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Patterns
This is a book of science fiction - without galactic fleets or plucky scientists' daughters; a book of fantasies - without elves, barbarians or wizards; a book of horror - without clichéd mad slashers in hockey masks.If one must categorize this collection by Pat Cadigan, then the inevitable conclusion would be that Patterns is a book about people, good and bad, noble and monstrous, common and oh so extraordinary. Cadigan's characters live and breathe in these fourteen astonishing stories, making even the most outlandish ideas seem more than possible.
211 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1987
18 people are currently reading
445 people want to read
About the author
Pat Cadigan
263 books435 followersPat Cadigan is an American-born science fiction author, who broke through as a major writer as part of the cyberpunk movement. Her early novels and stories all shared a common theme, exploring the relationship between the human mind and technology.
Her first novel, Mindplayers, introduced what became a common theme to all her works. Her stories blurred the line between reality and perception by making the human mind a real and explorable place. Her second novel, Synners, expanded upon the same theme, and featured a future where direct access to the mind via technology was in fact possible.
She has won a number of awards, including the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award twice,in 1992, and 1995 for her novels Synners and Fools.
She currently lives in London, England with her family.
Her first novel, Mindplayers, introduced what became a common theme to all her works. Her stories blurred the line between reality and perception by making the human mind a real and explorable place. Her second novel, Synners, expanded upon the same theme, and featured a future where direct access to the mind via technology was in fact possible.
She has won a number of awards, including the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award twice,in 1992, and 1995 for her novels Synners and Fools.
She currently lives in London, England with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
November 18, 2018
In ten years on Goodreads I've read 43 collections or anthologies, and this one is hands-down the best. It is all the more notable for being her first published collection of stories, and not even a "best of" anthology. Recommended!
Each story has a very brief intro by the author, giving the circumstances or where the story idea came from. The tales vary in length from a few pages to just over thirty. A final page gives their original published location, many in Omni - one of my favorite magazines early on. The plots are usually tightly woven and the characters solid and believable, an even mix of male and female perspectives.
Her work is often described as cyberpunk, but that's mostly the gritty feel and timing of her novels. This collection contains plenty that range far from that label, including vampires, ghosts, aliens, and ordinary runners. Well, maybe not so ordinary - but read it to find out what I mean.
I can't see why this author hasn't received more awards, but I regret to say I've never read one of her novels. I look forward to correcting that in the new year.
Each story has a very brief intro by the author, giving the circumstances or where the story idea came from. The tales vary in length from a few pages to just over thirty. A final page gives their original published location, many in Omni - one of my favorite magazines early on. The plots are usually tightly woven and the characters solid and believable, an even mix of male and female perspectives.
Her work is often described as cyberpunk, but that's mostly the gritty feel and timing of her novels. This collection contains plenty that range far from that label, including vampires, ghosts, aliens, and ordinary runners. Well, maybe not so ordinary - but read it to find out what I mean.
I can't see why this author hasn't received more awards, but I regret to say I've never read one of her novels. I look forward to correcting that in the new year.
July 31, 2020
Como la mayoría de la gente, conocí a Pat Cadigan a través del cuento "Rock On" (traducido como "Seguir rockeando"), que aparece en la antología Mirrorshades, editada por Bruce Sterling. Traducida al español en 1998 por la editorial Siruela, esta antología fue la carta de presentación del cyberpunk, más allá de la obra de William Gibson y el propio Sterling. Cadigan es la única mujer presente en esta antología, y en general, en la primera etapa de esta corriente/movimiento/etiqueta editorial, razón por la que se le llegó a denominar la "reina" del cyberpunk, una idea fuertemente criticada por las lecturas feministas que se han hecho posteriormente de las obras reunidas bajo esta etiqueta a lo largo de los años ochenta.
Como afirma Carlen Lavigne, Hizo falta esperar a la década de los noventa (y luego, a las primeras décadas del siglo XXI), para que autoras como Lisa Mason, Marge Piercy o Melissa Scott, entre otras, se apropiaran los temas y la estética cyberpunk, expandiendo algunos de los aportes de Cadigan e introduciendo nuevas particularidades a una corriente que al principio parecía tan conservadora en cuanto a la representación de las voces femeninas como la tradición de la ciencia ficción frente a la cual pretendía posicionarse como una renovación.
No obstante, la obra de Pat Cadigan continuó desarrollándose bajo la sombra de este movimiento, y sus primeras novelas nos confrontan con sociedades hipertecnológicas donde las mentes se conectan a través de redes e interfaces, en una suerte de telepatía digital que marca la novelística de esta autora. Una de esas novelas, Synners, es un desarrollo del cuento incluido en Mirrorshades, en donde se introduce a estos individuos que, como Gina, la protagonista de "Seguir Rockeando", tienen la capacidad de "sintetizar" con su mente la música y el espectáculo de una banda de rock, conectando a los espectadores con un flujo de imágenes y sonidos producidos y emitidos directamente por su consciencia.
Paralelamente, la obra cuentística de Cadigan siguió desarrollándose también de manera prolífica, y en su narrativa breve es donde encontramos mayor libertad y diversidad temática. Desafortunadamente, Cadigan ha sido poco traducida, y lo poco que se conseguía en español (hasta donde he podido averiguar), durante mucho tiempo, además de Rock On, era el cuento "Ángel", incluido en la compilación de los premios Nébula de 1987; y el relato "Fue el calor", en la antología de terror "Escalofríos en el trópico". Por eso la traducción al español de la compilación de relatos Patterns, propuesta por la editorial argentina Cántaro bajo el título MATRICES, vino a llenar un vacío y a abrir una puerta a los lectores hispanohablantes a la obra de esta escritora norteamericana, en la que podemos empezar a internarnos con una curiosidad que será recompensada.
