Berlin's Sony Center displays a cyberpunk aesthetic. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. The Sony Center is a Sony -sponsored building complex located at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany. Cyberpunk is often set in urbanized, artificial landscapes, and "city lights at night" was one of the genre's first metaphors for cyberspace (Neuromancer). Metaphor (from the Greek: μεταφορά - metaphora, meaning "transfer" is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects Cyberspace &mdash from the Greek el Κυβερνήτης (el kybernētēs steersman governor pilot or rudder &mdash is the global domain of electro-magnetics accessed Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, notable for being the most famous early Cyberpunk novel and winner of the science-fiction "triple

Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life. A science fiction genre is a sub-category within the broader context of the Science fiction Genre as a whole High tech is Technology that is at the cutting edge —the most advanced technology currently available Low-Life is the third studio album of the English rock band New Order. " It is also a subgenre of industrial rock music. The name is derived from cybernetics and punk and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983,^[1] although the style was popularized well before its publication by editor Gardner Dozois. Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the Structure of Complex systems especially Communication processes control mechanisms and Feedback The punk subculture is based around Punk rock. It emerged from the larger Rock music scene in the mid-to-late-1970s in the United Kingdom, the United Bruce Bethke is an American author best known for his 1980 Short story "Cyberpunk" which led to the widespread use of the term and his novel Gardner Dozois (born July 23, 1947) is an American Science fiction author and editor. It features advanced science, such as information technology and cybernetics, coupled with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order. Information technology ( IT) as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA is "the study design development implementation support Social order is a concept used in sociology history and other social sciences

Definition

According to Lawrence Person,

Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body. Lawrence Person (born 1965) is a Science fiction writer critic and editor of SF critical magazine Nova Express. ^[2]

Cyberpunk plots often center on a conflict among hackers, artificial intelligences, and megacorporations. In Computing, hacker has several meanings A community of enthusiast Computer programmers and Systems designers originated in the 1960s " Megacorporation " is a term popularized by William Gibson derived from the combination of the prefix Mega- with the word Corporation. They tend to be set in a near-future Earth, rather than the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation or Frank Herbert's Dune. EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 Isaac Asimov (c January 2 1920 &ndash April 6 1992 ˈaɪzək ˈæzɪmʌv originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as, was a Russian Foundation is the first book in Isaac Asimov 's Foundation Trilogy (later expanded into The Foundation Series) Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr ( October 8 1920 &ndash February 11 1986) was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American Dune is a Science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert and published in 1965. The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias but tend to be marked by extraordinary cultural ferment and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its creators ("the street finds its own uses for things"^[3]). A post-industrial society is a society in which an economic transition has occurred from a manufacturing based economy to a service based economy, a diffusion A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος alternatively cacotopia, kakotopia, cackotopia, or anti-utopia) is the vision of a society Much of the genre's atmosphere echoes film noir, and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction. Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation Detective fiction is a branch of Crime fiction in which a Detective (or detectives either professional or amateur investigate a crime usually Murder

Primary exponents of the cyberpunk field include William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan, Rudy Rucker, and John Shirley. William Ford Gibson (born March 17 1948 is an American - Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the Cyberpunk subgenre Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known primarily for his Science fiction works in the Postcyberpunk genre Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American Science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades Pat Cadigan (born 1953 is an American-born Science fiction author, whose work is described as part of the Cyberpunk movement Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (born March 22, 1946 in Louisville Kentucky) is an American Computer scientist and Science fiction John Patrick Shirley (born February 10, 1953) is an American Science fiction and horror writer of Novels short stories

Postmodernist investigation of cyberpunk became a fashionable topic in academic circles, and the genre reached Hollywood to become one of cinema's staple science-fiction styles. Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism Many influential films, such as Blade Runner, Hackers, the Matrix trilogy, and the more recent adaptation of Philip K. Blade Runner is a 1982 American Science fiction Film, directed by Ridley Scott. Hackers is a 1995 Film that follows the misfortunes of the young hackers Dade Murphy ('Crash Override'/'Zero Cool' played by Jonny Lee Dick's A Scanner Darkly, can be seen as prominent examples of the cyberpunk style and theme. A Scanner Darkly is a 1977 Science fiction Novel by Philip K Dick. Computer games, board games, and role-playing games (such as Shadowrun or Cyberpunk 2020) often feature storylines that are heavily influenced by cyberpunk writing and movies. A personal computer Game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a Video game played on a Personal computer, rather A board game is a Game in which counters or pieces that are placed on removed from or moved across a "board" (a premarked surface usually specific to that game A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. Shadowrun is a pen-and-paper Role-playing game set in an imaginary future where huge corporations control the lives of their employees and the return of magic has Cyberpunk 2020 is a Cyberpunk Role-playing game written by Mike Pondsmith and published by R Beginning in the early 1990s, some trends in fashion and music were also labeled as cyberpunk. Cyber, is the name given to a contemporary Subculture having roots in multiple music and fashion scenes including the European and American Rave / clubbing Cyberpunk is also featured prominently in anime, Akira and Ghost in the Shell being the most notable. (anime in Japanese, is a black and white serial Manga or graphic novel by Katsuhiro Otomo. is a Japanese Cyberpunk Manga created by Masamune Shirow, and first published in 1989 in Young

As a wider variety of writers began to work with cyberpunk concepts, new subgenres of science fiction emerged, playing off the cyberpunk label and focusing on technology and its social effects in different ways. Examples include steampunk (cyberpunk themes in the early industrial age), pioneered by Tim Powers, K. W. Jeter, and James Blaylock, and biopunk (cyberpunk themes dominated by biotechnology, including Paul Di Filippo’s half-serious ribofunk). Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and Speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s is a process of social and economic change whereby a human group is transformed from a Pre-industrial society into an industrial one Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American Science fiction and fantasy author Kevin Wayne Jeter (born 1950 is an American Science fiction and horror Author known for his literary writing style dark themes and paranoid unsympathetic James Paul Blaylock (born September 20, 1950) is an American fantasy author Biopunk (a Portmanteau word combining " Biotech " and " punk " is a term used to describe A Hobbyist who experiments Biotechnology is Technology based on Biology, especially when used in Agriculture, Food science, and Medicine. Paul Di Filippo (born October 29, 1954 in Providence, Rhode Island) is an American Science fiction writer Biopunk (a Portmanteau word combining " Biotech " and " punk " is a term used to describe A Hobbyist who experiments In addition, some people consider works such as Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age to be postcyberpunk. Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known primarily for his Science fiction works in the Postcyberpunk genre The Diamond Age or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a Postcyberpunk Novel by Neal Stephenson. Postcyberpunk describes a subgenre of Science fiction which some Critics suggest has evolved from Cyberpunk.

