“See, the world is full of things more powerful than us. But if you know how to catch a ride, you can go places,” ― Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash Cyberspace Cyberspace was described by William Gibson as a“consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators…” It is a new reality, built on top of our current one – a virtual space allowing us to do and experience things that may be impossible in the physical world, at least under […]

Our previous article described influential authors and works of Western cyberpunk. Here we’ll talk about the most important cyberpunk works from Japan. Tetsuo Japanese film cyberpunk often depicts the transformation of human beings into metallic monsters. The movies often take place in cities of steel and concrete and deal with topics such as mutations, dehumanization, psychic powers, and sexual deviations. These films often have the feel of experimental movies, and can be hard for general audiences to comprehend. The most […]

In this article, we’ll be looking at the most important works and authors in the field of Western cyberpunk. Japanese cyberpunk will be covered in the next article. William Gibson – Not Only Neuromancer The seminal cyberpunk novel Neuromancer by William Gibson, mentioned in our previous articles, was published in 1984 and belongs to the Sprawl trilogy, along with Count Zero (1986) and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988). Neuromancer was the first novel to receive all three “grand” SF/fantasy literary awards […]

“You have money?” – “A credit chip,” Rydell said. “Any contagious diseases?” – “No.” “Are you a drug abuser?” – “No,” Rydell said. “A drug dealer?” – “No.” “Smoke anything? Cigarettes, a pipe?” – “No.” “Are you a violent person?” Rydell hesitated. “No.” - W. Gibson, All Tomorrow‘s Parties (1999) Dystopian Society Cyberpunk worlds are often controlled by large international corporations or similar systems, such as totalitarian governments, etc. Ordinary people typically lead their lives as slaves to corporations, which dictate the social norms and the ways […]