This list is a mix between The Cyberpunk Project's Book List and Jason Harrison's Reading List. It contains not only pure cyberpunk literature but also books who contributed to the genre.
Acker, Kathy (
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)
- Blood and Guts in High School (1984)
Her influence is similar to that of Burroughs and Moorcock, but Acker started out as a poet, so her prose is infused with the poet's lust for words. That and moral outrage makes her sound very important.
- Empire of the Senseless (1988)
Aldiss, Brian (
)
- Enemies of the System (1978)
Bachman, Richard (
)
- The Running Man (1982)
Movie of this story starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Bagdikian, Ben H. (
)
- The Media Monopoly (1983)
Non fiction.
Ballard, J. G. (
)
- Crash (1973)
The violence of car crashes and the eroticism of mechanized death become the obscene focus of a group of car crash survivors and their lovers.
- The Atrocity Exhibition (1969)
Ballard studied medicine in college and it shows here. Through a series of fragmented "compressed novels", Ballard traces the breakdown of a doctor at a mental hospital.
The Atrocity Exhibition was only the American release title. In England, where it was originally released, it was Why I Wanna Fuck Ronald Reagan.
-- Andy Micone
- Vermilion Sands (1971)
Barnes, Steven (
)
- Barsoom Project (1981) (with Larry Niven)
Live role-playing with mechanical and holographic aides complicates the security chief's investigations.
-- Chris Pepper
- California Voodoo Game (1989) (with Larry Niven)
- Dream Park (1992) (with Larry Niven)
- Gorgon Child (1989)
- Street Lethal (1983)
Bear, Greg (
)
- Beyond Heaven's River (1980)
- Blood Music (1985)
A genetic engineer first creates super-intelligent viruses and then self-injects them when he is fired in an attempt to save his work. The viruses spread across the world and produce a collision between observer based information theory and reality.
- Eon (1985)
Earth, on the edge of nuclear war, becomes host to a modified asteroid from an alternate time-line. Among the items found within the technically advanced micro-world is a history of the impending war. Will this knowledge be used in time to advert disaster ?
- Eternity (1988)
In order to keep the universe from unraveling, it is necessary to destroy the gateway that was attached to the Thistledown. Sequel to Eon.
- Forge of God (1987)
Earth is the battleground for a war between robots over the fate of life in the galaxy.
-- Chris Pepper
- Psychlone (1979)
- Queen of Angels (1990)
- Strength of Stones (1981)
- The Wind from a Burning Woman (1983)
Collection : The Wind from a Burning Woman, Scatter Shot, Mandela, Hard Fought.
Belsito, Peter
- Notes from the Pop Underground (1985)
Interviews with Survival Research Labs, Robert Anton Wilson, etc.
Benedikt, Michael (
)
- Cyberspace: First Steps (1992)
Non fiction.
Benford, Gregory (
)
Berlyn, Michael (
)
- The Integrated Man (1980)
Bester, Alfred (
)
- Golem 100 (1980)
Eight women in a search for fun and excitement tap the unconscious id of the megacity, producing a demon of startling power and mischief.
- The Computer Connection (1975)
A group of immortals, while creating another of their kind, unwittingly also create a man-machine symbiosis that soon threatens the existence of humankind. Also published under the name Xtro.
- The Demolished Man (1953)
Future peaceful earth, where telepaths prevent crimes by learning about them before they occur, is shocked by one man's desperate irrationality.
- The Stars My Destination (1956)
Body modification, corporate intrigue, baroque settings and characters, and a walk down the gray line that separates criminals from the straight world. But its the protagonist's purely anarchic belief in humanity that makes this book remarkable. Originally Tiger! Tiger!.
Betancourt, John Gregory (
)
- Johnny Zed (1988)
- Rememory (1990)
Bethke, Bruce (
)
- Cyberpunk (1980)
- Elimination Round (1989)
- Headcrash (1995)
Bey, Hakim (
)
- Temporary Autonomous Zone (1991)
Blumlein, Michael (
)
- The Movement of Mountains (1989)
Bova, Ben (
)
- Cyberbooks (1989)
- Exiled from Earth (1971)
- The Dueling Machine (1963)
Bradbury, Ray (
)
- Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
Firemen are employed to burn thought provoking books that run contrary to the desires of those addicted to mass-media forms of entertainment.
Brand, Stewart (
)
- The Media Lab (at MIT) (1987)
Non fiction.
