Thanks for so many interesting recommendations, I'm currently reading Kaleidoscope Century and it's a brilliant book so far. Have you seen Upgrade (2018)? I really like that film, it's a very engaging watch
Thanks for this rundown, Bram! Great read. Here's a speculative suggestion: if cyberpunk is the quintessential postmodern/late capitalist fiction, then 'ecomonstrous' or 'eco-weird' fiction (ala Jeff VanderMeer and Scavengers Reign to name popular examples) is the the era-fiction of what's emerging in the wake/transition of late capitalism (I don't think it has an adequate name yet). Riffing on your title, Maximum Rez, I'd also suggest Indigenous-Futurism and Afro-Futurism are tied into this emergence.
Due to longstanding tastes I'll probably have to give a wide berth to anything espionage heavy on your list, haha! But I'm inspired to get back to Akira (I only ever read volume 1, which was great--I love Kurosawa and kaiju, so your mention of those connections is making my mouth water). Need to get back into some more Mega City One too! And Jeff Noon sounds *well* up my alley.
I'm chagrinned to admit that Neuromancer has been sitting on my TBR for years, unread (Brunner too for that matter). I've read half the stories in Burning Chrome at least, so the taste is in my mouth and I was surprised how good it was. Not that I doubted Gibson's talent, but because I've never been too sure how into cyberpunk I'm going to be as computers-&-corporations fiction (I'm using that like sword-&-sorcery) has never especially enticed my imagination from afar (which, I know, makes me a bit of a misfit among contemporary s.f. readership, maybe among contemporary audiences generally). But my glimpse into Gibson's world hinted that there was plenty of that good, uncut weirdness I so crave, in ways I hadn't expected, which is always welcome.
I found Tsukamoto's Iron Man a fairly difficult watch, so I can only imagine how Body Hammer's gonna hit me! But I'm inspired to give it a go. In regard to anime, I'm curious if you've ever seen Neon Genesis Evangelion and if you think it has any tangential connection here. By the end of the series it seems to go so outside the bounds of any going concerns or concepts that it almost defeats analysis and application. Which I admit I love. (Is that conceptual collapse not a mark of our moment as much as anything?)
Interesting thoughts on Vandermeer, whose stuff I adore, and which feels sufficiently outside the bounds of "science" fiction as to constitute something unique and new, while also hearkening back to early Ballard.
To me the corporation aspect of cyberpunk is the attraction, it is a symbolic system for understanding the neoliberal term, as driven by consumer capitalism. That, and the aspects that deal with transhumanism, are what make it the quintessential fiction of 'now' for me. Afrofuturism is a whole thing in and of its own, with arguably older roots, and there's a whole essay on where it meets cyberpunk in the crux of hip-hop lyrics. But I do feel like it's a separate thing, and undoubtedly my list skews both white and male, in terms of its authors. That's not by design.
I've watched a little bit of Evangelion, but probably not enough to make sense of it. I think from what I've seen it would be more of a post-cyberpunk thing... I think the further into the mainstream the aesthetics and themes ventured, the more the narratives tended towards the fantastic or even spiritual. I think that's why Gibson's novels got closer to the present - a sense that cyberpunk was itself running out of future to depict.
Looking forward to reading more of your thoughts on Vandermeer. Thanks for responding to the post!
More good food for thought, thanks. I think the roots in things older (and, in certain senses, weirder--not least in the emphasis on descendants as much as ancestors) are exactly why I drift toward eco-weird and afro/indigenous, as they anchor, precariously, the now in the not-now/yet-intersecting-the-now (if we take on metaphysics of time as proposed by Morton and Haraway). That running-out-of-future-to-predict aspect of cyberpunk leaves my imagination a little thirsty, explanatory as it may be for our moment. Anyway, really glad to be in conversation with your perspectives.
Thanks for so many interesting recommendations, I'm currently reading Kaleidoscope Century and it's a brilliant book so far. Have you seen Upgrade (2018)? I really like that film, it's a very engaging watch
You're most welcome, glad you're enjoying KC! Yeah Upgrade was tremendous. Reminds me to check in on that director...
