Classic Cyberpunk Back in the 1980s, as the personal computer (ah, those bulky, black-screened set-ups of yore!) began infiltrating our middle-class homes with virulent speed, its effects on our lives were expressed in a strange, new, and exciting literary voice -- a voice that, among the sci-fi cognoscenti, came to be known as “cyberpunk.” At worst, cyberpunk was just another sub-genre; at best, it was a groundbreaking movement that examined and reflected the changing influence of media in our lives. Its heroes were rebels within a corporate and conformist culture, who at the same time appropriated the materials of mainstream society to express their own views. These spiky-haired, leather-clad hackers lived to undermine the status quo by tapping into their vast resources of closely guarded data. This was classic cyberpunk, a world where the establishment was always suspect -- what The Sex Pistols were to Rock-n-Roll, so was cyberpunk to traditional science fiction. Now, in our Internet-infused society, the imagined worlds of cyberpunk are astonishingly close to our reality. And cyberpunk has evolved into post-cyberpunk, a less-rebellious literary movement that imagines the day-to-day impact of our media-saturated, digital culture. Whatever you call it, these fascinating, adventurous novels, rife with brainy suspense and counterculture attitude, still read well. They’re also more relevant than ever -- working like hypertexts to a world they had once only imagined.

	Stand on Zanzibar by Brunner, John Format:  Mass Market Paperback Price:  $6.99 Published: Del Rey Books, 1987 Inventory Status: Special Order - Subject to Availability   See all editions of this title. Another important influence on cyberpunk, this classic 1969 Hugo Award winner is best enjoyed for its fully-realized imagining of an overcrowded world set in a 2010 of acceleratubes, intelligent computers, and mass-marketed psychedelics. Remarkably prophetic in its speculations.
	Neuromancer (Remembering Tomorrow) by Gibson, William Format:  Mass Market Paperback Price:  $7.99 Published: Ace Books, 2003 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. What’s surprising about this novel -- the archetypal cyberpunk work -- is how much of a fast-paced, suspenseful thriller it is. It details the adventures of a hotshot hacker jacking his mind into cyberspace to steal and sell secrets for the right price -- until he crosses the wrong people. Still the best description of that vast blank space into which your emails disappear.
	Snow Crash by Stephenson, Neal Format:  Mass Market Paperback Price:  $6.99 Published: Spectra Books, 1993 Inventory Status: Special Order - Subject to Availability   See all editions of this title. This novel is best read for its clever, inventive, and entertaining imagining of a near-future America where technology is a fact of life as mundane as our beepers, or our cell phones, or our palm pilots, or….
	Islands in the Net by Sterling, Bruce Format:  Mass Market Paperback Price:  $6.50 Published: Ace Books, 1989 Inventory Status: Special Order - Subject to Availability   See all editions of this title. Though Sterling’s classic anthology Mirrorshades should be included here, it’s not available from the publisher, so we’ve included this later work: a gripping thriller of data pirates, nanotechnology, and post-millennial voodoo.
	Software by Rucker, Rudy Von B. Format:  Mass Market Paperback Price:  $6.99 Published: Eos, 1987 Inventory Status: Special Order - Subject to Availability   See all editions of this title. Winner of the Phillip K. Dick Award, and the first in a trilogy, Software is set in the year 2020, whereupon millions of aging flower children have been transplanted to Florida, blissfully stoned out of their minds. All of them, that is, save Cobb Anderson, the creator of the sentient robots who’ve taken control as the ruling power. And it’s a good thing he’s sober, because Anderson soon finds himself facing a momentous decision: He’s given the opportunity for immortality, via the taping of his brain software.
	The Soft Machine by Burroughs, William S. Format:  Trade Paperback Price:  $12.00 Published: Grove/Atlantic, 1994 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. This first in a trilogy of sci-fi novels by one of America’s most innovative writers is an important precursor to the advent of cyberpunk, especially in spirit. This is admittedly not the most readable book, but for those who persevere, The Soft Machine is a rewarding and mind-blowing explosion of word and thought, as well as a devastating critique of American hypocrisy.