Brin, David (
)
- Earth (1990)
Although the world is falling apart, Arks provide homes for endangered species while ecologists fight a losing battle against the growing population. Meanwhile global computer nets bring information to everyone and allow the elderly majority to vote for laws that will help them. The application of string theory allows new energy sources based upon gravitons to create the hope for a better tomorrow if the knowledge is used by the right people.
- The Postman (1985)
In a post-apocalyptic world one man stumbles across a postal uniform and assumes the identify of a postman as a scheme to get food and hospitality. What starts as an act become a symbol of hope for people trying to rebuild society.
-- Jim Boritz
Brunner, John (
)
- Children of the Thunder (1988)
- Stand on Zanzibar (1968)
Over population in 2010 produces new fads, gene based child rearing laws and the new poor : people who are paying for next-next season's clothing this season.
- The Jagged Orbit (1969)
Racial tensions are fueled by a personal armaments company interested in its profit margin in a world where personal contact is typically avoided.
- The Sheep Look Up (1972)
The effects of poisons and contaminants upon the environment effects an increase in the expression of recessive genetic mutations in both humans and parasites (most other animals are dead) which eventually causes even more problems in a overpopulated, abused, and now under-resourced world.
- The Shockwave Rider (1975)
Society has reached instability and everything changes rapidly in a world where everyone is on the move. A national datanet allows the government to monitor its citizens without their permission, while research produces methods to measure wisdom in children.
The child of a government program to promot "wisdomm" becomes an electronic chameleon in his attempt to lose himself in a computer-controlled society.
-- Chris Pepper
- The Stone that Never Came Down (1973)
Plagued by unemployment, a right-wing moral movement, inflation, and world-wide famine, the world is on the brink of war. A new drug which improves memory and cognition saves the day --- providing solutions to those who have been administered the drug.
- Total Eclipse (1974)
A large scale story on the re-emergence of fascism as a major political force, told in a vivid, hallucinatory prose style.
Budrys, Algis (
)
- Michaelmas (1977)
An electronic genius disguised as a news-reporter controls the running of the world with the help of his artificially intelligent computer.
Bull, Emma (
)
Burgess, Anthony (
)
- A Clockwork Orange (1962)
Gangs of teenagers run rampant performing acts of ultra-violence in the near future. Palovian reconditioning is used as a solution to the overcrowding of penitentiaries, producing physical sickness in those whose thoughts turn to violence.
Burroughs, William S. (
)
- Blade Runner: A Movie (1979)
- Cities of the Red Night (1981)
- Interzone (1987)
- Naked Lunch (1959)
A blast of maniacal laughter from Hell. A combinations of comedy as black as clotted blood, Dr Benway's twisted medical speculations, tales of the criminal underground, and sexual fantasies that tear at your inseams like a rabid brontosaurus, all told in a fragmented prose style that still reads like the raw, beautiful poetry it is.
-- Larry McCaffery, Storming the Reality Studio
- Nova Express (1964)
- The Soft Machine (1961)
- The Third Mind (1977) (with Brion Gysin)
- The Ticket That Exploded (1962)
- Wild Boys (1971)
Butler, Jack (
)
- Nightshade (1989)
The revolution of the Mars Colony brings to light tangling alliances, the hidden goals of unknown power holders, and a vampire.
Cadigan, Pat (
)
- Dirty Work (1993)
- Fool to Believe (1990)
- Fools (1992)
- Home by the Sea (1992)
- Mindplayers (1987)
Deadpan Allie is a sort of future psychiatrist who works on her patients by entering virtual representations of their psyches.
- Patterns (1989)
Collection.
- Synners (1991)
A long, detailed look at a cyberpunk L.A. AI's, Virtual reality, viruses, drug enhancements, megacorps... the usual. Multiple plotlines trace several major and minor characters' lives while describing the future in great detail. An interesting way to pass the time, but a bit bogged down in itself.
-- Wendell Martin
- Tea From an Empty Cup (1998)
Califia, Patrick (
)
Card, Orson Scott (
)
- Ender's Game (1985)
An alien threat forces the military leaders of Earth to look to promising children to be the leader's of tomorrow's defense forces. However the need for their leadership may arrive before the children are adults.
- Speaker for the Dead (1986)
- Xenocide (1991)
Chamberlin, Darick
- Cigarette Boy (1991)
A convoluted fragmented future-war story told as a machine-generated multimedia movie script.
- @Man
Chandler, Raymond (
)
- The Big Sleep (1939)
Although set as a detective novel, the protagonist's multi-sided personality and the writing style used by Chandler are quite similar to the styles of present-day cyberpunk writers.
