Cyberpunk: the urban tribes you should know about
The word cyberpunk was created by Gardner Dozois, editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, which includes two indivisible terms of this genre of science fiction: ciber, in reference to cyber technology and punk, as an emblem of an oppressive society without law dominated, in this case, by technology.
Where did it all begin?
We have to go back to January 1960 when the idea of cybernetic organisms, cyborgs and the possibility that a human could combine with mechanical parts and form a product of both arose. The emergence of the cyborg concept in science fiction represented a direct precursor to cyberpunk.
Shortly after 1960, reference is made to the American journalist and science fiction writer Alfred Bester and many other authors creating the wave of cyberpunk thinking. His novel, "The Stars, My Destiny" is considered a pioneer of the cyberpunk movement, as it was published in 1957 and gathers the bases of this literary style.
Already in 1982, the publication of the collection of short stories "Burning Chrome" by William Gibson -most of them nominated for prestigious prizes such as Hugo or Nebula-, abandons Gibson as one of the most outstanding authors of the cyberpunk genre.
The writer Bruce Bethke would add one more page to this evolution with his story "Cyberpunk" r4 1983, which caused the widespread use of this term.
In literature, we can clearly highlight three stages of cyberpunk. Gibson, logically, is in the first of them.
These three stages would be: the classic Cyberpunk (during the 80s), with authors as representative as William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, John Shirley, Pat Cadigan and Rudy Rucker, the new wave cyberpunk (during the 90s), where cyberpunk makes the leap to film and Japanese manga, among other things and, finally, the post-cyberpunk, framed in the XXI century and born of the genre mother.
We cannot forget two important historical moments in the history of cyberpunk: the cover of Time magazine in February 1993, which in this issue tried to draw and disseminate cyberpunk history and thought through its pages and the premiere of "The Matrix" in March 1999, which is considered one of the most popular cyberpunk films in history, as it portrays typical themes of a dystopian future within the line of the cyberpunk movement.
Do you want to know all the subgenres that exist within cyberpunk?
This is the mother genre of the science-fiction punk subtribes. The cyberpunk genre was officially born when Bruce Bethke coined the term in a story of the same name in 1983.
In fact, this book led to the widespread use of the term. It then exploded with William Gibson's "Neuromancer. As we have already commented, cyberpunk focuses on a purely technological dystopian society in which its protagonists face a miserable life full of existential and metaphysical dilemmas with the alienation of humanity in the background. Dark and futuristic would be two of his main adjectives.
Cyberpunk movies you should see: The Matrix, Blade Runner, Total Challenge, Mechanical Orange, Terminator, Minority Report, Akira, Alita: Angel of Combat, 2036: Nexus Dawn, Ghost in the Shell, Robocop, Tron, Johnny Mnemonic, Dredd...
Cyberpunk books you should read: Neuromancer by William Gibson, Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, The Dream of the Red King by Rodolfo Martinez, Kryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, Diaspora by Greg Egan, Reflex Labyrinths by Sergei Lukyanenko…
Cyberpunk games to play: Cyberpunk 2020, Deus Ex, Shadowrun, System Shock, Beneath a Steel Sky, Flashback... and soon the expected cyberpunk 2077.
If cyberpunk is dark, steampunk, one of the main subgenres of cyberpunk, is retro, nostalgic and based on a more optimistic view of human potential. It combines modern technology with old accessories and illustrates computers and flying machines using steam engines and copper pipes. A blend of tradition and technological modernity. K.W. Jeter's Morlock Night is considered the first novel Steampunk and Jeter the creator of the term.
Steampunk films: Van Helsing, Hugo's Invention, The Golden Compass, Wild Wild West, The City of Lost Children, 9, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Castle in the Sky, Atlantis, The Lost Empire, A Series of Lemony Snicket's Catastrophic Misfortunes...
Steampunk books: The differential machine of Bruce Sterling and William Gibson, Morlock Night of K.W. Jeter, The invention of Hugo Cabret, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve, The Doors of Anubis of Tim Powers, Homunculus of James Blaylock...
Steampunk video games: Syberia, Final Fantasy V, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Damnation, Dishonored, BioShock Infinite...
In a historical sense, one could say that dieselpunk is found between cyberspace and steampunk; the technology refers to the twentieth century: gas engines and skyscrapers.
The fictional narrative embedded in the middle of the century is combined with anachronistic technology and a good dose of alternative stories.
