I loved cyberpunk.
I would religiously read William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, and Rudy Rucker. But what happened? There’s been nothing really good since Neuromancer and Snow Crash in my opinion. Has the cyberpunk genre died?
Well there’s Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon, which was made into two TV series. I highly recommend checking out series one and forgetting that there was a sequel. There’s the never-ending legacy that is Blade Runner. We had 2049 then Black Lotus with more on their way. PKD’s universe is here to stay with Spinners and Frank Lloyd Wright architecture blended with neon imprinted on our retinas.
But has there been any really good cyberpunk written since the aforementioned works? It’s as if the cyberpunk genre is no longer of interest as we live in a technological world. Or maybe consumers prefer to consume the genre in the form of video games, TV shows, and movies, rather than books. Paper is so.. retro.
Whatever the reason, I’m wearing out my copies of Neuromancer and Snow Crash as I re-read them each year in anticipation of some new author releasing a cyberpunk masterpiece.
Do you have any recommendations?