Publisher's Synopsis
"For fans of Cyberpunk and retro futurism-essential to get a hold of a copy of this."
- Ewan Morrison, author of Nina X, Swung, and Tales from the Mall
It's 2020-now where's my flying car?
Pat Cadigan, a founder of the cyberpunk literary-scene who is interviewed in this volume, famously answered, "That's not the future we promised you. We promised you a dark technological dystopia. How do you like it?" Can't wait for 2077? It's 2020, and the dark technological dystopia has already arrived.
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The fiction in this volume takes a look at the dystopian state of the world and dares to imagine an optimistic alternative, planting seeds of hope and drawing on solarpunk themes of a habitable future powered by renewable energy, networked-collaboration, and repaired technology. Like us, these stories stand at a crossroads between climate collapse and a radically reshaped sustainable future. The dystopia envisioned by 1980s cyberpunk authors has arrived. Will we continue down this path to self destruction, or do we dare envision a better future?
This volume features multi-award-winning cyberpunk authors who move the genre away from the 80s action movie aesthetic of bakelite guns and neon-lit street races and into our increasingly networked existence facing ecological collapse.
Stories from Nebula Award-winning authors Ken Liu, James Patrick Kelly, and Cat Rambo expose the pervasiveness of the internet as it intrudes into our most private and tragic moments. Arthur C Clarke Award-winners Gwyneth Jones and Lauren Beukes offer optimistic visions of the ways technology can connect us.
This volume includes interviews with visionary author and Hugo, Arthur C Clarke, Locus, and Seiun Award-winner, Pat Cadigan and the novelist and principal writer for the long-awaited game Cyberpunk 2077, Jakub Szamalek. They reflect on our dystopian moment and provide their views of where we go from here while Szamalek also answers what is cyberpunk in 2077.
This volume also features stories, minifiction, and poetry from Matt Bryden, Katie Harrison, Anthony Lapwood, Rebecca Lee, Rosaleen Lynch, Syd Shaw, and Paige Elizabeth Wajda who shine the light of their screens on this dark moment, looking for the loose strands that connect us together. Art by Pavlo Baiandin, Janusz Orzechowski, Sergey Osipov, and Harry Purnama display views of the dark street-scapes of the 21st century and glimpses of how our imagination and connections to each other can offer us a way out.
The writing in this volume brings us up to date from the cyberpunk of the past. It attempts to debug the interconnected nature of the internet-driven world we now live in. It springs from our fears of a climate catastrophe while at the same time offers us an alternative vision. The future that the cyberpunk authors of the 80s warned us of is here. The dark technological dystopia is only getting worse. Social media is disrupting democracies, and the climate is collapsing. If we don't act now, there will be no future. But it's not too late; there is still hope. The choice is ours.
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The London Reader brings you a diverse range of thought-provoking voices in contemporary creative writing. Featuring both up-and-coming and established authors, the fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry in each volume engages and entertains readers around a single topic. In this fashion, the London Reader is unique among literary magazines. Each volume, like a gallery, is curated by a guest editor around a central genre or theme.
The London Reader is cooperatively produced. Each volume is owned by its contributors. When you buy a copy, you get a great collection of stories, poetry, and interviews; and the authors inside share the purchase price.
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- The London Reader
