403 deck jockeys jacked in for 24 days!
Cyberpunk is a genre of media characterized by grunginess and future technology. In cyberpunk media high tech visuals clash with grimy and dark tones. What follows is my take on the cyberpunk genre.
The street is cluttered with neon signs and holographic advertisements promoting a range of products from cough medicine to six-shooters. Underfoot, the distant offspring of labrats genetically engineered to survive in a virulent wasteland scurry about. The sounds of passing hover cars, scooters, motorbikes, and pedestrians creates a cacaphony of noise. But above it all you distincly hear the metallic click click of an android's bare feet on metal sidewalk. Your target. You flex your aural augments and hone in on his exact location. He's keeping a steady pace twenty feet in front of you.
As you follow your target through the undercity you are accosted by a wide variety of street vendors trying to sell you drugs, weapons, and even assorted knick knacks. Putting on a stern face and walking with purpose is enough to assuage their fears of losing a potential customer.
The android turns a corner and heads into a tight alleyway. In here the already dim lighting is further muted by a haze of electronic smog. You've left the hustle and bustle of the undercity proper and exchanged it for a low din. There is no sound but the buzz of a nearby electrical transformer. Not even the android's footsteps.
The haze is broken by a large object hurtling at your from above. The android slams it's feet right into your chest making a sound more like a thud than a click. You quickly roll out of the way before hitting the ground. The android, not expecting your quick reaction, has lost it's footing and collapsed on the ground next to you. You extend your fingerblade modification and lash out at the ground where the android used to be.
An echoing click, click, click can be heard as the android makes it's escape down the narrow alleyway. You calmly get up on one knee and eye the android. You put your right hand in the form of a gun and aim right at it. With a flash you fire an electrical burst that takes the android to the ground.
Walking up to the android you see that it's been put into emergency relaxation mode. You'll have to carry it all the way back to the collection point. It's going to be a long day.
1. What is the purpose of your sub?
IamSeth: Our sub exists to provide a space for fans of the cyberpunk genre to escape into their favorite worlds without having to worry about the tedium and terror of the real. By keeping it fiction focused, we can avoid a lot of the arguing and partisan attitudes that other cyberpunk fan subreddits suffer from and let ourselves keep things enjoyable for everyone.
m_bishop: The purpose of the sub is to give fans of Cyberpunk, as a subgenre of fiction, a place to talk about it without the baggage the term tends to bring along. We define Cyberpunk, in the context of this sub, as fiction. We focus on the books, movies and video games that people create as works of fiction in the genre.
300bit-s: Everyone else expressed this quite eloquently, so I'll just summarize. We provide an outlet for the discussion of cyberpunk media, without all the hassle of "bluh bluh muh cyberpunk reality bluh bluh" that /r/Cyberpunk seems filled with these days. More "high tech low life", less "neon sign at night"!
2. What type of content do you like to see on your sub??
IamSeth: We welcome any content so long as it relates to fiction and the cyberpunk genre. From creators discussing their works to fans posting upcoming games to viewers linking to their favorite movies, or readers their favorite books, anything cyberpunk is welcomed.
m_bishop: Anything relating to Cyberpunk Fiction. Personally, I tend to favor Gibson novels, and the novels inspired by his work, as well as comics. Really, anything at all that brings someones creative work to the table. I love anything that dares to speculate on what technologies we may wrestle with in the future, and how that might play out.
300bit-s: I'm really enjoying the wide variety of content we're currently getting - fiction, film, artwork, and video games, all interspersed with some really in-depth discussion from the community.
3. Favorite cyberpunk novel/artwork/song/anything:
IamSeth: My favorite cyberpunk novels are William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy and Tad Williams' Otherland series. Artwise, I love the works of f1 x-2, who recently did the cover of the new Brazilian edition of Neuromancer. My favorite cyberpunk song is the Airborne remix of Kenji Kawaii's Making of Cyborg, a remix of the intro song from the first Ghost in the Shell film. My favorite cyberpunk thing is media piracy- and the sub is absolutely piracy friendly. We've got a stickied list of cyberpunk books avaliable online to make sure everyone who's interested gets a chance to read.
m_bishop:
Book: Count Zero by William Gibson.
Artwork: The cover of the new Brazillian edition of Neuromancer done by f1x-2. I think he's really going back to Cyberpunk as an exaggerated style and I love it.
Song: Master Boot Record just did a cover of the Syndicate theme song.
Game: Syndicate, the 90's top-down strategy simulation.
I could go on, but there's a quick list. Cyberpunk is such a vibrant genre, there's something in the dark future for everyone.
300bit-s:
Novel: It's more of a short story, but I'm quite partial to William Gibson's Burning Chrome.
Artwork: I have to agree with /u/IamSeth and /u/m_bishop, Josan Gonzalez's (f1x-2) cyberpunk work is some of the best in recent memory. Just look at those colors - absolutely gorgeous stuff!
Songs: I've really been enjoying VHS Glitch's album Evil Technology lately.
4. Which mod will be the first to get a neural enhancement?
IamSeth: As for neural enhancements, /u/m_bishop 's already pushing the envelope with his homemade wearables; if any of us wind up on the bleeding edge of the breakthrough it will be him- though I'll be a close second!
m_bishop: Probably me. I build wearable computers for fun, and often work them into my Halloween costumes. I've already started researching piercing places who are willing to implant chips in my hands, and I'm sure once there are better things out there, I'll jump on those as well. I got into the piercing scene 20yrs ago, and I've already done a lot of that kind of modification. The vibrating tongue ring served me well in college, and I haven't stopped modding since.
300bit-s: Once I can be sure that my frontal lobe won't be fried by some black ICE, count me in. I'll leave the prototypes to /u/m_bishop ! :-P
5. Anything else you care to share?
IamSeth: I'm genuinely interested to see what the other mods say, here- I started the sub, but I'm trying to make it more or less democratic. Looking forward, I hope to see it used to revitalize the genre- if the next big cyberpunk novel gets its first mention on a subreddit I started, I'll be all kinds of proud.
m_bishop:I just hope the sub grows. I've been posting in some Cyberpunk community or another for a long time, and lately there's been a lot of resistance to the fiction of the genre by a loud minority who would rather redefine it as a present-day subculture, who wants to distance themselves from the fiction.
I just want a place where I can discuss my favorite genre of fiction without arguing about it. In the short time this sub has existed, it's really filled a niche for the people posting here. We can have the conversations we've been trying to have elsewhere, without the drudgery of arguing an entire side of the word Cyberpunk that we're not interested in arguing about.
It's been a real sigh of relief for me, and I hope others find it as refreshing as I have.
300bit-s: I'm really honored to be part of the team here at /r/cyberpunk_fiction. The community is great, the other mods have been nothing but kind and helpful, and I think things are only going to go up from here.
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ここには何もないようです