Transreal Cyberpunk

Transreal Cyberpunk

Nine Stories by

Rudy Rucker
&
Bruce Sterling

Introduction by
Rob Latham

Transreal Cyberpunk

Nine stories by Rudy Rucker & Bruce Sterling

Copyright © Rudy Rucker & Bruce Sterling 2016.

Introduction copyright © Rob Latham, 2016.

Paperback: ISBN 978-1-940948-14-0

Hardback: ISBN 978-1-940948-15-7

Ebook: ISBN 978-1-940948-16-4

Cover photos by Sylvia Rucker and by Rudy Rucker.

First edition published February, 2016

Transreal Books, Los Gatos, California

www.transrealbooks.com

Acknowledgements

Thanks, first of all, to the editors who abetted, bought and published these stories: Shawna McCarthy, Gardner Dozois, and Sheila Williams of
Asimov’s Science Fiction
—and Patrick Nielsen Hayden at
Tor.com
.

Thanks to Rob Latham of the University of California at Riverside for writing his great introduction.

And thanks to the generous readers who supported the Transreal Books campaign to raise money for the book.Here are their chosen names, alphabetized by first letters.

@genebecker, @msilver, @screenhugger, @soupdiver, @stevegio, @tamberg, @TGTstudios, 50-50, ∞, Adam Weiss, Adrian Howard, AgentKaz, Ahmet A. Sabancı, Aidan Williamson, Al Billings, Alex Baxter, Algot Runeman, Allan Schnoor, Allen Varney, André cardozo, Andrew Beirne, Andrew G White, Andrew Hatchell, Andrew Lindsay, Andrew Peake, Andrew Tischaefer, Andrew Ward, Andrija Popovic, Andy Ward, Anon, Aris Alissandrakis, artlung, ATOMIC
_
REQUIEM, Baba Z Buehler, baohx2000, Benjamin Stough, benwf, BiL Castine, Bill Woodcock, Blazej Bucko, Bob Huss, Brandon Aycock, Brendan Fisher, Brendan Sheehan, Brian Anderson, Brian Dysart, Brian Repinski, Bruno Boutot, Caleb Monroe, Cameron Cooper, Carl Rigney, Carlos Pascual, Chad Bowden, Chaos82, Charlie Meetze, Chriftor Marovsk, chris bodhi, Chris McLaren, Chris Mendis, Chuck Ivy, Chuck Shotton, Clay Hinson, Cliff Winnig, CMFW, Cody Mingus, Collin Bennett, Connor Sites-Bowen, Conor McQuaid, COSMO, Cosmo Kairos, Dale Innis, Daniel Eisenman, Darwin Engwer, Daryl Davis, Dave Bonner, Dave Holets, Dave Seidel, David C Sjöberg, David H. Adler, David Linetsky, David M., David Pollard, David T Kirkpatrick, David Wahl, David Whitlark, Dead Uncle Dave, Dean Cruse, Denise Murray, Dennis Watson, derekticon, Dino Morelli, Don Tardiff, Doug Bissell, D-Rock, Duncan Lawie, Dwayne Plain, Eddie Peel, Edward Winston Bear, Edwin Metselaar, Eibo Thieme, Emma Marlow, Eric Brown, Erik Sowa, Ethan Heilman, Fixer, Fraser Lovatt, Galaxy Glue, Garrett Lynch, Gary Chappell, Gary Gassman, Gary Leatherman, Genester, Geoff Nicholson, George Bendo, Gilberto Conti, Gina Scaccia, Harry Fu, Hugh Charles O’Connell, Ian Atwell, Ian ‘Cat’ Vincent, Ian Chung, iBinary.com, Isaac L. Wheeler, J. J. H. Wadsworth, Jai Nelson, Jake Ganor, James Grahn, James Ramsay, Jason Hoelscher, Jason Wehmhoener, Jayson Lorenzen, Jeanne