Para empezar, hay que decir que los cuentos antes mencionados están incluidos en este volumen, en la nueva traducción de Elvio Gandolfo, que contribuye a redescubrir estos tres relatos, pero también a cotejar las traducciones existentes e identificar sus ventajas y sus limitaciones. Pero hablemos del conjunto de relatos de esta antología.
Lo primero que hay que decir es que para los lectores de "Seguir rockeando", o para todos aquellos que lleguen a esta antología con las convenciones de lectura del cyberpunk, será una sorpresa desconcertante el encontrarse con que no son muchos los cuentos que pueden satisfacer esa expectativa: el otro cuento abiertamente cyberpunk de MATRICES es, tal vez, "El cruce de chico lindo" (Pretty Boy Crossover), que tiene que ver con la posibilidad de convertir a una persona en una pura presencia virtual en las pantallas de clubes y canales de música, en un homenaje/parodia a la edad de oro de MTV. Por supuesto, muchos otros relatos comparten esa estética callejera y esa sintonía con la cultura popular, esa capacidad para representar la marginalidad, más cercana tal vez al "punk" que al "cyber". De hecho, si hay una presencia tecnológica en MATRICES, es más la de los medios analógicos de la televisión y el vídeo que la de la informática o las redes digitales.
Efectivamente, el cuento que le da título a la antología tiene menos que ver con la "Matrix" de las Wachowski, que con la red inestable de puntos aleatorios de la pantalla analógica de televisión que le sirvió a Gibson para abrir su novela Neuromante, con una de las mejores metáforas tecnológicas de la ciencia ficción de las últimas décadas. Así mismo, el cuento "El día en que los Martel consiguieron el cable" se puede leer como una anticipación feminista de The Cable Guy, la película de Ben Stiller donde Jim Carrey representaba a un psicópata instalador de televisión por suscripción que parece sacado de Brazil, la distopía de Terry Gilliam. Y aunque este es un cuento casi "realista" con visos de terror cotidiano, nuevamente es la televisión el dispositivo tecnológico que se convierte en el foco del extrañamiento. Por eso también es un acierto editorial la imagen de la portada: un televisor retrofuturista, otro fantasma semiótico gibsoniano.
De cualquier modo, leer a Pat Cadigan solo desde las convenciones del cyberpunk es perderse la riqueza que ofrece su escritura. Pues en estos cuentos, la escritora se mueve de manera libre y versátil por temas y atmósferas de todo tipo: desde temas clásicos en la tradición de la fantasía y la ciencia ficción como los extraterrestres en la tierra ("Ángel", "Rescate en la ruta") y la telepatía (sin interfaces: el relato "Dos" y, nuevamente, "Ángel"), hasta el vampirismo (sugerido y probablemente también alienígena del cuento "El guardián de mi hermano" o más literal -y literario- de "El poder y la pasión"). Así mismo, hay cuentos en clave realista donde el extrañamiento (o el horror) provienen de la construcción de una cotidianidad asfixiante, como el ya mencionado "El día en que los Martel consiguieron el cable", y, sobre todo, "Ini mini ipsatini", uno de mis favoritos, y que podría estar incluido en una antología de la mejor narrativa breve contemporánea, a secas.
Pero esta capacidad de escritura también está en sus cuentos fantásticos: "El guardián de mi hermano", además de un relato de vampiros, es casi una etnografía de los yonquis perdidos en los pueblos remotos de la Norteamérica profunda. Así como "Ángel", además de un cuento sobre extraterrestres confinados en la tierra, es un hermoso cuento proto-queer, que cuestiona cualquier forma de binarismo de género.
Y esto me hace pensar que, de hecho, ubicar a Cadigan exclusivamente en el marco de las claves de género (ahora en sentido literario), sean estas asociadas a la ciencia ficción, a la fantasía o al terror, ha ocasionado que un público más amplio se pierda la riqueza de su escritura, tan llena de humor y versatilidad (véase también el cuento "Otro que toma el camino", una especie de distopía deportiva que convierte la cultura del jogging compulsivo en metáfora, aunque todavía no sé si de alienación o de liberación). Por eso es de agradecer esta traducción que nos ofrece Cántaro, ¡y que ya va ha cumplir 15 años!, por permitirnos redescubrir en castellano a esta gran escritora.
Como afirma Carlen Lavigne, Hizo falta esperar a la década de los noventa (y luego, a las primeras décadas del siglo XXI), para que autoras como Lisa Mason, Marge Piercy o Melissa Scott, entre otras, se apropiaran los temas y la estética cyberpunk, expandiendo algunos de los aportes de Cadigan e introduciendo nuevas particularidades a una corriente que al principio parecía tan conservadora en cuanto a la representación de las voces femeninas como la tradición de la ciencia ficción frente a la cual pretendía posicionarse como una renovación.
No obstante, la obra de Pat Cadigan continuó desarrollándose bajo la sombra de este movimiento, y sus primeras novelas nos confrontan con sociedades hipertecnológicas donde las mentes se conectan a través de redes e interfaces, en una suerte de telepatía digital que marca la novelística de esta autora. Una de esas novelas, Synners, es un desarrollo del cuento incluido en Mirrorshades, en donde se introduce a estos individuos que, como Gina, la protagonista de "Seguir Rockeando", tienen la capacidad de "sintetizar" con su mente la música y el espectáculo de una banda de rock, conectando a los espectadores con un flujo de imágenes y sonidos producidos y emitidos directamente por su consciencia.
