Need Recommendations Re. Cyberpunk?

[tobeabletopost]

Originally Posted by Danost

...
Neuromancer: Not bad! The ending was a pretty unfulfilling, but not bad.

Snow Crash: Guh. The writing was awkward (There's moments where characters are in two places at the same time somehow, and other problems), the characters felt one dimensional, and I gave up halfway through when the fifteen gear old girl bonked some guy old enough to be her father.

A Scanner Darkly: Gave up relatively quickly. If I wanted to hear people talk about drugs, how to get more drugs, how they need drugs and what they'll do with drugs- as well as crazy conspiracy junk- I'd listen to my coworkers.

Anyone got any other suggestions? I'm dying here!

To me, the "punk" in cyberpunk is at least as important as the "cyber". Based on your reactions to the titles you mentioned, I think we may not agree on that. The punk suffix means, in my opinion, that the genre is best expressed in works where morality and the value of human life are examined, and that necessarily leads to things that may seem sleazy - questionable sex, drug use and abuse, violence. If you read Pat Cadigan's stories, you even get rock-n-roll with the sex and drugs.

Anyhow, I second WillAdams' recommendation of Walter Jon Williams' "Hardwired". It can be read simply as a near-future sci-fi action novel with lots of explosions and nifty tech, but it also deals with the human issues.

[DuncanWatson]

Cyberpunk is a genre that flashed by in a few decades. You are mostly going to be looking at older books. It is a genre with a lot of questionable morality.

Authors to look at (Novel form):

• John Brunner (examples include: Shockwave Rider)
• Walter Jon Williams
• Bruce Sterling (Heavy Weather, Islands in the Net, Distraction)
• Rudy Rucker (Wetware)
• William Gibson (not to my taste except for 2 books)

I also recommend Charles Stross for similar concepts. Both his lovecraftian universe and the writing exploring the concept of singularity relate to the shadowrun universe.
The Atrocity Archives and Halting State are good places to start.

[artifact]

A YA new release that sounds cyber (though maybe not so punk): The Leveller by Julia Durango.

Gamers and action fans of all types will dive straight into the MEEP, thanks to Julia Durango’s cinematic storytelling. A touch of romance adds some heart to Nixy’s vivid, multidimensional journey through Wyn’s tricked-out virtual city, and constant twists keep readers flying through to the breathtaking end.

I have not read this so no personal recommendation.

[spindlegirl]

A couple years ago I bought "A Song Called Youth" by John Shirley. (physical book) for my husband. He really enjoyed it. (A trilogy bound into one). It's about 3 inches thick.

[fantasyISbetter]

The Mechanical and Karen Memory were fabulous! Go for it!

[fantasyISbetter]

Daniel Suarez- Daemon (a computer genius dies and leaves behind a daemon that has worldwide impacts- start of a trilogy- really good)

Walter Jon Williams- Implied Spaces

Not sure if it's cyberpunk, but it's fabulous- Max Barry- Jennifer Government