- The Simple Art of Murder (1950)
When reading it, replace "mystery novel" with "sci-fi novel" and its amazing. Every complaint the Cyberpunk authors had about "classic sci-fi" is there as a complaint about "classic detective stories".
-- Logan Joshua Ratner
Cross, Ronald Anthony (
)
- Prisoners of Paradise (1988)
The descendants of guests at a gigantic hotel carry on with their day to day survival in their universe of elevators and hallways. Meanwhile the hotel computer battles with its electronic head bellboy for control of the guests' destinies.
De Haven, Tom (
)
De Lint, Charles (
)
- Svaha (1989)
It has all the elements of contemporary Cyberpunk except for VR-type "Net" (some would argue that his mystical "Dreamtime" scenes fill the role fo the Net nicely). If you are familiar with the Cyeberpunk-based role-playing game Shadowrun then you will find much of De Lint's setting familiar.
-- Andrew Jeanes
DeBrandt, Don (
)
- Quicksilver Screen (1992)
DeLillo, Don (
)
- White Noise (1985)
A professor of the history of Nazism lives with his fifth wife and the children of previous marriages in a small modern college town. He tries to cope with the symbolism of grocery stores and the fear of death realized by an airborne toxic event.
Delany, Samuel (
)
- Babel-17 (1966)
The language of an invading civilization is found to be based upon the concepts of AI computer languages and memes.
- Dhalgren (1975)
- Nova (1968)
Elements numbered greater than 300 mined from suns about to go nova power the machines of the 35th century. Humans equipped with cybernetic interfaces control the machines in a society that is controlled by feuding families distributed over light-year distances.
Denning, Peter J. (
)
- Computers Under Attack: Viruses, Worms, Hackers (1990)
Non fiction, an Association for Computing Machinery publication.
Denton, Bradley (
)
- Wrack'n'Roll (1986)
Setting alternate time-line, punkers are 1/3 of populace.
Dery, Mark (
)
Di Filippo, Paul (
)
Dick, Philip K. (
)
- A Scanner Darkly (1977)
An undercover law enforcement officer who's real identity is so well protected that his boss doesn't know who he is, is assigned the task of watching himself deal with drug dealers, accept packages of money from vending machines, and not be arrested for dealing with criminals even though eye-witnesses report his presence.
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
The movie Blade Runner is based on this book that examines the question of what it is to be human through the conflict between renegade androids that want to be free, and the human bladerunner sent to terminate them.
- Flow my Tears, the Policeman said (1974)
A Television host, who is supposedly a genetically superior human (manufactured) wakes up to find himself unknown. In a grimy future world, with the aid of various drugs, a police general, and strange chance, questions of reality and morality are examined : what is reality, and what is our relationship with it ? What is morality in terms of things of like fate ?
- The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965)
- VALIS (1981)
- Vulcan's Hammer (1960)
- We Can Remember It For You Wholesale (1966)
The basis for Total Recall with Schwarzenegger's.
-- Chris Pepper
Dietz, William C. (
)
Disch, Thomas M. (
)
- 334 (1972)
- Camp Concentration (1968)
Drexler, Eric (
)
- Engines of Creation (1986)
Nanotechnnology, non fiction.
Effinger, George Alec (
)
- Privé de Désert (1989)
More entangling alliances shroud the existence of the Phoenix file -- an agreement between two rivals over the control of world-wide black markets. Sequel to When Gravity Fails.
- Le Talion du Cheikh (1991)
The Hero and Kingpin introduced in When Gravity Fails are kidnapped, framed, and dropped off in the desert. Hero returns later to exact revenge. Sequel to A Fire in the Sun.
- Gravité à la Manque (1987)
A series of brutal murders prompts a kingpin of the post-superpower black market to adopt and "enhance" a local street tough as a personal resource in an effort to find the deranged killer.
Farren, Mick (
)
- Mars: The Red Planet (1990)
- The Armageddon Crazy (1989)
- The Feelies (1978)
- The Last Stand of the DNA Cowboys (1989)
- The Long Orbit (1988)
- Vickers (1986)
Faust, Clifford (
)
- A Death of Honor (1987)
- The Company Man (1988)
Ferret, Tim
Fjermedal, Grant
- The Tomorrow Makers (1988)
Non fiction.
Ford, John M. (
)
Foster, Alan Dean (
)
- Cyber Way (1990)
Navaho rituals provide a method of communicating with an abandoned database of knowledge and power which can either be exploited for man's good or detriment.