Milostan, Jeff Aldrich, Jeffrey H., Jeffrey Weston, Jenkins Journal, Jerry Higgins, Jerry J. Davis, Jerry Jensen, Jesse Tarlton, jgmize, Jill Sophia, Jimmy The Pants, JinckXz, Jo Lindsay Walton, Joanne Burrows, Jody Hudson-Powell, Joe “madopal” Sislow, Joey Gruszecki, John Carroll, John Iverson, John R. Donald, John Winkelman, Jon Kimmich, Jon Nebenfuhr, Jon Pearce, Jon Phillips, Jonathan Korman, Jonty Wareing, Josh Cooper, Joshka, Jurie Horneman, Jutta Degener, K.R. McKenzie, Kal, Karen Clark, Karl W. Reinsch, Karl-Arthur Arlamovsky, Kevin J. “Womzilla” Maroney, Kiss G., Kris “Zaphod” Kahn, Kristin Evenson Hirst, Kurt P Brown, Kyle “Fiddy” Pinches, Lasar Liepins, Lee Fisher, Leland Poague, Leon Marvell, Lidia Zuin, Lisandro Gaertner, Loki00000, Loren P. Kyllo, Lucifer, Lucius, M. L. Falkenstein, M. Starnes, Madeleine Shepherd, Map Perkins, Marc Davis, Marc Kevin Hall, Marek McGann, Mark Anderson, Mark Chatinsky, Mark Frauenfelder, Mark Harviston, Mark Lacy, Mark Sherman, Mark Simmons, Markku Lappalainen, Marshall A., Marty McGuire, Massimiliano Maffini, Mats Boman, Matt O’Malley, Matt Volk, Matthew Cox, Matthew Hieb, Matthew I. Jones, matthew j weaver, Matthew Peterson, Matthew Porter, Mayer Brenner, Michael “Mikey” Pechner, Michał “Vesper” Dziewoński, Michalis Sarigiannidis, Mike Fuchs, Mike Reid, ML Cohen, Moe Cheezmo, Mr Bear, Neurovagrant, NICHOLAS
BESHER, Nicolas Toper, None, just happy to help make the book real, Noriyo Asano, Ominous Ohnemus, Ook, Osmium, Owen Rowley, Patrick Di Justo, Paul Leonard, Peer Stritzinger, Peter T., Peter Yeates, Philippe van Nedervelde, Pojo, Pookie, Profesor Cyfra, r0b1ns0n, Rafael Fajardo, Ramón Cahenzli, Raucous Raven, Ray Cornwall, Raymond Nordin III, Raymond Rigo Jr, Razormaid, real name, Renata Lemos Morais, Rez N. / @zproc, RGL
/
DHL, Riccardo Sartori, Richard Kadrey, Richie O’Hara-Beamand, Rick Ayre, Rick Crain, Rnx, rob alley, Rob Szarka, Rod Mearing, Roger Strunk, Roger Thomas, Rohan Pearce, Ron Corral, Ronald Pottol, Roy C., rudetuesday, Russell Davies, Samuel Backlund, Samuel Hansen, Sandy McAuley, Sarah J Brown, Scott G Lewis, Scott Meisburger + HK Meissen, Scott Pemberton, Scott Wiener, Sean Elias, Sean O’Donnell, Sean Richmond, Sean W Scully, Sebastian Klapp, sekari, Shay Brog, Sq, Srđan Đukić, Sruli Recht, Stan Yamane, Stary Mundek, Stephanie Rieger, Steve Garriott, Steve H., Steve Siwy, Steve Craig, Steven Shaviro, Stuart Murnain, Surse, Suzanne McBride, t1deman, Taylor Cox, Terry Bennett, The Ducharme Family, The Hackers Conference, Thomas Bøvith, Thomas Gideon, Thomas Werner, Tieg Zaharia, Tim Borsilli, Tim Conkling, Timothy Wyitt Carlile, Tom Velebny, Tony Gatner, Torben Steeg, Transknition, Trey Blalock, Tyler Battle, U.N.Spacey, Ulrik Hogrebe, Victor Simon, voidfraction, Wade Goyens, Walter F. Croft, William H D Sked, William Maddler, Yoshio Kobayashi, and Zach Peters.