Paralelamente, la obra cuentística de Cadigan siguió desarrollándose también de manera prolífica, y en su narrativa breve es donde encontramos mayor libertad y diversidad temática. Desafortunadamente, Cadigan ha sido poco traducida, y lo poco que se conseguía en español (hasta donde he podido averiguar), durante mucho tiempo, además de Rock On, era el cuento "Ángel", incluido en la compilación de los premios Nébula de 1987; y el relato "Fue el calor", en la antología de terror "Escalofríos en el trópico". Por eso la traducción al español de la compilación de relatos Patterns, propuesta por la editorial argentina Cántaro bajo el título MATRICES, vino a llenar un vacío y a abrir una puerta a los lectores hispanohablantes a la obra de esta escritora norteamericana, en la que podemos empezar a internarnos con una curiosidad que será recompensada.
Para empezar, hay que decir que los cuentos antes mencionados están incluidos en este volumen, en la nueva traducción de Elvio Gandolfo, que contribuye a redescubrir estos tres relatos, pero también a cotejar las traducciones existentes e identificar sus ventajas y sus limitaciones. Pero hablemos del conjunto de relatos de esta antología.
Lo primero que hay que decir es que para los lectores de "Seguir rockeando", o para todos aquellos que lleguen a esta antología con las convenciones de lectura del cyberpunk, será una sorpresa desconcertante el encontrarse con que no son muchos los cuentos que pueden satisfacer esa expectativa: el otro cuento abiertamente cyberpunk de MATRICES es, tal vez, "El cruce de chico lindo" (Pretty Boy Crossover), que tiene que ver con la posibilidad de convertir a una persona en una pura presencia virtual en las pantallas de clubes y canales de música, en un homenaje/parodia a la edad de oro de MTV. Por supuesto, muchos otros relatos comparten esa estética callejera y esa sintonía con la cultura popular, esa capacidad para representar la marginalidad, más cercana tal vez al "punk" que al "cyber". De hecho, si hay una presencia tecnológica en MATRICES, es más la de los medios analógicos de la televisión y el vídeo que la de la informática o las redes digitales.
Efectivamente, el cuento que le da título a la antología tiene menos que ver con la "Matrix" de las Wachowski, que con la red inestable de puntos aleatorios de la pantalla analógica de televisión que le sirvió a Gibson para abrir su novela Neuromante, con una de las mejores metáforas tecnológicas de la ciencia ficción de las últimas décadas. Así mismo, el cuento "El día en que los Martel consiguieron el cable" se puede leer como una anticipación feminista de The Cable Guy, la película de Ben Stiller donde Jim Carrey representaba a un psicópata instalador de televisión por suscripción que parece sacado de Brazil, la distopía de Terry Gilliam. Y aunque este es un cuento casi "realista" con visos de terror cotidiano, nuevamente es la televisión el dispositivo tecnológico que se convierte en el foco del extrañamiento. Por eso también es un acierto editorial la imagen de la portada: un televisor retrofuturista, otro fantasma semiótico gibsoniano.
De cualquier modo, leer a Pat Cadigan solo desde las convenciones del cyberpunk es perderse la riqueza que ofrece su escritura. Pues en estos cuentos, la escritora se mueve de manera libre y versátil por temas y atmósferas de todo tipo: desde temas clásicos en la tradición de la fantasía y la ciencia ficción como los extraterrestres en la tierra ("Ángel", "Rescate en la ruta") y la telepatía (sin interfaces: el relato "Dos" y, nuevamente, "Ángel"), hasta el vampirismo (sugerido y probablemente también alienígena del cuento "El guardián de mi hermano" o más literal -y literario- de "El poder y la pasión"). Así mismo, hay cuentos en clave realista donde el extrañamiento (o el horror) provienen de la construcción de una cotidianidad asfixiante, como el ya mencionado "El día en que los Martel consiguieron el cable", y, sobre todo, "Ini mini ipsatini", uno de mis favoritos, y que podría estar incluido en una antología de la mejor narrativa breve contemporánea, a secas.
Pero esta capacidad de escritura también está en sus cuentos fantásticos: "El guardián de mi hermano", además de un relato de vampiros, es casi una etnografía de los yonquis perdidos en los pueblos remotos de la Norteamérica profunda. Así como "Ángel", además de un cuento sobre extraterrestres confinados en la tierra, es un hermoso cuento proto-queer, que cuestiona cualquier forma de binarismo de género.
Y esto me hace pensar que, de hecho, ubicar a Cadigan exclusivamente en el marco de las claves de género (ahora en sentido literario), sean estas asociadas a la ciencia ficción, a la fantasía o al terror, ha ocasionado que un público más amplio se pierda la riqueza de su escritura, tan llena de humor y versatilidad (véase también el cuento "Otro que toma el camino", una especie de distopía deportiva que convierte la cultura del jogging compulsivo en metáfora, aunque todavía no sé si de alienación o de liberación). Por eso es de agradecer esta traducción que nos ofrece Cántaro, ¡y que ya va ha cumplir 15 años!, por permitirnos redescubrir en castellano a esta gran escritora.
July 3, 2023
Review to follow, when I am reunited with my laptop.
November 8, 2017
First off, I absolutely adore Cadigan's writing. Even though the style of her writing can change from story to story, there's an energetic and vivacious way she tells a story that just captured me and made the stories feel alive and vibrant. She's great with pacing and story arch, and she never left me hanging or feeling like the story was unfinished (ie. some of China Mieville's short stories).
Favorites in this collection were:
The Power and The Passion
Another One Hits The Road
Two
My Brother's Keeper
I did also enjoy, Roadside Rescue, The Day the Martels Got Cable, Heal, and Angel.