Galouye, Daniel F. (
)
Gardner, Howard (
)
- The Mind's New Science (1987)
Cognitive science, non fiction.
Garreau, Joel (
)
Gerrold, David (
)
- When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One (1972)
How will we know when and if machines become self-aware rather than just presenting a really good simulation of self-awarness.
-- Jim Boritz
Gibson, William (
)
- All Tomorrow's Parties (1999)
- Burning Chrome (1986)
- Count Zero (1986)
Free-agent AIs roam cyberspace and involve themselves in the affairs of more worldly parties. Sequel to Neuromancer.
- Idoru (1996)
- Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988)
A member of the cloistered family destroyed in Neuromancer, members of the Yakuza, and others take an interest in a girl born with the capability to interface directly to the net without the need for external hardware.
- Neuromancer (1984)
An artificial-intelligent computer controls the interests of a super-powerful family has discovered a method to free itself from a crippling case of multiple personality disorder.
- Pattern Recognition (2003)
- Spook Country (2007)
- The Difference Engine (1990) (with Bruce Sterling)
In 19th century England, Babbage's Analytical Engine is a reality, allowing the government to keep an eye on its citizens as everything done is recorded by the engines of the police and government. Criminology and pure mathematics are born at the same time as the environmental effects of steam engines and information loss via heat death impact the residents of London.
- Virtual Light (1993)
Goulart, Ron (
)
Grant, Glenn
Green, Terrence M.
- Barking Dogs (1989)
Cops are outgunned by crooks using untraceable laser pistols. One cop turns renegade and arms himself with an over the counter lie-detector, a laser-proof vest and his own laser in order to identify and destroy those responsible for the lucrative laser-gun trade.
Hafner, Katie (
)
- Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier (1991) (with John Markoff)
Non fiction.
Haiblum, Isidore (
)
- The Mutants are Coming (1984)
Hamit, Francis
- Virtual Reality: Adventures in Cyberspace (1991) (with Wes Thomas)
Non fiction.
Hammett, Dashiell (
)
- Maltese Falcon (1930)
As for the Maltese Falcon. Rent it. Watch it. Live it. I didn't think anyone hadn't seen the old movie classic (Humphrey Bogart). It's as true to the book as any movie ever was to a book. In short, the description you gave of The Big Sleep will do (Chandler admired/idolized Hammett).
-- Logan Joshua Ratner
Hand, Elizabeth (
)
Harrison, Harry (
)
- Make Room! Make Room! (1966)
The movie Soylent Green was based on this story set in a future over-crowded Manhattan where although water, food, and shelter shortages are rampant, the only solution the government has legislated is required retirement at 65.
- The Turing Option (1992) (with Marvin Minsky)
Hawke, Simon (
)
Heilein, Robert (
)
- The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (1942)
The universe is a VR art project.
- Chris Pepper
Hinz, Christopher (
)
- Ash Ock (1989)
- Liege-Killer (1987)
Hopwood, Lyle
Huxley, Aldus (
)
- Brave New World (1932)
Savage meets the modern world in a conflict over what it means to control one's own destiny or wish to. Set in a deterministic society that breeds its members with high tolerance for precise positions.
- Retour au meilleur des mondes (1958)
Jeter, K. W. (
)
- Dr. Adder (1984)
- Farewell Horizontal (1989)
Ask and Receive is the main information services provider on an artificial satellite orbiting the earth that has a way of always coming out on top in any transaction. A graphic arts designer seeks new clients and discovers a few dark secrets the omni-potent corporation rather he didn't know.
- Infernal Devices (1987)
The son of a master clock worker deals with his departed father's creations as they are used for both evil and scientific means in post-Victorian England.
- Noir (1998)
- The Glass Hammer (1985)
Shipments of illegal computer chips from the robotically controlled labs of Silicon Valley in a post-nuclear world are the backdrop for this story. Meanwhile, the control of South American workers is made easier as they are drawn to the networks coverage of the action filled runs which include offensive SDI satellites seeking the cars and drivers but never quite hitting them.
Kadrey, Richard (
)
- Kamikaze l'Amour (1995)
- Metrophage (1988)
Kelly, James Patrick (
)
- Freedom Beach (1985) (with John Kessel)
- Mr. Boy (1990)
- Wildlife (1994)
Kessel, John (
)
- Corrupting Dr. Nice (1997)
Kirtchev, Christian As.
Krueger, Myron W. (
)
- Artificial Reality (1983)
Non fiction.
