Good CyberPunk-Y Books?

Been in the mood for some Cyberpunk/ Near future sutff similar to world shown in Deus Ex or Syndicate (2012). Looking to get a list together and would like some sugesstions. Thanks =]

I'll say the two that always come up.

Neuromancer by William Gibson and Snow Crash and Neal Stephenson.

I will also recommend Neuromancer and the works of William Gibson as a whole, as well as Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick.

I wrote a bunch but it got swallowed up by who knows what so in short:

Neuromancer, it's a great book and arguably the origin of cyberpunk. To this day I haven't read anything to match it.

As Gibson and Stephenson were already mentioned I would like to mention the "Takeshi Kovacs" novels (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels & Woken Furies) by Richard K. Morgan and "True Names" by Vernor Vinge. You might also have a look at the "Mirrorshades" anthology published by Bruce Sterling.

A lot of books by Neal Stephenson and William Gibson. My favorites are Snow Crash, the Diamond Age, Neuromancer and of course Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep which was the inspiration for Blade Runner.

Having played Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall recently I've been back and read some Shadowrun short stories on my kindle. Fairly cheesy, but good fun.

You could check out The Owner trilogy by Neal Asher, his other sci-fi is also good cyber punk stuff but set a few hundred years in the future.

If you are open to the idea of graphic novels comics, and anime then you could try Ghost in the Shell, Transmetropolitan, or Singularity 7...

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Besides Neuromancer, I would also throw in a suggestion for the more recent Blue Ant trilogy from Gibson if you want more grounded cyberpunk stuff. It has the same conspiracy flavor as Deus Ex but set in an alternate modern day. I love Pattern Recognition. The best books I've read about pants espionage. Also Dick's Scanner Darkly, the movie is also not bad.

Obvs, Neuromancer, Snowcrash, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Ghost in the Shell Vol 1 (2 is a bit.... odd), Appleseed. Also I remember re-reading Gibson's Burning Chrome short story collection a whole bunch. It has Johnny Mnemonic in it, which is a great story that fell in a big hole when it made it onto celluloid.

I read Snow Crash recently and didn't find it to have the cyberpunk vibe, even if all the plot elements are there. At any rate, it's nothing like Gibson. Good book, but know what you're getting into

Burning Chrome is also an excellent collection of Cyberpunk short stories by Gibson. The Diamond Age is really good.

Neuromancer is a classic, of course. Gibson coined the term "Matrix" as a reference to cyberspace in that book.

But really, there aren't nearly as many cyberpunk novels out there as you would expect, given how often you see cyberpunk themes in games and movies.

From Amazon: "When Jack Burroughs, a brilliant young computer programmer, is given his pink slip, he is offered the opportunity to use his skills for a little industrial espionage. Donning the guise of his online alter ego, MAX_KOOL, Burroughs transforms himself into one of the hippest cybernetic surfers on the InfoBahn."

From the back cover:

"Some say he was the best.

Some say he was a complete dork.

Some call him the coolest cybernetic surfer ever to hang ten on the shoulder of the Great Information Superhighway.

Others have claimed that Marsha Vang, that cute little brunette down in Document Coding, actually went out on a date with him once, and he took her back to his room in his mother's basement and played "Weird Al" Yankovic tapes at her for four hours straight.

Here, then, for your enlightenment, we now present the true story of Jack Burroughs, solely as a matter of public service. Consider it an object lesson in the utter, unchecked, absolute evil of the modern multinational corporation-state."

My absolute favorite. It's so terrible, awesome, dated, and somehow prescient about so many dumb internet things. Tons of fun to read and all of the writing is such a blast.

Bruce Bethke also invented the term cyberpunk in his short story "Cyberpunk"...a mandatory read too of course.

Not one mention of Ready Player One? Really?!

Probably one of the best love letters to gamer and nerd culture I've seen in a while. The audiobook is also narrated by Will Wheaton who absolutely kills the role of Wade Watts.

The antagonists are basically what would happen if Electronic Arts and Comcast started hiring private armies and "employed" indentured servants.

After the initial introduction the book begins to drag a bit as Stephenson goes completely unchecked by his editor into ancient history. The man is a brilliant writer, The Baroque Cycle can attest to that, but his stories often take a backseat to his other passions that can really drag if you don't share in them.

There are all-terrain skateboards, a "matrix" type of internet and all sorts of semi futuristic gadgets you'd typically find in cyberpunk. It's just that stuff gets relegated to the back fairly quickly.

Likewise, it's not one of my favorite books, although for a lot of people it somehow rates higher than Neuromancer which I find to be absolutely brilliant to this day, with Count Zero being equally mesmerizing.

@humanity: I found the history interesting and the conspiracy theory laughable. But what I really meant was that while cyberpunk is typically grim and despairing, Snow Crash is basically a Terry Pratchett take on the whole thing.

@veektarius: I did get a sense of despair when I read it, although it was admittedly a while ago. I believe a year or two ago I was re-reading some older books and I got around to Snowcrash and surprisingly enough lost interest halfway through to the point where I didn't want to continue reading it - something that happens quite rarely for me.

iRobot has some pretty cyberpunk elements in it, some really sinister AIs in there.

Apart from the novels, I'd suggest reading some of William Gibson's, Neal Stephenson's and Philip K. Dick's short stories too. Dick is a bit on the edge of the genre, preceding it by a number of years, but often incorporating the themes that make up the genre. It's not exactly Gibson's cyberspace, transhumanism and hacker stuff, but the high tech vs low life stuff is a recurring theme at least.

I've no idea if the books are any good because I haven't read them myself, but I know people who read the Android Netrunner books, based on the LCG produced by FFG (based on the original game by WOTC) and they say they're worth reading. The ANR world is pretty cool and the few little pieces of lore I've read in the rule books and little leaflets you get when you buy a new box have been good. I've been meaning to pick them up but haven't found them locally and tend to avoid buying books off of Amazon. I imagine they're probably pretty enjoyable pieces of cyberpunk since the ANR game itself oozes cyberpunk.

Neuromancer and Snow Crash really are the two definitive ones to read. Some day, one of those will be made into a decent movie.

They borrowed heavily from Neuromancer to create this god-awful tripe:

I dont know exactly what the story was... if Johnny Mnemonic was meant to be Neuromancer but got so fucked during production it turned into another Keanu hilarity vehicle.

I second the guy above about Ready Player One. It's not really cyperpunk, more cybernerd, but it is a fun bit of near future spec-fic.

I'm a big fan of Peter F. Hamilton and, while his most well known output is not near future at all, his earliest series of Mindstar Rising novels is set in a near future dystopic england. Tec mercs and corporations and hackers abound, plus some tech enhanced psi powers. Worth a read if you enjoy the genre, even if it is not as strong as some of his later works. Definitely the shittiest covers his books have ever had, they look like dime store trash.

Is Cryptonomicon cyberpunk? It's one I keep meaning to pick up. Not sure exactly what it's about though. Stephenson's epics are enjoyable. I've read Anathem and Quicksilver, both fairly intense reads.

Johnny Mnemonic is based on one of Gibson's short stories with the same name, not Neuromancer.

This is what he is talking about

As for a recommendation that hasnt been said multiple times would be Cybernetic Samurai by Victor Milan that echoes Frank Millers Ronin comic series.

no, not cyberpunk but still fun! It's mostly about SmallBusinessMen and cryptography.

Diamond Age was pretty good. I can't remember it having a very cyberpunk feel to it. I'm reading Altered Carbon right now and I would call it cyberpunk more or less.