This subculture thus combines different aesthetics from 1920 to 1950 with those of today. In this retro futuristic aspect, cronies are the key.
Books dieselpunk: Tin Can Tommies: Darkest Hour by Mark C. Jones, Tales of the Red Panda: The Crime Cabal by Gregg Taylor, A Fistful of Nothing by Dan Glaser, Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve, Storming by K.M. Weiland, Fatherland by Robert Harris.
Dieselpunk films: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Dark City, The Great Budapest Hotel, The Rocketeer, Iron Sky, Sucker Punch, Brazil, Hellboy, Tim Burton's Batman, Captain America: The First Avenger...
Steampunk video games: BioShock, Crimson Skies, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Metal Slug Saga, Greed Corp...
Focused on the near future, the sub-genre of biopunk deals with genetic engineering and bio improvements, we enter fully into biotechnology.
Often apocalyptic, this genre has the characteristics of film noir, the detective novel or the Japanese anime to tell us stories where biotechnology is the main protagonist.
Biopunk books: Ribofunk by Paul Di Filippo, La chica mecánica by Paolo Bacigalupi, Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling, White Devils by Paul J. McAuley, The Movement of Mountains and The Brains of Rats by Michael Blumlein, Clade and Crache by Mark Budz, Los señores del cielo by John Brosnan...
Biopunk movies: Gattaca, Jurassic Park, The Fly, Dark Angel, Geneshaft, Gen Mishima...
Biopunk video games: Prototype, Spore, Bioshock...
It's similar to biopunk but with nano machines. In nanopunk, nanotechnology is often indistinguishable from magic.
Nanopunk Books: The Age of Diamond by Neal Stephenson, Tech Heaven by Kathleen Ann Goonan and Linda Nagata, The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi, The Lost Compass by Joel Ross, You Are Here: Tales of Cartographic Wonders by Lindsay Buroker...
Nanopunk Films: Transcendence, Jones Osmosis, Ultimatum to Earth...
Nanopunk video games: Deus Ex, Crysis, Anarchy Online, Metal Gear Solid, Supreme Ruler 2020...
Often regarded as a subgenre of steampunk, clockpunk also fuses advanced technology with pre-modern design but the crucial element of this literary genre is that the historical component of the technology comes from the watchmaking apparatuses, from the internal gearing of the watches. Thus, we see portrayed the science and technology of the Renaissance era based on pre-modern designs.
Clockpunk Books: Jay Lake's Mainspring is an excellent recent example of this type of fiction. So is S. M. Peters' Whitechapel Gods.
Clockpunk Movies: The Three Musketeers…
Video games clockpunk: Poptropica, Dishonored 2, Thief: The Dark Project, Syberia, Assassins Creed 2...
Terror with a lot of bloody splatter. Viscera and liters of blood.
This literary movement - rather gore- was a reaction against the "meek" horror in which it relied on suspense to frighten readers, and includes much terror and frightening and detailed descriptions of violence. This term has now become demodé in horror circles.
Splatterpunk books and films
Splatterpunk books: In 1990, Paul M. Sammon edited two anthologies of Splatterpunks: Extreme Horror which included works by Clive Barker, Edward Bryant and Poppy Z. Brite, which are very characteristic of this genre. In Spain we have Zombi, by Juan Díaz Olmedo.
Splatterpunk films: Helldriver, Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl, Robogeisha, Tokyo Gore Police, Meatball Machine...
This is another of the derivatives of cyberpunk in which, as its name indicates, the protagonist is the stone and, more specifically, the Stone Age.
The 'technological wonders' of the Stone Age represent the key to today's technologies, as technology appears in the popular flintstone animation series.
Stonepunk is therefore based on primitive materials such as rock, fire, clay, rope, wood and water (the defining characteristic of Stone Punk is the representation of modern inventions and current technology, but made with primitive materials).
It's similar to Steampunk but set in the 19th and early 20th centuries when Nikola Tesla was still alive. But the cyberpunk universe doesn't end here.
Many other genres have emerged, probably less well known, such as: Atompunk (20th century in the pre-digital era when the first space race and communism were the big news of the day), Nowpunk (adventures of contemporary piracy), Elfpunk (fairies and elves from mythology to urban fantasy scenarios), Mythpunk (mythological creatures plus postmodern fantasy elements) or Rococopunk (a whimsical derivation of punk that envelops us in the late baroque period; rococo aesthetics along with punk).