While most of the stories were good and enjoyable, including some real standouts, there were a few duds for me, especially because I'm not always such a fan of cyberpunk. Patterns, Rock On, and Pretty Boy Crossover just weren't for me.
Favorites in this collection were:
The Power and The Passion
Another One Hits The Road
Two
My Brother's Keeper
I did also enjoy, Roadside Rescue, The Day the Martels Got Cable, Heal, and Angel.
While most of the stories were good and enjoyable, including some real standouts, there were a few duds for me, especially because I'm not always such a fan of cyberpunk. Patterns, Rock On, and Pretty Boy Crossover just weren't for me.
January 26, 2023
Review is solely for my fave Cadigan of all time, the wonderfully creepy short, "Roadside Rescue". Wham, bam, SLAM. Reprinted often: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cg... Don't miss!
"My employer is quite fond of people. In fact, my employer *loves* people. And I’m sure you would be rewarded in some way.”
Free copy online (podcast): http://escapepod.org/2010/02/07/ep237...
"My employer is quite fond of people. In fact, my employer *loves* people. And I’m sure you would be rewarded in some way.”
Free copy online (podcast): http://escapepod.org/2010/02/07/ep237...
May 8, 2018
I read this as part of the anthology Alien Sex: 19 Tales by the Masters of Science Fiction and Dark Fantasy
With the title of this anthology, you would think I should know what I'm getting. But this was another strange one. I felt sorry for the driver/navigator. 3 stars.
With the title of this anthology, you would think I should know what I'm getting. But this was another strange one. I felt sorry for the driver/navigator. 3 stars.
August 21, 2007
Rated Individually:
• "Patterns" ★★★★★
• "Eenie, Meenie, Ipsateenie" ★★★
• "Vengeance Is Yours" ★★★
• "The Day The Martels Got The Cable" ★★★★
• "Roadside Rescue" ★★★★
• "Rock On" ★★★★
• "Heal" ★★★
• "Another One Hits The Road" ★★★
• "My Brother's Keeper" ★★★★
• "Pretty Boy Crossover" ★★★
• "Two" ★★★★
• "Angel" ★★★★★
• "It Was The Heat" ★★★★
• "The Power And The Passion" ★★★
• "Patterns" ★★★★★
• "Eenie, Meenie, Ipsateenie" ★★★
• "Vengeance Is Yours" ★★★
• "The Day The Martels Got The Cable" ★★★★
• "Roadside Rescue" ★★★★
• "Rock On" ★★★★
• "Heal" ★★★
• "Another One Hits The Road" ★★★
• "My Brother's Keeper" ★★★★
• "Pretty Boy Crossover" ★★★
• "Two" ★★★★
• "Angel" ★★★★★
• "It Was The Heat" ★★★★
• "The Power And The Passion" ★★★
September 29, 2011
intelligent stories on the anxiety-inducing side with occasional nods toward science fiction. Most stories are queasy at best and in some cases outright terrifying. Some have aged badly, though up-to-the-moment hip at the time written. It's definitely worth hanging out a while with this writer's brain.
Read
June 4, 2013Good but dated; didn't age well. 3.5 stars
September 17, 2013
A number of the stories haven't aged well and the prose is a mixed bag, some good others not so good.
June 17, 2017
This book has a few of the best vampire stories I've ever read.
March 8, 2022
None of the stories made me cry, and none of them made me laugh out loud, but there were a few really cool, vintage 80s, Omni magazine, cyber tales that I did love.
• "Patterns" ★★★ : Explores one of Pat Cadigan's themes of the boundaries of the mind and human consciousness merging into the technological and digital. In that sense, it's prescient because that is the kind of cyberspace we all inhabit these days. Still, it didn't feel very cool, fresh, or exciting.
• "Eenie, Meenie, Ipsateenie" ★★★ : This horror story was creepy. A kid leaving one of the their childhood friend-enemies dead in an abandoned house and trying to sort of comparmentalize it, or pretend it didn't happen, or that no one really knows what happend, seemed realistic. You can imagine a kid ending up in that situation. The rest of the story was run of the mill.
• "Vengeance Is Yours" ★★★ : A cute story. It did, for a moment, make me think that it might be possible to open such a business. Maybe when I retire.
• "The Day The Martels Got The Cable" ★★★★ : Hah! 2nd wave feminist vengeance. I like it.
• "Roadside Rescue" ★★★★: I do quite enjoy these comedic, Hitch Hiker's Guide style stories. It would have been great if the encounter with the alien had felt more like the really sleazy, exploitive sexual encounter that it was.
• "Rock On" ★★★★★: This was awesome. She taps into the rock and roll fantasy, and that rock and roll is all about sex, and makes it something that could (given the weird tech of the story) be commodified.
• "Heal" ★★★ : The preacher dude sure did deserve to die. I am happy that he got his comeuppance. I was a fine, perhaps overly predictable short tale. Better than spending that time on facebook.
• "Another One Hits The Road" ★★★★★: A great premise for a story, the dancing plague of 1518 hits the US in the form a a 'running' fever. I loved the imagine implications of this, in addition to the imagined causes and rationale.
• "My Brother's Keeper" ★★★: an OK vampire heroin story. Not as good as some vampire movies, though and the heroin was way creepier than the vampires. I think that the trick to a good vampire heroin story is to make the vampires as creepy as the heroin, and visa-versa.
• "Pretty Boy Crossover" ★★★★★: Probably my favorite story in this collection. Cool, vintage 80s decade cyberpunk that is equal parts cyber and punk. So much of what people call cyberpunk these days is just cyber. I loved the anti-authoritarian, say fuck you to the system, ending.
