2011-05 WHEN GRAVITY FAILS: Effinger's version of cyberpunk (*SPOILERS*)

[Candiss]

If you've read other cyberpunk titles, what did you think of the ways Effinger used cyberpunk trappings (the gritty feel, cerebral implants/neural upgrades, the liberal use of various drugs or chemicals, the noir tinge, etc.) compared/contrasted with how other authors have used these ideas? Alternately, if you aren't familiar with cyberpunk as a sub-genre, what did you think of these concepts as thematic elements?

(SPOILERS probable)

[Bill]

I read this as an omnibus The Audran Sequence last year sometime. I did not really think of it as cyberpunk, despite the personality plugins. The story was driven much more by culture and character rather than technology. But I would not quibble about the subgenre.

[Ron]

(Warning: spoiler)


Kernos, I would differ with you on this point. The climax of the book, the surprise revelation of the identity of the second killer, turns precisely on the neural technology, and the fact that its availability has made Audran look for an implanted villain rather than a good old-fashioned sadistic killer.
As for the rest, I think the book falls right in the middle of the cyberpunk bell curve with all the elements Candiss mentions, particularly the drug and drink (ab)use and the riff on the hard-boiled detective of the noir films.