Cyberpunk..

[sailorm72003]

Very interesting style, I just read the New Rose Hotel, thanks.
I've noted some of the others you mentioned, I'll have to check them out when time permits.

I find the disjointedness you referenced is there to an extent, but it lent itself well to the plot.

I think it would make me tired to read too much of it at once, though!

Sailor

 

[sailorm72003]

Re: Ooh, Sailor:

you're almost at AV stage. Surprise us, eh?

Perdita

Dear Perdita,

I hadn't given it a thought, I don't know what I'll use.

Too bad I can't draw like Rhino or Destinie, but I'll find domething sooner or later.

Sailor

 

[Guest]

Raff, I'm so glad I suggested this thread (haha, no credit to Gauche). Very interesting ideas.

SmUK: "Recently I've been cutting down on the length of my sentences because MS Word keeps putting green lines underneath them, but TBH I think I'm gonna switch that feature off..."
Ax, I ignore the grammatical suggestions about 99% of the time; I know when I want a sentence to ramble or split my way.

Quasi: "Take the atmosphere of 1940's film noir - or the novels they were based upon - with a unsentimentalized view of human nature. There are no heros, only people forced to heroic – if selfish – measures to survive."
Quas, that's a very fine insight on noir; love the last sentence, helps redefine the 'heroic' for me.

Raff, "Does the subject matter of your story define the style in which it is written?"
Darlin', that's a whole new thread waiting for you to post it.

'dita

 

[dr_mabeuse]

If you want to read some cyberpunk porn, Pat Calafia has some stories in her book "Macho Sluts" that will give you a taste.

Basically Cyberpunk seems to me to be a dystopian urban sci-fi with the feel of noir 50's Private Eye fiction, much more concerned with inner than outer space. (Does anyone write spaceship sci-fi anymore?) Because it concentrates on the fringe of urban society, it lends itself very well to a certain kind of edgy porn.


---dr.M.

 

[raphy]

MG - Haha, point taken. They should have given The Matrix to Marc Dacascos.

sailorm72003 - It sure makes me tired to write too much of it at once. It's pretty intense stuff, even when it's not trying to be.

SmUK - Trust me, MSWord does not like the way I write. *grins*

'dita - I know, I know.... But my poor head!!

 

[Guest]

Mab., I love Calafia's stuff, esp. Macho Sluts; had no idea. Will give her a re-look soon.

Perdita

 

[raphy]

Does anyone write spaceship sci-fi anymore?
---dr.M.

Browsing through the sci-fi section of Amazon, I'm seeing .. well .. not an awful lot. Certainly not anything by any authors I recognize. I don't think Iain M Banks has written anything outer-space-y in a few years. There's one there from Harry Harrison, one from Larry Niven, both old school sci-fi, of course.

Of course, I haven't been keeping up lately with who's hot and new on the sci-fi scene, so I'm probably missing a whole lot.

Raph, who's still waiting for the next Lois McMaster Bujold to come out in paperback

 

[Guest]

Raph, who's still waiting for the next Lois McMaster Bujold to come out in paperback

I'll bite (cos you steer me right), who is she?

'dita

 

[Quasimodem]

Since we seem to have a quorum of Sci-Fi afficionados on line, this morning, I have a question.

Has anybody read “Bug Jack Barron” by Norman Spinrad.

If so, am I nuts to think that it was (as experimental writing) a precursor to cyberbuck . . . Sort of cyberpunk without the cyber?

Warning: Be careful what you say about Norman Spinrad, okay. He is my favourite Sci-Fi author. I’ve read everything he’s written, except “The Iron Dream.” And, I have even attempted that, three times!

 

[Weird Harold]

Raph, who's still waiting for the next Lois McMaster Bujold to come out in paperback

Diplomatic Immunity has just recentlybeen released in paperback (isbn 0-7434-3612-1) by Baen Books. Is there something newer you're waiting for?

Re: "Spaceship Science Fiction" -- check out David Weber's "Honorverse" ie the Honor Harrington series and the short story anthologies and the latest collaboration between DW and Eric Flint.

Elizabeth Moon's "Familias Regnant" series (Hunting Party thru Against the Odds/u] is pretty much spaceship intensive, although it's more a mixture of sub-genres with an emphasis on politics.

Anne McCaffrey and several co-authors have the Brainship series that built on the Ship Who Sang -- you can't get much more "spaceship" than a protagonist that IS a spaceship.

Eric Flint, David Feintuch, David Sherman, Dan Cragg, and many of the other new authors in the"military SF" sub-genre do a lot of "spaceship SF" in the process.

James Doohan (Scotty on Star Trek) has co-authored a series (TheFlight Engineer) with S.M. Stirling that is classic "spaceship SF" -- AKA "Space Opera."

 

[MathGirl]

Basically Cyberpunk seems to me to be a dystopian urban sci-fi with the feel of noir 50's Private Eye fiction, much more concerned with inner than outer space.

Dear Dr M,
Sounds like "Blade Runner" would qualify.
MG

 

[raphy]

Harold - I'm SO behind the times, haha .. More Miles Vorkosigan for me, then, yay!

'dita - LMJ.. err.. Well, she's sci-fi, I guess, with tendencies towards space-opera, but only in the smallest regard and only in terms of backplot. Her stories are always character-driven, strong on dialogue and events, with likeable, believable characters.

I think she's great - The second quote in my sig file comes from one of her books. I forget which one. A good friend of mine once told me that it applied to me.

Either way, start with The Warrior's Apprentice and go from there.

