Examples of a newer SF genre

Before Walter Gibson's Neuromancer in 1984 -- perfect choice of years, huh? -- dark and gloomy views of an unhappy technological future were simply known as "distopic SF"; by those of us who cared. As a result, there was already a lot of stuff hanging around waiting to join this genre when it was noticed and got its colors by being slung around by the press.

Specifically, cyberpunk combines an urbanized, high-tech future with criminal adventure -- thus the "punk". The criminal may be someone who wanders beyond the pale of the law, or a professional, or a revolutionary. That isn't so important.

If you have now become allergic to the term cyberpunk because of overuse, just call your work dystopic and relax. Readers will still probably class you as cyberpunk whether you like it or not. Once the book is on the shelves,the author is helpless to protect it.

EXAMPLES:

  • The Taking of Satcom Station by Jim Baen and Barney Cohen
  • Johnny Zed by John Gregory Betancourt
  • Colony, The High Road and Millennia by Ben Bova
  • Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  • Shockwave Rider and Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
  • A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
  • Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
  • Cyteen by C J Cherryh
  • Silico Sapiens by Joseph Deken
  • Valentina by Delany and Stiegler
  • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Bladerunner) by Phillip K Dick
  • Sleepwalker's World by Gordon Dickson
  • Lacey and His Friends by David Drake
  • Software by Rudy Drucker
  • A Fire in the Sun by George Alec Effinger
  • Company Man by Joe Clifford Faust
  • Web of Angels by John M. Ford
  • When Harlie Was One by David Gerrold
  • Burning Chrome, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive and Neuromancer by William Gibson
  • Aiki by John Gilbert
  • The God Game by Andrew Greeley
  • The Mutants are Coming by Isodore Haiblum
  • Psychodrome and Psychodrome II by Simon Hawke
  • Friday by Robert Heinlein
  • Colonies in Space by T. A. Heppenheimer
  • Giant's Star by James Hogan
  • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  • Tower to the Sky by Philip C. Jennings
  • The Glass Hammer and Dr. Adder by K.W. Jeter
  • Mindhopper by James B. Johnson
  • Electric Forest by Tanith Lee
  • This Perfect Day by Ira Levin
  • Svaha by Charles de Lint
  • The Cybernetic Samurai by Victor Milan
  • Emerald Eyes by Daniel Keys Moran
  • Oath of Fealty by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
  • Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
  • 1984 by George Orwell
  • The Annals of the Heechee by Frederic Pohl
  • Dreams of Flesh and Sand, Dreams of God and Men by W. T. Quick
  • Time Pressure and Mindkiller by Spider Robinson
  • Wetware by Rudy Rucker
  • The Adolescense of PI by Thomas P. Ryan
  • Alongside Night by J Neil Schulman
  • The Tenth Victim, Victim Prime and Hunter/Victim by Robert Sheckley
  • Sight of Proteus and Proteus Unbound by Charles Sheffield
  • Frontera by Lewis Shiner
  • Eclipse, Eclipse Penumbra, City Come a Walkin' and Eclipse Corona by John Shirley
  • Tom Paine Maru by L Neil Smith
  • The Iron Dream and Little Heroes by Norman Spinrad
  • Wild Card Run by Sara Stamey
  • Schismatrix, Islands in the Net and The Artificial Kid by Bruce Sterling
  • Warbots by Harry G. Stine
  • Vacuum Flowers and In the Drift by Michael Swanwick
  • The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley
  • Catspaw by Joan Vinge
  • Marooned in Realtime and True Names by Vernor Vinge
  • Mercedes Nights by Michael D. Weaver
  • Hardwired, Angel Station and Voice of the Whirlwind by Walter Jon Williams
  • Lifeburst by Jack Willamson
  • Memory Wire by Robert Charles Wilson
  • Masterplay by William F. Wu
  • Cobra, Cobra Bargain and Cobra Strike by Timothy Zahn
  • Lord of Light and Alien Speedway by Roger Zelany

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