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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Anders Swenson anders@**********.com
Subject: Cyberpunk and all that. :-)
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 07:27:27 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: James Dening <james@************.force9.co.uk>
To: <shadowrn@*********.org>
Sent: Monday, June 21, 1999 4:08 AM
Subject: Re: Deus and all that. :-)


> Twist quoth:
>
> "Makes sense, Gibson did invent the whole cyberpunk genre. And besides,
he's
> a good read. :)"
>
> <shudder> Not another one...No, no, and thrice no - Gibson did *not*
invent Cyberpunk -
> admittedly, he's (IMO) prolly the best current exponent of it, but various
authors (Dick, Brunner)
> would roll in their graves at that rather rash statement...I can quote
bibliographies if
> necessary...but enough of such smalltalk...a kiss, milady! <wibble>
>
> obSRun: Otaku! Bless you.....
>
> J.
So, where is a definitive Cyberpunk critical biography? --Anders
Message no. 2
From: Arcady arcady@***.net
Subject: Cyberpunk and all that. :-)
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 12:16:26 -0700
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: James Dening <james@************.force9.co.uk>
> To: <shadowrn@*********.org>
> Sent: Monday, June 21, 1999 4:08 AM
> Subject: Re: Deus and all that. :-)
>
> > Twist quoth:
> >
> > "Makes sense, Gibson did invent the whole cyberpunk genre. And besides,
> > he's a good read. :)"
> >
> > <shudder> Not another one...No, no, and thrice no - Gibson did *not*
invent Cyberpunk -
> > admittedly, he's (IMO) prolly the best current exponent of it, but various
authors (Dick, Brunner)
> > would roll in their graves at that rather rash statement...I can quote
bibliographies if
> > necessary...but enough of such smalltalk...a kiss, milady! <wibble>
> >
> > obSRun: Otaku! Bless you.....
> >
> > J.
> So, where is a definitive Cyberpunk critical biography? --Anders


Good question. Here's a page:

http://www1.teleport.com/~jaheriot/tl.htm

Also:
http://www.iconoclast.org/~aeon/oldsite/thesis/thesis0.html (A Thesis on
the genre)
http://www.knarf.demon.co.uk/alt-cp.htm (Cyberpunk FAQ)
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/vaughn/english120/cyberpu.html (Cyberpunk
bibliography, not a full list though)


However I can say I have books that are older than Gibson's stuff that
call themselves Cyberpunk.

And others that should be but don't use the genre's name. Like Brave New
World, 1984, and Mad Max (Ok, movie. Not a book that I know of).

All Gibson did was put the genre in "Middle America's hands". He took it
mainstream. In my opinion he didn't create the genre; he killed it. It
was an anti-mainstream movement and the best way to defeat some
anti-mainstream is to assimilate it into the mainstream.

And I personally wouldn't even put him as high as low middle in tersm of
author quality. He's leagues behind George Alec Effinger and Bruce
Sterling. And still behind others. My opinion of course.

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Cyberpunk and all that. :-), you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.