What would you like to see new or different in Cyberpunk?

[Philip]

Eric's question about what you consider staples of the genre got me thinking:

What would you like to see in Cyberpunk that you have not seen before? What would you like to see more of or different?

[Philip]

I'd love to see more online digital action sequences, not unlike the Matrix or Tron, or like Netrunner the cardgame translated to novel form. (Any Netrunners out there?) Love the creativity, personification, and visualization in that game! It was based on Gibson's novels and I really enjoyed the few sequences in his books that took place online in the digital realm, and always wanted more of that.

Would also like to see a more diverse character set, with characters you can relate to - not just the tough guys and hard men/women. Would it still be cyberpunk without the mercs?

I'd be interested in some Shadowrun fiction as well, since it takes Cyberpunk and combines it with fantasy. Never read anything in that world and haven't played the RPG, so if anyone knows of fiction out there, let us know.

[Michael]

I'd like to see more "corporate intrigue" plotlines. I was fascinated by Gibsons story of Mitchell's extraction from a corporate arcology. Nasty doings in the upper levels of Big Science would be cool. Stephensons Diamond Age was brilliant but too fanciful to totally fit this bill.

[Kaitlin]

In terms of things I want, I've recently found. Ready Player One is loads of fun. Snow Crash was the right amount of bizarre and new. Cypulchre seemed to bridge desert dystopian with gritty cyberpunk.

I'd like to see more transhumanism as well as some more exploration of mental illness.

[Jarrett]

Mental illness in what way Kaitlin?

Oh, and hi everyone. Jumping into the group for the first time, but am a longtime lurker.

[Philip]

Yeah I think Mental Illness sounds fascinating as well. Could go anywhere with that, including how technology might help assist or negate certain limitations... or create them?

[Andy]

I'd like to see more on the technical side like Tron. Or something like War Games. Especially now since we're all constantly on the internet, I think net wars, corporate espionage, and causing general electronic mayhem would be nice. Especially since I'm into programming and I keep thinking about horror stories I've heard, like about how some unsuspecting worker curiously pokes around their job's network and finds their workplace has almost no internet security.

[Michael]

Morroseth....did you read Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez? You might really enjoy that. Personally, I thought Daemon and Freedom(tm) were far better but that's just my taste. If you haven't read Suarez, definitely give Kill Decision a shot.

[Liz]

A friend of mine has recently released a cyberpunk book where he has mixed the whole thing with a lot of genetic engineering: http://tinyurl.com/lunqjkf

On the topic, cyberpunk is well-integrated into the basic science fiction canon... there is also the question if it has ever been a real genre...

[Michael]

Liz, I rather agree that cyberpunk has always been quite fuzzy in its definition for me. I've been told it has a street-level grittiness and casually written violence. Ok, but every book that has that almost always has scenes and characters that also glide through the worlds upper echelon hangouts! Some of John Shirley's books most neatly fit into the cyberpunk genre, as I understand it, but I rarely see his name bandied about. "Near future speculative fiction that extrapolates today's leading edge technology". I read anything that fits that category!