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Cyberpunk-GAF: Recommend me some stuff

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This.

Also let me add I loved the Blue Ant trilogy. Pattern Recognition and Zero History are Gibson's best ever imo.

I have zero history in hardcover that I still haven't finished. I loved Pattern Recognition, finished over the course of 2 days.

I think as far as gibson goes it goes

Neuromancer
Pattern Recognition
Idoru


for me anyways.
 
Here are a few that, whilst not "classic" Cyberpunk, definitely cover lot of the themes:

Daemon
Freedom, inc

By Daniel Suarez. Two of the best books I've read in the last five years.

Ready Player One

By Ernie Cline.

Great book with tons of 80’s nostalgia.

Both of these have a similar opening conceit (billionaire creates virtual world but embeds a mystery to be solved after their death) but where they go after this is VERY different.
 
Shadowrun Returns is out on PC and Mac on June 26th. Looks fantastic. Not necessarily straight up cyberpunk I think since it has magic and some other fantasy touches like orcs and elves, but close enough.

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Ready Player One

By Ernie Cline.

Great book with tons of 80’s nostalgia.

no:

I'm sorry, we have to discuss this.

Ready Player One is, without a doubt, the single worst piece of dog shit book I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Put aside the fact that it's amateurishly written in every sense and you have a boring derivation of a tired sci-fi plot. The whole "super immersive MMO in a dystopian future" thing was done a thousand times before, most notably by Snow Crash (which is actually a good novel, btw.)

Then we get to the characters. Holy shit the characters are bad. The main character is an unlikable fat slob of a man with no social skills whatsoever. He falls in love with a girl he "meets" in the game - despite not knowing a single thing about her - and then when they eventually actually do start talking, she bails on him in a digital dance club. He responds in the most pathetic, bitch made way ever by crying. In a dance club. In a video game.

You should feel ashamed that you enjoyed it.
 
I know that I asked for myself recently, but I remembered a Western cyberpunk comic that I read about a month ago.

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King City is the story of a guy named Joe who returns to his home city after leaving to become a cat master. It means that he can use his cat as a tool to hack computers and all sorts of other stuff.

It is a really fun with a lot of absurd humor, if you couldn't tell, and a strong story. Its definitely worth a read.
 
Shadowrun Returns is out on PC and Mac on June 26th. Looks fantastic. Not necessarily straight up cyberpunk I think since it has magic and some other fantasy touches like orcs and elves, but close enough.

Oh, that looks cool. I'll have to check it out. Played a bit of PnP Shadow run back when, been waiting for a good game in the setting.
 

Ready Player One audiobook read by Will Wheaton was decent but I can see how reading it would be a little rough.


Also, Snow Crash audiobook read by Johnathan Davis is really good. I would like either him or Tom Stechschulte to have narrated Neuromancer. The BBC radio version of Neuromancer is decent as well.
 
Any Neo-Noir works that fall under cyberpunk that needs attention?
And since we are taking about music, would the works of The Protomen fall under the scale?

Altered Carbon, absolutely, and the sequels. Also, Glasshouse by Charles Ross is superlative.

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Edit: Glasshouse is straight up cyberpunk, BTW not neo/tech-noir
 
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I also want to plug The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi.

Wind_up.jpg


It's only tangentially cyber-punk, because there's not as much of a focus on electronic tech (it's all about genetic engineering and nano-materials) but in terms of tone it's very close to cyber-punk. I know some people have called it "biopunk". Anyway, all the things that make cyber-punk awesome (mega-corporations, shady establishments, cool criminals and small stories set in a bigger context) are all there. There's some first rate world-building in here and it's well written as hell. Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula award, so you know it's worth it.

Having just finished this myself, I can say without hyperbole that this book is filled to the brim with world building. More than any other novel that I can recall reading in years. It's a little slow, but when things pick up, they do not stop.
 
For real?

Excerpts from Altered Carbon:
(Hidden because of NSFW content, not actual spoilers)

"Then there was a deep salt taste as my tongue tracked down the creases of her cunt, soaking up Merge Nine with her juices and coming back to press and flick at the tiny bud of her clitoris. Somewhere, at the other end of the world, my penis was pulsing in her hand. A mouth closed over the head and sucked gently"

"Reaching back for balance and hold, she sank down, impaling herself on the shaft with a long, warm groan. She leaned over me, breasts swinging, and I craned and sucked hungrily at the elusive globes. "

"This time when she came, it was with escalating cries that she locked in her throat each time with powerful flexings of the muscles at the base of her stomach while her whole body eeled back and forth across the bed and her hips bucked upward, grinding the soft flesh into my mouth"

There are several scenes like this in the book, and they are really long, like multiple pages each.

Ready Player One audiobook read by Will Wheaton was decent but I can see how reading it would be a little rough.

I could not stand Wheaton in the audio book. He just has too much of that know-it-all geek voice. I mean, I guess it fit the character, but it's so painful to listen to.

I honestly don't understand who that book was for. So much time spent shallowly name-dropping things from the 80s. I feel like young people would have no idea what they were talking about, and people who actually grew up in the 80s would want something more substantial than a character simply reciting a list of Commodore 64 games or Family Ties characters.
 
I honestly don't understand who that book was for. So much time spent shallowly name-dropping things from the 80s. I feel like young people would have no idea what they were talking about, and people who actually grew up in the 80s would want something more substantial than a character simply reciting a list of Commodore 64 games or Family Ties characters.

It's Young Adult genre fiction; if your expectations are beyond that you will be disappointed (I was), but for many tastes it's fine.
 
