3 comments about If(Sid_Vicious == TRUE && Alan Turing == TRUE) { ERROR_Cyberpunk(); }.

1. Actually, perhaps not.
   
   The title is enough to give a jobbing programmer a spontaneous fistula. Matters aren't helped much by Amazon's (apparent) mistranscription.
   
   Maybe the authors are trying for "dumb people will think it's clever; clever people will think it's a parody of dumb", cf SugarApe magazine in "Nathan Barley". The fact that CORY DOCTOROW thinks it's clever gets us half-way there, but the clever people I've shown the title to think it's just broken. So, overall, a loss.



2. The other review here dismisses the book based on the title. Sadly, I have bought a copy of this book and that writer's suspicions are completely justified. It is a combination of tedious 'cut-up' i.e. random nonsense and typical 'look at me I'm so sensitive and artistic' stuff about self-harm.
   It is unreadable and frankly after a short while I stopped trying.



3. This book is freaking awesome! I could really identify with Sabrina -- the main character in the I Sin Every Number half of the novel -- and the problems she was having.
   
   Yes, to apreciate this book you should probably have a little experience with experimental fiction (Burroughs, Barthelme, Acker) before going in. There are chapters here that were obviously generated by computer programs, but Christ you don't have to read each word of them before going on to the next "straight" portion of the novel; just let your eyes skim and wander through the text and get the feel of the semi-poetic nature of the machine-based prose that Sabrina was seeing on her computer screen. I believe the author was attempting to immerse the reader in Sabrina's world so they could see the scary messages she was getting. It's a cool idea! If you tried to read every word of the experimental stuff, of course it would be tedious, but when it gets too much just continue on to the next "story" chapter.
   
   This novel is avant-garde, adventurous writing at its best. The characters are interesting and well-developed, and there are even quite a few humorous incidents in the book. Don't be a square. Be bold and pick up this novel and maybe a few mighty forces will come to your aid while you're reading it.
   
   Also be sure to check out the 'Note From the Author' at the very end! I've never seen anything like it before.

2 comments about Street: Empathy.

1. I've been looking for a good Cyberpunk book to add to my collection when the cover caught my eye, and continues to be caught by the excellent style of the writer.
   A great book for anyones collection and a author to look out for in the future.
   Totally satisfied.



2. This is only the second book I've read that has a strong Cyberpunk storyline. The other having been snowcrash, which I enjoyed greatly. The story follows Gina as well as a number of her associates through her adventures in simply trying to survive in a dystopic future. The story moves quickly and is full of action, though you still get a good feel for who the main players in the book are.
   
   I especially liked the idea of Spice in the book, a drug which gives the user temporary telepathic abilities. Like any other drug though it has its downsides and if used to much it drives the user crazy. Gina, being a user of spice, makes her living by selling her telepathic services. It when she accepts a new job that she finds herself on a non-stop race for survival as she tries to figure out whats really going on in the world.
   
   There are a few weak points to the novel, namely being its kinda short and with the fast pace I flew through it. While the setting and characters are explored through-out the novel, I found myself wanting to know more. Of course, thats a good thing as there are further books coming from what I understand.
   
   All in all it was definetly a fun read and I look forward to the next addition to the series.

2 comments about Less Than Human.

1. _____________________________________________
   McArthur's third novel is a near-future police-procedural whodunnit set in Japan. The Japanese setting is the most interesting part of the novel, I thought -- the author lived there for 16 years, returning to Australia in 1996. The protagonist, a female gaijin robotics scientist working in industrial R&D, is well-drawn and sympathetic. And the book is smoothly-written. Do you see the upcoming "but"?
   
   The sfnal McGuffin, a high-tech cult called the Silver Angels -- their leader, Adam, wants to rule Japan (today Japan -- tomorrow the world!) -- didn't work nearly as well, imo. The cultists' bafflegab computer-tech is confusing and unconvincing. The cult's leaders/bad guys are, well, central-casting cardboard. Well-researched cardboard, mind, but novelistically unconvincing. And their Eevil Deeds are all too obviously tailored to the story.
   
   Plus, it's bloody startling to hear tough Osaka cops speaking in Australian, mates....
   
   Still, a decent novel, which might be of particular interest to Japanophiles. "B-" for me -- I preferred her first novel, TIME FUTURE (2001).
   
   Happy reading--
   Pete Tillman
   Google Groups for my review of Time Future



2. Dropping hints right and left as the hero compares himself to a character from police manga, and the heroine exchanges graphic novels with her niece, I believe that this novel is nothing less (but much more) than an extended pro-written, mass-market-published, fat-novel-length fanfiction prequel to Evangelion.
   
