The Sword and Laser discussion

I'm hoping that other folks have discovered
some new talent that I've over looked.

No, sorry, Cyberpunk's deader than Sid Vicious. Neal Stephenson killed it with Snow Crash.

I think Bruce Sterling pronounced it dead, but people just ignored him. :)

Neal Asher isn't bad.

The early visions of cyber space as some sort of silicone bases LSD have certainly become O.B.E. Gary Ballard's new Bridge Chronicles seems a bit closer to the mark.Thanks for the suggestion about Neal Asher. I haven't read any of his stuff.
(Speak of the devil- Our local library just handed me a copy of Bruce Sterlings latest book "Gothic High-tech".That ought to keep me off the streets for a day or two.)
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Edit-The term cyber punk may be obsolete.
I'm not sure what phrase would apply to near future
science fiction.

I think Altered Carbon and its sequels are the closest we've come to new cyberpunk, but it's just not the same. Last year I reread Islands in the Net, Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Rudy Rucker's Ware series, as well as Black Glass by John Shirley. All fantastic, and packed with ideas -- technological as well as philosophical. Haven't found anything that captures that particular feel, but maybe I shouldn't be able to. It's like listening to punk in '77 or being on The Web in 1996

Agree. I'm not sure what term we should be
using for near future, high tech scifi.
(throw is some vat grown, biomods and
TED conference 2050 while your at it).

Not new, but I've just discovered George Alec Effinger. Starting with When Gravity Fails.

I think we pretty much have incorporated it into daily life, but I'd check our either book written by Lauren Beukes, The Dervish House by Ian McDonald because of some elements, and the upcoming Alif the Unseen (although it is more similar to Ready Player One or Reamde or Little Brother in the cyber thriller genre).

GMTA- Dervish and Gravity are both in my to-read stack.
I hadn't heard of Alif.
(Unless he's that small alien that like's to eat cats).
Thanks for the suggestions.

Warren wrote: "I hadn't heard of Alif.
(Unless he's that small alien that like's to eat cats).
Thanks for the suggestions."

It doesn't come out until July; I had an ARC of it and just flew through it.

It seems like the trend in cyberpunk these days is getting beyond USA/Japan and moving toward lesser known international urban environments, a trend I am really enjoying.

Jenny wrote: "It seems like the trend in cyberpunk these days is getting beyond USA/Japan and moving toward lesser known international urban environments, a trend I am really enjoying."

I'm enjoying that one, as well.

As well as the morphing of traditional cyberpunk to the "elfpunk"/urban fantasy type stuff (which is actually more fantasy than SF but a fun trend for me).

Very glad to see people excited about Alif the Unseen, because, well, I wrote it. G. Willow Wilson It's my favorite thing I've ever written, so it makes me happy when people enjoy it.

This is not cyberpunk per se, but Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco takes up the whole "using computers to uncover hidden knowledge" meme using what was in 1988 the cutting edge of technology...word processing. It ties the emerging world of computers into like every historical conspiracy theory ever...the bloodline of Jesus (you can absolutely tell that The Da Vinci Code owes a great deal to this book), the Rosicrucians, the Illuminati, etc etc. I recommend it.

G. wrote: "Very glad to see people excited about Alif the Unseen, because, well, I wrote it. G. Willow Wilson It's my favorite thing I've ever written, so it makes me happy when people enjoy it..."
Aha! Well hello! I can't wait for more people to read it, because I know they'll like it. Alif was a fun character.

G. wrote: "This is not cyberpunk per se, but Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco ..."

I'd second Foucault's Pendulum. Not only does it have a lot of (early) computer technology in it, but it also has a lot on mysticism and occultism, like it's straight out of Indiana Jones. It's a really hard book to get through, but it's worth it. I definitely felt smarter after I read it :P

When asked about Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code, Eco replied "I was obliged to read it because everybody was asking me about it. My answer is that Dan Brown is one of the characters in my novel, 'Foucault’s Pendulum,' which is about people who start believing in occult stuff."