Style and ethos

The hacker as hero: Lain from the cyberpunk anime series "Serial Experiments Lain". (anime in Japanese, Serial Experiments Lain is an Anime series directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, original character design by Yoshitoshi ABe, screenplay written

Setting

Cyberpunk writers tend to use elements from the hard-boiled detective novel, film noir, and postmodernist prose to describe the often nihilistic underground side of an electronic society. Hardboiled Crime fiction is a literary style pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the Detective fiction is a branch of Crime fiction in which a Detective (or detectives either professional or amateur investigate a crime usually Murder Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism Nihilism (from the Latin nihil, nothing is a philosophical position that argues that Existence is without objective meaning Purpose The genre's vision of a troubled future is often called the antithesis of the generally utopian visions of the future popular in the 1940s and 1950s. A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος alternatively cacotopia, kakotopia, cackotopia, or anti-utopia) is the vision of a society Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the (Gibson defined cyberpunk's antipathy towards utopian SF in his 1981 short story "The Gernsback Continuum," which pokes fun at and, to a certain extent, condemns utopian SF. The short story is a literary genre of Fictional Prose Narrative that tends to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction such "The Gernsback Continuum" is a Short story by William Gibson about a Photographer who has been given the assignment of photographing )

In some cyberpunk writing, much of the action takes place online, in cyberspace, blurring the border between the actual and the virtual reality. Cyberspace &mdash from the Greek el Κυβερνήτης (el kybernētēs steersman governor pilot or rudder &mdash is the global domain of electro-magnetics accessed Virtual reality ( VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a Computer-simulated environment be it a real or imagined one A typical trope in such work is a direct connection between the human brain and computer systems. A literary trope (from Greek τρόπος - tropos "turn" related to the root of τρέπω - trepō "to turn to direct A brain-computer interface (BCI sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain-machine interface, is a direct communication pathway between a human or animal The human brain controls the Central nervous system (CNS by way of the Cranial nerves and Spinal cord, the Peripheral nervous system (PNS A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. Cyberpunk depicts the world as a dark, sinister place with networked computers dominating every aspect of life. A computer network is a group of interconnected Computers. Networks may be classified according to a wide variety of characteristics Giant, multinational corporations have for the most part replaced governments as centers of political, economic, and even military power. Multinational corporation ( MNC) or transnational corporation ( TNC) is a Corporation or enterprise that manages Production or delivers The alienated outsider's battle against a totalitarian or quasi-totalitarian system is a common theme in science fiction (cf. In Sociology and Critical social theory, alienation refers to an individual's estrangement from traditional community and others in general Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a concept used to describe Political systems where a State regulates nearly every aspect of public and private Nineteen Eighty-Four) and cyberpunk in particular, though in conventional science fiction the totalitarian systems tend to be sterile, ordered, and state controlled. Nineteen Eighty-Four (also titled 1984) by George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair) is a 1949 English Novel

Cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling summarized the cyberpunk ethos in Cyberpunk in the Nineties as follows:

Anything that can be done to a rat can be done to a human being. Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American Science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades And we can do most anything to rats. This is a hard thing to think about, but it's the truth. It won't go away because we cover our eyes. This is cyberpunk.

Protagonists

Protagonists in cyberpunk writing usually include computer hackers, who are often patterned on the idea of the lone hero fighting injustice: Robin Hood, Zorro, etc. The Protagonist or main character is the central figure of a story. In Computing, hacker has several meanings A community of enthusiast Computer programmers and Systems designers originated in the 1960s Robin Hood is an archetypal figure in English folklore, whose story originates from medieval times but who remains significant in popular culture where Zorro (originally called Señor Zorro) is a Fictional character created in 1919 by pulp writer Johnston McCulley. They are often disenfranchised people placed in extraordinary situations, rather than brilliant scientists or starship captains intentionally seeking advance or adventure, and are not always true "heroes"; an apt comparison might be to the moral ambiguity of Clint Eastwood's character in the Man with No Name trilogy. Clinton "Clint" Eastwood Jr (born May 31 1930 is a four-time Academy Award winning American Actor and Filmmaker. The Man with No Name is a Stock character in western films but the term usually applies specifically to the character (or possibly characters played by One of the cyberpunk genre's prototype characters is Case, from Gibson's Neuromancer. Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, notable for being the most famous early Cyberpunk novel and winner of the science-fiction "triple Case is a "console cowboy," a brilliant hacker, who betrays his organized criminal partners. Robbed of his talent through a crippling injury inflicted by the vengeful partners, Case unexpectedly receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be healed by expert medical care, but only if he participates in another criminal enterprise with a new crew.

Like Case, many cyberpunk protagonists are manipulated, placed in situations where they have little or no choice, and although they might see things through, they do not necessarily come out any further ahead than they previously were. These anti-heroes — "criminals, outcasts, visionaries, dissenters and misfits"^[4] do not experience a Campbellian "hero's journey," like the protagonist of a Homeric epic or an Alexandre Dumas, père novel. Joseph John Campbell ( March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American Mythology Professor, Writer Homer ( Ancient Greek:, Homēros) is a legendary ancient Greek epic Poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the An epic is a lengthy Narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation Instead, they call to mind the private eye of detective novels, who might solve the trickiest cases but never receives a just reward. A private investigator or private detective (often shortened to PI or private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake Detective fiction is a branch of Crime fiction in which a Detective (or detectives either professional or amateur investigate a crime usually Murder This emphasis on the misfits and the malcontents (what Thomas Pynchon called the "preterite") is the "punk" component of cyberpunk. Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr (born May 8 1937 is an American writer based in New York City, noted for his dense and complex works of Fiction.

Society and government

Cyberpunk literature is often used as a metaphor for the present-day worries about the failings of corporations, corruption in governments, alienation, and surveillance technology. Metaphor (from the Greek: μεταφορά - metaphora, meaning "transfer" is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects Political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain Surveillance is the monitoring of Behavior. Systems surveillance is the process of monitoring the behavior of people objects or processes within systems for conformity Cyberpunk can be intended to disquiet readers and call them to action. It often expresses a sense of rebellion, suggesting that one could describe it as a type of culture revolution in science fiction. In the words of author and critic David Brin:

. Glen David Brin, PhD (born October 6, 1950) is an American scientist and award-winning author of Science fiction. . . a closer look at [cyberpunk authors] reveals that they nearly always portray future societies in which governments have become wimpy and pathetic … Popular science fiction tales by Gibson, Williams, Cadigan and others do depict Orwellian accumulations of power in the next century, but nearly always clutched in the secretive hands of a wealthy or corporate elite. The adjective Orwellian describes the situation idea or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free-society Elite (also spelled Élite) is taken originally from the Latin, eligere, "to elect" ^[5]

Cyberpunk stories have also been seen as fictional forecasts of the evolution of the Internet. The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks The virtual world of what is now known as the Internet often appears under various names, including "cyberspace," "the Wired," "the Metaverse," and "the Matrix. A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars These avatars are usually depicted Cyberspace &mdash from the Greek el Κυβερνήτης (el kybernētēs steersman governor pilot or rudder &mdash is the global domain of electro-magnetics accessed The Wired is a fictional Computer network featured in the Anime series Serial Experiments Lain which is similar to the Internet. The Metaverse is a Virtual world, described in Neal Stephenson 's 1992 Science fiction novel Snow Crash, where humans as avatars The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction - martial arts - Action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski and " In this context it is important to note that the earliest descriptions of a global communications network came long before the World Wide Web entered popular awareness, though not before traditional science-fiction writers such as Arthur C. Clarke and some social commentators such as James Burke began predicting that such networks would eventually form. The World Wide Web (commonly shortened to the Web) is a system of interlinked Hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (16 December 1917–19 March 2008 was a British Science fiction Author, Inventor, and James Burke (born 22 December 1936) is a Northern Irish Science Historian, ^[6]

Interesting questions about possible A. I. rights have been introduced using cyberpunk stories as a springboard. Uploads of human minds, such as the Dixie Flatline (Neuromancer) and the Franklin Collective (Accelerando), as well as pure A. Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, notable for being the most famous early Cyberpunk novel and winner of the science-fiction "triple Accelerando is a 2005 Science fiction novel consisting of a series of interconnected short stories by British author Charles Stross I. s such as 'Wintermute' (Neuromancer) or those depicted in A.I., consider themselves to have intelligence and self-awareness. Self-awareness is the concept that one exists as an individual separate from other people with private Thoughts. This raises the question as to whether intelligence comparable to humans should give them comparable legal and moral standing.