- Artificial Reality II (1991)
Non fiction.
Laidlaw, Marc (
)
- Dad's Nuke (1985)
The balance of power in a self-sufficient neighborhood walled off from the religious fanatics, is threatened by "Dad" Johnson's acquisition of a nuclear power source and his neighbor's home built missile launcher.
- Kalifornia (1993)
- Nutrimancer (1987)
Landreth, Bill
- Out of the Inner Circle (1989)
Hacking, non fiction.
Lem, Stanislaw (
)
- Fiasco (1986)
A novel, with nominal elements of archetypal characters -- the physcist, the cyberneticist, the theologist, the pilot -- who journey to another star to meet a race of ETs call the Quintans. More pessimistic thought on SETIs that's hugely entertaining, and the only decent description of interstellar travel *ever* written that's not "lets's jump into hyperspace" and not a thinly-veiled Ph.D. doctrine in theoretical physics.
-- Rick Kleffel
- Imaginary Magnitude (1973)
Introduction to books of the 21st century. Includes an introduction to a scholarly work on computer generated literature, a work by a man who attempted to teach bacteria the english language, a self-modifiying encyclopedia, an introduction to a lecture by the first on-line AI, and, of course, an introduction. Extremely witty and so packed with truly (for want of a better term) "mind boggling" ideas that can sustain many, many readings.
-- Rick Kleffel
- Memoirs Found in a Bathtub (1961)
The effects of a complete disintegration of paper and how this completely stops for the most part the flow of information, and how this affects society.
- One Human Minute (1986)
Reviews of books of the future. An incredible essay on "The Upside-Down Evolution" (Weapons Systems of the 21st Century), a review of a sort of computerized Guiness book, and a very pessimistic lecture on SETI and the creation of life on earth.
-- Rick Kleffel
Levy, Steven (
)
- Hackers (1984)
Non fiction. Examines the world of non-destructive computer hackers and the origins of computer centered culture in the context of three different hacking environments.
-- Jim Boritz
Lewitt, Shariann (
)
- Cybernetic Jungle (1992)
An anti-megacorp revolution in a Latino Cyberpunk world. Paulo is a street fighter out to get the corporation that destroyed his family. Zaide is a netrunner with a craving for power. They get together to shake up the world.
-- Wendell Martin
- Cyberstealth (1989)
Top gun in space with hero being a gypsy street urchin who goes from rags to riches when adopted by a planetary governor. The plot is his handling of a friend's death while testing a new stealth fighter in the backdrop of a civil war. The secondary plot is the hunt for a spy among the pilots.
-- Cris
- Dancing Vac (1990)
Leyner, Mark (
)
- American Made (1986)
- I Smell Esther Williams (1983)
- I was an Infinitely Hot and Dense Dot (1988)
- My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist (1990)
Short stories, or prose poetry with a schizophrenic style of many cyberpunk writers but little other connection.
Lint, Charles de (
)
Littell, Jonathan (
)
- Bad Voltage (1989)
A book that makes me think of an attempt to "modernize" Anthony Burgess' work. I don't know if it's done on purpose, but the similarities are definitely there.
-- Bryce Koike
Maddox, Tom (
)
Mason, Lisa (
)
McCaffery, Larry (
)
- Storming the Reality Studio: A Casebook of Cyberpunk and Postmodern Fiction (1991)
A review of cyberpunk and post-modernism. Thesis : we don't read science fiction, we live it.
McDonald, Ian (
)
- Out on Blue Six (1989)
Personal happiness factors are constantly monitored in an attempt to maintain a constant level of emotional sustainability within a walled-off mega city. Self-intelligent computers act behind the scenes as they attempt to calculate whether humanity has regained the ability to rule itself.
McLoughlin, John C.
- The Helix and the Sword (1983)
Milan, Victor (
)
- The Cybernetic Samurai (1985)
After a limited nuclear exchange, scientists in Japan work to create the first artificial consciousness. Trained in the way of Bushido (the warrior code) it unifies Japan through its influence in an effort to stop WW4.
- The Cybernetic Shogun (1990)
The offspring of the cybernetic samurai disagree about what role they should play in the world's affairs following the fourth world war. Sequel to The Cybernetic Samurai.
Miller, Walter (
)
- A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)
In a post apocalyptic world that has returned to the dark ages what would happen as people began to rediscover technology and how would they deal with knowledge from the past.
-- Jim Boritz
Minsky, Marvin (
)
- The Society of Mind (1987)
Non fiction.