   The heroine may be considered typical of self-insertion stories, her name "Eleanor McGuire" resembling the author's unmistakably, but despite her red hair and sexier than average figure, there's more Susan Casper than Mary Sue in this robotics engineer investigating a series of deaths by robot.
   
   Then again, she's also married, though she neglects her husband to work on her humanoid robot, Sam. But he and his family draw her attention as her niece, Mari, gets involved with the Silver Angels, a cyberpunk style cult led by the inventor of its high tech salvation, known publicly only as Adam.
   
   McArthur's story of the origins of Adam and the Evas / Angels is completely readable by anyone, whether or not familiar with anime, but fans of Evangelion who enjoy good gen fanfic will probably get twice the kick out of this novel. Whether you see it as I do, or only as a bit of homage and nod to the anime - give it a read, maybe you will enjoy it as much as I did.

No comments about Oase No. 66: The Spaces Of Science Fiction And Cyberpunk (Oase).

5 comments about Freeware.

1. In this novel Rudy Rucker creates an original, twisted world where moldies (artificial life forms) and humans live amongst each other. Rudy creates a surfer/stoner dialect that could quite plausibly be a future lingo, like our generic, hip, MTV influenced lingo. Although I love Rudy's world and writing style I must admit this book was somewhat of a letdown. It was very captivating at times but those times were often followed by idle narrative. Plus the novel jumped around. It's like when you're watching a captivating sitcom, and right at the climax "to be continued" appears; tune in next week. The plot would then start a new chapter with a new character's story. Rudy would be careful to work in each character into the overall theme of the book though. I think if Rudy cut out all the idle, boring parts (that would be about half of the book) it would be a good novel. Some of Rudy Rucker's other books got better reviews so I would recommend you read those books.



2. I've never thought of Rucker as a great writer, but he never wants for interesting ideas. While his characters tend to be fairly broad and cartoonish, the bright colors of his invented slang and weird technology make for a nice pleasant brain buzz.
   
   In "Freeware", Rucker continues his little AI saga begun in "Software" and "Wetware". The boppers (the little AI robots featured in the first two novels) are all dead, but their spirit (or at least their core software) lives on in the "moldies", who are basically big pieces of self-aware floppy plastic infected with a stinky fungus. Of course what Rucker immediately wants to investigate is: Can you have sex with a moldie? The answer, of course, is yes.
   
   The plot meanders through the backstories of its various characters (which also help shed light on the events which have occurred since "Wetware"), shows off the interesting abilities of the moldies (some of which require some suspension of disbelief), showcases exciting new fictional mind-altering drugs, and eventually comes to the Big Reveal, which I found fairly interesting. Although this sort of thing (I'm not going to say WHAT sort of thing) has certainly been done before, I don't think it's ever been done in quite this fashion.
   
   One major complaint I have about the book is its rather abrupt ending. Rucker wraps things up here in about two pages, as if he was in a rush to finish. A bit more denouement would have been nice.
   
   Basically, if you've read and enjoyed the first two "Ware" books, you're likely to find this enjoyable as well. Anyone who HASN'T read the first two books is advised to start with the first book, "Software", which is a rather short (150 pages) and breezy read.



3. With all the predictions and future strangeness this comes off as Sodom and
   Gomorrah: the characters are mostly seriously morally challenged ( bright like Molly).
   It comes off with the feeling that it was written by a person on pot having a dream that turns rapidly into a nightmare.
   The ideas of using
   aperiodic tiles as computers has so far not had anything but virtual fruit like this.
   Written before the current quantum computing doctrines came in
   and AI went out of fashion, this novel has a genealogy of humans and moldies
   and some sexual content that might be too much for a lot of people.
   The two other novels I've read by Rudy Rucker were much better than this one.



4. Evolution continues rapidly in Rudy Rucker's freeware. From bops, big bops, little bops through meatbops we have yet another life form appearing in freeware, and it is sentient mold.
   
   These moldies, being more organic, can interact with humans differently, and in some cases very closely.
   
   More of the burned out beach bum and borg style can be found here.



