Otherwise, a lot of PKD is very cyberpunk oriented (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, Ubik, Now Wait for Last Year).
Neal Stephenson is good, but Snowcrash is very pulpy and soft compared to Gibson. His other books, like Diamond Age start excellently, but dude is not so great at endings.
Stand on Zanzibar is very good proto-cyberpunk mixed with 60s sensibility, along with Shockwave Rider (which introduced the term 'worm' for computer virus before computers were really even a thing). I would say that Alfred Bester's work also falls here, where it's not exactly cyberpunk, but often close enough.
Finally if you want something more detective/action oriented, Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon has a very cyberpunk feel to it.
>>7417179
You got a chuckle out of me, but that wasn't the point man. Your sex shouldn't inherently effect your enjoyment of any book, せんぱい。
>>7415816
Oh, the weird memories I have of Neuromancer!
I read it maybe five years ago. I picked it up before I had to get a circumcision (phimosis) and planned to read it while I was in bed for a few days recovering.
I read it all the day after the operation and remember basically none of it. I was pretty out of it on painkillers, but I remember it blowing my mind.
I only put it down every few hours to change the medical dressing on my scabby cock end.
Memories.
>>7418023
Sounds pretty chill to be candid.
OP here:
Have you punks read this one by Gibson? Reading the descriptions, I'm not really feeling the story of "The Perepheral" but this one, "Pattern Recognition", sounds like it could be promising.
>>7418757
Pattern Recognition sounds awesome but it's fucking terrible. Really. Everyone told me how fucking terrible it was and I read it anyway though. So I don't expect you to take my word for it. It is a cool premise. It's bad though. Feels like a hokey made-for-tv movie of its time (early 2000's) and a cliche piece of 'gen x' fiction. I was hoping for more Broom of The System than Iain Softley's HACKERS
>>7418804
HAHA, just from the comedic effect off your post...I will heed your advice and remove it from my audible wishlist....
Reread Neuromancer recently myself. Doesn't seem to have aged badly or become cliche IMO. Why do you say that.
I would second Count Zero, it has a pretty similar vibe to Neuromancer, not surprising considering it was written back to back. I also second the short stories in Burning Chrome, especially the self-titled story, New Rose Hotel, and Johnny Mnemonic. NRH is probably the best sci-fi short story (by far) that I've ever seen or read. I understand Gibson had to evolve but it's dissapointing in a way how he's gotten more into realism. You could sort of see it coming though with the way he always pays a lot of attention to day to day detail in his description of setting.
The second half of NM kind of dips like crazy in plot and pacing compared to the first half. Anyone else ever notice that? I must have read it like 4-5 times but this last reread was the first time I actually finished it. They go to space and then everything just gets kind of slow.
I think there's huge potential in the NM ideas that still haven't been tapped. Working on my own cyberpunk short story right now. In a way again not at all surprising. Gibson has/had no background in science/technology whatsoever and I'm guessing at some point he got sick of bullshitting and hand waving. He may have lacked a deep enough interest in the hard SF elements to really keep delving into what are in reality very technical concepts, like AI, internet, surgery, etc. Then again, the most important parts of a story are the fiction fundamentals (plot, character, etc.) and while Gibson may not have had mastery, at the time of NM (see his interview in the Paris Review), he did have a professional level grasp.
