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Spiegelschatten: die g...
 
by
Bruce Sterling

Spiegelschatten: die grosse Cyberpunk-Anthologie ; Science Fiction

3.93 of 5 stars 3.93  ·  rating details  ·  3,888 ratings  ·  52 reviews
With their hard-edged, street-wise prose, they created frighteningly probable futures of high-tech societies and low-life hustlers. Fans and critics call their world cyberpunk. Here is the definitive "cyberpunk" short fiction collection. HC: Arbor House.
Published (first published 1986)
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Evan
Here the mediocre and the barely readable rub shoulders with pop genius.

The lesser cyberpunks come across like caffeinated 1950s squares desperately trying to sound like the beatniks they've heard so much about. Want some holodrugs to go with your cyberslang, daddy-o!!?

The greats have a singular ease of style and taste for the bizarre that gives you a whiff of the 80s, but the colors are still bright after twenty years.

Flawed, but essential.
La Stamberga dei Lettori
In certi ambienti Mirrorshades non avrebbe bisogno di presentazioni: antologia-manifesto del cyberpunk, curata da Bruce Sterling con l'apporto di William Gibson, i padri del genere, destinata a sancire nella sfera letteraria la rivoluzione informatica a metà degli anni Ottanta.
In certi ambienti, Mirrorshades è un mito ed una leggenda, perché difficilmente reperibile. A lungo l'ho cercata, e finalmente ho concluso la mia impossibile ricerca.
Questa premessa solo per giustificare, anche se in parte...more
Tancredi
In certi ambienti Mirrorshades non avrebbe bisogno di presentazioni: antologia-manifesto del cyberpunk, curata da Bruce Sterling con l'apporto di William Gibson, i padri del genere, destinata a sancire nella sfera letteraria la rivoluzione informatica a metà degli anni Ottanta.
In certi ambienti, Mirrorshades è un mito ed una leggenda, perché difficilmente reperibile. A lungo l'ho cercata, e finalmente ho concluso la mia impossibile ricerca.
Questa premessa solo per giustificare, anche se in part...more
Heidi
Sep 21, 2009 Heidi is currently reading it  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: cyberpunks
Recommended to Heidi by: a cyberpunk a long time ago
I read this a LONG time ago but I am ready to read it again and so I am! It was published in 1988 and these stories are all basically in the cyberpunk genre, so it is a little bit dated, but that shouldn't bother me. Since it s a collectin of short stories, I will rate it story by story. (1) The Gernsback Continuum by William Gibson. I LOVED Neuromancer and was hoping this would be in that vein, I was ttoally disappointed. I kept waiting for something, to happen, hoping . . . but it didn't. It s...more
The_britguy

Una breve reflexión sobre las antologías:
Por lo general nunca he tenido una buena predisposición hacia ellas, a no ser que fueran del mismo autor, ya que siempre me he quedado insatisfecho por lo breves de los relatos... y siempre he acabado disfrutando mucho de ellas.
Es cierto que hay piezas que no terminan de llenarte, pero si la selección está bien hecha, suelen ser las menos, y a cambio tienes un ramillete muy amplio de ejercicios narrativos que seguramente no conocías. Eso es lo que me ha v

...more
El Zuco
Just started the book but already love it... why haven't I been reading cyberpunk my whole life? The excellent first short story by Gibson, "Gernsback Continuum," narrates the story of a contract photographer hired to document the vestiges of 1930's US futurism, but also somehow manages to function as an abbreviated history of US modernism in the twentieth century and a commentary on the history of science fiction whose negativity suggests a cyberpunk vision in confronting the present (early 198...more
Cheryl in CC NV
Unmemorable and dated, unfortunately. I promptly bookcrossed & released it.
Ninja Pigeon