5. At his best, Rudy Rucker demonstrates that he can write truly engaging cyberpunk science fiction tales that are heavily infused with his knowledge of mathematics (In real life he is a professor of mathematics as well as a science fiction writer.). I honestly don't know what to make of "Freeware", which is the third of his "ware" novels chronicling the evolution of both humanity and self-replicating AI life. Here he introduces us to "Moldies", a plastic-derived AI life form that has developed an uneasy truce with humanity and colonized the Moon after the "bop" AI life forms were killed off by a virus. Alas "Freeware" isn't as funny as Neal Stephenson's "Snowcrash", though Rucker often tries to be, mixing up fast-paced action sequences with lots and lots of kinky sex. (I'm not troubled at all by the sex, but I've seen it done with more realism and finer literary technique from other science fiction writers.). So hardcore fans of Rucker's work may find "Freeware" quite enjoyable; for me it's a bit of a disappointment.

No comments about Alt.Cyberpunk.Chatsubo Anthology 2: Literary virtual reality in a high-tech low-life hangout..

1 comments about The Alt.Cyberpunk.Chatsubo Anthology.

1. This collection of short stories and poems is interesting, but it really doesn't advance the genre past the markers set by Gibson, Stephenson and Sterling. Frequent spelling mistakes ("Leibowitz," as in _A_Canticle_For_Leibowitz_, is misspelled as "Liebowitz," for example) and sloppy diction mar a great deal of the stories in the anthology.

   If you're a die-hard fan of cyberpunk, then this might be interesting (if only to compare non-published authors with the Big Three), but if you're new to the genre, try to find a copy of _Mirrorshades_ used, or pick up _Burning_Chrome_ by William Gibson. Pat Cadigan also has an anthology of cyberpunk coming out in paperback in 2004.

1 comments about Blurred Line.

1. Think about these questions: What do you believe would happen if humans were aware that the androids they created, indistinguishable from humans, to the naked eye at least, were running around without the confines of programming to limit them? What if the androids were better than their human creators? What if an advanced A.I. was developed with absolutely no encouragement or help from mankind? What if the net, the backbone of the human world, revealed itself to be sentient?
   
   Kat is an android. She is a Summerstone prototype, GenEight. Doctor Melanie "Mel" Chauvin, Head of Research and Design at Summerstone, created her. However, the military took Kat and one other GenEight away from Mel. So Mel is surprised when her new intern, Jane, is Kat in disguise!
   
   Kat wakes up in the middle of a field. The military had wiped her memory, as well as her higher functions. Kat was not supposed to ever wake up. But Kat has overcome her programming. She adapts to her situation, blends in with the humans, and is on a journey to find out what happened to her.
   
   Summerstone is the most powerful company within the "Big Ten". These companies employ over 75% of the entire world. They actually own the military and the governments. They send a contract killer after Kat and anyone else that get in their way. The public must not find out that the androids are evolving. If they do, the Big Ten will fall and the economy of the entire world will crumble.
   
   **** A very good debut novel. This is one other main character who is referred to only as "I". He spends most of his time plugged into a terminal at a virtual reality bar, conversing with the sentient net. Author Cavan Terrill created a realistic scenario based on the hypothesis that someday machines may out grow their human creators. Many books and movies have been made on this, but this novel is the first time that I have seen anyone use the bases and NOT have the machines trying to take over the world or kill off the humans. Cavan Terrill clearly shows that there is another option. Perhaps the androids, the machines, simply want to be considered a new race. The possibilities are mind-boggling. This is an author to keep an eye on! ****
   
   Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

5 comments about Ambient (Womack, Jack).

1. This is not an easy book to read. It contains a lot of violence, both physical and moral, combined with a very poetic language, which makes it reminiscent at times of mr Burgess great "Clocwork orange". However, you shouldn't expect a copy of that. "Ambient"'s hero is concerned with different subjects to those of Alexander de Large, and this story will be enjoyed by those who feel there's a certain amount of cliches in most cyberpunk novels nowadays and want to read something new. This is a book which makes you think, and that altogether makes it both dangerous and seductive