Literature

Overview

The science-fiction editor Gardner Dozois is generally acknowledged as the person who popularized the use of the term "cyberpunk" as a kind of literature, although Minnesota writer Bruce Bethke coined the term in 1980 for his short story "Cyberpunk," which was published in the November 1983 issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories. Gardner Dozois (born July 23, 1947) is an American Science fiction author and editor. Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter Bruce Bethke is an American author best known for his 1980 Short story "Cyberpunk" which led to the widespread use of the term and his novel The short story is a literary genre of Fictional Prose Narrative that tends to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction such Amazing Stories was an American Science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback 's Experimenter Publishing. ^[7] The term was quickly appropriated as a label to be applied to the works of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, John Shirley, Rudy Rucker, Michael Swanwick, Pat Cadigan, Lewis Shiner, Richard Kadrey, and others. William Ford Gibson (born March 17 1948 is an American - Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the Cyberpunk subgenre Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American Science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades John Patrick Shirley (born February 10, 1953) is an American Science fiction and horror writer of Novels short stories Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (born March 22, 1946 in Louisville Kentucky) is an American Computer scientist and Science fiction Michael Swanwick (born November 18, 1950) is an American Science fiction author Pat Cadigan (born 1953 is an American-born Science fiction author, whose work is described as part of the Cyberpunk movement Lewis Shiner ( December 30, 1950, Eugene Oregon) is an American writer Richard Kadrey is a novelist freelance writer and photographer based in San Francisco Of these, Sterling became the movement's chief ideologue, thanks to his fanzine Cheap Truth. A fanzine (see also Zine) is a nonprofessional publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre for the pleasure Cheap Truth was a free series of one-page double-sidded newsletters (i John Shirley wrote articles on Sterling and Rucker's significance. ^[8]

William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy novels are famous early cyberpunk novels. The Sprawl trilogy (also Neuromancer trilogy, Cyberspace trilogy) is William Gibson 's first set of Novels composed of Neuromancer

William Gibson with his novel Neuromancer (1984) is likely the most famous writer connected with the term cyberpunk. William Ford Gibson (born March 17 1948 is an American - Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the Cyberpunk subgenre Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, notable for being the most famous early Cyberpunk novel and winner of the science-fiction "triple He emphasized style, a fascination with surfaces, the "look and feel" of the future, and atmosphere over traditional science-fiction tropes. A literary trope (from Greek τρόπος - tropos "turn" related to the root of τρέπω - trepō "to turn to direct Regarded as ground breaking and sometimes as "the archetypal cyberpunk work,"^[2] Neuromancer was awarded the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards. The Hugo Awards are given every year for the best Science fiction or Fantasy works and achievements of the previous year The Nebula Award is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA for the best Science fiction / Fantasy fiction The Philip K Dick Award is a science fiction award given annually at Norwescon sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and (since 2005 supported After Gibson's popular debut novel, Count Zero (1986) and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) followed. Count Zero is a Science fiction Novel written by William Gibson, originally published in 1986. Mona Lisa Overdrive is a Cyberpunk Novel by William Gibson published in 1988 and the final novel of the Sprawl trilogy, following According to the Jargon File, "Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers and the present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since found both irritatingly naïve and tremendously stimulating. The Jargon File is a Glossary of hacker Slang. The original Jargon File was a collection of hacker slang from technical cultures such as the MIT AI "^[9]

Early on, cyberpunk was hailed as a radical departure from science-fiction standards and a new manifestation of vitality. ^[10] Shortly thereafter, however, many critics arose to challenge its status as a revolutionary movement. These critics said that the SF "New Wave" of the 1960s was much more innovative as far as narrative techniques and styles were concerned. New Wave is a term applied to Science fiction writing characterized by a high degree of experimentation both in form and in content and a Highbrow and self-consciously ^[11] Furthermore, while Neuromancer's narrator may have had an unusual "voice" for science fiction, much older examples can be found: Gibson's narrative voice, for example, resembles that of an updated Raymond Chandler, as in his novel The Big Sleep (1939). Raymond Thornton Chandler ( July 23, 1888 &ndash March 26, 1959) was an American Author of crime stories and novels The Big Sleep is a 1939 novel by Raymond Chandler, with two film versions one filmed in 1945, and another filmed in 1978. ^[10] Others noted that almost all traits claimed to be uniquely cyberpunk could in fact be found in older writers' works — often citing J. G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, Stanislaw Lem, Samuel R. Delany, and even William S. Burroughs. James Graham Ballard (born 15 November in the International Settlement in Shanghai, China) is a British Novelist and Short Philip Kindred Dick (December 16 – March 2) was an American Science fiction Novelist and Short story Writer. Harlan Jay Ellison (born May 27, 1934) is a prolific American Writer of Short stories, Novellas, Teleplays Stanisław Lem ( sta'ɲiswaf lɛm 12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006 was a Polish Science fiction, philosophical and satirical writer Samuel Ray Delany Jr (born April 1, 1942, New York City) is an award-winning American Science fiction William Seward Burroughs II ( – ˈbʌroʊz was an American Novelist, Essayist, Social critic, painter and Spoken word ^[10] For example, Philip K. Dick's works contain recurring themes of social decay, artificial intelligence, paranoia, and blurred lines between reality and some kind of virtual reality, and the influential cyberpunk movie Blade Runner is based on one of his books. Blade Runner is a 1982 American Science fiction Film, directed by Ridley Scott. Humans linked to machines are found in Pohl and Kornbluth's Wolfbane (1959) and Roger Zelazny's Creatures of Light and Darkness (1968). Roger Joseph Zelazny ( May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American writer of Fantasy and Science fiction Creatures of Light and Darkness is a 1969 Science fiction Novel by Roger Zelazny.

In 1994, scholar Brian Stonehill suggested that Thomas Pynchon's 1973 novel Gravity's Rainbow "not only curses but precurses what we now glibly dub cyberspace. Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr (born May 8 1937 is an American writer based in New York City, noted for his dense and complex works of Fiction. Gravity's Rainbow is an epic postmodern novel written by Thomas Pynchon and first published on February 28 1973. "^[12] Other important predecessors include Alfred Bester's two most celebrated novels, The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination, as well as Vernor Vinge's novella True Names. Alfred Bester ( December 18, 1913 - September 30, 1987) known to his friends as Alfie, was an American science fiction The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester, is a Science fiction novel that was the first Hugo Award winner in 1953 The Stars My Destination (originally called Tiger! Tiger!, from William Blake 's poem " The Tyger " is a science fiction Vernor Steffen Vinge (ˈvɪndʒi (born October 2, 1944 in Waukesha Wisconsin, U True Names was the Science fiction Novella which brought Vernor Vinge to prominence in 1981

Science-fiction writer David Brin describes cyberpunk as "the finest free promotion campaign ever waged on behalf of science fiction. Glen David Brin, PhD (born October 6, 1950) is an American scientist and award-winning author of Science fiction. " It may not have attracted the "real punks," but it did ensnare many new readers, and it provided the sort of movement that postmodern literary critics found alluring. (One illustration of this is Donna Haraway's "Cyborg Manifesto", an attempt to build a "political myth" using cyborgs as metaphors for contemporary "social reality. Donna Haraway (born September 6, 1944 in Denver Colorado) is currently a professor and chair of the History of Consciousness Program at the A cyborg is a Cybernetic Organism ( ie, an organism that has both artificial and natural systems Metaphor (from the Greek: μεταφορά - metaphora, meaning "transfer" is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects "^[13]) Cyberpunk made science fiction more attractive to academics, argues Brin; in addition, it made science fiction more profitable to Hollywood and to the visual arts generally. Although the "self-important rhetoric and whines of persecution" on the part of cyberpunk fans were irritating at worst and humorous at best, Brin declares that the "rebels did shake things up. We owe them a debt. "^[14]

