Acid Rain, Decay, And Chromium Steel

What is Cyberpunk, and is this writing genre obsolete?

Art Credit: the author in Dall-E 3 via Image Creator

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Over 20 years ago (!), before surgery, a friend borrowed William Gibson’s Sprawl* trilogy to pass the time in recovery.

He barely got 50 pages in. The Books felt too dated for his tastes.

Is Cyberpunk too dated as a writing genre? I don’t think it is. While dated, George Alex Effinger and Neil Stephenson’s genre showed that it could still work with minor tweaks. Some games, like Shadowrun and Interface Zero, also use different approaches.

I’ll first describe the genre and then explain ideas to make it still work, namely the use of cybernetics, computer hacking/VR, milieu, and the role of corporations.

What is Cyberpunk?

Cyberpunk is a subset of Science Fiction created by William Gibson* and Bruce Sterling*. It occurs in a dystopian future where cities are crowded and claustrophobic (like Judge Dredd*, The Fifth Element*, and Ready Player One). Acid rain is generally the atmosphere.

Heroes and villains include warriors with cybernetic body augmentation (typically chrome). Computer geniuses who hack into the global network (with a visual interface) aid/abet them.

They often work for or against global mega-corporations, all of them evil. I

I can hear you chuckling as you think they already are. Work with it, though.

Art made by the author with Leonardo AI

This genre was exciting when it first came out, but that was in the late 1990s, up to 2001. The Sprawl series hasn’t aged well. The characters seem superficial, just there to serve the plot.

Despite that, the genre is still being used — with a few tweaks. Better characters are a given, but there’s more:

Cybernetics

People still have these enhancements, but in most cases, they’re not visible and only add flavor or…