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The Ultimate Cyberpunk
Exploring the interface between mind and machine, this collection of short fiction includes a wide range of cyberpunk stories by such renowned authors as Alfred Bester, Samuel R. Delany, William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Rudy Rucker, Philip K. Dick, Neal Stephenson, and Lewis Shiner, among others. Reprint.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
6 people are currently reading
312 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 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 10, 2010
This is a good anthology of an SF subgenre whose death knell has been tolled many times before but never got around to kicking it. And that’s a very good thing. There is much to like in this collection that Cadigan has cobbled together. It gathers the pivotal authors of the genre and shows off just how diverse the stories can be. No, not every cyberpunk narrative takes place in a gritty urban setting with characters in black pvc and technology that looks like it fell off a stealth bomber. Here are a few of the highlights:
Alfred Bester, “Fondly Farenheit”—an android and a dialogue between ego and superego? You make the call. A prototype for the genre that would be cyberpunk.
Philip K. Dick, “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”—are memories as good as the real thing? This is a great entry by the legendary man of ideas that has none of the action movie tropes of its film version, Total Recall. Sorry Bernard, no Michael Ironside.
Rudy Rucker, “57th Franz Kafka”—a new take on The Metamorphosis. Disturbing and inscrutable, but did you expect anything else from Rucker?
William Gibson, “Burning Chrome”—fine work by the Master, a story of a cyberspace double-cross. Gibson could probably make a tuna salad recipe sound like science fiction.
Greg Bear, “Blood Music”—could be one of the more realistic of the collection. The time for this kind of nano-enhancement is upon us.
Lewis Shriner, “Till Human Voices Wake Us”—for me, this entry strays rather far afield from cyberpunk and enters the realm of biotech. But that’s okay, it adds to the diversity of the collection.
John Shirley, “Freezone”—not much of a plot here, just Shirley taking us on a punky meandering through a dystopic future. And I loved it.
William Gibson and Michael Swanwick, “Dogfight”—twisty.
Bruce Sterling, “Green Days in Brunei”—probably my favorite and the most satisfying of the pieces. Strong and endearing characters. A world not too far removed from our own. A nice tale for illustrating the rise of the “developing world.”
If I have any overall criticism of the stories, it has to do with style. Except for Gibson and Sterling, none of these writers compose with any thought to description. They just lay everything out there, violating that cardinal rule of literary writing, “show, don’t tell.” As I’ve grown sick of that phrase, I’m actually kind of ok with the so-called “transgression.” But then I read the work of Gibson and his descriptions and phrasing absolutely blow me away, making the other stories look like amateur hour. Character development is another issue. Except for Bruce Sterling, the authors spend maybe a page on it. With protagonists so thin, it’s difficult to cultivate much of an attachment to them, so you better hope the scientific principle that is being explored keeps you hanging on.
Oh and why Neal Stephenson wasn’t included is beyond me. Maybe he’s never written in the short form before. I don’t know.
All in all, Ultimate Cyberpunk makes for fine reading. Plus, you get an 11-page insert of a “lost” comic book version of William Gibson’s classic, Neuromancer. I’ve heard there is a film adaptation on the horizon. Let’s hope not. The book is amazing but I just don’t think it translates well to other media if this comic is any indication.
Alfred Bester, “Fondly Farenheit”—an android and a dialogue between ego and superego? You make the call. A prototype for the genre that would be cyberpunk.
Philip K. Dick, “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”—are memories as good as the real thing? This is a great entry by the legendary man of ideas that has none of the action movie tropes of its film version, Total Recall. Sorry Bernard, no Michael Ironside.
Rudy Rucker, “57th Franz Kafka”—a new take on The Metamorphosis. Disturbing and inscrutable, but did you expect anything else from Rucker?
William Gibson, “Burning Chrome”—fine work by the Master, a story of a cyberspace double-cross. Gibson could probably make a tuna salad recipe sound like science fiction.
Greg Bear, “Blood Music”—could be one of the more realistic of the collection. The time for this kind of nano-enhancement is upon us.
Lewis Shriner, “Till Human Voices Wake Us”—for me, this entry strays rather far afield from cyberpunk and enters the realm of biotech. But that’s okay, it adds to the diversity of the collection.
John Shirley, “Freezone”—not much of a plot here, just Shirley taking us on a punky meandering through a dystopic future. And I loved it.
