Cyberpunk Books

Technology is a mixed blessing. It can help us to connect, to communicate with people from all over the world, but we can lose ourselves in our machines and ignore the people sat beside us. We have all this wealth, all these gadgets, but they’re no good if we destroy the environment, work ourselves to death or forget to live. We need balance.

Pat Cadigan is one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary genre, though she doesn’t describe herself that way. In her career she has published numerous novels and short stories, dealing with the interaction between the human mind and technology. She was the recipient of the Arthur C. Clarke Award for best novel of the year for Synners (1991) and Fools (1992). She received the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for The Girl-Thing who Went Out for Sushi (2013).

We bounce around in a desperate, wild chase around the solar system, as the young protagonists try to contain an ever-worsening situation. The story draws from several influences – The Matrix meets Ready Player One, with elements from Lord of the Flies and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

Fresh off a successful Kickstarter, Datura #1 is due to be shipped soon to eager readers.  Created by Trevor Talbott and Diego Olortegui, this science-fiction fueled, family driven action adventure is a trip for readers.  

The Hugo-nominated, Sunburst, Locus and Prometheus award-winning author, Cory Doctorow was at Comicpalooza this weekend, and he graciously took some time out of his crowded schedule to talk to writer Cory De La Guardia, for Cyberpunks.com.   Check out Doctorow’s newest book, Radicalized.

Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s aptly-named We Cast a Shadow is a harrowing exploration of the extremes that govern the psyche of the oppressed–light and shadow, good and bad, white and black. This debut novel offers a bleak satirical depiction of a man mentally (and physically) warped by a lifetime of racism and brutality.

For the first installment of our series, Cyberpunk Collectibles, we got our hands on a hardcover, first-edition of Mirrorshades on eBay.  A hardcover first-edition in good shape is easily $100+.  If you can find a paperback copy for under ten bucks, you should snatch it up, but good luck, chum.

In the future, mankind has colonized the Solar System; societies exist on all the major rocky planets and moons within reach, creating vast wealth. Red Rising takes place in the middle of this and shows us what happens when one young person tries to turn the system on its head against impossible odds

I know what you’re thinking, “…oh great, another post about another Cory Doctorow book.  This is starting to get repetitive.”  Well, that’s tough, because the man’s a genius.

“We can’t stop copying on the internet because the internet is a copying machine. Literally.”  — Cory Doctorow