Comments on: Robert J. Sawyer Praises “MultiReal”

By: Thom Stanley

Thom Stanley — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:43:45 +0000

I agree. Infoquake is not cyberpunk. Punk, to me, is an anarchists world, a dirty and gritty place of lawlessness. This is not; while there is a bit of chaos in the fiefcorp machine, there are rules and regulations, and no real everyday danger. You aren’t likely to die in a MindSpace bubble because of hackers or Black Code.

I guess I would term it (sorry, David) as CyberYuppie. It’s more like the children of Surina grew up, walked out of their hippie communes, put on ties, and started working in the corporate jungle. Not that I mind that; in fact, it’s fresh and brilliant in my opinion. I never thought I’d read a fascinating sci-fi romp where some of the most intriguing bits were in the form of small business meetings.

By: Jesse E-V

Jesse E-V — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 00:54:50 +0000

I think your assessment of this series as cyberpunk growing up seems right on to me. In anycase, great blurb — I haven’t read Sawyer’s writing so I’ll be running out over the weekend to pick some up since I’m about to have a lot of time on my hands.

By: Lou Anders

Lou Anders — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 20:24:31 +0000

My personal opinion is that the book is postcyberpunk, akin to Vernor Vinge’s Rainbows End and much of Charles Stross. But I’m grateful for the blurb.

By: George Pedrosa

George Pedrosa — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:05:40 +0000

Yeah, it does have some of the same themes as classic cyberpunk works like Neuromancer. The invasive technological modification of the human body, corporations dominating the world, a virtual space of computerized data (cyberspace on the first case, the Data Sea on the second case). However, the setting is far different and far less dystopic. And, as you said, it doesn’t really have anything “punk” about it.

You could make a case that this book is actually an example of a postcyberpunk work.

By: David Louis Edelman

David Louis Edelman — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:39:14 +0000

I’m really not sure. The initial version of my query letter (never sent, thankfully) positioned Infoquake as “cyberpunk grows up and puts on a suit” or something like that. But I think Pyr initially wanted to steer away from the cyberpunk label for fear of lumping the book in with a movement whose time has come and gone.

I think the books do share some of the same concerns as Islands in the Net, Neuromancer, etc. But I don’t approach these concerns from the same viewpoint. The problem is with the “punk” label. This ain’t anything-punk, as far as I’m concerned — it’s fiction.

But then again, what do I know? I just write the darn things.

By: George Pedrosa

George Pedrosa — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:22:01 +0000

I’m kind of bothered by the assertion that Infoquake (and possibly the Jump 225 trilogy) is cyberpunk. I really don’t see it that way. It’s too far in the future, too far off the streets, the technology is too advanced, it isn’t dystopic enough (or AT ALL, if you ask me), the characters are not marginalized loners who live on the edge of society… I think people wrongfully tend to label as cyberpunk anything that doesn’t have aliens and is set on a technologically advanced Earth.

Granted I’ve only read Infoquake so far, so perhaps the other books will reveal other facets of this universe that I haven’t yet seen. From what I read so far, however, I really don’t see how these books could be labeled as cyberpunk.

Or perhaps my personal definition of cyberpunk is incorrect. What do you think David?