Good contemporary cyberpunk?

[Alice, Founder - in absentia]

What good contemporary cyberpunk (or postcyberpunk) novels have you guys read?

[Grégoire]

I finished Neal Stephenson's Diamong Age a few days ago. Until then I had no real understanding of the cyperpunk use of nanotechs, but this one is really.. clear!

[Bill]

I enjoyed the Tak Kovacs series of books by Morgan. I don't know that I would say they were earth shattering or anything, but they were a lot of fun.

The only negative comment I will make is the sex scenes make you picture Morgan sitting in his parents basement for months on end without so much as a glimpse of a woman.

[[deleted user]]

James - Did you end up liking Electric Church? I thought it started very good ... but trailed away into some cliches of plotting and characters. I ended up being disappointed. It came off as a pastiche of the genre to me. It's one of those things where I would have been more foregiving it was written in the late-80s/early-90s, but as a 2007 book I was less forgiving.

In other words, if I had read it in high school, I would have loved it. As an adult, it was only OK.

[Odile]

I'm looking to pick up some of Nick Sagan's books as soon as I get my hands on some money ("and kiss its green skin"). If I like him anywhere as much as his dad (Carl), it'll be some good stuff.

[Keegan Fink]

@ Oscar:

Nice to see a fellow "Swans" fan here.

[Odile]

Hah, I was hoping someone'd spot that. It just popped into my mind :-)

[[deleted user]]

I've yet to start reading it but Charles Stross' Accelerando deals with Singularity ideas and is held in high regard. It's available as an e-book here: http://www.accelerando.org/

~Piotr

[Jim]

Accelerando is a fantastic book. It was the first Charles Stross book I ever read, and I think it's still my favorite. Accelerando does a good job of bridging the gap between cyberpunk and Singularity fiction, making it seem like the Singularity is the logical consequence of cyberpunk. It's fantastic stuff either way. Weird, dense with pop-cultural and sci-fi references, and absolutely addictive to read.

[Eric]

I'm currently reading it too. Enjoying it.

[Kate]

Oscar wrote: "Hah, I was hoping someone'd spot that. It just popped into my mind :-)"

Same thing happened to me when I saw "postcyberpunk".

Another good one that bridges the gap between Cyberpunk and Singularity fiction is Alastair Reynold's Century Rain, which also throws in quite a bit of mid-20th-century tech/ideas into the mix as well, in a quite ingenious way.

[Jon Kriek]

Reading Altered Carbon, loving it!

[Molly]

Altered Carbon was pretty decent. Not bad at all! Not superb, but certainly a great change from the usual pure crap you see these days masquerading as scifi.

On the other hand, Charles Stross is god.

[Kate]

Charles Stross is the shit, o yes. Just got my hands on WIRELESS, saving it as incentive for when I finish a project. Keep eyeing it fondly.

[Pierre]

Oscar wrote: "I'm looking to pick up some of Nick Sagan's books as soon as I get my hands on some money ("and kiss its green skin"). If I like him anywhere as much as his dad (Carl), it'll be some good stuff."
I use swaptree.com to trade the books I have read. Saves a lot of money.

[Ric]

Enjoyed reading this thread. Am glad to know that the newer writers such as Stross, Alastair Reynolds and Richard Morgan have moved beyond cyberpunk. My son went from Frank Herbert to William Gibson to ??
I gave him Halting State but that didn't seem to impress. Maybe the Redeption Ark series? Or Peter Hamilton (whom I note no one is considering as cyberpunk). Am inclined to go with Vernor Vinge and the 2009 Hugo winner. Geriatropunk?

[Boden]

David Marusek anyone? Counting Heads has the goods. I'm yet to read the sequel, Mind Over Ship.

Neal Asher's Cormac books - If you are okay with space opera, giant killer robot, A.I. and mayhem, Gridlinked is worth checking out.

I'm curious about LAuren Beukes'Moxyland.

[Pierre]

Bill wrote: "The only negative comment I will make is the sex scenes make you picture Morgan sitting in his parents basement for months on end without so much as a glimpse of a woman. "

Very true!
Thank you for phrasing the way I felt when reading these books :)

[[deleted user]]

I've really only read Gibson's "Sprawl" trilogy, and some Philip K. Dick like "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" which I would say is kind of proto-cyberpunk. It definitely lays a bit of the foundation.

[Jed]

I suppose it comes back to what exactly is "cyberpunk". Originally, it waas best represented by Gibson and his world within the computer land.

For example, Altered Carbon, one of my personal favorites of all time, does not classify (to me) as cyberpunk. I categorize it as far future high tech.

If we're going to be more liberal about our definitions, and include AI based writing, I'm a huge fan of Neal Asher, both the Agent Cormac and Spatterjay collections.

I'll also suggest Gideon's Fall: When You Dont Have a Prayer, Only a Miracle Will Do and Street: Empathy and Recursion (with the 2 following books). These all seem to be very "cyberpunk".

I agree with the above suggestion of Counting Heads and it's sequel Mind Over Ship

[Brett]

Here are a few sites that do a good job of defining the genre.

What is Cyberpunk?
http://www.cyberpunked.org/cyberpunk/
http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/what-i...
http://www.cyberpunkwiki.org/wiki/ind...

[Boden]

The Simon Morden Metrozone trilogy (Equations of Life, Theories of Flight, Degrees of Freedom)
Has anyone picked these up. Some of the blurb's compare him to writers mentioned here, so I'm curious about the books, if they hold up. Pretty sure I'll be buying them regardless, but wondering what opinions are from readers in this group.