2. In a world that sleeps as soundly as this one, Womack assails the capitalist *carnivora* with a feral eye and acid pen, beating on the reader's sensibilities as one would a Hitler pin'ata. Jack the world! Jack it up, hombre! Let's see, how to describe Womack's prose style.... A bomb laced with nails? A mechanosphere of vision-forming events? A neuro-syphilitic bundle of cliches? How about crash-compatible? Or a blast of heat from the pavement grate? Or a purling sewer rich with the gastric sludge of readerly motion-illness? "Experimental" is perhaps the wrong word here. Gamblers don't gamble, after all, and Womack knows the stakes of writing a novel in "Ambientspeak" this late in literary history (after Burgess, after Russell Hoban, et al.), as the bathos of dialogic exchange in the Dryco universe runs through its formulae, a dismal screech of hackneyed argot like fingernail on slate. I swear that once Mr. Womack learns how to balance his jargonautical neologisms with a subtler knowledge of myth and narrative (like a Hollywood with better acting), he may very well attain the eminence of a Don DeLillo, or a Cormac McCarthy, both key influences on the Dryco novels.... Yet out of all the writers who've made a habit of predicting and inventing the future, Womack is certainly the most charming, possessing a dashing narrative charisma that generates moments, images, elbow-nudging good times, on nearly every page. Very reassuring when we take into account his inevitable subject matter, the madnesses of socioeconomic inequality and exploitation.... Capitalism's predatory agenda to protect corporate interests at all costs, ambitions which entail the humiliation of the underclass (a group that is easy to identify, dislike, and control), cash cows that never see the light of day and are fed on gov't distillery slops; a society terrorized into stupidity by the commodified and the superficial. When Womack informs us that our corporate-owned U.S. Army has been waging a 20-year campaign against the citizenry of Long Island, the reader is compelled to chuckle, then sigh, then consider, then shudder. To what length would our gov't go to protect its commercial interests, whether they involve petroleum, narcotics, arms, or the minds, souls, and yoked bio-power of its starved-out citizenry? "It's true, do you think?" "Only the craziest parts." We let a world like this happen.... Add this novel to your shopping cart, friends, savor and enjoy it, all the while praying for Womack's future development, that he may one day stand in the square where martyrs are made.



3. "Ambient" is William Gibson's cyberpunk vision cloaked in a future English quite akin to Burgess' in "A Clockwork Orange". Womack's daring, original prose is coupled with his stark, bleak vision of a future United States in which New York City has virtually succumbed to urban rot and environmental degradation, resembling a vast maximum security prison under martial law by the United States Army. Overseeing most of the economy is Dryco, a private firm run by Thatcher Dryden, an avaricious, insane version of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. The story is narrated by Seamus O'Malley, Dryden's security guard, who lusts after Avalon, Dryden's girl Friday. This is a provocative, difficult novel to read, but one which brilliantly shows Womack's ample literary talents.



4. Its pretty rare that I don't finish a book, unfortunately this was one of those cases. If I missed anything like a dramatic change in prose style (I stopped halfway through the book) then I apologise.

   I found the positioning of 'Ambient' to be (as other reviewers have mentioned) an attempt at lying somewhere between cyberpunk and Burgess's classic Clockwork Orange. However in terms of actual implementation, the prose irritated me beyond all belief. The characters speak like drunken yodas. Don't get me wrong I'm fully in favour of taking dialects to the extreme to make a point in literature (Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh being an exemplary example) but I found page after page of this annoying doublespeak too much to bear.

   When other reviewers say "this is a hard book to read" they are damn right. For me the return on investment wasn't worth it.




5. "Ambient" was assigned reading in my science fiction class at UC Santa Cruz 10 years ago. Expecting something like Asimov or Heinlein, I was unable to wrap my head around the seeming gibberish and put the book down quickly.
   
   I've returned to it now and it remains a difficult read, as most of the novel is written in a future slang a la Clockwork Orange. Womack also chooses to vividly render his future world rather than go for quick, easy action. And what a world it is: a tiny elite controls everything, cavalierly exterminating those of the lower classes for dropping books at the bookstore, or hunting them down on their estates. This world is light years beyond Gibson in darkness and grittiness, and I found myself wondering if a society with such an absolute disregard for human life could exist.
   
   If you are new to Womack's work, I would recommend "Random Acts of Senseless Violence." It is the first in the Dryco series chronologically and brings the reader gradually into the futurespeak and nihilistic chaos, presented in the form of a young girl's diary as New York collapses and burns around her. It is more powerful because it shows the transition period, making Womack's future that much more real.

1 comments about The Night City Guide (Cyberpunk 2020).

1. This book is a must-have resource for playing Cyberpunk 2020 in the commonly used setting of Night City. The wealth of information available is staggering, it would be hard to gather this much info about a REAL city, let alone come up with such detailed information for a fictional one!
   
   Contains numerous maps of the city, and throughout the book, details various locations (most of the buildings in the city are identified), it even contains floor plans for local hangouts, city mass-transit routes, detailed data on various local services, even the location of Dataterms (Multi-purpose info access terminals) throughout the city!
   
   I no longer GM CP 2020 rp sessions, but I am currently using the book to help create the city for some fan fiction set in the Cyberpunk world. It truly is an invaluable resource.
   
   btw: it even comes with a full-color fold-out map of the city!