Storming the Reality Studio: A Casebook of Cyberpunk & Postmodern Science Fiction (Paperback)

by Larry McCaffery (Editor, Contributor), Richard Kadrey (Contributor), Kathy Acker (Contributor), J. G.Ballard (Contributor), William S.Burroughs (Contributor), Pat Cadigan (Contributor), Samuel R.Delany (Contributor), William Gibson (Contributor), Rob Hardin (Contributor), Harold Jaffe (Contributor), Thom Jurek (Contributor), Mark Leyner (Contributor), Joseph McElroy (Contributor), Misha (Contributor), Ted Mooney (Contributor) "I asked Abhor what she wanted with me..." (more)
Key Phrases: cyberpunk artists, cyberpunk writing, involution ocean, William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Imp Plus (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Editor McCaffery here collects over 50 essays, short stories, novel excerpts, literary criticism, poetry, artworks, and a comic strip that illustrate the influences on and of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction and its distinctive sensibility. Most of the space goes to the two godfathers of cyberpunk, William Gibson (whose Neuromancer , Berkley, 1984, won the science fiction triple crown--Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards) and Bruce Sterling ( Schismatrix , LJ 6/15/85), but most other major cyberpunk writers are represented. McCaffery does not limit cyberpunk to science fiction but puts it in the context of postmodern literature and 1980s popular culture. The only flaw is that Sterling's preface to Mirrorshades ( LJ 12/86), often considered a cyberpunk manifesto and constantly referred to in the essays, is not presented until the end of the nonfiction section. An important work; highly recommended for all sf, literature, and pop culture collections. (Illustrations not seen.)-- Keith R.A. DeCandido, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
"[A] brilliant new compiliation of fiction and nonfiction . . . that you've just "got" to read. . . . [The] thesis is simple as a whitehot razor blade: we don't "read" science fiction, we "live "it. . . . You can't help getting excited about this collection. You just can't."
--Lance Olsen," Mondo 2000"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 405 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press (December 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822311682
• ISBN-13: 978-0822311683
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #252,053 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strap yourself in for a great ride..., February 8, 2001

By	Thomas Fang "blobject oriented" (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a must-have if you're a fan of anything cyberpunk. There are more than 40 contributors, so not every piece is brilliant, but the book still deserves a five star rating. Highlights: fiction from almost everyone who was important in the cyberpunk movement (Gibson, Rucker, Shiner, Shirley, Sterling, etc.) and some other excellent writers not usually included in the group (Ballard, W. S. Burroughs, Pynchon), along with insightful essays by a diverse selection of writers including Timothy Leary and several important figures in the world of postmodern theory (Baudrillard, Derrida, Jameson, Kroker). Storming the Reality Studio is one book that I am proud to own, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very fine anthology--well chosen, November 9, 1998

By A Customer

I enjoyed this collection of cyberpunk writing immensely. McCaffery chose a fine collection of cyberpunk examples, ranging from the well known to the less known, from fiction to non-fiction ssay. The ordering is near perfection--the arrangement allows the pieces to speak to each other, and of each other (a very cyberpunkean move). Given the above reviewer's apparent distress concerning certain aspects of the book, and some misguided reductions of cyberpunk (basically just SF without hairy aliens; and his basic misunderstanding of the interpolation that occurs within the genre--i.e. his rantings re: Acker and hackdom), I hope this doesn't dissuade you from purchasing this very worthwhile book--it's wonderful. Especially exciting is the "Cyberpunk 101" section where various books and films are listed and shortly (and bitingly witty--see the one for Ballard's _Crash_) are recommended and briefly summarized.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting ideas, but very scattershot, November 27, 1999

By	Al Kihano (Iskandria) - See all my reviews

It's a shame that this book had to be so big, and its excerpts so brief. McCaffery has chosen a good selection of postmodern SF, but the excerpts are too often just a couple pages long. The result is a book a mile wide and an inch deep: it touches on every aspect of postmodern SF without really explaining or clearing up anything at all.

A good way to use this book might be to read through it, choose what strikes your fancy, then buy the complete books attached to those. But I'm afraid if you just read this book, your glimpses of this very exciting genre will be too fleeting for you to get a good picture of it as a whole.

To his credit, McCaffery has chosen an excellent array of writers and subgenres, including many who I did not know were SF or who dealt with SF in ways I hadn't expected. I should also mention that the design of the book is fantastic.