Brad wrote: "I'd second Foucault's Pendulum. Not only does it have a lot of (early) computer technology in it,"

But the worst example of computer security ever -- when asked if they have a password, the characters simply type "No" and giggle that no one will ever figure it out.

G. wrote: "Very glad to see people excited about Alif the Unseen, because, well, I wrote it. G. Willow Wilson It's my favorite thing I've ever written, so it makes me happy when people enjoy i..."
Thank you for that suggestion. I look forward to your book.
I'm not tied to any one genre. I was coincidently looking for
some of the books mentioned in Gayle Lynds "The Book of Spies".
Adding Ivan the Terrible's library to my kindle has turned out to be a bit more difficult then I'd imagined.

Sean wrote: "Brad wrote: "I'd second Foucault's Pendulum. Not only does it have a lot of (early) computer technology in it,"

But the worst example of computer security ever -- when asked if they have a passwor..."

Unfortunately realistic-
The Syrian President’s account was hacked recently.
His password- You guess it Space Balls fans-
1,2,3,4,5

About 2/3 of the way through Infoquake by David Louis Edelman, and if you are looking for a modern take on cyberpunk, I'd be hard pressed to name a more apt example. It's part of a trilogy, so I don't know how satisfied I'll be by the end, but so far, so good. Very much of the Bruce Sterling mold, in that the action takes place not among killers and mercenaries and cops, but among businessmen, hackers, and programmers.

Thanks. It would be nice to find a one with a new twist.

I love cyberpunk and lament its absence... but one thing I'm loving recently is Lady of Mazes by Karl Schroeder. I think it might be further-future cyberpunk dressed up as "hard" SF. His manifold system is completely metaversy in fantastical ways. I don't know what you call Paolo Bacigalupi's work (ecopunk?) but his short fiction especially (Pump Six) hits that character-centric cyberpunk button for me.

Thanks for those suggestions. As for new authors I like Gary Ballard
http://www.bridgechronicles.info/

He's a fairly new author. He describes his stories as
"hard-boiled near-future cyberpunk'
I'm not sure if that moniker fits but I like his stuff.Some of his predictions are eerily accurate.

Last year I really enjoyed reading the Cassandra Kresnov series, starting with: Crossover, by Joel Shepherd.

It's not pure Cyberpunk, it has some military science fiction elements as well, and it's set in a far future utopia rather than a near future distopia, but it has all the AI and computer tech and social and human introspection that comes with the genre.

It's the authors first work, so it suffers a bit from uneven pacing and needless exposition, but all in all I enjoyed it very much.

Warren wrote: "His password- You guess it Space Balls fans-
1,2,3,4,5 "

That's amazing! I have the same combination on my luggage!

For me Moxyland by Lauren Beukes was very much a modern cyberpunk book without being cyberpunk per se, so I recommend that.

A couple of new offerings-Gary Ballard- Under the Amoral bridge: A Cyber punk Novel on Amazon for 99 cents

Velvet Dogma by Weston Ochse for $3.99

For free audio sample consider:
Pat Cadigan reading a chapter from "Tea from an empty cup"
or William Gibson reading an extract from "All Tomorrows Parties"
Both are at: http://archive.org/details/SeeingEarT...

Or a sample of Snow Crash on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfYKgt...

Glad to see this thread was already created and had some feedback. I've been wanting to find some fresh cyberpunk books, thanks to everyone who offered ideas.

Keith wrote: "Last year I reread Islands in the Net, Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Rudy Rucker's Ware series..."

You read Neuromancer and Count Zero but didn't finish it off with Mona Lisa Overdrive? It's been more than a decade since I last read them, but I always felt that Overdrive runs a very close second place to Neuromancer, out of that trilogy.

Yep. Word of mouth still seem like the best way to find the type book you want. Some of the newer books listed don't exactly fall under cyber-punk but I don't know another term for them.

Also another title I'd recommend is Yarn