• "Two" ★★★★: It would make a good Twilight Zone episode, and the exploitative relationship was well portrayed.
• "Angel" ★★★★★: This was my 2nd favorite story in the collection, and if I were to try to be objective, rather than just rate the stories with regards to how I personally responded to them, it would probably rate as the best. In the 1980s, queer speculative fiction was rare, and even more rarely done well. I think it took until the early 00s before we saw it become more common place, and with queer writers. (I am thinking of Perdido Street Station, for example). Remember how breakthrough it was for Riker to fall in love with an androgynous alien in STNG? This story was a really cool tale about queer outcasts trying (and ultimately failing) to find connection. The bar scene alludes to the scene from 'It's a Wonderful Life' with the angel in the bar being taken for. a gay man
• "It Was The Heat" ★★★: Well told. Fun and sultry, though perhaps, unintentionally, a bit racist.
• "The Power And The Passion" ★★★: That is one bitchen tattoo. The story gets most of its weight from some heavy handed psychology of psychopathy.
• "Patterns" ★★★ : Explores one of Pat Cadigan's themes of the boundaries of the mind and human consciousness merging into the technological and digital. In that sense, it's prescient because that is the kind of cyberspace we all inhabit these days. Still, it didn't feel very cool, fresh, or exciting.
• "Eenie, Meenie, Ipsateenie" ★★★ : This horror story was creepy. A kid leaving one of the their childhood friend-enemies dead in an abandoned house and trying to sort of comparmentalize it, or pretend it didn't happen, or that no one really knows what happend, seemed realistic. You can imagine a kid ending up in that situation. The rest of the story was run of the mill.
• "Vengeance Is Yours" ★★★ : A cute story. It did, for a moment, make me think that it might be possible to open such a business. Maybe when I retire.
• "The Day The Martels Got The Cable" ★★★★ : Hah! 2nd wave feminist vengeance. I like it.
• "Roadside Rescue" ★★★★: I do quite enjoy these comedic, Hitch Hiker's Guide style stories. It would have been great if the encounter with the alien had felt more like the really sleazy, exploitive sexual encounter that it was.
• "Rock On" ★★★★★: This was awesome. She taps into the rock and roll fantasy, and that rock and roll is all about sex, and makes it something that could (given the weird tech of the story) be commodified.
• "Heal" ★★★ : The preacher dude sure did deserve to die. I am happy that he got his comeuppance. I was a fine, perhaps overly predictable short tale. Better than spending that time on facebook.
• "Another One Hits The Road" ★★★★★: A great premise for a story, the dancing plague of 1518 hits the US in the form a a 'running' fever. I loved the imagine implications of this, in addition to the imagined causes and rationale.
• "My Brother's Keeper" ★★★: an OK vampire heroin story. Not as good as some vampire movies, though and the heroin was way creepier than the vampires. I think that the trick to a good vampire heroin story is to make the vampires as creepy as the heroin, and visa-versa.
• "Pretty Boy Crossover" ★★★★★: Probably my favorite story in this collection. Cool, vintage 80s decade cyberpunk that is equal parts cyber and punk. So much of what people call cyberpunk these days is just cyber. I loved the anti-authoritarian, say fuck you to the system, ending.
• "Two" ★★★★: It would make a good Twilight Zone episode, and the exploitative relationship was well portrayed.
• "Angel" ★★★★★: This was my 2nd favorite story in the collection, and if I were to try to be objective, rather than just rate the stories with regards to how I personally responded to them, it would probably rate as the best. In the 1980s, queer speculative fiction was rare, and even more rarely done well. I think it took until the early 00s before we saw it become more common place, and with queer writers. (I am thinking of Perdido Street Station, for example). Remember how breakthrough it was for Riker to fall in love with an androgynous alien in STNG? This story was a really cool tale about queer outcasts trying (and ultimately failing) to find connection. The bar scene alludes to the scene from 'It's a Wonderful Life' with the angel in the bar being taken for. a gay man
• "It Was The Heat" ★★★: Well told. Fun and sultry, though perhaps, unintentionally, a bit racist.
• "The Power And The Passion" ★★★: That is one bitchen tattoo. The story gets most of its weight from some heavy handed psychology of psychopathy.
June 17, 2019
I'm not generally an SF reader, esp. Hard SF. I don't need you to tell me how the rockets work, just say there are rockets and I'm good. However, SF/horror and Cyberpunk are exceptions, and the upcoming release of Cyberpunk 2077 has put me in the mood for the latter, but I realized I've missed out on some of the major works and voices in the field. Time to work on that.
One of the voices I had ignored was the "Queen of Cyberpunk", Pat Cadigan, so I grabbed her first story collection (I'm a short-story guy). Lo and behold, I seriously dug this. It isn't CP exclusively, just a bunch of great stories that bounce between various genres, and I am so glad I've finally found my way here. Not every story is a winner, of course, but the author's voice and style redeem even the more lackluster tales.
Frankly, if you like short stories and want to show support for female SF writers, get this book. I'll be digging further into Cadigan's catalog soon. Good stuff.
One of the voices I had ignored was the "Queen of Cyberpunk", Pat Cadigan, so I grabbed her first story collection (I'm a short-story guy). Lo and behold, I seriously dug this. It isn't CP exclusively, just a bunch of great stories that bounce between various genres, and I am so glad I've finally found my way here. Not every story is a winner, of course, but the author's voice and style redeem even the more lackluster tales.
Frankly, if you like short stories and want to show support for female SF writers, get this book. I'll be digging further into Cadigan's catalog soon. Good stuff.