First, yes, Ready Player One is a YA novel meant for teenagers. It can be read by anyone, but you should understand that you're not the intended audience.

Second, I was reminded today of my favorite portion of the Heavy Metal movie - the second story, Harry Canyon. It is the story of a future cab driver in a super pulpy world, and it has always been my favorite section of the movie.
Heavy_Metal_%281981%29.jpg


Is anyone here familiar with Heavy Metal the comic series. I know that it is an anthology of sci-fi and fantasy comics that ran for about 30 years, but I have never actually read any of the stories. Is there a good collection to start with?
 
Since when was RPO classified as YA? I'm pretty sure it wasn't marketed as such. Despite having many prominent YA tropes, it's regarded as science fiction.
 
Picked up a book of Ian McDonald's short stories as well as Charles Stross' Glasshouse thanks to this thread.
Got this evening sorted thanks :]
 
First, yes, Ready Player One is a YA novel meant for teenagers. It can be read by anyone, but you should understand that you're not the intended audience.

Second, I was reminded today of my favorite portion of the Heavy Metal movie - the second story, Harry Canyon. It is the story of a future cab driver in a super pulpy world, and it has always been my favorite section of the movie.
Heavy_Metal_%281981%29.jpg


Is anyone here familiar with Heavy Metal the comic series. I know that it is an anthology of sci-fi and fantasy comics that ran for about 30 years, but I have never actually read any of the stories. Is there a good collection to start with?

No idea if there is a collection, but I used to buy them semi regularly, some great stuff in there.

Edit: Most of it was more fantasy and post apocalyptic stuff rather than cyberpunk, but good stuff none the less.
 
I'm just about half way into Snow Crash, enjoying it much more than I thought I would. I had always been put off thinking it was a satire but it's as affectionate an homage as everyone says it is. Love the doggies!

I have to add to the praise for the Marid Audran series too. When Gravity Fails is absolutely fantastic in every way. The series maybe goes in a different direction than you would hope but it's still a brilliant trilogy.
 
I'm reading River of Gods after hearing about it here, adn I'm having a blast with it so far. Every cyberpunk novel should have an EMP gun consecrated to thunder god Indra, and a solo/hacker with a pack of AI dressed up as the avatars of Indhi gods.

Ian McDonald seems to have developped the same formula of exotic cyberpunk with his subsequent novels - Brasyl, Cyberabad Days, The Dervish House... are they as good as River ?
 
My recommendations

Series
GiTS

Game
Shadowrun snes

Manga
Battle Angel Alita





Shadowrun Returns is out on PC and Mac on June 26th. Looks fantastic. Not necessarily straight up cyberpunk I think since it has magic and some other fantasy touches like orcs and elves, but close enough.

is this from the same devs. as the snes version?
Where can I buy Battle Angel Alita?

amazon.com seems to have the volumes available for sale.
 
is this from the same devs. as the snes version?
No, new dev, but it's headed up by Jordan Weisman who created the Shadowrun universe back in the day (also did the Mechwarrior games and Crimson Skies).

It's a a different sort of game from the older Shadowrun games. Basically a party-based RPG with some XCOM-esque combat. Looks great.

Though the composer from the SNES game is helping create the soundtrack for Shadowrun Returns.
 
I was told to come in here and give you some suggestions. So here I am.

Books-

William Gibson-
Neuromancer
Count Zero
Mona Lisa Overdrive
Idoru

To add to your Gibson recommendation I'd suggest the Burning Chrome short-story collection (especially since you're recommending the Sprawl series, Johnny Mnemonic is an indirect prequel to Neuromancer) and Virtual Light from the Bridge series too.

For other books, I'd suggest Wetware by Craig Nova (sort of like Fairyland Carcetti mentioned), Hammerjack and Prodigal by Marc D. Giller are also decent reads.

Shadowrun is actually elfpunk. Elfpunk = cyberpunk+urban fantasy-vampires and werewolves.

Never head of that term before, but Shadowrun has Vamps and I wouldn't be surprised if they had werewolves too. Shadowrun, IMO, is simply cyberpunk+fantasy, sort of how Warhammer 20K is Fantasy+Sci-fi.
 
Having just finished this myself, I can say without hyperbole that this book is filled to the brim with world building. More than any other novel that I can recall reading in years. It's a little slow, but when things pick up, they do not stop.

Yeah, there's so much atmosphere in there, and it's done with such finesse that it's never intrusive (more Gibson than Stephenson). Be sure to check out The Calorie Man and Yellow Card Man, two short stories/novelettes set in the same universe.


Transmetropolitan. Great series.

Not only a great Cyber-punk world, but definitely one of the best comics I've ever read. Solid throughout.
 
I'm in the mood to play some short cyberpunk games while I'm waiting a month for Shin Megami Tensei 4 to arrive.

Is there anything brief and cheap (less than $5) that you would recommend to a mac and iPad owner?

I just started listening to the audio book for the difference engine tonight. I know if it is not at all cyberpunk, in fact I think it basically started steampunk, but I'm enjoying it so far. I also got the entire William Gibson Blue Ant trilogy to listen to while working. I'm read them all already, so I'm looking forward to hearing them.

I also requested the Windup Girl audiobook and the second book in the "When Gravity Fails" trilogy from the library thanks to the suggestion of this thread.
 
Yeah, there's so much atmosphere in there, and it's done with such finesse that it's never intrusive (more Gibson than Stephenson). Be sure to check out The Calorie Man and Yellow Card Man, two short stories/novelettes set in the same universe.

Are those a bit more back story on certain characters in the novel? Just the titles make me think so.
 
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