From: JBrandt@AAA.Uoregon.EDU (Jason)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: Cyberpunk (was Re: One quick question)
Date: 27 Jan 93 05:40:24 GMT
Followup-To: alt.callahans
Organization: The Polyhedron Group
NNTP-Posting-Host: fp1-dialin-1.uoregon.edu

In article <1993Jan26.100849.13293@gdr.bath.ac.uk>, eesshlgb@gdr.bath.ac.uk
(S H L G Bisson) wrote:
> "To me the _Shadowrun_ sub-genre isn't even Science Fiction (the explicit
> use of Science Fiction, rather than my usual Sf for Speculative fiction, is
> deliberate). It's a Fantasy genre, that plays with some of the paradigms and
> tropes of cyberpunk, whilst deliberately avoiding the themes - that science
> and culture are Art.

Jason ponders that. "Well, I'd have to agree, to a point. Shadowrun, the
Fantasy RPG, is just that. But there have also been some very good novels
based on the genre, which include enough of what I would have to call
cyberpunk and SF to qualify as crossover material, at the very least. Read
"2XS". It is heavy on the SF, and rather light on the fantasy, but it is
clearly in the Shadowrun side of Cyberpunk."

> "Larry McCaffery's _Storming The Reality Studio_, whilst flawed in many ways,
> goes a long way to show this aspect of cyberpunk, an experimental, exploring
> post-modern art-form, attemting to break down the barriers between high and
> low art.

"Hmmmm. That's on my list of stuff to locate and read. Right now, I'm
working on 'Cyberspace: First steps' and 'the Silicon Mirage', both of
which are on the hard science aspects of virtual reality and cyberspace,
respectively."

> "Consider _Neuromancer_, with its Chandleresque prose, and its incredible
> imagery, that wouldn't have been out of place in e.e. cummings or Thomas'
> poetry.

"I finished the Neuromancer trilogy a while ago. It was quite good, but I
don't know I'd praise it as highly as you have. I've read cyberpunk by some
newer authors that I thought was better written, such as Mel Odom's 'Lethal
Interface'.

> "But, now, the Movement is over. Gibson, Sterling et al have moved on. There
> is no more Cheap Truth, no manifesto. And this *is* right. This *is* good.
> 
> "Sf must evolve, grow. And Cyberpunk was part of the growth, but it's over now.

"Now there, my friend, I -MUST- disagree with you. I've seen a lot of good
cyberpunk material written recently, commerciallly and in other forums,
such as on alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo . I write some of it myself, and so does
Liralen Li. To say that one author, who admittendly did a lot that shaped
the field, has moved on, and therefore the entire genre is dead, seems a
bit absurd to me. By that logic, Science Fiction itself is dead. How many
top SF writers have passed into the great beyond? To the best of my
knowledge, Gibson only wrote three Cyberpunk novels, four if you count 'the
Difference Engine', which ia only marginally CP. Other writers of good CP
stories have been just as prolific, if not more so."

> "But, it is part of the history of Sf, and in the best post-modern tradition,
> it is being recycled and reused, seasoning the works of new writers with new
> things to say, people like Charlie Stross and Simon Ings, like Greg Egan and 
> Paul McAuley.

"And there is also -new- material being written. So long as new authors
take up the torch, a genre isn't dead."

> "Cyberpunk is dead... long live Cyberpunk!"
> 
> With that final toast, the Acme Railgun Toaster fires once more, and at 6kps
> a glass vapourises in the back of the fireplace. Ignatz blows the smoke from
> tha barrel, and looks down at a small pile of soap boxes.
> 
> "Uh oh. How do I get down...."

Jason looks over from his own pile. "How about if we help each other down,
my friend?"
Newsgroups: alt.callahans