August 17, 2020
There are not many books which offer a succinct guide to the translation we underwent between the analog and digital future. This is still the best one I know. These stories were germinated and compsed on the cusp between the two realities, and are, like suture lines, stitched up right into the wound from the severance. I cannot recommend these stories and this volume more enthusiastically. Cadigan's style is so precise, so intricately intertwined with the action and the characters, reading her work is like a mindmeld with AIs who ace any test--Turing or otherwise--you care to administer. They feel the future, they sense themselves and your observation of their experience.
Reading Cadigan is a trip through the uncanny valley.
Reading Cadigan is a trip through the uncanny valley.
February 11, 2025
Works of Art
I wouldn’t exactly classify every story within as science fiction, not even by a stretch (about 6 of them are though), but they are something else for certain. Art no matter how you look at it, unique and expressive and all that other human stuff that draws us to read stories in the first place. The subtlety of the horror. The life in both the words and the characters, the stark weight of the expression.
Enjoy yourself a bit of creative endeavour then as you dive in head first, knowing so little about what to expect and wondering what all the rage is about. When you come out on the other side, you will know
I wouldn’t exactly classify every story within as science fiction, not even by a stretch (about 6 of them are though), but they are something else for certain. Art no matter how you look at it, unique and expressive and all that other human stuff that draws us to read stories in the first place. The subtlety of the horror. The life in both the words and the characters, the stark weight of the expression.
Enjoy yourself a bit of creative endeavour then as you dive in head first, knowing so little about what to expect and wondering what all the rage is about. When you come out on the other side, you will know
July 9, 2023
Disappointing from Pat Cadigan
I'm used to seeing a crackerjack of a story by Pat Cadigan in various anthologies. Based on that I bought this book and found that a large number of the stories has appeared elsewhere and the ones that were new to me just weren't up to her usual stellar standards.
I'm used to seeing a crackerjack of a story by Pat Cadigan in various anthologies. Based on that I bought this book and found that a large number of the stories has appeared elsewhere and the ones that were new to me just weren't up to her usual stellar standards.
April 13, 2021
A collection of short stories easily up there amongst the best I've ever read. A bit of dark humor, some twisted and even "ew" moments. If you love Stephen King's shorts, you'll probably enjoy most of these.
February 15, 2021
My introduction to Pat Cardigan. Truthful world building and unsettling stories. Perhaps that's what she was working toward?
My favorites (because they seemed so fully rounded) - Two and Angel.
My favorites (because they seemed so fully rounded) - Two and Angel.
November 1, 2024
Mostly good, short stories.
December 21, 2025
Overall three star rating, because, honestly! You can rate any short story collection on a bell curve, some are good, some less good and some you don't like. Plus, this was given me as a science Fiction collection and many of them are NOT sci-fi in any sense of the word.
Also; grumble... that is not my cover and GR will not let me change it.
Also, on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VVjW...
Individually the stories are;
1) Patterns. (After which we assume the book is named).Stream of consciousness type thing... the main character seems to think that they can direct the dot patterns on the TV to do actually things because they have an actual reality. Namely, they can assassinate the dots that represent the president and that this will actually kill the president. Then they seem to think that they are/have done so. It might be a story about Schizophrenia, as the introduction suggests. If so it is just as chaotic and untethered as a Schizophrenia sufferer must feel inside their skull. Underwhelming, not sci-fi
2) Eenie, Meenie, Ipsateenie.
A weird ghostie type maybe story. Some dude called Milo (do people actually name their kids after hot malted beverages?) accidentally killed a fellow child while playing hide and seek. Seems to think the ghost has followed him his whole life. Comes back to old neighbourhood as adult. Is walking along with some other random child. I was both bored and underwhelmed by this one. No idea what the author was trying to do, nor if they managed it. Not remotely scifi.
3)Vengeance is yours. Finally a story that is actually a story. This one is pretty good, a fun story of a company (named as per the title of the book), who's business is to organise revenge on order, for profit. Really enjoyed it. Not sci-fi though, there are some gadgets that might have been a little speculative in 1983 when it was first published, but still. Yeah – nah.
4) The Day the Martels Got the Cable: A story about cable TV and weird installers, from 1982 when stories about cable tv probably did qualify as sci-fi in their own right. This one is pure, creepy, speculative fiction with a twist and I thoroughly enjoyed the story, writing and ending. And, yes, finally sci-fi.
Footnote from 2025: This story seems like a direct... 'tribute' to a 70's story by Bob Shaw
5) Roadside Rescue is both sci-fi based on gadgets and aliens being common on Earth scenario. It is well written, entertaining, and slightly creepy with a hilarious premise.
6) Rock on. Obscure, and with a rather stream of consciousness element to the narrative, which I did not object to at all as the story was so innovative. The premise is that in future, psi talents do for music what technology does today and I won't say any more about it because the slow reveal of the world building was part of the pleasure of the story. There were a lot of sci-fi-ish gadgetry as well as concepts. I liked the retina 'shooting' scan and the sticky trap for burglars
7) Heal is a funny little take on faith healing scams. More than a bit dark and in a most funny way. Not, sci-fi
8) Another one hits the road was an interesting premise. It was a classic sci- fi story in that the CONCEPT was the entirety of the story, with character/dialogue/events entirely secondary to concept. Great concept, but one is inclined to forget the story. Is this intentionally done? Not sure.
9) intro to My Brothers Keeper is gold, the story itself is nice, a bit paranormally, alien invasion type.