William Gibson and Michael Swanwick, “Dogfight”—twisty.
Bruce Sterling, “Green Days in Brunei”—probably my favorite and the most satisfying of the pieces. Strong and endearing characters. A world not too far removed from our own. A nice tale for illustrating the rise of the “developing world.”
If I have any overall criticism of the stories, it has to do with style. Except for Gibson and Sterling, none of these writers compose with any thought to description. They just lay everything out there, violating that cardinal rule of literary writing, “show, don’t tell.” As I’ve grown sick of that phrase, I’m actually kind of ok with the so-called “transgression.” But then I read the work of Gibson and his descriptions and phrasing absolutely blow me away, making the other stories look like amateur hour. Character development is another issue. Except for Bruce Sterling, the authors spend maybe a page on it. With protagonists so thin, it’s difficult to cultivate much of an attachment to them, so you better hope the scientific principle that is being explored keeps you hanging on.
Oh and why Neal Stephenson wasn’t included is beyond me. Maybe he’s never written in the short form before. I don’t know.
All in all, Ultimate Cyberpunk makes for fine reading. Plus, you get an 11-page insert of a “lost” comic book version of William Gibson’s classic, Neuromancer. I’ve heard there is a film adaptation on the horizon. Let’s hope not. The book is amazing but I just don’t think it translates well to other media if this comic is any indication.
November 25, 2020
Unfortunate that this is out of print and growing in scarcity (I'm glad I snapped up a cheap copy when I did!) since I feel that it's a better overall introduction to the cyberpunk subgenre than Mirrorshades with a stronger story selection. Another nice bonus is a list of essential cyberpunk writings to send you on more rabbit holes!
January 31, 2014
A great collection! Perhaps not considered as classic as Bruce Sterling's "Mirrorshades" collection, but I liked it better, in that I actually read every story. Can't recall where I got stuck in the other book but one author just wasn't connecting with my brain when I read it. But this volume was great, edited by another great cyberpunk author. I'd never had the opportunity to read "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" before, which had been recommended to me for over 20 years, since before the film version of it was released. I just finished reading "Burning Chrome" (the collection, not just the eponymous story). And "The Sirens of Titan". Now I'm reading some weird 80s Ace Books paperback called "Doctor Bones" found at the friends of the library bookstore by my beloved. So now I'm starting to feel a bit sci-fi'd out. But this book was a fantastic. It contains stories by people about whom I'd read but who's work I'd not gotten to or couldn't find.
The opener, "Fondly Fahrenheit" by Alfred Bester, about a man with and his android on the lam in the universe at large. Published in 1954, I'd barely heard of Bester before and am looking forward to digging up some of his other work. This author was one of at least three in the collection born before 1920.
The Rudy Rucker story, very short, a bit disturbing, fascinating!
Greg Bear's "Blood Music". . .I've avoided his work for quite awhile thinking it might not be for me, but this was a great story about nanotechnology.
After reading the list that editor Pat Cadigan put in the back composed by Bruce Sterling of contents the essential cyberpunk library (which included much of his own work) I was prepared not to like his story in this volume, but "Green Days in Brunei" was one of my favorites, a love story, and a story of finding the balance between high tech and low-to-no tech.
Among the fascinating authors I'd not yet tackled are James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon) and Cordwainer Smith (Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger). The latter was a psychological warfare expert (and author) and a government adviser and professor of international (and particularly Far East) studies. He was born in 1913. Mrs. Sheldon, also born before 1920, wrote under a pseudonym, not just because a woman author would be taken less seriously but because her career was also in experimental/military psychology and its application in government intelligence.
Check it out. It's a pretty fun read!
The opener, "Fondly Fahrenheit" by Alfred Bester, about a man with and his android on the lam in the universe at large. Published in 1954, I'd barely heard of Bester before and am looking forward to digging up some of his other work. This author was one of at least three in the collection born before 1920.
The Rudy Rucker story, very short, a bit disturbing, fascinating!
Greg Bear's "Blood Music". . .I've avoided his work for quite awhile thinking it might not be for me, but this was a great story about nanotechnology.
After reading the list that editor Pat Cadigan put in the back composed by Bruce Sterling of contents the essential cyberpunk library (which included much of his own work) I was prepared not to like his story in this volume, but "Green Days in Brunei" was one of my favorites, a love story, and a story of finding the balance between high tech and low-to-no tech.