 

[Guest]

MG: Aha! you haven't read the whole thread lazy butt.

Perdita

 

[raphy]

One thing I forgot...

Bladerunner is Cyberpunk in celluloid. Ridley Scott realized Gibson's world in high-gloss technicolor detail 2 years before Gibson released Neuromancer and 13 years before Robert Longo butchered Gibson's "Johnny Mnemonic"...

So, if you've seen Bladerunner, this is the question to ask yourself - How, as an author, can you convey that kaleidoscopic whirlwind of sights and sounds that is "The City" that seem to pummel Deckard's senses..

s'what I said =)

 

[MathGirl]

Originally posted by perdita MG: Aha! you haven't read the whole thread lazy butt.

Dear Perdita,
Aha! You haven't understood the entire thread lazy butt.
MG
Ps. If you will read my post, I was replying to something Dr M had written. Not the entire thread.

 

[Guest]

The second quote in my sig file comes from one of her books.

Aw, gee, Raff, and I thought you were guoting ex-girlfriends.

'dita

 

[Guest]

Humble apologium to Maths.

Perdita cum huggsies

 

[MathGirl]

Dear Perdita,
Kissypoo, huggy.
MG

 

[raphy]

Aw, gee, Raff, and I thought you were guoting ex-girlfriends.

'dita

I might be - No guarantees on where *they* got their lines, though.

 

[Star of Penumbra]

Does anyone write spaceship sci-fi anymore?

Not really. Sci-fi has always looked forward, and the things written over the years tend to adapt to what the most recent trend in technological advancement has been.

From the 50's through the 70's, most of the sci-fi written dealt with outer space mostly because of what NASA was doing at the time, and the sci-fi reading populace saw humanity reaching the stars as it's future. During the 80's things became more grounded, which gave way to more earthy sci-fi, and cyberpunk was one of the things that sprang up.

Computers have become integral to our daily lives, and now outer space is something that only NASA and the occasional nerd cares about. I imagine in a few more years, cyberpunk will phase out much like outer space sci-fi did, and give way to whatever comes next.

 

[JUDO]

Read a very erotic first-time novel in cyberpunk genre recently, called "ReMix." I've loaned the book and forgotten the author, however. Anyone else read this one?

- Judo

JG Ballard's Crash, or even Super-Cannes, to some extent.

 

[MathGirl]

Hay.........!

Originally posted by Quasimodem Warning: Be careful what you say about Norman Spinrad, okay.

My, aren't we touchy today! I've never heard of NSpinrad, so obviously I've never said anything about him.
Innocently,
MG
Ps. His last name sounds like something spelled backwards. Not a palladium, though.
Pps. After all the hollerin' did we ever conclude that "Blade Runner" was cyper-punk, or whatever? I had never heard of CP, but the description seemed to fit "BR." I like that movie, but I'm not sure I'd go for written CP. I seldom read SF, but I'm willing to give CP a try. Any suggestions? No, not Mr Darnips. I'm predisposed to not like him after all this.
Ppps. As per suggestion in a prior thread (P Panther), I today rented "A Shot in the Dark." I plan to spend the evening watching it with Senor Alec Thompson and getting quietly drunk.

 

[gauchecritic]

I'm quite surprised no-one has mentioned 'Videodrome' or almost any 'surrealist' or 'dada-ist' film makers. Someone tell me I'm barking up entirely the wrong tree here. This is why you can't blame me for the thread.

I like space ships in sci-fi. (McCaffrey) I don't like dragons in sci-fi (although I have a small collection of models). I began drawing away from reading modernist sci-fi when I read "The Man In The Maze" even though I loved it. When they started going 'inwards' instead of 'infinity and beyond'wards, as it seems most ageing sci-fi writers tend to, I stopped liking it.

Can't say I've ever read any cyberpunk although I have read Do Androids... but it (like We can remember it for you...) bears very little relation to the stories they are from.

Gauche

P.S Just to point up how much I'm still in my mental 20s with regard to sci-fi etc I'm listening to Robin Trower Live. Nothing like a metal sci-fi freak is there?

 

[Quasimodem]

After all the hollerin' did we ever conclude that "Blade Runner" was cyper-punk, or whatever? ... I seldom read SF, but I'm willing to give CP a try. Any suggestions? ... I today rented "A Shot in the Dark." I plan to spend the evening watching it with Senor Alec Thompson and getting quietly drunk.

MG,

BladeRunner was a celluloid precursor of the Cyberpunk Literary movement in Science Fiction.

While the literary form has been translated to the cinema, BladeRunner, in my estimation, best SHOWS the atmosphere of the literary style, while never truly capturing the experience of reading the book’s content.

This is a common complaint in the translation of literary works to the cinema.

If you want to try cyberpunk, I would - for you - suggest “The Difference Machine” by William Gibson and Someone Else (I disremember!)

This postulates an alternate reality where Babbage’s computer was realized by harnessing it to steam power, thus subjecting Britain to both the Industrial and the Information Revolutions simultaneously.

As for your plan for watching “A Shot in The Dark” while imbibing intoxicants:

Be prepared to shoot alcohol from your nostrils.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I'm quite surprised no-one has mentioned 'Videodrome' or almost any 'surrealist' or 'dada-ist' film makers. Someone tell me I'm barking up entirely the wrong tree here. This is why you can't blame me for the thread.

LOL

I didn't mention it, but I assure you I did think of it. Almost the entire body of work by David Cronenberg could be mentioned... Videodrome, Crash, eXistenZ...