Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology. edited by Bruce Sterling. 1986
MIRRORSHADES: THE CYBERPUNK ANTHOLOGY
RATED 81% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE 3.7 OF 5
13 STORIES : 2 GREAT / 7 GOOD / 3 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 1 DNF
Any reader of classic science fiction knows the frisson of seeing the imagined future from a vanished past. Even when the imagery of the era persists, the concerns and vibes often do not. More than most science fictional movements, cyberpunk is alive as an aesthetic today. Kept in the 21st century consciousness by Blade Runner, Altered Carbon, Ghost in the Shell, Cyberpunk 2077, Shadowrun, and thousands more pieces of art, entertainment (content?)
But Cyberpunk was literature first and Mirrorshades has a reputation as one of the seminal works. Edited by Bruce Sterling, one of the founders of the genre, this 1986 anthology aimed to make a statement about the nature and boundaries of a Movement within science fiction. A blend of “High Tech. Low Life.” Sterling wrote in his introduction about the fusion of style and tech.
Like punk music, cyberpunk is in some sense a return to roots. The cyberpunks are perhaps the first SF generation to grow up not only within the literary tradition of science fiction but in a truly science-fictional world. For them, the techniques of classical "hard SF"—extrapolation, technological literacy—are not just literary tools but an aid to daily life. They are a means of understanding, and highly valued.
…
Technical culture has gotten out of hand. The advances of the sciences are so deeply radical, so disturbing, upsetting, and revolutionary, that they can no longer be contained. They are surging into culture at large; they are invasive; they are everywhere. The traditional power structure, the traditional institutions, have lost control of the pace of change. And suddenly a new alliance is becoming evident: an integration of technology and the Eighties counterculture. An un-holy alliance of the technical world and the world of organized dissent—the underground world of pop culture, visionary fluidity, and street-level anarchy.
Like punk music itself, or any counter cultural movement, it is hard to put one’s self into the energy and passion that these writers were feeling as they wrote. Writing about computers, dystopian technology, hacking, bio-mechanical modification, megacorporations, drugs, sex, and rock-and-roll.
Cyberpunk is widely known for its telling use of detail, its carefully constructed intricacy, its willingness to carry extrapolation into the fabric of daily life. It favors "crammed" loose: rapid, dizzying bursts of novel information, sensory overIoad that submerges the reader in the literary equivalent of the hard-rock "wall of sound."
Rudy Rucker posted the book for free on his website, but there were some noticeable changes to the text. John Shirley’s “Freezone” has two separate versions published. Neither is the version that originally appeared in the anthology. The first version is updated with modern technology - I saw a reference to an iPad - and it appears to be an excerpt from a larger novel. The second version is a leaner, stripping down version of the story that I found significantly better. The copyright page of this anthology seems to be incorrect as in the listing for on the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
Two Stories Earn a Place on The All-Time Great List:
Freezone (Original Version) • (1986?) • novelette by John Shirley
The story of Rickencarp, a rocker’s rocker whose band is doing one last show before breaking up. Rickencarp wants ‘real music’ not the computer stuff that is all the rage now. The story is full of walls of worldbuilding. Crazy anarchic vulgar funny ironic inventive hip cool mad cancelable-in-2025 walls of description that make this storyline fun to read. There is sex everywhere, drama, danger. its got some serious cyberpunk shit going on through this cool setting. The very cool floating pleasure fortress of Freezone.
Mozart in Mirrorshades • (1985) • short story by Lewis Shiner and Bruce Sterling
A baroque tale of the exploitation of alternate histories buy a corrupt corporation. Mozart, Marie Antionette, and other appear in this classic of corporate maneuvering and gamesmanship.
MIRRORSHADES
13 STORIES : 2 GREAT / 7 GOOD / 3 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 1 DNF
The Gernsback Continuum • (1981) • short story by William Gibson
Good. A fantasy fable of science fiction’s past as Hugo-Gernsback-era design bleeds enticingly into the present world.
Snake-Eyes • (1986) • short story by Tom Maddox
Good. An Air Force veteran grapples with something snake-like that is left in his mind. He tries to deal with it through an A.I. on an orbital space station and a sexy femme fatale.
Rock On • (1984) • short story by Pat Cadigan
Good. A human Synthesizer (Sinner) modified for music is abused by her manager and the bands that use her to make music.
Tales of Houdini • (1981) • short story by Rudy Rucker
Average. Reworking of Harry Houdini’s lift and the people who record his escapes. Meh
400 Boys • (1983) • short story by Marc Laidlaw
Good. A brutal post apocalyptic street gang story as gangs come together as their city is being torn apart by giant beings.
Solstice • (1985) • novelette by James Patrick Kelly
Good. A designer drug designer. His cloned daughter/lover/protegé. Stonehedge history info dumps. Corporate engineering intrigue, betrayal, and revenge. Liked this more on reread.
Petra • (1982) • short story by Greg Bear
DNF. God is dead and cathedral gargoyles come alive to have sex. Self Indulgent and a very rapid DNF.
Till Human Voices Wake Us • (1984) • short story by Lewis Shiner
Good. A man’s marriage falls apart during a trip to a corporate controlled island in which he believes he had photographed a mermaid.
Freezone • (1986 - 2022????) • novella by John Shirley
Average. Two things fit together very badly in this overly long story taking place on the very cool floating pleasure fortress of Freezone. The first is the story of Rickencarp, a rocker’s rocker whose band is doing one last show before breaking up. Rickencarp wants ‘real music’ not the computer stuff that is all the rage now. The story is full of walls of worldbuilding. Crazy anarchic vulgar funny ironic inventive hip cool mad cancelable-in-2025 walls of description that make this storyline fun to read. There is sex everywhere, drama, danger. its got some serious cyberpunk shit going on through this cool setting of Freezone.
What really sucks about the story - to the point that I kept LITERALLY dozing off was the long political drama bits about an assassination attempt. A man being tortured in a makeshift hospital and made for forget who he is. This is long and boring with characters I did not care about.
Freezone (Original Version) • (1986?) • novelette by John Shirley
Great. The story of Rickencarp, a rocker’s rocker whose band is doing one last show before breaking up. Rickencarp wants ‘real music’ not the computer stuff that is all the rage now. The story is full of walls of worldbuilding. Crazy anarchic vulgar funny ironic inventive hip cool mad cancelable-in-2025 walls of description that make this storyline fun to read. There is sex everywhere, drama, danger. its got some serious cyberpunk shit going on through this cool setting. The very cool floating pleasure fortress of Freezone.
Stone Lives • (1985) • novelette by Paul Di Filippo
Good. A slum kid, whose eyes were torn out, is selected by a corporate overlord to get new high-tech eyes in return for a personal assignment. Kinda preposterous story with an even sillier ending.
Red Star, Winter Orbit • (1983) • short story by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Average. Life aboard a Soviet Space Station. Intesting character study. Also there is a mutiny.
Mozart in Mirrorshades • (1985) • short story by Lewis Shiner and Bruce Sterling
Great. A baroque tale of the exploitation of alternate histories buy a corrupt corporation. Mozart, Marie Antionette, and other appear in this classic of corporate maneuvering and gamesmanship.
