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Hollywood has a mixed history with cyberpunk, to say the least — so the news of a movie version of Richard K. Morgan's ultra-noir Altered Carbon getting fast-tracked makes us a bit nervous. So much of what's great about that book is the intense violence and weird sex work... and then there's the long torture sequence, which would be hard to get right without looking like torture porn. We love this book about a world where people can download their personalities and memories into newly cloned (or rented) bodies, but could it work as a movie? More »
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In a post-Harry Potter world, Warner Bros. is looking for the next big genre film franchise that will bring audiences to the theater. It looks like Warner's next stop in its quest for box office glory is Tad Williams' genre-blending Otherland novels. More »
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Sometimes, it already seems like the websites you visit know more about you than you know about yourself — but this is just the beginning. Every day you're helping to generate masses more data, which computers are getting better and better at crunching. How long will it be before the predictive power of these systems becomes so powerful, they're almost magical? More »
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Everybody seems to expect Facebook to die in the next few years. But there's a good chance it could outlast you. More »
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Rod Rees' new novel, The Demi-Monde: Winter, combines virtual reality, steampunk and harrowing dystopia. What would you do if you were trapped in a virtual hell, full of the worst war criminals the world has ever known? Find out in our exclusive book excerpt — and also, find out the terrible meaning of UnFunDaMentalism. More »
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You've probably never heard of K3loid, a new short movie about humans hunting for a rogue artificial intelligence — but the list of people involved with this project is pretty amazing. Including mecha suits designed by Aaron Beck and Weta's Greg Broadmore. And music remixed by Amon Tobin. The actual storyline looks pretty creepy, judging from this brief trailer — there's a taunting, sinister A.I., and some weird-looking mannequins. And chasing the A.I. is a group of people in power suits bots, who have awesome powers — and you just know this is not going to turn out well for the power-suited cannon fodder. More »
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U.S. Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich calls himself a futurist, and never tires of prognosticating. Beloved of Future Shock author Alvin Toffler, who coined the term "futurist," Gingrich co-authored a "conservative futurist" book in 2006 called The Art of Transformation (available in paperback for $70.00 on Amazon). He's also a fan of alternate history, and has written a number of bestselling alt.history novels. (We reviewed his novel 1945 here.) More »
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Rudy Rucker was the first author to win the Philip K. Dick Award, right after Dick's death in 1982. Around that time, Rucker was becoming aware of the new "Cyberpunk" movement and meeting the rebellious authors who were reimagining the union of humans and computers. In this exclusive excerpt from Rucker's new autobiography, Nested Scrolls, he talks about how both events influenced his writing, and what it was like to be a science fiction writer in those strange days. More »
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This documentary about the booming subculture of cyberpunk, made over two decades ago, bursts with enthusiasm and ideas. Plus then-cutting-edge 3D graphics. It's a great look at cyber-culture from a generation ago, plus there's tons of William Gibson talking about making science fiction post-modern and forward-looking, and Timothy Leary holding forth. It's the perfect thing to watch while you're waiting for the weekend to begin. More »
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There's a must-read interview with William Gibson over at the Paris Review, in which he explains what was wrong with cyberpunk: "A snappy label and a manifesto would have been two of the very last things on my own career want list. That label enabled mainstream science fiction to safely assimilate our dissident influence, such as it was. Cyberpunk could then be embraced and given prizes and patted on the head, and genre science fiction could continue unchanged." He goes on to explain that science fiction, in the twentieth century, was too triumphalist and focused on a white American future, and lacked real details to go with its shiny ideas. "I wanted to see dirt in the corners," says Gibson. More »
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Cyberpunk is no longer the future. We're living in an age in which many of the visions of creators like Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Pat Cadigan and Ridley Scott are invading our world today. More »
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There's something so thrilling and electrifying about dystopian cityscapes — and this concept art of cyberpunk Paris totally hits our sweet spot. More »
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When you're in the city that never sleeps, you might want to keep one eye open at all times. Many of the best futuristic cities and urban fantasy stories take place in dark, dystopian cities. More »
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Yearning for the sort of cutting-edge dystopian future we were promised way back in the 1980s? Simon Morden's Equations of Life may be just the cyberpunk thriller for you. More »
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Anybody who cares about noir fiction should read Domenic Stansberry's scathing rebuke to the calcification of the genre. (And since noir is the fundamental inspiration for a ton of urban fantasy right now, as well as much of the cyberpunk genre, pretty much anybody who's interested in well-written science fiction and fantasy should care about noir.) More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5749260&view=rss&microfeed=true Posthuman Blues by Mac Tonnies was one of our favorite blogs. Since Tonnies' untimely death in 2009, friends and fans have gone to great lengths to preserve a copy of the entire site, showing how digital creations can live on after their creators. The New York Times Magazine has the thought-provoking story. More »
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In the 1980s, science fiction ruled over everything. Most of the biggest movies and books of the decade were scifi, and cyberpunk became the era's pop aesthetic. Here's how the 1980s changed the genre forever. More »
