The Big Book of Cyberpunk Volume 2 edited by Jared Shurin
Publisher- Vintage Classics
Published -Out Now
Price - £25 hardback £9.99 ebook
NB This is the companion volume to Volume 1 which I reviewed here The Big Book of Cyberpunk Volume 1 edited by Jared Shurin — Runalong The Shelves
In The Big Book of Cyberpunk, award-winning anthologist Jared Shurin brings together over a hundred stories from more than twenty-five different countries. Here are tales that both establish and subvert the classic Cyberpunk tropes and aesthetic – from gritty, near-future noir to pulse-pounding action. Urban rebels undermine their monolithic corporate overlords, daring heists are conducted through back alleys and the darkest parts of the online world, and dangerous new technology, cybernetic enhancements, scheming AIs, corporate mercenaries, improbable weapons and roguish hackers all collide into rich, thrilling entertainment. Set across two volumes, these are stories that examine the near-now, extrapolating the most provocative trends into fascinating and plausible futures.
We live in an increasingly Cyberpunk world, packed with complex technologies and globalised social trends. It is a world so bizarre that even the futurists couldn’t explain it – though many authors in this book have come closer than most. As both an introduction to the genre and the perfect compendium for the lifelong fan, The Big Book of Cyberpunk Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 offer more than a hundred ways to understand where we are, and where we’re going – or simply the opportunity to venture down dazzling, neon-slicked streets.
Safe to say Shurin’s volume 2 for me made me reconsider my view that Cyberpunk was a) dead and b )s often mirror shaded style over substance. No I was curious what the book’s remaining sections would cover. Asa with Volume 1 Shurin has looked for stories that define what hey perceive as cyberpunk’s key aspects and then we watch how these aspects change over time getting into the modern age.
The first half of this book looks at System, how this genre is used to explore a world, how it works and often how it does not. Among the many stories enjoyed were
Time Considered As A Helix of Semiprecious Stones by Samuel R Delaney - This intriguing 1968 tale (again reminding us subgenres rarely just appear out of nowhere) is following a versatile thief who changes their name by the page and who is taking us across their world from meeting underworld criminals to stars to politicians. The cast here are Singers whose song makes people feel like they’ve witnessed events and then need to act on them. There is some gorgeous wordplay and writing that keeps this tale full of winding energy and asks what keeps a criminal from being treated as a power in their own right?
Cyberpunk by Bruce Bethke - This aptly titled 1983 tale gives us a juxtaposition of the life of hustling hackers who also just happen to be your standard rebellious teens. For me what kept the story interesting is how the web was thought to work. The innocent times!
Rat by James Patrick Kelly - Tells the not so simple tale of aa drug dealer with precious cargo taking a dangerous nightmarish trip through New York. This is a sensory overload of a story fittingly for the book especially as we find Rat is indeed a sentient rat! Dark betrayals match a world that seems to care very little for anyone and the ending feels incredibly fitting for the nightmare world being introduced to us.
Arachne by Lisa Mason - From the gorgeous starting paragraph we jumps to a far future VR court case where a series strange disruptions attack a lawyer. We see a disturbing system of lawyers nearly always jacked in. Despite that the legal cases are dealt with in minutes and our main character is desperate not to lose her job and life so must keep forever working. I really liked the exploration of humanity trying to suppress its unconscious mind in order to be ever more corporate but I did get slightly lost in the metaphysical ending
Axiomatic by Greg Egan - This was a stunning morally grey tale imagined world where downloaded personalities are commonplace and a widower wants revenge on the man who killed his wife. This could easily have been a story tinged by fridging the female character but I like how this story faced into the male character actually admitting this own thoughts on the weird trip of events we then follow. A sombre and troubling ending to make us ponder if this type of world could one day be our own
Gene Wars by Paul J MCauley - This tale in short fragments gives us quick glimpses of a man’s life from child to soldier to amoral businessman. The story explores how the new world of genetics could be used and abused in myriad ways and how the world changes each time a new angle for the science is found. So many ideas are packed into just a few pages but delivered so very well
Britworld (TM) by James Lovegrove- Here we get a humours tale that i actually found funny that imagines a theme park based on Great Britain and filled with many factual inaccuracies . Sadly I suspect perceptions of us have not changed since 1992!
