# Help me pick a good cyberpunk novel **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 27, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273 "2011-11-27T20:56:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/1 "2011-11-27T20:56:13Z")
My awesome brother recently gave me a kindle, and I was overjoyed to find that there is a seemingly endless supply of science fiction available. However, now that I have read all of Charles Stross, I’m not sure what to read next. I love him, (especially the Laundry Series) and Gibson, and Neal Stephensen, and Cory Doctorow. I don’t like stuff with Medieval themes, I don’t like vampire-detective-type books. I prefer things that aren’t too bleak, nihilistic, or postmodern. Just good old-fashioned cyberpunk. Wait, is that an oxymoron? Help? ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/2 "2011-11-27T21:05:52Z")
If you want to read the creme de la creme of Cyberpunk, one that is dying to be translated into film, look no other than George Alec Effinger’s “When Gravity Fails”. Contrary to a lot of cyberpunk books, this one is a real novel. That is there is a writer behind it, one whose talent isnt limited to cranking out cool sounding names… ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/3 "2011-11-27T21:08:14Z")
I’m on it! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/4 "2011-11-27T21:13:07Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > My awesome brother recently gave me a kindle, and I was overjoyed to find that there is a seemingly endless supply of science fiction available. > > However, now that I have read all of Charles Stross, I’m not sure what to read next. I love him, (especially the Laundry Series) and Gibson, and Neal Stephensen, and Cory Doctorow. I don’t like stuff with Medieval themes, I don’t like vampire-detective-type books. I prefer things that aren’t too bleak, nihilistic, or postmodern. Just good old-fashioned cyberpunk. Wait, is that an oxymoron? > > Help? Walter Jon Williams might be your speed - Aristoi or Angel Station ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/5 "2011-11-27T21:14:12Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > I’m on it! Read it with either the Blade Runner OST in the background or some moody oriental-like music (Tangerine Dream maybe). It’s got two sequels, the first one is quite good, but a few notches below the original. The third one is pretty shitty. There wont be a fourth cause the author died in the early 2000s. But, as an ex Cyberpunk fan myself, I consider “When Gravity Fails” to be the best of the original Cyberpunk novels, and also the most original. Kind of a “Blade Runner in Arab Land”. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/6 "2011-11-27T21:34:03Z")
I would second **When Gravity Fails** , which was cyberpunk before cyberpunk was cool. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/7 "2011-11-27T21:57:06Z")
**Andy L :** What about “This Is Not A Game”? It looks interesting. Turns out I’ve read “When Gravity Fails.” It was excellent! But I didn’t know there were sequels. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/8 "2011-11-27T21:58:54Z")
Plenty of Roger Zelazny’s stuff can be seen as proto-cuberpunk: \*This Immortal, The Dream Master, Damnation Alley, Today We Choose Faces, Doorways in the Sand, My Name is Legion, Eye of Cat \*and any number of his short stories, which are where he really shines. He’s very good, so long as you avoid the Amber novels (massively overrated, and fantasy to boot) and any of his collaborations other than perhaps _Coils_. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/9 "2011-11-27T22:12:12Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > If you want to read the creme de la creme of Cyberpunk, one that is dying to be translated into film, look no other than George Alec Effinger’s “When Gravity Fails”. > Contrary to a lot of cyberpunk books, this one is a real novel. That is there is a writer behind it, one whose talent isnt limited to cranking out cool sounding names… Just bought for my Kindle based on this. Hmm, cool; hadn’t heard of this one… ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/10 "2011-11-27T22:16:46Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > **Andy L :** What about “This Is Not A Game”? It looks interesting. Oh, yeah - forgot about that one - I liked it a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/11 "2011-11-27T22:42:10Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Walter Jon Williams might be your speed - Aristoi or Angel Station _Aristoi_, though awesome, wasn’t cyberpunk at all. _Hardwired_ and _Voice of the Whirlwind_, on the other hand . . . Lets check with the experts. According to R. Talsorian’s Cyberpunk 2020 RPG, the true judge of all things cyberpunk, the cyberpunk bibliography consists of: William Gibson: _Neuromancer_, _Count