Contains many of my favorite examples of cyberpunk fiction. From Mozart in Mirrorshades, to the WW1 flight combat sim done in 3D Virtual Reality, this anthology is a collection of. Any amazing writers and their stories. All of them have stuck with me for the last 15+ years and influenced many of my own writing, and movie decisions. A must read for any beginner to the sci-fi and specifically cyberpunk genre. Also of note - my iPad doesn't try to correct the word "cyberpunk". Kudos to Gibson and...more
Vítek Kalábek
Moje první knižní setkání s kyberpunkem. Kvalita povídek ve sbírce značně kolísá a zatímco některé jsem proletěl a nevnímal, jiné se úspěšně zaryly do paměti. Vynikající Slunovrat o drogových umělcích a klonování, temně futuristický Stone žije (Bronx + Jungle = Brungle, jednoduché, geniální) a nebo hravé Houdinyho příběhy a Mozart v zrcadlovkách za přečtení určitě stojí.

A padli jsme si s kyberpunkem do noty? Neřekl bych. Nenašel jsem moc společných prvků a tak vlastně pořád hledám, o čem že ten...more
Gregg Wingo
Bruce Sterling’s “Mirrorshades” represents the first anthology of the nascent movement known as cyberpunk. It is also a coming of maturity for science fiction as the dominant form of postmodern literary expression. This is illustrated most vividly by Darren Harris-Fain’s critique of the first story in the anthology, “The Gernsback Continuum”. The story by William Gibson is a denunciation of the ideals of Gernsback, the founding principles of American science fiction, and Modernism through the ad...more
Nicolas
Il est difficile de parler de quelque chose d’aussi polymorphe que ce mouvement sans en passer par les généralités, mais je vais essayer d’éviter. Tout le monde le sait, le début des années 80 a été la genèse de ce mouvement, revendiquant une sf différente tant par ses thèmes que ses implications. Et si l’ambition technologique demeure, on quitte radicalement le monde des héros de la sf traditionnelle, ainsi que ses thématiques spatiales et extra-terrestres, pour revenir ici aux bas-fonds, aux l...more
Dan York
Along with William Gibson's Neuromancer this anthology of short stories from the 1980's pretty much launched the genre that would become known as "cyberpunk". Like any anthology the quality was mixed, and I don't know today how well all the stories would stand the test of time. Still, if you are looking for a trip back to where cyberpunk all began, this collection is a good place to start.
Mouldy Squid
The original anthology that started "the movement". Every science fiction fan and modern literature student should be required to read this anthology. It is difficult to overstate its impact in the genre and in the culture at large. Mirrorshades marks the beginning of truly modern science fiction. Some the stories will be dated, of that have no doubt, however, this single anthology provides the context for one of the most important changes in the literature of science fiction. A must read.
Nicholas Whyte
http://nhw.livejournal.com/1008604.html[return][return]Lived up to its reputation. I'm not a wild-eyed enthusiast for cyberpunk (and William Gibson's story here, "The Gernsback Continuum", which rather lacks an ending, reminded me why not) but I'm always ready to be convinced by a good story, and there are loads of them in here. I think the only one I'd read before was Sterling and Gibson's "Red Star, Winter Orbit" which is actually rather moving and nostalgic, qualities one doesn't really assoc...more
Rob
Aug 28, 2007 Rob rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: cyberpunk n00bs and other scifi lovers
A battered copy lives in my nightstand at all times. Between novels, I always come back to this, flipping through the pages until a word catches my eye. Such a diversity of talent, mixed together quite well here.

Rated Individually:
• "The Gernsback Continuum" (William Gibson) ★★★★★
• "Snake-Eyes" (Tom Maddox) ★★★★
• "Rock On" (Pat Cadigan) ★★★★
• "Tales of Houdini" (Rudy Rucker) ★★★★★
• "400 Boys" (Marc Laidlaw) ★★★★★
• "Solstice" (James Patrick Kelly) ★★★★
• "Petra" (Greg Bear) ★★★★★
• "Till Human Voic...more
Ketan Shah
A bit of a time capsule from 1987,when cyberpunk was the biggest baddest thing to hit science fiction. Bruce Sterling does a good job in editing this collection,with some excellent contributions from the very loosely defined cyberpunk genre. Standouts include William Gibson's Gernsback Continuum,Greg Bear's Petra,and Sterling and Lewis Shiner's Mozart in Mirrorshades.
Lee
This is a collection of short stories by authors associated with the "cyberpunk movement" within the science fiction field. Cadigan, Shirley, Shiner, Bear, Maddox, and others all contribute great works. Eerie extrapolation on biotechnology, space migration and other staple SF fixtures. "Mirrorshades'" stories handle the future in intimate detail.
Jordan
This is a kind of mixed bag. There are some great cyberpunk stories in here, and there are some that I'm not really sure how they qualify as cyberpunk other than they're written by authors who have written in the cyberpunk genre. While I like the two Gibson stories in this collection (which I like basically anything he's written so that's not hard), they seem like two of his least cyberpunk stories. Where was something like "Johnny Mnemonic"? The Greg Bear story, while interesting, was also anot...more
Tim Fiester
I was given a copy of this book back in the 80s. I had my mind blown by the then cool stories in this book. Not all of the stories are great (sadly, it's been so long that I can't identify them for you; sorry), but it got me out of the sci-fi doldrums I was in at the time.
Jason
Still hate cyberpunk with all my heart but I give this short story collection 2 stars because I will admit its an important one: it reveals the beginnings of a turning point within science fiction--a landmark & really bad fad.

Cyberpunk brought new elements to sci-fi & when used sparingly, it can enhance science fiction stories of today. But when the sub-genre is pure cyberpunk (emphasis on the "cyber"), then it's geekboy masturbation at its worst.

It's one thing when the geeks of society...more
Marc
Though the works have various degrees of "cyberpunkism," overall the stories were varied and interesting. Plus it was written WAY back in 1986 (26 years), so it's always interesting comparing their predictions to today's tech.
Michael
As with many short story collections, Mirrorshades is a mixed bag. Some of the stories are brilliant. Others less so. Some I'm not entirely sure qualify as 'cyberpunk,' though I am admittedly new to the literary aspect of the genre.

Snake Eyes by Tom Maddox, Solstice by James Patrick Kelly, Freezone by John Sirley, and Stone Lives by Paul Di Filippo particularly stood out to me.
James Phyland
This book introduced me to cyberpunk in the late 80's and I got hooked. The Suberin visualisations and diversity of voices was amazing.
Andrew
Cyberpunk used to mean so much more than crazy future clothes, oppressive corporate regimes, and cybernetic enhancements, but these days the word mostly conjures up Gibsonian dystopias. It's interesting to read a broader range of stories from the time, selected by people who were part of 'the Movement', but it might be even more interesting to read Bruce Sterling talk about himself in the third person when he describes prominent figures of cyberpunk. Amusing!
Lord Humungus
Some truly great cyberpunk stuff. Favorite story is 'Petra', which wasn't cyberpunk at all but memorably bizarre.
Adam Koebel
Mozart In Mirrorshades was totally the best one. Fantastic collection overall worth the $4 I paid for it, easy.
Margaret Coulter
Apparently 'Mozart in Mirrorshades' is the short story to look out for in this one.
Nam
Had never read any Bruce Sterling except for Difference Engine and his blog. However, I have been a big fan of cyberpunk ever since i read Neuromancer back in middle school.

This collection is a must read as a primer anthology for the genre. Many of the stories are not as exciting when compared to some of the classic novels of the genre. However, a few really shine. Plus, it provides a clear glimpse into the style, context and concerns of this group of writers. I particularly enjoyed the stories;...more
Jonathan
Really Getting into the 80's Cyber-Punk, thing. Needed some distance first. I had no idea that there was anyone else decent, besides Gibson.
Jonathan Strahan
A good solid anthology, almost of all of which are cyberpunk.
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Recommendations 6 26 27 mai 17:26  
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Michael Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre.
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