City Come a-Walkin’

By John Shirley
First Published: 1980
In near-future San Francisco a down-but-not-quite-out bartender Stu Cole and punk rocker Catz Wailen fight against a criminal syndicate and corrupt government that are trying to implement new technology to control society. They do so at the behest of a man wearing mirrorshades, who is able to manipulate technology throughout the city, and who isn’t really a man at all. This amoral superhero leads him on a terrifying journey through the rock and roll demimonde as they struggle to save the city.

City Come a-Walking may seem like archetypical cyberpunk, but the fascinating thing is that it doesn’t map on quite so cleanly to what we think of as cyberpunk today. The mirrorshades manifestation isn’t a hacker or an A.I. manipulating the city through computers, it’s a gestalt of the city of San Francisco that has taken human shape, and its powers and motivations are unlike those found in similar works.