The Book that Influenced Cyberpunk

Hey it's Tarrmu and welcome to Thinking Out Loud, and today's topic is an interesting one. We're all familiar with Cyberpunk 2077, CDProjectReds latest RPG that was based off of the tabletop game created by Mike Pondsmith back in 1988. Well I wanted to briefly chat about the book that influenced the creation of Cyberpunk the tabletop, and video game, but more spawned the genre itself, and that is a little novel called Neuromancer written by William Gibson.

Neuromancer is the first of three novels that take place in The Sprawl and follow a character named Case a once great console cowboy aka hacker who flew to close to the sun stealing from an employer, was burned and clipped of the life he enjoyed. When presented with an opportunity to avoid the imminent death that is approaching him, and the chance to reclaim the life of a console cowboy he had missed throws him back into one big risky job that could save his life and change things forever. Neuromancer in general is influential for how it tackled the concept of the matrix and ideas of Cyberspace. It is said to have had influences on works such as The Matrix, and undoubtedly Cyberpunk.

It is clear through the terminology and ideas that Gibson established with this series, that his ideas had influences into other works, and having played Cyberpunk and then jumping over to reading Neuromancer, it felt like I was right at home with understanding much of the language and technology given the overlap the two shared. It's something that really did heighten my appreciation overall for the genre.

There are audiobooks, and there is a graphic novel for Neuromancer too, but unfortunately it was never completed. Personally I read the book, and as you can probably tell I really did enjoy it. I'm going to be starting the second one soon, and the sequels aren't direct sequels meaning you can read them out of order. But personally, I can only really speak to Neuromancer and with that book now completed I have to say for anyone who is a fan of Cyberpunk it definitely is one you should check out, because chances are you'll end up enjoying it.

On top of that what better way to keep yourself occupied while waiting for Cyberpunk Orion which is still years away. Anyways let me know if you've read Neuromancer in the comments or played Cyberpunk and if there is any other good reads, TV shows, or movies in this genre that are worth checking out.

Thanks for watching.