10) Pretty Boy Crossover, interesting, memorable and certainly sci-fi, more specifically cyberpunk in a cool sort of way. Mostly takes place in nightclubs.
11)Two, is paranormally based, also quite nice, if you can call that... abrupt? Incomplete? Hard ending nice. Did Cadigan ever turn it into a full length novel? Because I would probably read it.
12 )Angel, again, is a bit of supernatural and I'm seeing the theme now; two person scenarios with the narrator and the object, generally the object is both the other person and the supernatural element. Not bad.
13) It Was The Heat - reading it when I had just arrived in tropical Cairns was amusing at first. Then it got tedious. Described as a love story to New Orleans ... well, fair enough. Love letters do get boring to non participating people. And many a decent muso has written his first bad song as a heartfelt love song. I was bored and skim read through it. Not sci-fi and barely paranormal
14) The Power and the Passion. A fun, little bit horror, little bit vampire, little bit psychokiller story. Fun. Not sci fi
Also; grumble... that is not my cover and GR will not let me change it.
Also, on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VVjW...
Individually the stories are;
1) Patterns. (After which we assume the book is named).Stream of consciousness type thing... the main character seems to think that they can direct the dot patterns on the TV to do actually things because they have an actual reality. Namely, they can assassinate the dots that represent the president and that this will actually kill the president. Then they seem to think that they are/have done so. It might be a story about Schizophrenia, as the introduction suggests. If so it is just as chaotic and untethered as a Schizophrenia sufferer must feel inside their skull. Underwhelming, not sci-fi
2) Eenie, Meenie, Ipsateenie.
A weird ghostie type maybe story. Some dude called Milo (do people actually name their kids after hot malted beverages?) accidentally killed a fellow child while playing hide and seek. Seems to think the ghost has followed him his whole life. Comes back to old neighbourhood as adult. Is walking along with some other random child. I was both bored and underwhelmed by this one. No idea what the author was trying to do, nor if they managed it. Not remotely scifi.
3)Vengeance is yours. Finally a story that is actually a story. This one is pretty good, a fun story of a company (named as per the title of the book), who's business is to organise revenge on order, for profit. Really enjoyed it. Not sci-fi though, there are some gadgets that might have been a little speculative in 1983 when it was first published, but still. Yeah – nah.
4) The Day the Martels Got the Cable: A story about cable TV and weird installers, from 1982 when stories about cable tv probably did qualify as sci-fi in their own right. This one is pure, creepy, speculative fiction with a twist and I thoroughly enjoyed the story, writing and ending. And, yes, finally sci-fi.
Footnote from 2025: This story seems like a direct... 'tribute' to a 70's story by Bob Shaw
5) Roadside Rescue is both sci-fi based on gadgets and aliens being common on Earth scenario. It is well written, entertaining, and slightly creepy with a hilarious premise.
6) Rock on. Obscure, and with a rather stream of consciousness element to the narrative, which I did not object to at all as the story was so innovative. The premise is that in future, psi talents do for music what technology does today and I won't say any more about it because the slow reveal of the world building was part of the pleasure of the story. There were a lot of sci-fi-ish gadgetry as well as concepts. I liked the retina 'shooting' scan and the sticky trap for burglars
7) Heal is a funny little take on faith healing scams. More than a bit dark and in a most funny way. Not, sci-fi
8) Another one hits the road was an interesting premise. It was a classic sci- fi story in that the CONCEPT was the entirety of the story, with character/dialogue/events entirely secondary to concept. Great concept, but one is inclined to forget the story. Is this intentionally done? Not sure.
9) intro to My Brothers Keeper is gold, the story itself is nice, a bit paranormally, alien invasion type.
10) Pretty Boy Crossover, interesting, memorable and certainly sci-fi, more specifically cyberpunk in a cool sort of way. Mostly takes place in nightclubs.
11)Two, is paranormally based, also quite nice, if you can call that... abrupt? Incomplete? Hard ending nice. Did Cadigan ever turn it into a full length novel? Because I would probably read it.
12 )Angel, again, is a bit of supernatural and I'm seeing the theme now; two person scenarios with the narrator and the object, generally the object is both the other person and the supernatural element. Not bad.
13) It Was The Heat - reading it when I had just arrived in tropical Cairns was amusing at first. Then it got tedious. Described as a love story to New Orleans ... well, fair enough. Love letters do get boring to non participating people. And many a decent muso has written his first bad song as a heartfelt love song. I was bored and skim read through it. Not sci-fi and barely paranormal
14) The Power and the Passion. A fun, little bit horror, little bit vampire, little bit psychokiller story. Fun. Not sci fi
October 8, 2022
Another first collection, Patterns collects almost half of Pat Cadigan’s short fiction from the last ten years. Cadigan writes from the dark underbelly of society, and she usually works in the impact of technology on her characters. It was this style that placed her within the Cyberpunk movement at the time. But Patterns shows that Cadigan’s fiction centers more on people–it is the characters you remember from these stories, their problems, their horrors, their hopes–not ideas.
My favorite story here is “Rock On,” a tale of music and ownership, the trap of job and ability. Gina, a synner (synthesizer), is on the run from her normal band, Man O’War. But Gina’s problem is that she only knows how to syn, and that she loves it, even if she views it as a trap. Another author would have gone on to great detail about living synthesizers, yet Cadigan’s focus is on Gina and her addiction/loathe for the job that she does so well. “Rock On” goes beyond any future punk posturings; instead, it is a metaphor for the last decades–caught in our good intentions, we are slaves to our livelihoods. (Cadigan’s novel Synners is an expansion of this story.)
