Tag: rudy rucker
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Excerpts of: William Burroughs, “The Western Lands”
Today, instead of writing my own post, I’m sharing a post from Rudy Rucker’s blog, which begins: Some notes on the book’s contents. (1) The “Western Lands” of the book’s title come from Egyptian mythology about the afterlife. Supposedly, beyond the Land of the Dead, lies a heavenly Elysium: the Western Lands. (2) Burroughs…
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30 Years of Future: Essential Cyberpunk
Via iO9, Diana Biller writes: It’s now been over three decades since cyberpunk first exploded, and in that time we’ve seen gorgeous movies, read fascinating books, and seen dozens of offshoots like steampunk (and my new favorite, deco punk) develop. Here are the 21 cyberpunk books you absolutely must read. Read More
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Rudy Rucker’s Tranrealist Manifesto
I first saw a link to this on John Shirley’s Facebook page. Rudy Rucker’s “Transrealist Manifesto” struck a harmonious chord in my perception of the writing craft. I especially like his statement, “Although reading is linear, writing is not.” Rucker goes on to explain why you don’t necessarily needs an outline: A book with no…
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Voltaire and Aylett: Two Peas in an Alien Pod
It’s a good thing Steve Aylett writes “little books,” as The Complete Review calls them. Aylett’s books are so dense with information and ideas, if they were any bigger they would sink like slabs of gold into our gray tributaries. This is one of the reasons I enjoy them. In fact, I deliberately chose gold over…
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Satire, Cyberpunk, and Synesthesia
Preliminary notes on my Steve Aylett thesis. I used to called Aylett’s work a combination of cyberpunk, satire, and psychedelia. But “psychedelia” is too limited, too narrow. Aylett’s work is characterized by three things: Cyberpunk settings, classic satire, and a visual image orientation. I. Cyberpunk a. Rudy Rucker’s definition of cyberpunk: “Fast and dense. It…
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Three for “T” (Norris, Mcneill, & Agnelli on “V” Author Thomas Pynchon)
Photo of Lauren Agnelli by Chion Wolf I’m reading my first Thomas Pynchon novel, V. and wondering if Pynchon created the urban legend about baby alligators being flushed down toilets and growing into big alligators in the sewers of New York, or did he simply take a pre-existing rumor and expand upon it. For that…
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Is What Cyberpunk?
I can give you a vague definition of cyberpunk with terms like “noir future” and “distopia,” but Rudy Rucker says it better and really whets my appetite to know more. Here’s an excerpt from What Is Cyberpunk: Proximately, “cyberpunk” is a word coined by Gardner Dozois to describe the fiction of William Gibson. Gibson’s novel…