Moorcock, Michael (
)
- The Cornelius Chronicles, vol 1, 2 & 3 (1977)
The semi-complete story of the life/lives of Jerry Cornelius, Nobel-Prize winning scientist and rock and roll musician. The existential plotting, ambiguous sexuality of the main characters, and the general low-life/high brow feel makes these very important works in the canon.
Moran, Daniel Keys (
)
- Armageddon Blues (1988)
- Emerald Eyes (1988)
Biogenetically engineered in a post-superpower world controlled by the UN Peace Keeping Forces, an extended family of telepaths fight for their personal freedom.
- The Last Dancer (1993)
Set principally in 2076, though there is a lengthy section set 50,000 years in the past. The book is principally about Denice Castanavers, during a TriCentennial Rebellion. Trent is in the book for about one hundred pages.
The last Dancer expands the stage on which events are taking place; you'll finally learn something substantial about the Continuing Time at large, as opposed to learning only about post-Unification Earth.
- The Long Run (1989)
Seven years after the United Nations Peace Keeping Forces nuked the telepaths developed from the Superman Project, Trent the Uncatchable bumps into Denice. What follows is their attempt to evade the PKF who stumbled upon the two. Trent, using his skills, humiliates the PKF in the Earth-Moon system in an attempt to teach them a lesson. Sequel to Emerald Eyes.
Morgan, Richard K. (
)
- Carbone Modifié (2002)
- Anges Déchus (2003)
- Furies Déchaînées (2005)
Murphy, Pat (
)
- The City, Not Long After (1989)
Newman, Kim (
)
Odom, Mel (
)
Orwell, George (
)
- 1984 (1949)
Big Brother holds control over the populace through observation, heavy-handedness, and fear in a world where information and personal relations are always suspect.
Parsegian, V. Lawrence
- This Cybernetic World of Men, Machines, and Earth Systems (1973)
Cybernetics, non fiction.
Piercy, Marge (
)
- He, She and It (1991)
- Woman on the Edge of Time (1976)
Platt, Charles (
)
- Free Zone (1989)
- Less Than Human (1986)
- The Silicon Man (1991)
Poyer, David (
)
Pynchon, Thomas (
)
- Gravity's Rainbow (1973)
The best cyberpunk ever written by a guy who didn't even know he was writing it. Pynchon's most difficult (and rewarding) book puts you into the bad brains of soldiers, scientists, hookers, losers, etc, during WWII, when science was about to change everything.
- Slow Learner (1984)
Collection of early short stories.
- The Crying of Lot 49 (1966)
- V (1963)
About a person in love with a bomb, which is a great lead into Gravity's Rainbow.
-- Andy Micone
- Vineland (1990)
Quick, William Thomas (
)
- Dreams of Flesh and Sand (1988)
- Dreams of Gods and Men (1989)
- Singularities (1990)
- Systems (1989)
- Yesterday's Pawn (1989)
Reed, Robert (
)
- The Hormone Jungle (1988)
Robinson, Kim Stanley (
)
- The Gold Coast (1988)
- The Memory of Whiteness (1985)
Robinson, Spider (
)
- Mindkiller (1982)
A duet of lives, a true decker and a smuck professor, somehow the lines tie in with a man who has the power to erase memories. There's a cool wirehead in there (direct wiring to pleasure centers), a touch of bondage, hacking, and a Cyberpunk lifestyle. And a touch of Robinson moralizing. Sigh...
-- Liralen Li
Rucker, Rudy (
)
- Freeware (1997)
- Masters of Space and Time (1984)
- Semiotext(e) SF (1989)
- Software (1982)
- Spacetime Donuts (1981)
It's basically about a [u|dis]topian society where a big computer runs everything. There are some people who fill out the forms for the computer, and others, called Dreamers, who plug into the computer while asleep. The society is pretty static, because the computer isn't creative. But then a group of new people, called the Angels, appear on the scene. They're able to plug themselves directly into the computer without frying their brains, because they've gotten used to mental overstimulation through studying mathematics and theorectical physical and doing lots of acid.
-- Laurence Roberts
- The 57th Franz Kafka (1983)
- The Hacker and the Ants (1994)
- The Secret of Life (1985)
- Transreal! (1991)
Includes The 57th Franz Kafka.
- Wetware (1988)
On the moon, sentient robots want to interface with human beings to create a man-machine symbiosis. Sequel to Software.
