LIT: Review of "The Pocket Essential Cyberpunk"

From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Jun 05 2003 - 21:23:43 MDT

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    Was browsing the stacks at Borders this evening after finding out that
    not only was my special order for a used copy of "Great Kings War"
    cancelled, but that they also cancelled my order for a couple different
    S Andrew Swann's novels about Nohar Rajasthan.

    Found "The Pocket Essential Cyberpunk", by Andrew M Butler, published
    in 2000 in Britain by Pocket Essentials, in the US by Trafalgar Square
    Publishing. ISBN 1-903047-28-5

    I came upon this pocket literature review and was intrigued to see what
    they said about some particular SF writers I know. I must say that I
    was disappointed. Absolutely no mention of Damien Broderick, not even a
    mention of Vernor Vinge. Just who does the author think he is? Going
    through the list of authors, the only ones I recognised were Gibson,
    Sterling, Stephenson, Egan, and Greg Bear. GREG BEAR??? A cyberpunk
    author?

    The author of this review also had the temerity to separate cyberpunk
    into three categories: The Cyberpunk Movement, Post-Cyberpunk, and
    Cyberpunk-Flavoured Fiction (Ah, I said, this guy is a brit, and as
    such is about as in the know as the idiot brit who labeled the Grunge
    movement).

    The author, Andrew M Butler, rightfully classifies Gibson and Sterling
    as the "Core Reading". He includes Greg Bear solidly as part of the
    Cyberpunk movement, though I've never read anything of his which I'd
    classify as such, and the author only cites three of his works, and
    only classifies Neil Stephenson as part of the post-cyberpunk era. Greg
    Egan is in even worse shape. He is only 'cyberpunk flavoured fiction'.

    Absolutely no mention of Vinge or Broderick. Can ya believe it?

    Authors the writer did mention (others are encouraged to comment on
    these individuals):

    The Cyberpunk Movement:
    Pat Cardigan
    Marc Lailaw
    Tom Maddox
    Rudy Rucker (have heard of him)
    Lewis Shiner
    John Shirley

    Post-Cyberpunk:
    Wilhemina Baird
    Bruce Bethke
    Simon Ings
    Richard Kadrey
    Kim Newman
    Marge Piercy
    Justina Robson

    Cyberpunk-Flavoured Fiction:
    Jon Courtenay Grimwood (have seen his stuff in the stacks)
    Gwyneth Jones
    Shariann Lewitt
    Jeff Noon
    Tricia Sullivan
    Jack Womack

    Films:
    This guy also thinks he is a cyberpunk film reviewer. Unfortunately, he
    doesn't seem to be able to tell the difference between a cyberpunk film
    and a non-cyberpunk film. I mean, he thinks that Run Lola Run and
    Terminator II are cyberpunk films. While he makes a short comment about
    films like Hackers, The Net, and Sneakers featuring hackers as
    characters, he doesn't review these films, and he leaves out entirely
    seminal early works like Tron. Johnny Mnemonic he entirely fails to
    credit the writer whose work the movie is based on.

    Conclusion:
    Butler should stick to other pursuits. Producing an Essential Guide of
    any sort doesn't seem to be his forte.

    =====
    Mike Lorrey
    "Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                                        - Gen. John Stark
    Blog: Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com
    Flight sims: http://www.x-plane.org/users/greendragon/
    Pro-tech freedom discussion:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/exi-freedom

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