Then there’s Martha, a businesswoman on her first trip to New Orleans in “It Was the Heat.” Caught between being just one of the guys and herself, Martha’s carefully created working mother persona melts under the hot sun, and she discovers that control is a delicate thing. Then there’s China in “My Brother’s Keeper,” the big sister from college who receives a goodbye postcard from younger brother Joe, the heroin user. She rushes back to save him, but finds that she needs to save herself.
As indicated above, Cadigan gives us a much needed female perspective in science fiction, and her style is such that it doesn’t alienate male readers. If only more male writers could do the same for their female readers, science fiction could become the exciting prospect that was the hope of the cyberpunks. Until then, we should thank god that Cadigan is around to show what life, and literature, could be like. As of when this was written, this collection doesn’t have a paperback counterpart and can only be found in this small press edition; with any luck, however, you can still find a copy of this before they are all gone.
Merged review:
A re-reading of this classic cyberpunk stories from the 1980s. If anything, this story has become better with time. Cadigan anticipated the self-absorbed nature that communication technology was about to bring about, and this story about a couple of young men who yearn to be watched rather than be the watchers could easily be translated into a case study of any number of YouTube celebrities today.
My favorite story here is “Rock On,” a tale of music and ownership, the trap of job and ability. Gina, a synner (synthesizer), is on the run from her normal band, Man O’War. But Gina’s problem is that she only knows how to syn, and that she loves it, even if she views it as a trap. Another author would have gone on to great detail about living synthesizers, yet Cadigan’s focus is on Gina and her addiction/loathe for the job that she does so well. “Rock On” goes beyond any future punk posturings; instead, it is a metaphor for the last decades–caught in our good intentions, we are slaves to our livelihoods. (Cadigan’s novel Synners is an expansion of this story.)
Then there’s Martha, a businesswoman on her first trip to New Orleans in “It Was the Heat.” Caught between being just one of the guys and herself, Martha’s carefully created working mother persona melts under the hot sun, and she discovers that control is a delicate thing. Then there’s China in “My Brother’s Keeper,” the big sister from college who receives a goodbye postcard from younger brother Joe, the heroin user. She rushes back to save him, but finds that she needs to save herself.
As indicated above, Cadigan gives us a much needed female perspective in science fiction, and her style is such that it doesn’t alienate male readers. If only more male writers could do the same for their female readers, science fiction could become the exciting prospect that was the hope of the cyberpunks. Until then, we should thank god that Cadigan is around to show what life, and literature, could be like. As of when this was written, this collection doesn’t have a paperback counterpart and can only be found in this small press edition; with any luck, however, you can still find a copy of this before they are all gone.
Merged review:
A re-reading of this classic cyberpunk stories from the 1980s. If anything, this story has become better with time. Cadigan anticipated the self-absorbed nature that communication technology was about to bring about, and this story about a couple of young men who yearn to be watched rather than be the watchers could easily be translated into a case study of any number of YouTube celebrities today.
February 6, 2025
La mayoría de mis libros los compre por allá en el 2018 en la feria del libro. Motivado en su totalidad por la curiosidad pura y también movilizado por lo ajustado de mi billetera es que fui a comprar las ofertas y entre tantos libros es que me encontré con "Patterns" (o Matrices, su título en español).
Hasta el momento de su lectura, por falta de costumbre, estaba acostumbrado a llamar cuentos a aquellos relatos fantásticos donde reinaban hombres que gozaban de aventuras y proezas que demostraban su valentía.
Fue una grata sorpresa acercarme a los cuentos de Pat Cadigan desde una perspectiva un poco más realista o más enfocado a una situación cotidiana. Muchos cuentos me costaron entenderlos y otros los disfruté de una manera indescriptible. Algunos estuvieron al nivel de un capitulo de "Black Mirror" como para que se den una idea.
¿Lo recomiendo? Totalmente.
Hasta el momento de su lectura, por falta de costumbre, estaba acostumbrado a llamar cuentos a aquellos relatos fantásticos donde reinaban hombres que gozaban de aventuras y proezas que demostraban su valentía.
Fue una grata sorpresa acercarme a los cuentos de Pat Cadigan desde una perspectiva un poco más realista o más enfocado a una situación cotidiana. Muchos cuentos me costaron entenderlos y otros los disfruté de una manera indescriptible. Algunos estuvieron al nivel de un capitulo de "Black Mirror" como para que se den una idea.
¿Lo recomiendo? Totalmente.
April 26, 2013
This is okay. Some of the stories are pretty dated, and the prose can be patchy at times. A few of the stories are pretty lame, and I say this as a Pat Cadigan fanboy (I read her stuff at an early age and loved it).
My favorite stories from this collection are "Angel" and "The Power and the Passion" -- although I'd read the latter story a long time ago, I still enjoyed it even though it's a lot more raw than I remembered.
I still like Pat Cadigan and maybe I'll dig into her novels (to see what all the shooting was about) but I'm not sure I'll read much more of her short fiction.
My favorite stories from this collection are "Angel" and "The Power and the Passion" -- although I'd read the latter story a long time ago, I still enjoyed it even though it's a lot more raw than I remembered.
I still like Pat Cadigan and maybe I'll dig into her novels (to see what all the shooting was about) but I'm not sure I'll read much more of her short fiction.
April 2, 2014
Good stuff, looking forward to Dirty Work.
April 20, 2015
Funny to see the reviews saying this didn't age well, because I kind of love reading out of date science fiction. That said, this had a few really great stories, but most were just ok.
June 8, 2015
Gorgeous and compelling. I wish there was more!
February 5, 2011
Wonderful short stories that make you think as you read.
September 20, 2012
Just not me at all. Made me feel cold and alienated.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews