Favorite Distopias - by Brad on 08:32 23 Jun 2003
I think my favorite distopia would have to be the one envisioned by the cyberpunk authors. Particularly Gibson, but also Pat Cadigan, Sterling and a few others. This would also include a few steampunk books as well.
I remember the first time I read cyberpunk it was Gibson and it was so radically different from all the other SF being published at that time that it really caught my attention. I still like it but not the kind of cyberpunk window dressing added by the mainstream culture that we have now. Cyberpunk needs edge, it needs chipboard floors, chips plugged into your head, clouds of blue cigarette smoke and "home" is an abandoned shipping container.
What other distopias do you like?
I think my favorite distopia would have to be the one envisioned by the cyberpunk authors. Particularly Gibson, but also Pat Cadigan, Sterling and a few others. This would also include a few steampunk books as well.
I remember the first time I read cyberpunk it was Gibson and it was so radically different from all the other SF being published at that time that it really caught my attention. I still like it but not the kind of cyberpunk window dressing added by the mainstream culture that we have now. Cyberpunk needs edge, it needs chipboard floors, chips plugged into your head, clouds of blue cigarette smoke and "home" is an abandoned shipping container.
What other distopias do you like?
Favorite Distopias - by NoonChild on 15:49 23 Jun 2003
TOKYO in NEUROMANCER!!!! Full of chips in the head, scuzzy sleeping quaters, radical surgical modifications, killer AI...etc
Oh and L.A in Dinner at Deviant's Palace.
TOKYO in NEUROMANCER!!!! Full of chips in the head, scuzzy sleeping quaters, radical surgical modifications, killer AI...etc
Oh and L.A in Dinner at Deviant's Palace.
Favorite Distopias - by Brad on 20:04 23 Jun 2003
L.A. in Snow Crash. What a lovely book. It could make a nice miniseries or maybe a movie.
L.A. in Snow Crash. What a lovely book. It could make a nice miniseries or maybe a movie.
Favorite Distopias - by MoonHunter on 02:13 24 Jun 2003
The World of Blade Runner is the only Dystopia I actually like. It is not broken, nor is it perfect. It just is.
Dystopias don't happen. They are fictional simplifications of reality. There are corrections at all times in the real world. So there should be in fictional ones.
If I want Dystopia, I would read 1984. While I like Cyberpunk novels (and games) they need to be more balanced rather than broken.
The World of Blade Runner is the only Dystopia I actually like. It is not broken, nor is it perfect. It just is.
Dystopias don't happen. They are fictional simplifications of reality. There are corrections at all times in the real world. So there should be in fictional ones.
If I want Dystopia, I would read 1984. While I like Cyberpunk novels (and games) they need to be more balanced rather than broken.
Favorite Distopias - by Brad on 07:25 24 Jun 2003
My first encounter with 1984 was with the b/w British movie on TV. This would have been when I was a kid in the 60's. I do remember it having a huge impact on me. This would have been during the Cold War so fears of Totalitarianism were very real to a kid.
Now of the two, 1984 is the far scarier proposition, because it is so obtainable. Cyberpunk is still a techno-fantasy except for ssome of the hacking parts.
My first encounter with 1984 was with the b/w British movie on TV. This would have been when I was a kid in the 60's. I do remember it having a huge impact on me. This would have been during the Cold War so fears of Totalitarianism were very real to a kid.
Now of the two, 1984 is the far scarier proposition, because it is so obtainable. Cyberpunk is still a techno-fantasy except for ssome of the hacking parts.
Favorite Distopias - by Kainja on 13:23 24 Jun 2003
1984 is still the best dystopia in my mind, but if you allow post apcolyptic worlds as a dystopia I like the early books in the survivalist series.
1984 is still the best dystopia in my mind, but if you allow post apcolyptic worlds as a dystopia I like the early books in the survivalist series.
Favorite Distopias - by Brad on 15:23 24 Jun 2003
Post apcolyptic books are a favorite of mine. "Alas Babylon" (Pat Frank?) was a favorite.
| Quote (Kainja @ June 24 2003,10:23) |
| 1984 is still the best dystopia in my mind, but if you allow post apcolyptic worlds as a dystopia I like the early books in the survivalist series. |
Post apcolyptic books are a favorite of mine. "Alas Babylon" (Pat Frank?) was a favorite.
Favorite Distopias - by NoonChild on 14:52 26 Jun 2003
Chrysalids is post apocalypse. Their hatred of deformity and difference is because of the nuclear radiation fear from their history. Outside their civilisation are wastelands where they send mutants.....and over the other side of the world totally unharmed Newzealand!!
Chrysalids is post apocalypse. Their hatred of deformity and difference is because of the nuclear radiation fear from their history. Outside their civilisation are wastelands where they send mutants.....and over the other side of the world totally unharmed Newzealand!!
Favorite Distopias - by Brad on 16:45 26 Jun 2003
Oh, that sounds pretty good NC. I'll have to remember that.
"Winterlong" by Elizabeth Hand is very powerful. I highly recommend it. The sequels were not as compelling to me, but Winterlong stands on it's own.
"Farewell Horizontal" by K. W. Jeter is fun and very different from the usual cyberpunk. (I also recommend Infernal Devices by Jeter.)
Oh, that sounds pretty good NC. I'll have to remember that.
"Winterlong" by Elizabeth Hand is very powerful. I highly recommend it. The sequels were not as compelling to me, but Winterlong stands on it's own.
"Farewell Horizontal" by K. W. Jeter is fun and very different from the usual cyberpunk. (I also recommend Infernal Devices by Jeter.)