Among the fascinating authors I'd not yet tackled are James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon) and Cordwainer Smith (Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger). The latter was a psychological warfare expert (and author) and a government adviser and professor of international (and particularly Far East) studies. He was born in 1913. Mrs. Sheldon, also born before 1920, wrote under a pseudonym, not just because a woman author would be taken less seriously but because her career was also in experimental/military psychology and its application in government intelligence.
Check it out. It's a pretty fun read!
April 16, 2020
A very good collection if you are curious about cyberpunk and you want to see how different authors choose to explore the themes of the genre. Once again we can see the predictive power of cyberpunk while reading the short stories here. Some approach topics that we are well too-familiar with today and it makes for an interesting read.
The stories that I found most prophetic and interesting were: "Green Days in Brunei" and "The Girl Who was Plugged in". I would not say, they breached some new ground with their ideas, but they felt real and involving in a way that many sci-fi works fail to achieve.
When talking about a collection we have to mention the choice of stories and the way they were ordered. I think that Editor - Pat Cardigan did herself a disservice by placing her story so far in the back. I think the story was a weak link and i would've been better to read it earlier, before we get a good grasp of what sort of stories we will read in the next pages.
The rest of the stories are very well grounded, they follow each other nicely, rarely go into abstractions and confusing narration and feel very gritty and real.
The stories that I found most prophetic and interesting were: "Green Days in Brunei" and "The Girl Who was Plugged in". I would not say, they breached some new ground with their ideas, but they felt real and involving in a way that many sci-fi works fail to achieve.
When talking about a collection we have to mention the choice of stories and the way they were ordered. I think that Editor - Pat Cardigan did herself a disservice by placing her story so far in the back. I think the story was a weak link and i would've been better to read it earlier, before we get a good grasp of what sort of stories we will read in the next pages.
The rest of the stories are very well grounded, they follow each other nicely, rarely go into abstractions and confusing narration and feel very gritty and real.
November 28, 2022
I had this plan to rant about every one of the stories here and give them their own individual rate, but maybe later :))
July 5, 2014
I think this covers the themes, shows the history of this type of thing and is more or less PG13 with little description of body parts but has violence, language and ideas of words some may not like.
Some quick highlights for me where Fondly Farenheit, which is a shallow sort of writing compared to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? that shares the same elements of Androids (andies) that are human flesh but created and have minds programmed. Of course the line is being crossed, they are advanced and become more human. And to er is human, and erring is what punks may do best? Sort of the theme, and the best part of this book is looking at the copyright dates! 1950's with bioengineering, 3D GUI's streamed into brains (The game of rat and dragon, which is so goofy so don't ignore the "meow" at the beginning! To goofy for me to say it was a cool story, but historical note worthy...1955!!!) and some even from the 60's and 70s with neat similar stuff.
They tell stories that make you ponder what life is, what your mind is and what would happen if you are presented with a different world with higher intelligence in it. Cybernetics is more than cyborgs, a few stories do hint at the odd interactions and make me recall phrase like "game theory" and the environment being a system but how systems smaller exist and sometimes things transform.
But, to be honest I find humor in some stuff more so than depth or deep meaning. I think that is one issue I find here, some funny stuff and a "who knows or cares" attitude prevails as we are faced with a reality and may as well have fun with it. So much more to say, but I can't spend the time to type up thousands of words and I think you the reader or future reader can explore those themes and see the obvious depth and by looking beyond any depth or philosophy also keep in mind you are trying to sell a story as well as making a point sometimes. Worth the read if you don't mind cyberpunk or are looking for an intro that is Pre-gibson and tries to cover a breadth of what cyberpunk has become to people in the new millennium.
Some quick highlights for me where Fondly Farenheit, which is a shallow sort of writing compared to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? that shares the same elements of Androids (andies) that are human flesh but created and have minds programmed. Of course the line is being crossed, they are advanced and become more human. And to er is human, and erring is what punks may do best? Sort of the theme, and the best part of this book is looking at the copyright dates! 1950's with bioengineering, 3D GUI's streamed into brains (The game of rat and dragon, which is so goofy so don't ignore the "meow" at the beginning! To goofy for me to say it was a cool story, but historical note worthy...1955!!!) and some even from the 60's and 70s with neat similar stuff.