Also, looking forward to The Quantum Thief, and Lauren Beukes, Zoo City, which I believe just won the Clarke award.

[[deleted user]]

I really enjoyed Richard Morgan's 'Takeshi Kovacs' trilogy. Also love love Wilhelmina Baird's Crashcourse and Clipjoint, and if you're into manga, pretty much anything by Tsutomu Nihei is a winner.

Ian McDonald's 'River of Gods', Paolo Bacigalupi's 'The Windup Girl', Richard Calder's 'Cythera' and Warren Hammond's 'Kop' all have cyberpunk elements (depending on your definition which I won't argue about!)

Looking forward to reading Morden, Somers and Rajaniemi.

P.S. 'Allo :)

[Boden]

Great recommendations. I haven't been aware of the Baird books, but they sound like something I'd very much enjoy. I've had the Blame! books on a wishlist for some time, but never pulled the trigger. Might have to find those as well.

I loved River of Gods--fantastic book, and completely sold me on the talents of Ian McDonald. And Calder, man, that guy is a treasure. Couldn't have been more excited to finally discover his Dead Girl trilogy this past year. Cythera is definitely on my list of must reads. Still have yet to get to The Windup Girl either, but the rep on that book precedes itself.

The Somers books are a good lot of fun. The ideas of the Electric Church, with the Mulquer Codex present a potential for something that could have been far richer, but it doesn't disappoint as fun, dystopic future-noir.

[[deleted user]]

It just occurred to me that no-one's mentioned Kenji Siratori yet.

[Boden]

Looking at Siratori and it seems to be pretty far out on the experimental limb. Is it all written in that machine language, puzzle prose, or is that just what I've encountered?

[[deleted user]]

It's all like that. I find it a little off-putting, too :(

[Patrick]

Jeff Somers was neat. Not deep or elegant, but wry, noir-ish fun in the fractured future.

[Stephen]

Just had to Join this groups since I own Unearthed FIlms and we released on dvd, Rubber's Lover and Pinocchio 963. Great films and looking for interesting reading and I think I just found it.

[Kevin]

I loved Neal Stephenson's 'Diamond Age'. His "Snow Crash' wasn't as good to my mind, but was very reminiscent of Gibson's work

[Philippe]

Cosmos inc. by Maurice.G Dantec, it's not his best, but it is definitively cyberpunk

[Jed]

I just read iBoy not great, but certainly cyberpunkish.

[Sarah]

I want to try Jeff Noon. I'm still sort of giving myself an overview of older work.

[John]

Check out Foreshadows: The Ghosts Zero. It's an anthology of cyberpunk short stories written in a shared universe. And it comes with a cyberpunk soundtrack, too. In fact, the stories themselves are all based on different tracks from the album. Even the e-book version comes with the full soundtrack (through Baen Ebooks).

Disclosure: I'm a contributing author and music producer for the soundtrack. So maybe I'm biased. But you should probably check it out anyway. :)

[Boden]

John, Foreshadows:GoZ sounds awesome. I'm in love with the idea, the concept, and I've had it on my wishlist since before it was released. I'd have it months ago if I could get a paperback for under $15. Any idea when, if ever, the cost might fit my low life budget?

[Andy]

I've read a bit of Assured Destruction by Michael F. Stewart and it seems pretty good.

[Melissa]

Trust the crowd: top free and paid cyberpunk novels below
http://amzn.to/19LvL79
http://amzn.to/17ots41

[Melissa]

Hmm no one seems to mention Ready Player One, which is amazing. Check it out. Just read Broad Horizons and it was really good. The Last Firewall is good too.

[Roman]

Ian McDonald's India 2047 books are the two best cyberpunk themed books I have read in a while.

River of Gods (India 2047 #1) [novel]
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Cyberabad Days (India 2047 #2) [short stories and one novella]
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

[Oliver]

Accelerando was fantastic, starting in the 80s and ending

[Oliver]

Accelerando was amazing taking you from 80s hacker anarchist to posthuman grey goo effortlessly! It gave me the rate neuromancer brain-splosion of messy newness

Paolo Bacigalupi is a great author start with the cyberpunk The People of Sand and Slag and ease Into the bio punk world :) a pocket full of dharma is a freaking gem or A short cyberpunk story

Greg Egan's Permutation City ain't bad

I can also bump diamond age and

[Sarah]

Are there any good ones, that have that cyberpunk feel that arent cyberpunk?

I checked out Untold Damage.

I was into dtective fiction for a long time too.

Oh also, Wind Up Girl as well. Depressing book though.

[D.L.]

Wind Up Girl, totally.

[Joseph]

What might be considered proto-proto cyberpunk (so it doesn't have the trademarks of sub-genre and it isn't a book) is a short story called "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream."

It's pretty famous actually. Also, it's a game.

I'm sure people being trapped in a computer, mind or otherwise has been done before and the author, Harlan Ellison, writes in every genre but that might be the closest to the primordial ooze of Cyberpunk I can find.

Please let me know if anyone can find something closer, I'd like to read it.

[Michael]

Black Man by Richard Morgan. Also it’s a good time to read it if you haven’t because Thin Air should be coming out this year or next which is its indirect follow up.

[Liz]

I recently read a book called "The Uploaded" by Ferrett Steinmetz. I would say it's the definition of contemporary cyberpunk. It does everything cyberpunk is known for doing, but without in any way trying to mimic "the Matrix" the cyberpunk tropes of the '80s.