Cyberpunk further inspired many professional writers who were not among the "original" cyberpunks to incorporate cyberpunk ideas into their own works, such as Walter Jon Williams' Hardwired and Voice of the Whirlwind, and George Alec Effinger's When Gravity Fails. Hardwired is a 1986 Cyberpunk science fiction novel by Walter Jon Williams. Voice of the Whirlwind is a 1987 Cyberpunk science fiction novel by Walter Jon Williams. George Alec Effinger ( January 10, 1947 &ndash April 27, 2002) was an American science fiction author, born in 1947 When Gravity Fails is a Cyberpunk Science fiction novel by George Alec Effinger published in 1986. These types of writings do not only form into the work of a book, but cyberpunk knowledge is also leaking into the pages of magazines. Wired magazine, created by Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe, mixes new technology, art, literature, and today’s important topics. Wired is a full-color monthly American Magazine and on-line periodical published in San Francisco, California since March 1993 It is meant to strike the interest of today’s cyberpunks and has been flying off the newsstands, "Which proves that hardcore hackers, multimedia junkies, cyberpunks and cellular freaks are poised to take over the world. "^[15]

As new writers and artists began to experiment with cyberpunk ideas, new varieties of fiction emerged, sometimes addressing the criticisms leveled at the original cyberpunk stories. Lawrence Person wrote in an essay he posted to the Internet forum Slashdot:

Many writers who grew up reading in the 1980s are just now starting to have their stories and novels published. Lawrence Person (born 1965) is a Science fiction writer critic and editor of SF critical magazine Nova Express. Slashdot, often abbreviated as /, is a technology-related news Website owned by SourceForge Inc To them cyberpunk was not a revolution or alien philosophy invading SF, but rather just another flavor of SF. Like the writers of the 1970s and 80s who assimilated the New Wave's classics and stylistic techniques without necessarily knowing or even caring about the manifestos and ideologies that birthed them, today's new writers might very well have read Neuromancer back to back with Asimov's Foundation, John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar, and Larry Niven's Ringworld and seen not discontinuities but a continuum. Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, notable for being the most famous early Cyberpunk novel and winner of the science-fiction "triple Isaac Asimov (c January 2 1920 &ndash April 6 1992 ˈaɪzək ˈæzɪmʌv originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as, was a Russian Foundation is the first book in Isaac Asimov 's Foundation Trilogy (later expanded into The Foundation Series) John Kilian Houston Brunner ( September 24, 1934 &ndash August 26, 1995) was a prolific British author of Science fiction Stand on Zanzibar is a dystopic New Wave Science fiction Novel written by John Brunner and first published in 1968 (ISBN Laurence van Cott Niven (born April 30, 1938 Los Angeles California) is a US Science fiction author. Ringworld is a Hugo and Nebula award-winning 1970 Science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space ^[2]

Person's essay advocates using the term postcyberpunk to label the new works such writers produce. Postcyberpunk describes a subgenre of Science fiction which some Critics suggest has evolved from Cyberpunk. In this view, typical postcyberpunk stories continue the focus on a ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information and cybernetic augmentation of the human body, but without the assumption of dystopia. A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος alternatively cacotopia, kakotopia, cackotopia, or anti-utopia) is the vision of a society Good examples are Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age and Charles Stross's Accelerando. Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known primarily for his Science fiction works in the Postcyberpunk genre The Diamond Age or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a Postcyberpunk Novel by Neal Stephenson. Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born Leeds, 18 October 1964 is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Accelerando is a 2005 Science fiction novel consisting of a series of interconnected short stories by British author Charles Stross Like all categories discerned within science fiction, the boundaries of postcyberpunk are likely to be fluid or ill defined. To complicate matters, there is a continuing market for "pure" cyberpunk novels strongly influenced by Gibson's early work, such as Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon. Altered Carbon (2002 is a Hardboiled Science fiction novel by Richard K

Subgenres and connected genres

See also: List of precursors to cyberpunk and List of cyberpunk print media

As a wider variety of writers began to work with cyberpunk concepts, new sub-genres of science fiction emerged, playing off the cyberpunk label, and focusing on technology and its social effects in different ways. The following is a list of works commonly ascribed to the Cyberpunk genre of Science fiction. The following is a list of works commonly ascribed to the Cyberpunk genre of Science fiction. A prominent subgenre is steampunk (cyberpunk themes in the early industrial age), which is set in an alternative history Victorian era that combines anachronistic techonology with cyberpunk's bleak film noir world view. Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and Speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s is a process of social and economic change whereby a human group is transformed from a Pre-industrial society into an industrial one Alternate history or alternative history is a subgenre of Speculative fiction (or Science fiction) and Historical fiction Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation The term was originally coined around 1987 as a joke to describe some of the novels of Tim Powers, James P. Blaylock, and K.W. Jeter, but by the time Gibson and Sterling entered the subgenre with their collaborative novel The Difference Engine the term was being used earnestly as well. Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American Science fiction and fantasy author James Paul Blaylock (born September 20, 1950) is an American fantasy author Kevin Wayne Jeter (born 1950 is an American Science fiction and horror Author known for his literary writing style dark themes and paranoid unsympathetic The Difference Engine is an alternate history Novel by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. ^[16]

Another subgenre is biopunk (cyberpunk themes dominated by biotechnology) from the early 1990s, a derivative style building on biotechnology rather than informational technology. Biopunk (a Portmanteau word combining " Biotech " and " punk " is a term used to describe A Hobbyist who experiments Biotechnology is Technology based on Biology, especially when used in Agriculture, Food science, and Medicine. In these stories, people are changed in some way not by mechanical means, but by genetic manipulation. Genetic engineering, Recombinant DNA technology, genetic modification/manipulation (GM and gene splicing are terms that apply to the direct Paul Di Filippo is seen as the most prominent biopunk writer, including his half-serious ribofunk. Paul Di Filippo (born October 29, 1954 in Providence, Rhode Island) is an American Science fiction writer Biopunk (a Portmanteau word combining " Biotech " and " punk " is a term used to describe A Hobbyist who experiments Bruce Sterling's Shaper/Mechanist cycle is also seen as a major influence. Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American Science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades The Shaper/Mechanist universe is the setting for a series of Science fiction short stories (and the novel Schismatrix) written by the author Bruce In addition, some people consider works such as Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age to be postcyberpunk. Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known primarily for his Science fiction works in the Postcyberpunk genre The Diamond Age or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a Postcyberpunk Novel by Neal Stephenson. Postcyberpunk describes a subgenre of Science fiction which some Critics suggest has evolved from Cyberpunk.

Film and television

See also: List of films borrowing cyberpunk elements, List of cyberpunk films, List of cyberpunk documentary films, and List of cyberpunk television series

The film Blade Runner (1982), adapted from Philip K. The following is a list of works commonly ascribed to the Cyberpunk genre of Science fiction. The following is a list of works commonly ascribed to the Cyberpunk genre of Science fiction. The following is a list of works commonly ascribed to the Cyberpunk genre of Science fiction. The following is a list of works commonly ascribed to the Cyberpunk genre of Science fiction. Blade Runner is a 1982 American Science fiction Film, directed by Ridley Scott. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, is set in 2019 in a dystopian future in which manufactured beings called replicants are slaves used on space colonies and are legal prey on Earth to various bounty hunters who "retire" (kill) them. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968 by Philip K Dick, is a Science fiction Novel about Rick Deckard, a Bounty hunter 2019 ( MMXIX) will be a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. A replicant is a bioengineered or biorobotic being created in the film Blade Runner (1982 Although Blade Runner was largely unsuccessful in its first theatrical release, it found a viewership in the home video market and became a cult film. Since the movie omits the religious and mythical elements of Dick's original novel (e. g. , empathy boxes and Wilbur Mercer), it falls more strictly within the cyberpunk genre than the novel does. William Gibson would later reveal that upon first viewing the film, he was surprised at how the look of this film matched his vision when he was working on Neuromancer. Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, notable for being the most famous early Cyberpunk novel and winner of the science-fiction "triple The film has since been the staple of many cyberpunk movies, such as The Matrix. The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction - martial arts - Action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski and

The police station of Blade Runner is the perfect copy (angle of sight included) of one of the gothic skyscrapers of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the earliest cyberpunk reference. Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang ( December 5, 1890 &ndash August 2, 1976) was an Austrian German - American Metropolis is a silent Science fiction film directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and Thea von Harbou.

