4 ms·

I finished reading Neuromancer a week ago. I'd played Cyberpunk 2077 recently, and Dystopia further back. So many of the concepts from those games appear to com

I finished reading Neuromancer a week ago. I'd played Cyberpunk 2077 recently, and Dystopia further back. So many of the concepts from those games appear to come directly from Neuromancer! I stumbled upon articles implying they were indirectly influenced; Neuromancer evidently created a whole genre! Btw, compared to hard scifi like Stephenson (relevant comparison due to Snow Crash), Neuromacer isn't really there; its strengths are outstanding creativity, world-building, character development (including top-notch implied backstories), personal interactions, and artful descriptions.

ethbr0 5y ago
Mike Pondsmith (and the R. Talsorian Games authors) basically picked up the then-recent Blade Runner (82) and Neuromancer (84) threads and ran with them in CP88. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_2020 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_2020
newsclues 5y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Chrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Chrome
throw1234651234 5y ago
Gibson pioneered the genre - you have to give him that. He is very much off on a lot of details though. For example, in his other books, his descriptions of mercenaries are comical at best for anyone who has a passing familiarity with the topic. Nonetheless, I place him up there with Stephenson. All this DESPITE the fact that Stephenson stands in a league of his own - he pioneered "post cyberpunk" with Diamond Age and went from having as much style as Gibson to as much scientific grounding as Asimov. With that said, Stephenson's latter books are all science, no char dev, no (interesting) story. I really can't think of an author who can stand with Stephenson. Vernor Vinge comes close, but not there on style. Then there are authors with a single good idea that are worth reading, but nowhere near Stephenson's level (e.g. the author of The Forever War). P.S. Obviously I am not so subtly fishing for people to argue with me and give me book recommendations. Just not the Tri-body Problem please - it falls in with The Forever War - cool concept, cool (very long) intro, not much else.
- scrapheap 5y ago
  I really enjoyed Stephenson's early works, but his later works I've read have all felt like they needed a bit more editing. Don't get me wrong, they're good, but would have really benefited from cutting some of the filler out or admitting they were multiple works and publishing them as a series.
- nurbl 5y ago
  Having not managed to finish a Stephenson book since "Snow Crash" (which I liked) i may not be in the best position to recommend something to you, but I really like Greg Egan. Truly idea-driven SF which also has interesting enough characters and story. I also like that his books are pretty short, even his trilogy is probably shorter than any single Stephenson book. Very little "fluff".
  - Keyframe 5y ago
    Anything in particular you'd recommend? First time I hear about the guy.
    - mwigdahl 5y ago
      _Diaspora_ and _Permutation City_ are both excellent. If you don't want to commit to a full novel, his short story collections are all fantastic as well.
- Apocryphon 5y ago
  Bruce Sterling should also be remembered as a major contributor to the formation of the genre, on par with Gibson and Stephenson. Islands in the Net grounded future speculative tech in emerging real-world geopolitics, and Schismatrix took the genre into far future space, introducing the concept of cybernetics vs. biological augmentation.
  - pmoriarty 5y ago
    Also see Greg Bear's Blood Music, which came out a year before Neuromancer. There was also an early book about VR, which I can't remember the name of. It was about a reviewer of "apples" which gave the people who ate them something like a VR experience. Finally, the grandaddy of all of these was The Machine Stops[1], by E. M. Forster. Written in 1909, it predicted virtual reality, something like the internet, internet addiction, chat rooms, and more. [1] - https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/materials/the%20machine%20stops.pdf https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/materials/th...
hajile 5y ago
You should read Snow Crash. While Neuromancer created the style, Snow Crash added in a lot of missing elements and had the benefit of being written 8 years later and by someone with some with a lot more knowledge of computing.
- pmoriarty 5y ago
  I tried reading it, and couldn't get in to it. It tried to be funny but wasn't (to my taste), and just seemed very childish. I liked Neuromancer and Count Zero much more.
  - bpiche 5y ago
    I feel like it's just a very self aware parody of the genre at the end of its natural life, looking back at the previous 10 years of peak cultural cyberpunk
- the__alchemist 5y ago
  Loved it!

ethbr0 5y ago

Mike Pondsmith (and the R. Talsorian Games authors) basically picked up the then-recent Blade Runner (82) and Neuromancer (84) threads and ran with them in CP88. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_2020 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_2020

newsclues 5y ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Chrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Chrome

throw1234651234 5y ago

Gibson pioneered the genre - you have to give him that. He is very much off on a lot of details though. For example, in his other books, his descriptions of mercenaries are comical at best for anyone who has a passing familiarity with the topic. Nonetheless, I place him up there with Stephenson. All this DESPITE the fact that Stephenson stands in a league of his own - he pioneered "post cyberpunk" with Diamond Age and went from having as much style as Gibson to as much scientific grounding as Asimov. With that said, Stephenson's latter books are all science, no char dev, no (interesting) story. I really can't think of an author who can stand with Stephenson. Vernor Vinge comes close, but not there on style. Then there are authors with a single good idea that are worth reading, but nowhere near Stephenson's level (e.g. the author of The Forever War). P.S. Obviously I am not so subtly fishing for people to argue with me and give me book recommendations. Just not the Tri-body Problem please - it falls in with The Forever War - cool concept, cool (very long) intro, not much else.

scrapheap 5y ago
I really enjoyed Stephenson's early works, but his later works I've read have all felt like they needed a bit more editing. Don't get me wrong, they're good, but would have really benefited from cutting some of the filler out or admitting they were multiple works and publishing them as a series.
nurbl 5y ago
Having not managed to finish a Stephenson book since "Snow Crash" (which I liked) i may not be in the best position to recommend something to you, but I really like Greg Egan. Truly idea-driven SF which also has interesting enough characters and story. I also like that his books are pretty short, even his trilogy is probably shorter than any single Stephenson book. Very little "fluff".
- Keyframe 5y ago
  Anything in particular you'd recommend? First time I hear about the guy.
  - mwigdahl 5y ago
    _Diaspora_ and _Permutation City_ are both excellent. If you don't want to commit to a full novel, his short story collections are all fantastic as well.
Apocryphon 5y ago
Bruce Sterling should also be remembered as a major contributor to the formation of the genre, on par with Gibson and Stephenson. Islands in the Net grounded future speculative tech in emerging real-world geopolitics, and Schismatrix took the genre into far future space, introducing the concept of cybernetics vs. biological augmentation.
- pmoriarty 5y ago
  Also see Greg Bear's Blood Music, which came out a year before Neuromancer. There was also an early book about VR, which I can't remember the name of. It was about a reviewer of "apples" which gave the people who ate them something like a VR experience. Finally, the grandaddy of all of these was The Machine Stops[1], by E. M. Forster. Written in 1909, it predicted virtual reality, something like the internet, internet addiction, chat rooms, and more. [1] - https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/materials/the%20machine%20stops.pdf https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/materials/th...

hajile 5y ago

You should read Snow Crash. While Neuromancer created the style, Snow Crash added in a lot of missing elements and had the benefit of being written 8 years later and by someone with some with a lot more knowledge of computing.

pmoriarty 5y ago
I tried reading it, and couldn't get in to it. It tried to be funny but wasn't (to my taste), and just seemed very childish. I liked Neuromancer and Count Zero much more.
- bpiche 5y ago
  I feel like it's just a very self aware parody of the genre at the end of its natural life, looking back at the previous 10 years of peak cultural cyberpunk
the__alchemist 5y ago
Loved it!