Evolution of Cyberpunk

Since actively entering the blogosphere there have been a clutch of blogs that I’ve read regularly and have grown to respect greatly. One of these is Simon Sellar’s Ballardian.  Whilst Simon’s writing and research is of consistently high quality, occasionally he posts something stand-out, like this post last week:

‘Unblinking, clinical’: From Ballard to cyberpunk

In his introduction to the Mirrorshades anthology, [Bruce] Sterling wrote: ‘The cyberpunks are perhaps the first SF generation to grow up not only within the literary tradition of science fiction but in a truly science-fictional world… the techniques of classical “hard SF” … are not just literary tools but an aid to daily life. They are a means of understanding, and highly valued.’ Sterling’s reference to ‘hard SF’ — time-honoured narratives infused with the spirit of scientific investigation — suggests an affinity with the traditions of the genre, a love of the dizzying ideas and sheer scope of the best SF writing. However, his positioning of the cyberpunk movement as ostensibly a form of realism indicates a shift in the genre’s relationship to the technology it once idealised…

Read the rest here.