The short-lived television series Max Headroom also spread cyberpunk tropes, perhaps with more popular success than the genre's first written works. Max Headroom (1987 – 1988 was a short-lived but ground-breaking American Science fiction Television series which aired on ABC.

During the 1989/1990 television season, the setting of the science-fiction show War Of The Worlds was retooled into a post-apocalyptic, dystopian, cyberpunk setting. It is believed this change was made in order to accurately depict the aftermath of the 1953 invasion of Earth.

The number of films in the genre or at least using a few genre elements has grown steadily since Blade Runner. Several of Philip K. Dick's works have been adapted to the silver screen, with cyberpunk elements typically becoming dominant; examples include Screamers (1996), Minority Report (2002), Paycheck (2003) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Screamers is a 1995 Dystopian science fiction Horror film directed by Christian Duguay based on the Short story Minority Report is a 2002 Science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg, loosely based on the Philip K Paycheck is a 2003 Film adaptation of the Short story of the same name by Science fiction writer Philip K A Scanner Darkly is a 2006 film directed by Richard Linklater based on the novel of the same name by Philip K But unfortunately for cyberpunk's arguable originator, the films Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and New Rose Hotel (1998) were both flops, commercially and critically. Johnny Mnemonic is a 1995 Cyberpunk Film, loosely based on the short story of the same name by William Gibson, in which New Rose Hotel is a 1998 Film by director Abel Ferrara, based on a William Gibson story of the same name

Director Darren Aronofsky set his debut feature π (1998) in a present-day New York City, but built its script with influences from cyberpunk aesthetic. Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American Film director, Screenwriter The City of New York According to the DVD commentary, he and his production team deliberately used antiquated machines (like 5-1/4 inch floppy disks), echoing the technological style of Brazil (1985), to create a cyberpunk "feel". DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is A floppy disk is an increasingly Obsolete data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin flexible ("floppy" Magnetic storage medium encased Brazil is a 1985 Dystopian Black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam. Aronofsky describes Chinatown, where the film is set, as "New York's last cyberpunk neighborhood". A Chinatown is a section of an urban area with a large number of Chinese outside the majority-Chinese countries of Greater China.

The RoboCop series has a more near-futuristic setting where at least one corporation, Omni Consumer Products, is an all-powerful presence in the city of Detroit. RoboCop is a 1987 Cyberpunk film directed by Paul Verhoeven. The film features Peter Weller, Dan O'Herlihy, Kurtwood This is a list of notable Fictional companies. Entries in this list must have received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject Until the End of the World (1991) shows another example where cyberpunk provides an assumed background, and a plot device, to an otherwise mood and character-driven story. Until the End of the World ( Bis ans Ende der Welt) is a 1991 Film by the German film director Wim Wenders; the Screenplay Gattaca (1997) directed by Andrew Niccol is a futuristic film noir whose mood-drenched dystopia provides a good example of biopunk. Gattaca is a 1997 science fiction Drama film written and directed by Andrew Niccol, starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Andrew M Niccol (born 1964 is a Screenwriter, producer, and director. Biopunk (a Portmanteau word combining " Biotech " and " punk " is a term used to describe A Hobbyist who experiments

The Japanese anime cyberpunk film Akira (1988) has a futuristic setting in a crime-ridden Tokyo. (anime in Japanese, is a 1988 Japanese animated Film co-written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo based on his manga of the same name officially, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū.

The Matrix series, which began with 1999's The Matrix (and now also contains The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, and The Animatrix) uses a wide variety of cyberpunk elements. The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction - martial arts - Action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski and The Matrix Reloaded is a 2003 Film, the second installment in ''The Matrix'' trilogy, written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers The Matrix Revolutions is a 2003 Film and the third and final Film in ''The Matrix'' trilogy. The Animatrix is a collection of nine animated Short films released in 2003 and set in the fictional universe of ''The Matrix'' series 1999 also saw the release of "The 13th Floor" and Chris Carter's short lived series "Harsh Realm" - both of which utilitzed the notion of cyber-realities.

Also worth mentioning is 1995's Strange Days. Strange Days is the title of a 1995 Science fiction Film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and produced and co-written by James Cameron Set on New Year's Eve 1999, it features many key elements of the cyberpunk genre, both technological and social.

Anime and manga

A crossing in Shibuya, lit brightly at night by electronic media. Of Japan's influence on the genre, William Gibson said, "Modern Japan simply was cyberpunk. "

See also: List of cyberpunk anime works

Cyberpunk has been used widely in anime and manga. The following is a list of works commonly ascribed to the Cyberpunk genre of Science fiction. (anime in Japanese, ˈmɑŋgə is the Japanese word for Comics (sometimes called komikku コミック and print Cartoons In their modern form manga date from shortly In Japan, where “cosplay” is popular and not only teenagers display such fashion styles, cyberpunk has been accepted and its influence is widespread. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. short for "costume play" is a type of performance art whose participants outfit themselves with often-elaborate Costumes and Accessories, as a specific William Gibson’s Neuromancer, whose influence dominated the early cyberpunk movement, was also set in Chiba, one of Japan’s largest industrial areas, although at the time of writing the novel Gibson did not know the location of Chiba and had no idea how perfectly it fit his vision in some ways. William Ford Gibson (born March 17 1948 is an American - Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the Cyberpunk subgenre Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, notable for being the most famous early Cyberpunk novel and winner of the science-fiction "triple WikipediaWikiProject Japanese prefectures for guidelines--> is a prefecture of Japan located in the Greater Tokyo Area. The exposure to cyberpunk ideas and fiction in the time mid 1980s has allowed it to seep into the Japanese culture. Even though most anime and manga is written in Japan, the cyberpunk anime and manga have a more futuristic and therefore international feel to them so they are widely accepted by all. “The conceptualization involved in cyberpunk is more of forging ahead, looking at the new global culture. It is a culture that does not exist right now, so the Japanese concept of a cyberpunk future, seems just as valid as a Western one, especially as Western cyberpunk often incorporates many Japanese elements. ”^[17] William Gibson is now a frequent visitor to Japan, and he came to see that many of his visions of Japan have become a reality:

Modern Japan simply was cyberpunk. The Japanese themselves knew it and delighted in it. The are the dominant Ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent of these approximately 127 million are residents of Japan I remember my first glimpse of Shibuya, when one of the young Tokyo journalists who had taken me there, his face drenched with the light of a thousand media-suns — all that towering, animated crawl of commercial information — said, "You see? You see? It is Blade Runner town. is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008 it had an estimated Population of 208371 and a density of 13540 persons officially, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. Blade Runner is a 1982 American Science fiction Film, directed by Ridley Scott. " And it was. It so evidently was. ^[18]

One of the earliest Cyberpunk anime was Bubblegum Crisis, with its rock-filled soundtrack, character names cheerfully swiped from Blade Runner (though completely new personalities) and plot line involving high-tech mercenaries squaring off with a giant corporation that all but dominates the world economy, which is creating rogue military robots. is a Cyberpunk -style anime set in a future post-disaster Tokyo, called "Megatokyo" Blade Runner is a 1982 American Science fiction Film, directed by Ridley Scott.

Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell is an excellent example of cyberpunk anime (which was, in turn, based on Masamune Shirow's manga), as is Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, based on his manga, and are both the sources of the ideas for The Matrix series by the Wachowski brothers, particularly Ghost in the Shell, but an Akira influence can also definitely be seen in the Matrix films. Mamoru Oshii (押井守 Oshii Mamoru; born August 8, 1951 in Tokyo) is a Japanese Animation and live-action Film is a Japanese Cyberpunk Manga created by Masamune Shirow, and first published in 1989 in Young (anime in Japanese, is an internationally renowned Manga artist born Masanori Ota (太田 まさのり Ōta Masanori) on November 23, 1961. ˈmɑŋgə is the Japanese word for Comics (sometimes called komikku コミック and print Cartoons In their modern form manga date from shortly is a Japanese Manga artist and director He is perhaps best known for being the creator of the manga Akira and its anime adaptation, which are extremely is a 1988 Japanese animated Film co-written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo based on his manga of the same name Biography Andy and Larry Wachowski were born to a Polish-American family in Chicago. is a Japanese Cyberpunk Manga created by Masamune Shirow, and first published in 1989 in Young ^[19] The story takes place in a future in which humans are entirely dependent on cyborgs and “illustrates the fluid nature of crime, espionage and geopolitical skullduggery in a world where human personality, vast data networks, and cybernetic technology have essentially fused into a single social matrix. A cyborg is a Cybernetic Organism ( ie, an organism that has both artificial and natural systems ”^[20] Ghost in the Shell asks the question whether or not a trace of humanity can remain in a cyborg and the vast span of the Net.

Another anime of note is Texhnolyze. is a Japanese animated Television series directed by Hirotsugu Hamazaki, from a screenplay by Chiaki Konaka, and produced by Yasuyuki Texhnolyze takes place in an underground city called Lux, which is aggressively controlled by three rival gangs, all who are "texhnolyzed" (a scientific procedure in which a person's limbs are replaced with artificial limbs). Although this series may not be as cyberpunk as Ghost in the Shell, it does have most of the hallmarks of a cyberpunk work: a hard-boiled dystopia and human evolution through science and its consequences and ruminations on humanity's will to survive.

The creators had previously made another notable cyberpunk series, Serial Experiments Lain, which focused on one girl's exploration of "The Wired". Serial Experiments Lain is an Anime series directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, original character design by Yoshitoshi ABe, screenplay written However, while Serial Experiments Lain is more critically acclaimed, Texhnolyse is thought of as a better-realized example of the cyberpunk genre.

Cyberpunk has influenced many anime and manga including Appleseed, where the focus is on the urban cyberpunk conflict in a post-World War III environment. Akira would be a representation of Armageddon. is a black and white serial Manga or graphic novel by Katsuhiro Otomo. In director Rintaro's movie Metropolis, which was rewritten by anime legend Katsuhiro Otomo from the original comic by Osamu Tezuka, the main plot concentrates on a “Puppet Master” for the cyborgs, just like the hunt for one in Ghost in the Shell. is the pseudonym of, a respected and well-known director of Anime. is an Anime Movie released in Japan in 2001 and based on the Metropolis Manga created by the late Osamu Tezuka. is a Japanese Manga artist and director He is perhaps best known for being the creator of the manga Akira and its anime adaptation, which are extremely was a Japanese manga artist, Animator, producer and Medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine

Anime has also provided examples of the "steampunk" subgenre, particularly in much of the work of Hayao Miyazaki, but also notably in Last Exile (2003), created by studio GONZO and director Koichi Chigira, which features a curious blend of Victorian society and futuristic battles between ships of the sky. Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and Speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s is a is a Japanese animated Television series created by Gonzo. Directed by Koichi Chigira, with character designs by Range Murata Koichi Chigira is an Anime director who has directed several Anime series usually working with GONZO studio Victorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of people living at the time of Queen Victoria (reigned 1837 - 1901 in particular and to the moral climate Also of note is 2004's Steamboy, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. is a 2004 Japanese animated film produced by Sunrise, and directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo, his second major anime release following is a Japanese Manga artist and director He is perhaps best known for being the creator of the manga Akira and its anime adaptation, which are extremely Here, Otomo focuses on an alternate, industrialised Victorian society and a blooming arms race, resulting from the discovery of a new form of steam powered technology. Sakura Taisen, originally a video game released in 1996 by SEGA, features mecha and turn-of-the-century technology literally powered by steam and is set in an alternate reality 1920s Japan. is a Japanese Media franchise owned by Red Entertainment and Sega; it was created by Ouji Hiroi with original character designs by Kōsuke Fujishima is a multinational Video game Software and Hardware development company and a former Home computer Word origin and usage The term "mecha" is derived from the Japanese abbreviation for the English word " mechanical " Another series with both steampunk and biopunk elements in its script is Ergo Proxy, released in 2006 by Manglobe. Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and Speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s Biopunk (a Portmanteau word combining " Biotech " and " punk " is a term used to describe A Hobbyist who experiments is a Science fiction suspense Anime television series produced by Manglobe, which premiered across Japan on 25 February 2006 on the Similarly Cowboy Bebop, which is perhaps better described as a Space Western, or better still as Tech-noir, nonetheless satisfies many of the genre expectations of cyberpunk. is a Japanese animated television series. Directed by Shinichirō Watanabe and written by Keiko Nobumoto, Cowboy Bebop was produced by Space Western is a subgenre of Science fiction, primarily grounded in film and television that transposes themes of American Western books and film to a backdrop Tech-noir (Better known as Future Noir, also called science fiction noir) is a hybrid genre of film or other works of fiction combining the Film noir and

Music

See also: List of cyberpunk bands

The term cyberpunk music can refer to two rather overlapping categories. The following is a list of works commonly ascribed to the Cyberpunk genre of Science fiction. First, it may denote the varied range of musical works that cyberpunk films use as soundtrack material. These works occur in genres from classical music and jazz — used, in Blade Runner and elsewhere, to evoke a film noir ambience — to "noize" and electronica. Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and Secular music Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary Electronic music designed for a wide range Electronica, electronic body music, industrial, noise, futurepop, alternative rock, goth rock, neurofunk, techstep and IDM are at times associated with the cyberpunk genre. Electronic body music ( EBM, also known as aggropop) is a Music genre that combines elements of Industrial music and Electronic Industrial music is a loose term for a number of different styles of Experimental music, especially but not necessarily Electronic music. Futurepop is an Electronic dance music genre incorporating influences from Synthpop (such as song structure and Vocal style Uplifting Alternative rock (also called alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of This article is about the musical style of gothic rock For the goth scene in general see Goth subculture. Neurofunk is a subgenre of Drum and bass pioneered by producers Ed Rush, Optical and Matrix, between 1997 and Techstep is a subgenre of Drum and bass that was popular in the late 1990s Intelligent dance music (commonly IDM) is a genre name invented in the early 1990s by the creators of an American online mailing list

Arriving toward the tail end of both the initial cyberpunk boom and his own career, pop singer Billy Idol released an album called Cyberpunk, which included a song called "Neuromancer. Billy Idol (born William Michael Albert Broad, 30 November 1955, Stanmore, Middlesex) is an English rock Cyberpunk is a Concept album by American rock musician Billy Idol, released in 1993 by Chrysalis Records. " The album contained a floppy disc on which “compactly combines full lyrics, a biography, wild graphics, snippets of sound from the CD and a bibliography for compuphiles to learn more about computer subculture. ”^[21] The album was neither a critical nor commercial success.

