The Leviathan

Agreed.

Thanks for spreading awareness and sharing this link!

Thanks for the major download, Companero!  PKD and Doctorow:  interesting company you (and we) keep!

Welcome aboard, Mitchy.  Though the activity can vary on this site from day to day, there are some committed future shock aficionados who frequent this site.  There is always room for one more!

I admire your commitment to your system.  I personally don't see any harm in reading the books on the list in any order that strikes your fancy, and I am just grateful to get your perspective on those novels that I have read--it's fun to compare notes!

Thanks, CJ!  Glad to see the site is back in action.

Man, I think I need to revisit All Tomorrow's Parties to reacquaint myself with the Bridge trilogy.  It is interesting to see how William Gibson seems to have bracketed his works by jumping into a believable techno-noire setting with his first trilogy and then walking us back through tomorrow (Virtual Light/Idoru/Parties) and even closer to today with Pattern Recognition/Spook Country/Zero History.  Like you said, Companero, some grab me more than others, but compared to everything else they all are still good.  Now I am intrigued if William will take us further into the 5 minutes into the future superimposed on post-cultural wierdness that is The Peripheral territory.  Felt like I was seeing some Paolo Bacigalupi / Ian McDonald influence there--but maybe it was actually the other way around...

Four decades on this earth with your health and sanity intact is a worthy accomplishment, Rockwolf.  Congratulations!  Happy birthday--looking forward to celebrating your next four decades in 2061(!).  

8 hours ago, senior officer Mikael van Atta said:

I found the Catspaw (sequel to the Psion) to be the best - and most cyberpunk - of the three novels in the series. With corporate intrigue, street scum, organized crime, and netrunning.

Actual cybernetics in this setting is pretty looked over - it exists, but isn't really given much attntion by the author.

That being said, I really like the protagonist, and I still hope Ms. Vinge would write more novels about him.

Totally with you on your impression of Catspaw, Mikael.  

I read the same three Rucker novels you covered here some time ago.  I found the ideas intere=sting, and don't dispute Rucker's offbeat creativity, but I realized that while his NPCs become point of view characters and explained their otherwise wacky motivations in a way I could understand (which is saying a lot considering some are clothing-based AIs, and others are every flavor of loser), but I realized after three novels that while I could kind of sympathize with some of his characters, there wasn't a single one that I even remotely liked enough to care about what would happen to them.  It seems deliberate to right multiple novels with characters so off-putting that I can't be bothered to worry about the outcome.  If it was intentional, then: Bravo, I guess.  If it was not intentional, then that is one unfortunate literary coincidence.  It's not that I need to be able to keep an idea from a novel to incorporate into my broader thinking or Cyberpunk database...but while Rudy's ideas are unique, I can't think of a single one I would want to import into a Cyberpunk campaign.

You are making good progress, Companero--up to double digit percentage!  Nice.  

Interesting to read your summary of Michaelmas; Charles Stross' Rule 34 seems to have a broadly similar theme in terms of AI subtly influencing outcomes in the real world, though in a much more personal and not necessarily benign fashion.  These comparisons often make me wonder if Budrys was a conscious inspiration on Stross, an unconscious influence on later writers, or whether this is an example of themes emerging more or less independently between innovative thinkers set generations apart.  Dang--now I need to read Michaelmas to explore that comparison.  Following in your footsteps!

Really enjoy tracking your reading project--keep it up!

Unfortunately, the Expat Gig does not guarantee that you will dodge the shenanigans. I guess that's one of the joys of globalization.  Here's to forging your own little core of sanity wherever you plant your flag, Public!

Shockwave Rider.  To me, it definitely felt like a "precursor" rather than an actual genre piece.

Vinge's True Names, on the other hand, felt like both.

I love this!  It's interesting to compare perspectives for the material I have read: similar vibes for the Besher material, and Shiner and De Lint take me way back.  Keep it coming, please!

Cyberjunk, it is good to get your positive take on CP2077, especially after CD Projekt caught so much flak after the launch.  I've been continuing my nomad existence and was in the process of relocating between continents during the launch, so other than an initial character build and foray into Night City, I've been holding off fully committing while giving CD Projekt a bit more time to work through the launch hiccups.  Now I am motivated to dive in.  Thanks!

On 04/01/2021 at 21:47, eraser said:

some of us stocked up for winter when the shelves were full

 

Oh, the envy!  That is one zombie-ready stockpile!

I'm with you on this one.  Real2020 vs. Cyberpunk2020.  Dystopia comes in many flavors.  They all look flashier from a distance.

Welcome, Vile Traveller.  Interesting times.  I suspect Dystopia is even less alluring when you have a front-row seat.  Hoping your transition from HK is free of hassles.

Truth is stranger than fiction, right?  Trade war, bioplague; conflict by proxy, super-empowered individuals, kleptocratic governments, pervasive information technology, pitched battles in the information space to control global narratives, civil unrest, resurgent nationalist movements, false flag operations, balkanization... we live in interesting times, indeed!

Glad to see you are still checking in on the CP2020 community and keeping yourself engaged in world events and self-improvement, Murph!  We live in interesting times, to say the least.  Stay safe, dodge the COVID, and enjoy the global adventures!

Got a link?

Very grateful to you, Cyberjunk, for carrying the fire and keeping the torch burning.  

Man, I have missed your reviews and appreciate your taking the time to share your latest observations, Companero. Thanks--you rule!

One year closer to the Singularity. Cheers, fellow Cyberpunks!

Glad to know you're keeping things on track, Rockwolf. Even when you know it is likely to happen, it doesn't get any easier, does it? The fact that you still feel his absence says a lot about the kind of person he was.