Snow Crash - Cyberpunk

[Ed]

There's been some discussions of what exactly cyberpunk is all about..is it a good movement, bad movement...how free and flexible is it. What are people's reactions to this movement/genre?

[Nick, Founder (In Absentia)]

This is my second real read in cyberpunk. In my Pop Fiction class we read Burning Chrome by William Gibson and I hated it. This is much more entertaining. SO, I guess I'm sort of wishy washy towards it right now.

[Meghan]

The only stuff I've read is Gibson and Barry. Most of it was in the 90s. I would love to hear from someone who is more knowledgeable about what are some good recent books. Some of these older books feel a little "dated" reading them now.

But overall it's one of my favorite subgenres.

[John]

I read Neuromancer some time ago and I remember it as being hard to get into. Maybe Snow Crash was so much easier just because I'm older now. The genre lends itself well to social commentary, I think, because it's so close to the present, though in some cases that could also make it seem dated very quickly. I thought Snow Crash, at least, wore well.

[Reads with Scotch]

I am not a big Cyberpunk fan, but I did enjoy “Accelerando” By Charles Stross.

[Meghan]

I found this site that has a great list of cyberpunk books. It even has a section of recommended reads for those new to the genre. It's just one fan's list, but I found he had a lot of the "classics".

http://www.nyx.net/~astoker/cpbooks.html

[Hawk]

A lot of critics like to think of Snow Crash as the '"last cyberpunk novel" or the "book that killed cyberpunk," because it was published very near the end of cyberpunk's lifespan as a serious literary genre and deconstructed/parodied a great deal of its common tropes.

[Kim]

I wouldn't say it is anywhere near the last cyberpunk novel. Altered Carbon is a great cyberpunk novel and it was released in 2002.

[Hawk]

Kim wrote: "I wouldn't say it is anywhere near the last cyberpunk novel. Altered Carbon is a great cyberpunk novel and it was released in 2002."
But Altered Carbon is at least a little bit nostalgic for the cyberpunk of old. I read Altered Carbon as a postcyberpunk homage to cyberpunk.

[Hank]

I will second Accelerando and add Glasshouse also by Stross. My vision of cyberpunk is the use of future technology and how it relates to reality itself, maybe it is all in your mind, maybe it isn't.

[Hawk]

Hank wrote: "I will second Accelerando and add Glasshouse also by Stross. My vision of cyberpunk is the use of future technology and how it relates to reality itself, maybe it is all in your mind, maybe i..."

I love Charles Stross, but I'd call both of those novels postcyberpunk.

[Trike]

Yeah, I don't get "cyberpunk" from any of those books by Stross.

I actually see more modern cyberpunk in novels Daemon and Freedom (TM) by Daniel Suarez.

...wow, just realized how old this thread is.

[Kim]

That's OK Trike. It's why we keep them.