1. HOW DOES YOUR RATING SYSTEM WORK?
2. SUB-GENRES.
3. ALPHABETICAL LISTING ORDER, WHY USE FIRST NAMES?
4. NOSTALGIA.
5. WOKE POLITICS.
6. WHY IS JAPANESE CYBERPUNK ITS OWN CATEGORY?
7. WHERE IS SHADOWRUN? I DON’T SEE ANY OF THE NOVELS OR GAMES LISTED.
8. WHY ISN’T GREG BEAR’S “BLOOD MUSIC” ON THE FIRST WAVE CYBERPUNK NOVELS LIST?
9. WHY ISN’T <BLANK> LISTED?
10. THE “HANDMAID’S TALE” IS NOT CYBERPUNK.
11. WHAT IS “THE KNIGHT RIDER RULE”?
11. “How do I get my book/film/series/game/band added to the Cyberpunk Source Code?”
1. HOW DOES YOUR RATING SYSTEM WORK?
Numeric scores say very little in terms of quality. The widely used “five star” rating system, for instance, says very little about the work and tends to result in people ignoring anything rated 3-stars or less. Therefore, Cyberpunk Source Code utilizes a quality-based rating system, which is as follows:
- Cultural Masterpiece
- Classic
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Mediocre
- Bad
- Very Bad
- Trash Fire
- So Bad It’s Good
Since good content can still be flawed and terrible content can still be enjoyable, some rating may include a modifier: But flawed, But entertaining, But dated, Disturbing. Example: “Classic, but dated.” or “Very Bad, but entertaining.”
2. SUB-GENRES.
I’ve chosen not to include sub-genres such as steampunk. As excellent as Perdido Street Station and The Difference Engine are, cataloging cyberpunk is a big enough task on its own.
3. ALPHABETICAL LISTING ORDER, WHY USE FIRST NAMES?
Traditionally, authors are listed alphabetically by their last names. In this age of the Internet, we’re seeing the practice abandoned and replaced with alphabetizing by first name. For ease of use, we’ve chosen to opt for a modern alphabetizing style.
4. NOSTALGIA.
Much of what is passed off as cyberpunk these days is, in truth, just retro-80s nostalgia. Neon, sythnwave, and 80s haircuts are not intrinsically cyberpunk–just take a look at Kung Fury. If your favorite game, novel, or synthwave band isn’t included, this may be the reason why. And yes, this is precisely why Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One will never be listed here.
5. WOKE POLITICS.
Cyberpunk has always had a sociopolitical bent, but what it isn’t is WOKE. Political screeds and propaganda masquerading as narrative fiction, music, etc. are excluded from this site.
6. WHY IS JAPANESE CYBERPUNK ITS OWN CATEGORY?
While Japan’s cyberpunk movement drew heavy inspiration from the West–specifically Blade Runner, Escape from New York, and the novels of William Gibson–Japanese creators didn’t merely contribute to the genre, they made it their own. Consequently, cyberpunk from Japan has a flavor all its own that is distinctly different from the West.
7. WHERE IS SHADOWRUN? I DON’T SEE ANY OF THE NOVELS OR GAMES LISTED.
Cyberpunk Source Code is in total agreement with the godfather of cyberpunk when it comes to elves and orcs with cyberware:
“…when I see things like ShadowRun, the only negative thing I feel about it is that initial extreme revulsion at seeing my literary DNA mixed with elves. Somewhere somebody’s sitting and saying ‘I’ve got it! We’re gonna do William Gibson and Tolkien!’ Over my dead body!” –William Gibson.
8. WHY ISN’T GREG BEAR’S “BLOOD MUSIC” ON THE FIRST WAVE CYBERPUNK NOVELS LIST?
Because Greg Bear doesn’t consider it a cyberpunk novel, nor does he have any love for the genre. According to Greg Bear, “…cyberpunk is an abomination and I don’t recognize myself in that movement. The cyberpunks are revolutionary only in name, all they really care about is selling as many of their books as they can.”
9. WHY ISN’T <BLANK> LISTED?
Regardless what some other website said, these titles are not cyberpunk: I, Robot, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Mad Max series, Future Home of the Living God, 1984, Oryx & Crake, Ready Player One, Frankenstein, Equilibrium…
10. THE “HANDMAID’S TALE” IS NOT CYBERPUNK.
For whatever reason, Magaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has appeared on several online “essential cyberpunk reading” lists. I don’t know what drugs these kids are huffing, but The Handmaid’s Tale is absolutely NOT cyberpunk. The book’s central premise is a neo-Luddite dystopia ruled over by fanatics who have taken society back to 
something resembling 1600s-era Puritanism . That’s about as anti-cyberpunk as you can get. Just remember the Knight Rider rule.
11. WHAT IS “THE KNIGHT RIDER RULE”?
In the 1982 action-adventure series, Knight Rider, actor David Hasselhoff starred as Micheal Knight–a high-tech crime fighter assisted by KITT, an artificially intelligent, self-aware, and nearly indestructible car. Weekly episodes usually involved the Hoff engaging with a seedy techno-criminal subculture of hackers, corporate espionage, high-tech terrorism, experimental weapons, and genius mad men. All that, AND the show had a rockin’ synth laden score. The Knight Rider Rule states:
“When judging if a piece of media is cyberpunk, ask yourself,
“Is Knight Rider more cyberpunk than this?”
If the answer is “Yes”, it’s not cyberpunk.
12. “How do I get my book/film/series/game/band added to the Cyberpunk Source Code?”
If you believe there is something that needs to be added to the resource, contact me at: j_ishiro@glitchwerk.com.
