bruce sterling
"If poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world, science-fiction
writers are its court jesters. We are Wise Fools who can leap, caper, utter
prophecies and scratch ourselves in public. We can play with Big Ideas because
the garish motley of our pulp origins makes us seem harmless."
-
Preface to William Gibson's "Burning Chrome"
bruce sterling is perhaps best know as the author of The Hacker Crackdown; a must-read for all young cyberpunks, especially those curious to know the origins of modern "hacking". he was editor for Mirrorshades, possibly the best cyberpunk anthology out there; and collaborated with William Gibson to produce the classic steampunk novel The Difference Engine. not only but also, he has written many solo works.
sterling periodically posts articles to the web which find themselves widely linked and digested. slashdot readers will no doubt be familiar with these posts (often transcripts of speeches).
works
the hacker crackdown
a non-fiction work; detailling the "hacker crackdown" of 1990 in america. a key period in hacker lore; when the telcos and law enforcement worked together to bring down as many "hackers" as they could. the operation had some very odd cases; particularly famously the raid on Steve Jackson Games (publisher of GURPS, including the cyberpunk module) which left an entirely innocent company unable to function.
The Hacker Crackdown, (c) 1992, ISBN 0-670-84900-6
other works
- Involution Ocean
- The Artificial Kid
- Schismatrix
- Islands in the Net
collaboration
the difference engine
william gibson & bruce sterling
Arguably the most famous of the "steampunk" genre, TDE is the curious tale of scientist Edward Mallory (or based around him, at least). The book is set in a high-tech version of the past - steam vehicles travel at phenominal speeds, mechanical computers crunch huge amounts of data. In this world Charles Babbage perfected his Analytical Engine, bringing the Industrial Revolution forward by a hundred years. In many ways the story is about society trying to cope with this hyper-evolution of technology; in many others it's a ripping yarn, so to speak. [I really don't want to try summarising the story right now.]
The only real drawback is the writing - two very strong and revered styles are evident, mixed together almost seamlessly. Unfortunately this makes itself apparent at times - not often, but sometimes you'll notice the story moving in a direction it might not otherwise have taken. It's a little like noticing a bad editing cut in a movie. But don't let this put you off - the work is still worthy of praise. Also, their collaboration on "Red Star, Winter Orbit" (in Gibson's anthology "Burning Chrome") was excellent.