Episode 131 - Cyberpunk

Book Club for Masochists: a Readers’ Advisory Podcast

This episode we’re talking about Cyberpunk fiction! We discuss the aesthetics of neon and grime, cultural fears and xenophobia, techno-pessimism, survival and revolution, noir fiction, and more! Plus: When cybernetic implants meet body horror!

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In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards

Battle of the Books 2021

• Vote for which book you’d like us all to read!

Things We Read (or tried to…)

• Trouble and Her Friends by Melissa Scott
• Dreamships by Melissa Scott
• Cyber World: Tales of Humanity's Tomorrow edited by Jason Heller & Joshua Viola
• SP4RX by Wren McDonald
• Imago by Tristan Alice Nieto
  • Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers edited by Cat Fitzpatrick
  • Pay-what-you-can version of the ebook
• Samurai 8: La légende de Hachimaru, Tome 1 by Masashi Kishimoto and Akira Okubo

Other Media We Mentioned

• Max Headroom (Wikipedia)
• Judge Dredd (Wikipedia)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (film) (Wikipedia)
• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
• The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson
• Blade Runner (Wikipedia)
• The Matrix (Wikipedia)
• Existenz (Wikipedia)
• Hackers (film) (Wikipedia)
• The Terminator (Wikipedia)
• Akira (1988 film) (Wikipedia)
• Ghost in the Shell (1995 film) (Wikipedia)
• The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow by Cory Doctorow
• Feed by MT Anderson
• The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
• Serial Experiments Lain (Wikipedia)
• Johnny Mnemonic by William Gibson
• Shadowrun (Wikipedia)
• Neuromancer by William Gibson
• Episode 082b - Bonus *Punk Fiction Spreadsheet Discussion
• Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
• Black Mirror (Wikipedia)
• Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
• The Quantum Magician by Derek Künsken
• The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
• Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology edited by Bruce Sterling
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
• The Girl Who Was Plugged In by James Tiptree Jr.

Links, Articles, and Things

• 20 Minutes into the Future (TV Tropes)
• Tech noir (Wikipedia)
• The Future Is Noir (TV Tropes)
• Japan Takes Over the World (TV Tropes)
• Lost Decades (Japan) (Wikipedia)
• Orientalism, 'Cyberpunk 2077,' and Yellow Peril in Science Fiction
• Fear of a Yellow Planet: Why We Need to Actually Understand Cyberpunk
• 33 Best Cyberpunk Books of All-Time (2021)
• Cyberpunk derivatives (Wikipedia)
• Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics (Wikipedia)
• "A Better World is Possible" - Cyberpunk 2077 (Waypoint Radio: Episode 365)
• LexisNexis (Wikipedia)
• Anna’s tweet about messaging Matthew
• Leet (Wikipedia)
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl (Wikipedia)
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul (TV Tropes)
• Ecofiction (Wikipedia)

17 Cyberpunk books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

• Rise of the Red Hand by Olivia Chadha
• Runtime by S.B. Divya
• The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales
• The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
• The Tiger Flu by Larissa Lai
• Warcross by Marie Lu
• Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta
• Neon Empire by Drew Minh
• Nexus by Ramez Naam
• Red Spider White Web by Misha Nogha
• Infomocracy by Malka Older
• War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi
• Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo
• Want by Cindy Pon
• Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow
• Rosewater by Tad Thompson
• Robocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

Give us feedback!

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Join us again on Tuesday, August 18th we’ll be talking about media we’ve recently enjoyed not related to the podcast!

Then on Tuesday, September 7th we’ll be talking about the format of Flash Fiction.