- White Light (1980)
Russo, Richard Paul (
)
- Destroying Angel (1992)
"The electrifying new cyberpunk thriller... beyond the future shock of Blade Runner..." goes the blurb on the cover. This is an incredibly predictable Terminator meets Blade Runner story set in a boringly typical cyberpunk world. The entire plot is spelled out on the back cover and through the cover art. Pass.
-- Wendell Martin
- Subterranean Gallery (1989)
Ryan, Thomas J. (
)
- The Adolescence of P1 (1977)
Are the desires for feeding and reproduction sufficient to drive self-awareness. How far would a self-aware machine go to preserve its existence.
-- Jim Boritz
Shankel, Jason
Shelley, Mary (
)
Shepard, Lucius (
)
- Green Eyes (1984)
A bringing back of the dead to idiot-savant capabilities for "research" purposes. A strangely compelling blend of voo-doo, science, death, living, and the use of power. [What no taxes ?] Cyber only in voo-doo science giving incredible power, definitely Punk.
-- Liralen Li
- Life During Wartime (1987)
Shiner, Lewis (
)
- Deserted Cities of the Heart (1988)
- Frontera (1984)
The first privately funded mission to Mars after the collapse of NASA turns nightmarish when the protagonist finds himself programmed to bring something back to Earth, at any cost.
- Glimpses (1993)
- Nine Hard Questions About the Universe (1991)
- Slam (1990)
- The Edges of Things (1991)
Shirley, John (
)
- A Song Called Youth 1: Eclipse (1987)
- A Song Called Youth 2: Eclipse Penumbra (1988)
- A Song Called Youth 3: Eclipse Corona (1990)
- City Come A-Walkin' (1980)
- Heatseeker (1989)
Collection.
- The Brigade (1981)
- Transmaniacon (1979)
- Wetbones (1991)
Sieber, Ulrich
- International Handbook on Computer Crime (1986)
Non fiction.
Silverberg, Robert (
)
- Shadrach in the Furnace (1976)
In this version of 1984, a united world is monitored and ruled by an ancient leader who periodically receives organ transplants from targeted members of the healthy populace. A cancerous virus plagues the world, slowly consuming those who do not receive regular doses of the secret antidote.
- The World Inside (1971)
Smith, Michael Marshall (
)
Spinrad, Norman (
)
- Agent of Chaos (1967)
- Little Heroes (1987)
- Other Americas (1988)
- Street Meat (1983)
- The Iron Dream (1972)
Stapledon, Olaf (
)
- Last and First Men (1930)
- Star Maker (1937)
Stephenson, Neil (
)
Sterling, Bruce (
)
- Crystal Express (1989)
Five stories from the Shaper/Mechanist saga, two cyberpunk stories, and four fantasy.
Some duds. Some doozies. Worth buying for the Shaper/Mechanist stories and "Green Days in Brunei".
-- Stefan Jones
- Globalhead (1992)
More short stories. Some duds, some doozies, and few MIND BLOWERS. "Our Neural Chernobyl" and "The Shores of Bohemia" made my brain ache for days.
-- Stefan Jones
- Heavy Weather (1994)
- Holy Fire (1996)
- Involution Ocean (1977)
Very strange tale of a drug addict who goes to sea (sort of) to ensure a supply of the monkey on his back. Strange parallels to Moby Dick. A first novel, but it doesn't show. Very good.
-- Stefan Jones
- Islands in the Net (1988)
A brilliant fast-track couple investigates the threats of anarchy to their culture from those who aren't so well off.
- Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology (1986)
- Schismatrix (1985)
A Shaper revolutionary, disowned from his own colony, plays Shaper against Mechanist in his rise to power.
- The Artificial Kid (1980)
An action-adventure movie star's existence is threatened by the unseen forces controlling his world when an undead leader returns to life after a long sleep.
- The Hacker Crackdown (1992)
Uneven but generally good coverage of the Sundevil raids. Hackers vs. Feds.
-- Stefan Jones
Stoll, Clifford (
)
- The Cuckoo's Egg (1989)
Non fiction. How much trouble would you go to in order to solve a 75 cent discrepancy between a bunch of Unix accounting programs ?
- Jim Boritz
Stone, Robert (
)
- Dog Soldiers (1974)
Stone's post-Beat style and vision of America as a morally bankrupt party town tearing itself apart is as harrowing as Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The difference is that like most cyberpunk, the action could be happening right next door.