What a crew!

Enjoy the book, everyone.

Rudy Rucker & Bruce Sterling

February 1, 2016.

Introduction by Rob Latham

Science fiction, like science, is a collaborative enterprise, in two ways. First, there’s the encompassing “megatext” of the genre that all writers dip into, borrow from, contribute to, and collectively revise over the course of their careers. William Gibson invents cyberspace, and countless other writers jump on, adding and tinkering and retrofitting; somebody attaches hydraulic tubes and chrome handlebars and,
voila!
, we have steampunk. This is how the field grows, and always has.

But SF, uniquely among popular genres, is also literally collaborative, rife with famous writing partnerships: Pohl and Kornbluth, Kuttner and Moore, Niven and Pournelle. Harlan Ellison published an entire volume of collaborations with other authors,
Partners in Wonder
. For some reason, cyberpunk in particular has inspired much close teamwork: three of the stories in Gibson’s seminal collection
Burning Chrome
are collaborations; Sterling and Gibson coauthored the steampunk novel
The Difference Engine
; and Rucker has coauthored stories with seven writers, including fellow
Mirrorshades
authors Paul Di Filippo, Marc Laidlaw, and John Shirley.

So on the one hand, there’s nothing unusual about
Transreal Cyberpunk
, Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling’s collection of the nine stories they wrote together between 1985 and 2015. On the other hand, this book is unlike any other collaboration I know of in the field, an example where the whole is not only greater than the sum of its parts, but wilder, and weirder, and more wondrous.

Both authors are essentially satirists, but their temperaments couldn’t be more opposed. Sterling’s satire is cold, precise, analytical, almost machine-like in its distanced bemusement at human foibles, while Rucker’s is warm, good-natured, slapstick, with a forgiving fondness for human idiosyncrasy. Sterling’s methods combine punk irony and hardheaded extrapolation, while Rucker’s mix Beat goofiness and gonzo improvisation. How can such disparate aesthetics possibly fuse?

Well, it wasn’t easy, as the authors detail in their individual notes on the stories. Each tale was apparently a struggle of wills, involving multiple drafts, in-person spitballing, endless bickering via phone and email, and (one gets the sense) sometimes tense standoffs and uneasy negotiations. But despite their many differences, the authors are clearly the best of friends: they love each other, as well as science fiction, avant garde literature, and visionary forms of technology. They are both gadflies in their peculiar ways, and both are drawn to that odd technocultural junction where the marginal meets the cutting-edge. Both have done their time in the lecture halls of interdisciplinary conferences and the boxy cubicles of entrepreneurial start-ups, where all manner of possible and abortive futures get incubated. And both, I think it is fair to say, have done their share of mind-altering drugs.

Certainly the fiction they produce together is psychedelic in its effects, a strobing mindfuck of ideas that comes at the reader helter-skelter. Sometimes you feel the need to drop the book and grab ahold of your chair. The volume is like a fictional zoo thronging with crazy critters of all kinds: reincarnated space dogs, flying jellyfish, string-theory ants, biotech leeches. Metamorphosis runs rampant: characters turn into writhing blobs, spacetime twists and explodes, and the prose itself shifts and mutates. Rucker and Sterling are big fans of William Burroughs, and one can sense his mordant presence in the occasional eruptions of collage and biomorphic horror.

But the writer I was reminded of most while reading these tales was Thomas Pynchon, who has the same wacko energy, the same fondness for oddball characters, and the same sharp-eyed, loveable ferocity. There’s even a wink to Pynchon in one story, a reference to his made-up drug oneirine, from
Gravity’s Rainbow
. According to that novel, oneirine’s phenomenological effects are “like stuffing wedges of silver sponge,
right
,
into
, your
brain!
” And that pretty much summarizes the singular impact of reading
Transreal Cyberpunk
.