It's not cyberpunk, but I am curious if you ever read Mockingbird by Walter Tevis. Incredibly prescient.
Nope but it's going on the list now!
Thanks for this rundown, Bram! Great read. Here's a speculative suggestion: if cyberpunk is the quintessential postmodern/late capitalist fiction, then 'ecomonstrous' or 'eco-weird' fiction (ala Jeff VanderMeer and Scavengers Reign to name popular examples) is the the era-fiction of what's emerging in the wake/transition of late capitalism (I don't think it has an adequate name yet). Riffing on your title, Maximum Rez, I'd also suggest Indigenous-Futurism and Afro-Futurism are tied into this emergence.
Due to longstanding tastes I'll probably have to give a wide berth to anything espionage heavy on your list, haha! But I'm inspired to get back to Akira (I only ever read volume 1, which was great--I love Kurosawa and kaiju, so your mention of those connections is making my mouth water). Need to get back into some more Mega City One too! And Jeff Noon sounds *well* up my alley.
I'm chagrinned to admit that Neuromancer has been sitting on my TBR for years, unread (Brunner too for that matter). I've read half the stories in Burning Chrome at least, so the taste is in my mouth and I was surprised how good it was. Not that I doubted Gibson's talent, but because I've never been too sure how into cyberpunk I'm going to be as computers-&-corporations fiction (I'm using that like sword-&-sorcery) has never especially enticed my imagination from afar (which, I know, makes me a bit of a misfit among contemporary s.f. readership, maybe among contemporary audiences generally). But my glimpse into Gibson's world hinted that there was plenty of that good, uncut weirdness I so crave, in ways I hadn't expected, which is always welcome.
I found Tsukamoto's Iron Man a fairly difficult watch, so I can only imagine how Body Hammer's gonna hit me! But I'm inspired to give it a go. In regard to anime, I'm curious if you've ever seen Neon Genesis Evangelion and if you think it has any tangential connection here. By the end of the series it seems to go so outside the bounds of any going concerns or concepts that it almost defeats analysis and application. Which I admit I love. (Is that conceptual collapse not a mark of our moment as much as anything?)
Thanks again!
Side note, you'll fucking love Brunner. Do Zanzibar and Sheep Look Up before you tackle Gibson 😊
Thanks for that tip! I indeed was thinking of trying Sheep first after reading your synopsis of it. :)
Interesting thoughts on Vandermeer, whose stuff I adore, and which feels sufficiently outside the bounds of "science" fiction as to constitute something unique and new, while also hearkening back to early Ballard.
To me the corporation aspect of cyberpunk is the attraction, it is a symbolic system for understanding the neoliberal term, as driven by consumer capitalism. That, and the aspects that deal with transhumanism, are what make it the quintessential fiction of 'now' for me. Afrofuturism is a whole thing in and of its own, with arguably older roots, and there's a whole essay on where it meets cyberpunk in the crux of hip-hop lyrics. But I do feel like it's a separate thing, and undoubtedly my list skews both white and male, in terms of its authors. That's not by design.
I've watched a little bit of Evangelion, but probably not enough to make sense of it. I think from what I've seen it would be more of a post-cyberpunk thing... I think the further into the mainstream the aesthetics and themes ventured, the more the narratives tended towards the fantastic or even spiritual. I think that's why Gibson's novels got closer to the present - a sense that cyberpunk was itself running out of future to depict.
Looking forward to reading more of your thoughts on Vandermeer. Thanks for responding to the post!
More good food for thought, thanks. I think the roots in things older (and, in certain senses, weirder--not least in the emphasis on descendants as much as ancestors) are exactly why I drift toward eco-weird and afro/indigenous, as they anchor, precariously, the now in the not-now/yet-intersecting-the-now (if we take on metaphysics of time as proposed by Morton and Haraway). That running-out-of-future-to-predict aspect of cyberpunk leaves my imagination a little thirsty, explanatory as it may be for our moment. Anyway, really glad to be in conversation with your perspectives.