Zero_, _Mona Lisa Overdrive_, _Burning Chrome_ (Big shock he’s here, I know) Norman Spinrad: _Little Heroes_ (Never managed to find this one) John G. Batancourt: _Johnny Zed_ (I remember reading this, but can not remember a single detail about it. Not a good sign) Joan D. Vinge: _Psion_, _Catspaw_ (These were good. The latter more so than the former) Mick Farren: _Vickers_ (Don’t remember this one either. Don’t think I read it) Walter Jon Williams: _Hardwired_, _Voice of the Whirlwind_,\* Angel Station\* (Staggeringly awesome. Actually, I’ve found pretty much everything he’s ever read awesome, including his short stories. Except that one ‘alternate past’ short story where Lord Byron gets his leg shot off, inspiring Shelly to write a different Frankenstein) Bruce Sterling: _The Artificial Kid_, _Mirrorshades: the Cyberpunk Anthology_, _Islands in the Net_ (Good, not amazing) John Brunner: _Shockwave Rider_ (Never found) George Alec Effinger: _When Gravity Fails_,\* A Fire in the Sun \* (As mentioned by others, awesome. The third one hadn’t been written yet. Effinger also wrote a Zork novelization, which was also awesome) Steve Barnes: _Streetlethal_, _Gorgan Child_ (Haven’t read these, but they sound awful) John Shirley: _Eclipse_, _Eclipse Penumbra_ (Think I read them, or one of them. Can’t remember, don’t care) Rudy Rucker: _Software_, _Wetware_ (No.) – Walter Jon Williams actually wrote the Hardwired expansion to CP2020 himself. Sadly, his writeups of his own characters all have super-humanly high stats. It had better drug rules than the ‘don’t do drugs’ main book. I’m still kicking myself for not having bought the super-rare When Gravity Fails expansion, which would, in addition to setting info, presumably have better bio-sculpting rules. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/12 "2011-11-27T22:44:22Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > My awesome brother recently gave me a kindle, and I was overjoyed to find that there is a seemingly endless supply of science fiction available. > > However, now that I have read all of Charles Stross, I’m not sure what to read next. I love him, (especially the Laundry Series) and Gibson, and Neal Stephensen, and Cory Doctorow. I don’t like stuff with Medieval themes, I don’t like vampire-detective-type books. I prefer things that aren’t too bleak, nihilistic, or postmodern. Just good old-fashioned cyberpunk. Wait, is that an oxymoron? > > Help? This is not Cyberpunk, but… Peter F. Hamilton. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/13 "2011-11-27T23:01:36Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > **Andy L :** What about “This Is Not A Game”? It looks interesting. Read it. Is ok. But not excellent. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/14 "2011-11-27T23:46:14Z")
Anybody read the Vorkosigan series, by Lois McMaster Bujold? I read one; I really liked it. Are the others worthwhile? ( **Alessan:** Absolutely! I love Zelazny – “Lord of Light” is one of my favorite books evar!) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/15 "2011-11-28T00:07:24Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Anybody read the Vorkosigan series, by Lois McMaster Bujold? I read one; I really liked it. Are the others worthwhile? One of my favorite series - I’ve read them all and enjoyed them very much. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/16 "2011-11-28T00:24:31Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > ( **Alessan:** Absolutely! I love Zelazny – “Lord of Light” is one of my favorite books evar!) Agreed, but I never though of him as cyberpunk. The Corwin Amber books are very good. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/17 "2011-11-28T03:40:01Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > This is not Cyberpunk, but… Peter F. Hamilton. Wow, looks good. I will check out “the Reality Dysfunction,” I think. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/18 "2011-11-28T04:33:59Z")
Mel Odom’s _Stalker Analog_ was okay. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/19 "2011-11-28T06:52:26Z")
I recommend Bruce Sterling, but he’s not to everyone’s taste. Try _Heavy Weather_. ---
**Author:** ![haardvark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@haardvark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/haardvark)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273/20 "2011-11-28T15:43:00Z")
Currently reading “The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigualpi (sp?). Future Earth when hydrocarbon fuels are largely gone, genetically modified foods have gone off the rails and global societies have shrunk to smaller, more protectionist enclaves. Lots of texture, not bad at all. Do the Altered Carbon novels count as cyberpunk? Probably not, hrm. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-good-cyberpunk-novel/604273.md?page=2)