The Great Simoleon Caper by Neal Stephenson - Here we get a 1995 tale spinning concept of the metaverse, branding and virtual reality in an entertaining style that eerily predicts a lot of what will come to pass but sadly has a naïve joy in the idea of cryptocurrency
Branded by Lauren Beukes - A simple pool game in a bar is made very vivid through a cocktail of designer drugs and very hip slang but I really liked how Beukes very subversively reveals underneath the cyberpunk trapping is good old profit seeking capitalism in the form of product branding!
P by Yun Ko-Eun - After many tales exploring a cyberpunk subculture we move here to a fantastic tale of corporate power as Chang reluctantly volunteers for the not at al mandatory test of a new medical tool and it all goes downhill for him from there when the device gets stuck in his intestine. The power of corporations ,employee subservience and our loss of freedom make this a standout tale in the collection.
Be Seeing You by Madeline Ashby - On the one hand this is a satisfying tale of a bodyguard using her employer’s vast technical surveillance technology to find someone in trouble. On the other hand it subtly raises a moral question not answered but up to the reader to notice about exactly how much power should that employer have?
Flyover Country by Tim Maughan- Here is a 2016 tale with capitalism in its sights, imagining Apple using a US prison as a factory for tax exemptions (surely not), with a sly take a Star Trek style show with a ship called the USS Thiel it imagines the brave new right wing future incoming at the time however the core plot while relatively small still presents a powerful act of rebellion that shows not all is lost.
Thoughts and Prayers by Ken Liu - This is a tremendous story starting with a family hit by finding out their daughter was killed in yet another college shooting, The mother tries to use her images using cutting edge AI to promote gun law changes change online but savage online trolls destroy her memory with devastating consequences. Its an amazing stand out tale and the only bad thing I can say about this is sadly five years later this story could easily apply to today’s world.
The Life Cycle of a Cyber Bar by Arthur Liu - This starts with with a traditional science fiction bar fight/shooting scene but cleverly with humour dives unexpected into alien biology you will not see coming and is immense fun
The final section of the volume is entitled Challenge and here very much are stories looking at the punk aspects of the stories. Among the many stories to make an impression were
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Phillip K Dick - Put the thoughts of the Total Recall movie behind you and instead be ready for a strange 1968 tale of a admin clerk simply wanting to to go to Mars and as he cannot afford it decides to get implanted memories that awake new memories. Its ingenious, funny, serious, , recursive and very smart. It is well worth a read
Computer Friendly by Eileen Gunn - A simple kids skill test in this story gets sinister and sinister with beautifully rising tension (I will shiver next time I see the words Asia Centre) but despite all the darkness a little precious ray of hope appears. I was very impressed how this story widens out and explains how its dystopian world works.
Wonderama by Bef - I was very impressed with this mexican SF tale that provides us with a teenage diary from the 1970s that soon the reader should spot isn’t quite accurate on world history and whwre we realise memories are being played with but we need to find out why. It is very well executed and delivers an extremely fine but hard-hitting ending.
Comp.Basilisk.FAQ by David Langford - A very short innovative humour mixing real science fiction story history with an imagined dreadful secret hidden in the early days of the internet.
The Last American by John Kessel - I found this a disturbingly prescient tale of a powerful ruthless populist who could make arguments for anything and slowly built their way to total power. It imagines a 21st century of war, disaster and destruction and it left though its faux biography style a big impression on me as it explains how systems break apart and can be misused by those with agendas and a knowledge how to manipulate public opinion.
Earth Hour by Ken Macleod - Is a dystopian tale where we watch a skilled assassin take down a ruthless businessman. Its about power within power, everyone looking for an angle to enrich themselves and I’m not sure anyone comes out well from it.
Abeokuta52 by Wole Talabi - Is a web article of disease and grief but the below the line comments where more ssinister aspects are being played with very clever storytelling
The final section is entitled ‘Post-Cyberpunk’ and here Shurin explores stories tackling the modern version of AI. What has cyberpunk to say now its finally dawning into reality? There are a few stories here where AI is being used totell stroies themesleves. This troubles me as I know they’re using stolen technology but also reassuring me as they don’t really make any impact on me either.
Overall, these two volumes I think would give science fiction fans a huge walk through cyberpunk’s development over around sixty years. Its refreshingly mixed in not just showing us white male american voices creating the genre and that it is also able to explore experimental forms of storytelling beyond a variation of noir tales, plus we slowly see how the real events of the time they were written have shaped the stories too. I come away with a much better appreciation for cyberpunk than when I started and can strongly recommend this collection for a fascinating selection of stories.