They tell stories that make you ponder what life is, what your mind is and what would happen if you are presented with a different world with higher intelligence in it. Cybernetics is more than cyborgs, a few stories do hint at the odd interactions and make me recall phrase like "game theory" and the environment being a system but how systems smaller exist and sometimes things transform.
But, to be honest I find humor in some stuff more so than depth or deep meaning. I think that is one issue I find here, some funny stuff and a "who knows or cares" attitude prevails as we are faced with a reality and may as well have fun with it. So much more to say, but I can't spend the time to type up thousands of words and I think you the reader or future reader can explore those themes and see the obvious depth and by looking beyond any depth or philosophy also keep in mind you are trying to sell a story as well as making a point sometimes. Worth the read if you don't mind cyberpunk or are looking for an intro that is Pre-gibson and tries to cover a breadth of what cyberpunk has become to people in the new millennium.
July 4, 2016
A brilliant collection of the best of Cyberpunk and proto-cyberpunk short stories. Whilst Mirrorshades is the most iconic this is the most comprehensive. Looking at the individual stories:
Fondly Fahrenheit- This could be an Asimov Robot story but is elevated by questions of identity. As always Bester shows himself a master of prose.
The Game of Rat and Dragon- A very weird story which almost goes into the realms of madness. Not entirely sure I understand it.
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale- Famous for it's loose adaptation to the film Total Recall but I have always preferred the original story. Classic PKD.
The Girl Who Was Plugged In- The first really Cyberpunkish story in the collection and wonderfully prescient of modern no-talent celebrity culture. I do, however, struggle with the unusual stylistic choices.
The 57th Franz Kafka- Beatish and strange.
Burning Chrome- Whilst by no means the first cyberpunk story probably the defining one, combining all the disparate elements together.
Blood Music- Not sure if this is really cyberpunk (more biopunk to my mind) but it's creepiness make it my favourite of the collection.
Till Human Voices Wake Us- A mad scientist tale combined with corporate blandness. One of two stories from Mirrorshades and a very interesting choice.
Freezone- Reprinted from Mirrorshades and rightly remembered as one of the best stories of that collection. about a retro-rock star trying for fame in a survielled pleasure seekers hideaway.
Dogfight- A very nasty tale of gameplaying and class. I found this one tough due to its unpleasant content.
Green Days in Brunei- A surprising tale, offering an optimistic alternative in a dark future.
Patterns- Another "what is real?" tale in the a media-saturated world. Cadigan, however, is a master of character.
Dr. Luther's Assistant- A jump to something more modern and even stranger, as part of McAuley's Fairyland
Fondly Fahrenheit- This could be an Asimov Robot story but is elevated by questions of identity. As always Bester shows himself a master of prose.
The Game of Rat and Dragon- A very weird story which almost goes into the realms of madness. Not entirely sure I understand it.
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale- Famous for it's loose adaptation to the film Total Recall but I have always preferred the original story. Classic PKD.
The Girl Who Was Plugged In- The first really Cyberpunkish story in the collection and wonderfully prescient of modern no-talent celebrity culture. I do, however, struggle with the unusual stylistic choices.
The 57th Franz Kafka- Beatish and strange.
Burning Chrome- Whilst by no means the first cyberpunk story probably the defining one, combining all the disparate elements together.
Blood Music- Not sure if this is really cyberpunk (more biopunk to my mind) but it's creepiness make it my favourite of the collection.
Till Human Voices Wake Us- A mad scientist tale combined with corporate blandness. One of two stories from Mirrorshades and a very interesting choice.
Freezone- Reprinted from Mirrorshades and rightly remembered as one of the best stories of that collection. about a retro-rock star trying for fame in a survielled pleasure seekers hideaway.
Dogfight- A very nasty tale of gameplaying and class. I found this one tough due to its unpleasant content.
Green Days in Brunei- A surprising tale, offering an optimistic alternative in a dark future.
Patterns- Another "what is real?" tale in the a media-saturated world. Cadigan, however, is a master of character.
Dr. Luther's Assistant- A jump to something more modern and even stranger, as part of McAuley's Fairyland
June 19, 2013
Like all short story collections this book is a mix bag. Some of the stories are really good, others are pretty forgettable.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews