/lit/ - Literature

Is there any other cyberpunk novels, especially in 2000s?

>>996318
Try Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.

I'm reading Neuromancer now actually.

I'm about 1/3 through it and I still can't tell if I like it. It gets a lot of really heavy exposition for no reason, but I used to play Shadowrun which is seriously the tabletop gaming analog of the book. I'm interested in the world around the story, but the characters and plot don't hold my interest.

Not nearly enough Gibson love on this board. Sort it out people.

Captcha: badness BURROUGHS (for real!)

>>996342

It's Gibson's first novel and he is very critical of himself, especially in terms of characterization. This aspect of his writing greatly improves in his later novels, such as the Virtual Light trilogy.

>>996353
Like I said, I don't hate it. I just can't make up my mind if I actually enjoy it as a novel or if I'm reading it because I like the concept and setting.

You suggest I read some of Gibson's later stuff and continue the trilogy or look up some of his other works?

>>996363

I agree with you that the concept and setting are the best things about the book - its value is more in the world Gibson creates than the story he tell in that world, at least in the first novel.

As for your question, I'd say that if you end up enjoying Neuromancer (the plot might start to grab you more once the action moves into space) then check out the sequels (Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive). If not, then try Virtual Light, which is more skillfully written, and is the first part of his second trilogy.

I had to force myself to finish Neuromancer. Not saying it's a bad book, just wasn't my cup of tea.

The only reason I finished Neuromancer was because I was a fan of the concept and setting. The characters didn't really interest me. I love cyberpunk, computer hacking, brain computer interfaces, and cyberspace trawling etc. I just think the book is a bit dated now. I understand that the book was written before the Internet really existed, but he could have been more imaginative with his explanation of cyberspace. It seemed like cyberspace was just vast darkness and the occasional bright sphere of light and green wireframe pyramid. I fealt like I was reading Vector Tank: Chess Addition or something. I'd like more modern Neuromancer with more relevant themes. CORPORATIONS and NETRUNNING are just kind of boring.

>>996527
pic fucking related. Early conceptions of the digital world (encompassing local area networks, the global internet, and what's going on on the motherboard and in our rapid access memory) all drew huge amounts of inspiration from Gibson.

Those old vidya, along with Tron, Hackers and Neuromancer (which predated them all, I think, except for Bladerunner which came out a few months before Gibson had published) all indicate the zeitgeist: lattices of light stretched to infinity

>>996382
CZ and MLOD lack Panther Modern analogues. OTOH Continuity isn't writing a cookbook in Neuromancer.

But they're quite honestly slow, badly written, retakes of the Detective-Noir form.

My favourite cyberpunk is Baroque, btw.

I also had a hard time appreciating Neuromancer or any of Gibson's work (only read two). I just don't get him. I literally don't understand what's going on in the story. I feel a bit stupid for it.

>>996575
I kind of felt the same way. He throws in lots of "Future Slang" that you pretty much have to guess or read heavily into context. I got like half way through Neuromancer before I realize that a deck was a computer that you connect to your head. I didn't know "derms" were drugs until part way though. The hacking parts of the story were just vaguely described, so I didn't know what was going on there either. I just figured I wasn't familiar with his writing style and that if I read more of his books I'd understand more.

at least stephenson gives you a fucking glossary. i didnt like neuromancer and had to force myself to finish it.

>>996588
You're kidding me, right?

'derms = Hypodermic needles

So many people complain about this problem, but all the slang seemed so close to reality for me. I had no problem instantly figuring out what he was referring to. I'll admit the last section on the beach can be a little confusing--deserves two or three re-reads.

>>996627
Assumed they were some kind of transdermal patch, like a nicotine patch that you pressed into your skin to take drugs.

when they hack the computers, do they enter a virtual world or something?

fucking shit because I was thinking of writing something like this but then I remembered Neuromancer existed. Oh well

>>996640
Write it anyway. I'll read it.

>>996639
This guy has it right.

And seriously, what slang there is is horribly obvious to anyone who's ever heard of cyberpunk.

>>996701
I'm this guy >>996639

My introduction to cyberpunk was The matrix when I was 8. From there I watched anime like ghost in the shell. and .hack(I think this counts as cyberpunk), read comic books, and played videogames. I didn't even know "cyberpunk" was a genre until recently when I read the wikipedia on the matrix. I read neuromancer as my first "real" cyberpunk book. I didn't know what decks or derms or any of the other stuff was because none of the other films/novels I'd seen/read had drug use, nor did anyone really use computers/decks. I've recently picked up a bunch of cyberpunk (e)books in an attempt to familiarize myself with more of the cyberpunk universe. I've always had an interest in cyberpunk themes, but I've never really consumed much cyberpunk media. So, as a newbie to cyberpunk, I find it hard to follow some of the slang.

>>996527

The themes of the book aren't corporations or 'netrunning' - its a book about how simulated, virtual space threatens (or promises) to undermine any sense of an objective social, political and economic 'reality'.

It's about being lost in an infinite maze of images, in which the real appears as a simulation of the virtual.

I'd say that was pretty relevant to today.

>>996900
I'm the same. I ran into words like that and pretty much gave up trying to imagine what the fuck they were supposed to look like. I too figured "derms" were patches or something.

>>996900

>the matrix at 8
>.hack

LOL

>>997033
ITT, post modernists.