-- Mondo 2000
Strieber, Whitley (
)
- Nature's End (1986) (with James Kunetka)
Similar to Earth by David Brin : the bio-sphere is falling apart. The solution proposed by the Depopulationists is to kill 1 of every 3 people via lottery. Will this remove the burden on the biosphere ? Would starvation solve the problem anyway ? What do you do with a third of seven billion corpses ? Will the survivors have the will to go on ? Will our four heroes save the day ? No, yes, cremate them, probably not, read the book.
Sturgeon, Theodore (
)
- More Than Human (1953)
hat if the next stage of evolution were a collective being ?
-- Jim Boritz
Swanwick, Michael (
)
- Gravity's Angel (1991)
Collection.
- Griffin's Egg (1991)
- In the Drift (1985)
- Stations of the Tide (1991)
- Vacuum Flowers (1987)
A clone designed by a secret master genedesigner engages in a quest to find her purpose and origins after being cast adrift memoryless towards an asteroid colony. The colony organism that now exists on Earth is also interested in her since her personality is rock solid, an interesting state for an imprinted clone.
Thomas, Thomas T. (
)
- Crygender (1991)
- ME: A Novel of Self-Discover (1991)
A computer virus become self-aware and learns about the struggle for survival.
-- Jim Boritz
Tiptree, James Jr. (
)
- The Girl Who was Plugged In (1974)
Varley, John (
)
- The Ophiuchi Hotline (1977)
Vinge, Joan D. (
)
- Catspaw (1988)
Sequel to Psion : our hero return from obscurity to stop a megolamanic religious politician from enacting a Hilteresque final solution.
- Psion (1982)
A half-breed alien is recruited into a special program to help refine his psionic powers in the hope that he or someone else will be capable of stopping a mad telepathic criminal.
Vinge, Vernor (
)
- Across Realtime (1991)
Contains Marooned in Realtime and The Peace War, along with The Ungoverned from True Names and Other Dangers.
- Marooned in Realtime (1986)
As the survivors of humanity jump forward in time, safely secured within their bobbles, someone is left behind who may have stopped a coup by an unscrupulous tele-evangelist.
- Tatja Grimm's World (1987)
- The Peace War (1984)
The threat of war is obliterated when the capability to permanently seal one's enemies inside of impenetrable shells is discovered. However, the inventor bides his time in the peaceful dictatorship.
- Threats and Other Promises (1988)
- True Names and Other Dangers (1987)
The government, controlled netrunners, and an unknown entity battle for control of the world's computer resources.
Watkins, William John (
)
- Going to See the End of the Sky (1986)
- The Centrifugal Rickshaw Dancer (1985)
Weaver, Michael D.
- Mercedes Nights (1987)
The cloning of a popular movie star/sex-symbol presents its own problems when the original discovers the duplicity.
- My Father Immortal (1989)
A family that prepared to survive WWIII and then awaken to rule over the survivors, finds that the bioengineered survivors don't need or want their interference or rules.
Williams, Walter Jon (
)
- Angel Station (1989)
Two biogenetically bred orphans steal back their dead father's spaceship and fight for their economic freedom beyond the stars.
- Aristoi (1992)
- Facets (1990)
- Hardwired (1986)
Twelve years after Earth loses the Earth-Orbital war, panzerboys perform illegal runs from the west coast where the orbital shuttles land, across what once was America, to the northeast, encountering frequent organized resistance.
- Solips System (1989)
- Voice of the Whirlwind (1987)
A clone with 15 year old memories searches for both his missing memories and for the people who killed him and who wish to use his training for their own goals.
Wilson, Robert C. (
)
- Memory Wire (1987)
Artificial holographic crystals created by an alien race and mined from a huge meteorite impact in South America promote illegal trade and a reporter's quest for knowledge of their secrets.
Wingrove, David (
)
- Chung Kuo I: The Middle Kingdom (1989)
- Chung Kuo II: The Broken Wheel (1990)
- Chung Kuo III: The White Mountain (1991)
Wolfe, Gene (
)
- The Book of the New Sun (1980)
Wolverton, Dave (
)
- On My Way to Paradise (1989)
Womack, Jack (
)
- Ambient (1987)
- Elvissey (1993)
- Heathern (1990)
- Terraplane (1988)
Wyndham, John (
)
- The Chrysalids (1955)
In this post-apocalyptic story some humans have begun to develop telepathic abilities. Will they survive or will they be destroyed by the religious fervor that demands that all deviations from the true form be destroyed ?
-- Jim Boritz
Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn (
)
Zahn, Timothy (
)
- Cobra (1985)
- Cobra Bargain (1988)
- Cobra Strike (1986)
Zamyatin, Yevgeny (
)