A current band that claims to “emit the kind of sound William Gibson must have heard in his head in the 1980s when he invented the cyberpunk novel,” is Aerodrone. Aerodrone is an American electro-rock band from Eugene, Oregon, that was founded in 2005 by Gary Zon and Kevin Patrick They are a dancepunk band from Eugene, Oregon. The band’s use of synths, heavy beats, guitar riffs could all “fit right in with the pre-Windows world of hard-core hacking in "Neuromancer. "^[22]

Games

Roleplaying

Several role-playing games (RPGs) called Cyberpunk exist: Cyberpunk (aka Cyberpunk 2013), Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk v3 (aka Cyberpunk 203X), by R. Talsorian Games, and GURPS Cyberpunk, published by Steve Jackson Games as a module of the GURPS family of RPGs. A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. Cyberpunk 2020 is a Cyberpunk Role-playing game written by Mike Pondsmith and published by R R Talsorian Games, based in Renton WA (until 1997 in Berkeley California) publishes numerous Role-playing game books and accessories GURPS Cyberpunk is a genre toolkit for Cyberpunk -themed Role-playing games set in a near-future Dystopia, such as that Steve Jackson Games (SJG is a Game company founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, commonly known as GURPS, is a Role-playing game system designed to adapt to any imaginary gaming Cyberpunk 2020 was designed with the settings of William Gibson's writings in mind, and to some extent with his approval, unlike the approach taken by FASA in producing the transgenre Shadowrun game (see below). William Ford Gibson (born March 17 1948 is an American - Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the Cyberpunk subgenre This article is about a city in Iran. See FASA for the roleplaying game company or the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association, a trade group representing Shadowrun is a pen-and-paper Role-playing game set in an imaginary future where huge corporations control the lives of their employees and the return of magic has Both are set in the near future, in a world where cybernetics are prominent. Cyberware is a relatively new and unknown field (a Proto-science, or more adequately a “proto-technology” In addition, Iron Crown Enterprises released an RPG named Cyberspace, which was out of print for several years until recently being rereleased in online PDF form. Iron Crown Enterprises is a publisher of role playing, board, miniature battle, and Collectible card games ICE was incorporated in

In 1990, in an odd convergence of cyberpunk art and reality, the U.S. Secret Service raided Steve Jackson Games's headquarters and confiscated all their computers. Steve Jackson Games (SJG is a Game company founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board This was allegedly because the GURPS Cyberpunk sourcebook could be used to perpetrate computer crime. GURPS Cyberpunk is a genre toolkit for Cyberpunk -themed Role-playing games set in a near-future Dystopia, such as that That was, in fact, not the main reason for the raid, but after the event it was too late to correct the public's impression. ^[23] Steve Jackson Games later won a lawsuit against the Secret Service, aided by the freshly minted Electronic Frontier Foundation. The Electronic Frontier Foundation ( EFF) is an international non-profit advocacy and legal organization based in the United States with the stated purpose of being dedicated This event has achieved a sort of notoriety, which has extended to the book itself as well. All published editions of GURPS Cyberpunk have a tagline on the front cover, which reads "The book that was seized by the U. S. Secret Service!" Inside, the book provides a summary of the raid and its aftermath.

2004 brought the publication of a number of new cyberpunk RPGs, chief among which was Ex Machina, a more cinematic game including four complete settings and a focus on updating the gaming side of the genre to current themes among cyberpunk fiction. Ex Machina is a Cyberpunk Role-playing game published by Guardians of Order covering a range from classic Cyberpunk to Postcyberpunk These tropes include a stronger political angle, conveying the alienation of the genre and even incorporating some transhuman themes. Transhuman is a term that refers to an evolutionary transition from the Human to the Posthuman. Another game of note is Cybernet, published under the Open Gaming License for the D20 system. The Open Game License (or OGL) is an Open content license designed for Role-playing games It was published by Wizards of the Coast in 2000 to

2006 saw the long-awaited publication of R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk v3, the followup to Cyberpunk 2020, although many see the new edition as more Transhumanist or Postcyberpunk than truly Cyberpunk. 2006 also saw James Norbury's Corporation published, taking an unusual viewpoint in that rather than having players take on the traditional cyberpunk role of the lone anarchist fighting an oppressive social order they instead take the role of agents for one of the five great megacorporations of the world. Taking inspiration from videogames such as Syndicate and Deus Ex, Corporation includes themes of transhumanism, particularly cybernetic and biopunk elements - agents are universally exceptional individuals who's capabilities are pushed far beyond the human by cybernetic and genetic enhancements. Deus Ex (abbreviated DX and pronounced as ˌdeɪəsˈɛks day-uss ex) is a Cyberpunk -themed Action role-playing game developed Transhumanism (sometimes symbolized by >H or H+) a term often used as a synonym for " Human enhancement " is an international intellectual Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the Structure of Complex systems especially Communication processes control mechanisms and Feedback Biopunk (a Portmanteau word combining " Biotech " and " punk " is a term used to describe A Hobbyist who experiments

The role-playing game Shadowrun combines aspects of cyberpunk and fantasy. A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. Shadowrun is a pen-and-paper Role-playing game set in an imaginary future where huge corporations control the lives of their employees and the return of magic has Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting

Role-playing has also produced one of the more original takes on the genre in the form of the 1989 game Shadowrun. Shadowrun is a pen-and-paper Role-playing game set in an imaginary future where huge corporations control the lives of their employees and the return of magic has Here, the setting is still that of the dystopian near future; however, it also incorporates heavy elements of fantasy, such as magic, spirits, elves, and dragons. Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting The cyberpunk aspects of Shadowrun were modeled in large part on William Gibson's writings, and the game's original publishers, FASA, have been accused of having plagiarized Gibson's work without even a statement of his influence, while Gibson has stated his dislike of the inclusion of fantasy elements. William Ford Gibson (born March 17 1948 is an American - Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the Cyberpunk subgenre This article is about a city in Iran. See FASA for the roleplaying game company or the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association, a trade group representing Nevertheless, Shadowrun has introduced many to the genre, and still remains popular among gamers.

The trans-genre RPG Torg (published by West End Games) also included a variant cyberpunk setting (or "cosm") called the Cyberpapacy. Torg is a cinematic multi-genre Role-playing West End Games (WEG was a company that makes board, role playing, and war games This setting was originally a medieval religious dystopia which underwent a sudden Tech Surge. Instead of corporations or corrupt governments, the Cyberpapacy was dominated by the "False Papacy of Avignon". Instead of an Internet, hackers roamed the "GodNet", a computer network rife with overtly religious symbolism, home to angels, demons, and other biblical figures. The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks An angel is a Spiritual Supernatural being found in many Religions Although the nature of angels and the tasks given to them vary from tradition to tradition Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Another "cosm" setting that was part of the Torg gameworld was Nippon Tech, which incorporated other aspects of cyberpunk, such as dominant corporations with professional assassins. AssassiNation is the sixth album by Krisiun, released in 2006 on Century Media. It did not, however, deal with computer networks as a major part of the setting.

Final Fantasy VII is one of the only Final Fantasy games to display a cyberpunk influence. is a Console role-playing game developed by Square (now Square Enix) and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the The setting in a post modern city, and having a feud against a company is one of the references to the cyberpunk genre. Final Fantasy VI displays a steampunk aesthetic

Computer games

See also: List of cyberpunk works in computer and video games

Computer games have frequently used cyberpunk as a source of inspiration. also known as Final Fantasy III for English audiences when it was first released is a Console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and Speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s The following is a list of works commonly ascribed to the Cyberpunk genre of Science fiction. A personal computer Game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a Video game played on a Personal computer, rather Some of them, like Blade Runner and The Matrix games, are based upon genre movies, while many others like Deus Ex, Iconoclast, System Shock, Fear Effect, Syndicate, Snatcher, and Policenauts are original works. Deus Ex (abbreviated DX and pronounced as ˌdeɪəsˈɛks day-uss ex) is a Cyberpunk -themed Action role-playing game developed System Shock is an Action role-playing game developed by Looking Glass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. Fear Effect is an action game for the PlayStation. It was developed by Kronos Digital Entertainment and published is a Cyberpunk -themed Adventure game published by Konami and originally written and directed by Hideo Kojima. is a cinematic Adventure game, with a hard science fiction storyline published by Konami, written and directed by Hideo Kojima.