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What if you could shoot video with your eyeglasses, edit in your head, and add computer-generated imagery? That's the premise of Greg Pak's comic, Vision Machine, debuting at NYCC. He tells us why people are too keen to surrender privacy. More »
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The restored print of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, with 25 extra minutes, just showed in an art deco power plant in Austin this past weekend. Here's an exclusive look at the gorgeous new Metropolis poster, and check out some pics below. More »
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Where would science fiction and fantasy be without their awesome visuals? Orbit Books Creative Director Lauren Panepinto gives us a crash course in appreciating speculative artwork, and reveals the two unshakable rules of science fiction and fantasy art. More »
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A new Tron Legacy banner shows Olivia Wilde totally ready for action — which we're totally ready to witness. The almost kabuki pose, except with a deadly light disk instead of a fan, is stunning. And there's a spoilery synopsis! More »
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In "Language and science fiction," Paul Kincaid notes a curious predicament science fiction authors face — often, scifi stories occur in the unfathomable future or another world, so how can a book's language sound exotic (and not anachronistic)? More »
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Pyr's Lou Anders breaks it down for you in an awesome new interview over at Redstone Science Fiction. Will "sword and planet" novels make a comeback? Why is steampunk eating hard SF's lunch? What's science fiction's answer to Harry Potter? More »
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For years now, people have been telling me to read Richard K. Morgan's cyberpunksploitation novel Altered Carbon, and I've been meaning to get around to it. But holy fuck, it really is that great. Spoilers below. More »
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You too can be a deliverator for Uncle Enzo with this CosaNostra Pizza t-shirt. You may not have the swashbucklery of Hiro Protagonist, but hey, think of it as insta-cyberpunk street cred this side of the Metaverse. [ThinkGeek via Boing Boing] More »
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Maurice Dantec's Grand Junction is a metaphysical cyberspace epic; a Dickian post-apocalyptic future that questions our reliance on machines as a metaphor for human preoccupation with the material. Or, at least, it's supposed to be. More »
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Film critic Roger Ebert caused two Internet firestorms yesterday. One was when he expressed his distaste for Kick-Ass. The other was when he asked whether there was "any noun that does not accept the prefix 'cyber?'" And William Gibson responded. More »
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A major injustice is about to be redressed.The ground-breaking cyberpunk TV series Max Headroom is finally coming out on DVD — and the extras may include the original British short film 20 Minutes Into The Future. More »
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In 1996, Cyberpunk freedom fighters were raiding evil corporate agendas and fighting brain-draining AIs. And although most of us had dial-up at the time, such intrigue was the daily operation for players of the collectible card game Netrunner. More »
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By placing electrode grids inside patients' skulls, researchers at the Mayo Clinic have created a way for people to type words using only their brainwaves. It's a major breakthrough for brain-computer interface research. More »
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Now that Sasha Grey has portrayed Molly in a staged reading of William Gibson's Neuromancer, it's time for her to step up and portray a cyberpunk heroine on the big screen. Luckily, the fashion industry has her back. (Or legs.) More »
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The Neuromancer movie may never get off the ground, but a performance/video installation version is coming to New York next week. When Sasha Grey accepted her Fleshbot award via video last night, she mentioned she's co-starring in a Neuromancer performance. More »
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V for Vendetta director, and frequent Wachowski Brothers collaborator, James McTeigue is taking a break from science fiction, filming vengeful ninjas and Edgar Allan Poe. But he's still got his sights on an adaptation of Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon. More »
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With Avatar nearly in the can, James Cameron is looking toward the next subject for his 3D motion-capture lens. And he's considering the move from sexy blue aliens to sexy cyborgs with an animated adaptation of Battle Angel Alita. More »
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Science fiction is all about discovery and invention, but only a few books have actually created whole new genres. Here are 10 books that pioneered a new type of science-fictional story. Do you have what it takes to join them? More »
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Author J.G. Ballard died last Sunday after a long battle with prostate cancer. Although his novels and short stories seldom fit neatly into any one genre, his impact on science fiction was immeasurable. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5221560&view=rss&microfeed=true "Science Fiction has become an exclusively literary genre, with books inspired less by new scientific research than by previous science fiction books, and, regrettably, movies. Ideas turn into tropes, and instead of extrapolation, we get variation: of the generation star ship, the space alien, the artificial brain, the parallel universe. More »
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Akira animator Tatsuyuki Tanaka illustrates darkly beautiful scenes of children occupying dingy, dystopic futures, filled with bodily transformations, man-machine interfaces, and cybernetic monsters. Check out our gallery below. More »
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In the Afro-futurist fiction of Walter Mosley and Octavia Butler, the heroes are often at the mercy of the system, writes blogger Christopher Bradley. That isn't so much the case for Cyberpunk's outsider heroes, he points out. More »
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