Cyberpunk is dead, long live cyberpunk! The genre that was the hottest thing in science fiction in the 1980s and early 1990s has had its death certificate drafted many times. From the signature works of William Gibson, Rudy Rucker, Bruce Sterling and K.W. Jeter it supposedly ended soon after authors like Neal Stephenson started writing cyberpunk so over-the-top that it almost parodied the genre. But if you look at some of the classic elements of cyberpunk:
- A near-future urban setting, often gritty and veering towards dystopia.
- A dark view of technology often with innovations that seem amazing but end up with a loss of individual privacy or identity, and the technology being often embedded or integrated into biology.
- A tone Influenced by hardboiled and noir detective fiction, usually paired with the fast pace of a thriller.
This description could be applied to plenty of books before Neuromancer came along, (Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination being one strong example), and there are books published in recent years that carry the cyberpunk torch, using elements from this recipe book to create new and entertaining SF novels. By all means, if you prefer you can call it something else, but I’ll just be over here reading it. From a blend point of view, most cyberpunk falls under the SF/Adrenaline umbrella in the blender. Here are a few from the last 5 or so years, but feel free to comment with your favorite cyberpunk torch carriers. (more…)