Cyberpunk has also been used in computer adventure games, most notably the now freeware Beneath a Steel Sky (published by Revolution Software), Neuromancer (published by Interplay in 1988), Rise of the Dragon (published by Dynamix now Vivendi Universal in 1992), the Tex Murphy games published by Access Software, The Longest Journey (one half was the cyberpunk Stark, while the other one was the magical-styled Arcadia), Uplink (published by Introversion), Bloodnet (published by Microprose 1993), Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller (Gametek 1994) and Tokyo War (published by Weapon Studios in 2002). Beneath a Steel Sky is a British 1994 Science fiction Point and click Adventure game in the Cyberpunk genre Revolution Software Ltd is a British Adventure game company based in York in north east England. Neuromancer is a computer Adventure game created by Interplay Productions in 1988 and distributed by Mediagenic (a brand name that Rise of the Dragon is a graphic Adventure game that was released in 1990 for the DOS computer and later remade for the Sega CD (1993 This article is about Dynamix a defunct video game developer For the sport and recreational center in Poznań, Poland, see Dynamix (Poznan VIVENDI is a software package for care management and staff organisation published by the German software company CONNEXT and introduced in 1995 Tex Murphy is the main character of five Adventure games from Access Software and performed by Chris Jones. Indie Built Inc was a Salt Lake City Utah based Computer game developer founded in 1983 by Bruce Carver as Access Software The Longest Journey ( Den lengste reisen) is a point-and-click Adventure game developed by Norwegian Studio Funcom The computer adventure game The Longest Journey and its sequel Dreamfall, are set in the worlds of Arcadia and Stark governed by a Balance Uplink is a Video game released in 2001 by the British Software company Introversion Software. BloodNet is a Cyberpunk RPG / Adventure game published by MicroProse in 1993 MicroProse, as a corporation and brand name has been owned by several entities since its original founding by Sid Meier and Bill Stealey in 1982 Hell A Cyberpunk Thriller is a Point-and-click Adventure game released in 1994 by Gametek and developed by Take‑Two Interactive GameTek was a computer game and video game publisher based out of North Miami Beach Florida well known for publishing video game adaptations for Game shows during The popular Half-Life 2 modification Dystopia exclusively relies on cyber punk themes. The action adventure game Neuromancer is based directly on the novel's main theme including Chiba City, some of the characters, hacking of databases and cyberspace decks. Flashback: The Quest for Identity and Team17's Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy are also cyberpunk games. Flashback, released as Flashback The Quest for Identity in the US is a cinematic platformer developed by Delphine Software of France Nightlong Union City Conspiracy is a medium-sized cyberpunk themed adventure game from Team 17 Software The city-builder game SimCity Societies offers also the possibility to create cyberpunk cities. SimCity Societies is a city-building simulation computer game of Electronic Arts (EA and is part of the ''Sim'' games series

Tabletop games

Cyberpunk has also inspired several tabletop, miniature and board games. Tabletop game is a general term used to refer to Board games Card games Dice games Miniatures wargames Tile-based games and other Miniature wargaming is a form of Wargaming that incorporates Miniature figures and modeled terrain as the main components of play A board game is a Game in which counters or pieces that are placed on removed from or moved across a "board" (a premarked surface usually specific to that game Most notably, the now defunct company - FASA - which produced Shadowrun. Games Workshop’s game Necromunda which is a branch of their Warhammer 40k line of games, is also worth noting. The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game or Lord of the Rings SBG rather than Lord of the Rings when Necromunda is a tabletop skirmish war game produced by Specialist Games (a division of Games Workshop) Warhammer 40000 (informally known as Warhammer 40K or just 40K) is a tabletop miniature wargame in a Science However there are several other examples, such as Dark Future and Etherscope, while Warmachine is a miniature game that incorporates some elements of steampunk. Dark Future is a 1988 Miniature wargame by Games Workshop. It is set in an alternate reality where the United States &mdashand indeed Etherscope (published by Goodman Games) is a Steampunk role-playing game based on the D20 system, especially D20 Modern Warmachine is a tabletop wargame produced by Privateer Press. Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and Speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s The game Battletech also incorporated industrial cyberpunk themes and elements. BattleTech is a Wargaming and Science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation and currently owned by WizKids. These games allow artists to not only work out new story lines for their cyberpunk universes but also to give their audiences a chance to design and designate groups of cyberpunk warriors.

Netrunner is a collectible card game introduced in 1996, based on the Cyberpunk 2020 role-playing game; it launched with a popular online alternate reality game called Webrunner, which let players hack into an evil futuristic corporation's mainframe. Netrunner is a Collectible card game designed by Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic The Gathering. Cyberpunk 2020 is a Cyberpunk Role-playing game written by Mike Pondsmith and published by R

Iconoclast is a Pen and Paper RPG based on a MUD of the same name. The MUD though still active, only has a few players.

See also

References

External links

Major articles

• Cyberpunk R.I.P. - Saffo, Paul, Wired Magazine, Issue 1. Steve Jackson can refer to Steve Jackson (mathematician, set theorist at University of North Texas Steve Jackson (UK game designer Steve Jackson Games (SJG is a Game company founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board Paul Saffo (born in 1954 in Los Angeles) is a technology forecaster based in Silicon Valley Wired is a full-color monthly American Magazine and on-line periodical published in San Francisco, California since March 1993 04 - Sep/Oct 1993
• On Books: Movements - Spinrad, Norman, Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2002. Norman Richard Spinrad (born September 15, 1940) is an American Science fiction author Asimov's Science Fiction (ISSN 1065-2698 is an American Science fiction magazine which publishes Science fiction and Fantasy and
• Notes Toward A Postcyberpunk Manifesto - Person, Lawrence, Slashdot, Saturday 9 October 1999

Movies and media

• Cyberpunk Review (comprehensive cyberpunk movie reviews and video clips resource, discussion forum about related topics)
• Cyber Cinema, 1981 – 2001: Chapter 1 (R. Talsorian article series on cyberpunk movies)
• Cyberpunk Reading List (emerged from the cyberpunk usenet group)
• Cyberpunk Radio SF (glimpsing into the future through audioscaped cyberpunk themes)
• Polish Cyberpunk People (the topic about computers and all cyber world, gallery and more. Lawrence Person (born 1965) is a Science fiction writer critic and editor of SF critical magazine Nova Express. Slashdot, often abbreviated as /, is a technology-related news Website owned by SourceForge Inc R Talsorian Games, based in Renton WA (until 1997 in Berkeley California) publishes numerous Role-playing game books and accessories Usenet, a Portmanteau of "user" and "network" is a world-wide distributed Internet discussion system . . , unfortunately in Polish language)
• Tetsuo: The Iron Man Review by Bill Gibon, DVD Talk, July 19th, 2005.
• Tetsuo II: Body Hammer Review by Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun Times, June 27, 1997. The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily Newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois.

Resources, fiction and discussion

• The Cyberpunk Project (comprehensive cyberpunk links and resources)
• The Gentleman Loser (cyberpunk resources, fiction, and reviews)
• Neometropolis (cyberpunk-related magazine mostly featuring short fiction)
• Views from the Edge (major forum about all things cyberpunk)
• Voidspace Cyberpunk (some cyberpunk-themed links)
• Cyberpunk Review (a cyberpunk blog and discussion)
• The Psi-Code Novel (Website of the Psi-Code story)