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I don't think the portmanteau is that precisely defined. Joel Send a noteboard - 21/04/2011 08:31:34 PM
could there be stonepunk then?

with cavemen pimps and drug dealers?

This being cyberspace, I'll assume you've read the Wikipedia article on cyberpunk by this point (if not, you probably should; it discusses how Bladerunner and, to a lesser extent, the Dick story that inspired it fit into cyberpunk). I'd say a better explanation of the blended term is that cyber is the technology and punk is the sociology, but that's still an approximation. Cyberpunk usually means computers at the very least, but since cybernetics technically doesn't require computers cyberpunk doesn't either (it's just very difficult to do without them). Johnny Mnemonic (also at the previous link, and far better than the film) is classic cyberpunk, for many reasons, and I'm not sure any computers are ever SEEN, just RAM in the protagonists skull and the prosthetics in Mollys face, fingers and nervous system (though cybernetics would be necessary to make those work, just not computers).

Wikipedia lists no less than ten cyberpunk derivatives, so almost any *punk is nominally viable some (steampunk) more than others (splatterpunk). Anywhere processing information, particularly proprietary/restricted information, is a major part of the society is open to cyberpunk, really. Perhaps that's part of why it borrows so much of the noir in spy novels like Ian Flemings and Tom Clancys, and Depression era detective stories that feature no technology more complex or advanced than a snub nosed .38. Rome would be well suited to it; you could even have magepunk (though in my expreience that combination tends toward the awful). The example I used in one of my responses to Dan of a Fifth Century Druid integrated with a Stonehenge computer might be considered stonepunk, or at least bronzepunk. It might work better as stonepunk, with the Druid an outsider rebelling against a Neolithic establishment by "finding his own use for" their new monolithic calendar, and bringing about the Bronze Age in the process. Bladerunner provides a date (2019; I can't recall if that was in the short story) but after reading the Sprawl Trilogy three times, and even though I was actively looking for a date this time, I have yet to find one.
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This message last edited by Joel on 21/04/2011 at 08:47:45 PM
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The Sprawl Trilogy and Thoughts Thereof (or What Ever Happened to Cyberpunk?) - 19/04/2011 10:50:26 PM 2445 Views
Why I prefer cyberpunk in near future settings to (most) of the steampunk sub-genre. - 19/04/2011 10:55:57 PM 1320 Views
The difference is that steampunk, by and large, is very aware of its implausibility. - 20/04/2011 01:32:57 AM 885 Views
IMO, cyberpunk has become somewhat dated. - 20/04/2011 04:46:55 AM 1118 Views
Actually, I can live with that, though terms like "dated" invite trouble. - 20/04/2011 07:01:50 AM 975 Views
Re: Actually, I can live with that, though terms like "dated" invite trouble. - 22/04/2011 04:12:20 AM 1042 Views
No, I took your point. - 22/04/2011 03:43:18 PM 1136 Views
so...is bladerunner cyberpunk - 20/04/2011 09:48:15 PM 825 Views
It's usually seen as the archetypal cyberpunk film, yeah. - 21/04/2011 10:50:44 AM 1161 Views
so cyber is the time and punk is the attitude? - 21/04/2011 12:57:01 PM 947 Views
I don't think the portmanteau is that precisely defined. - 21/04/2011 08:31:34 PM 1071 Views
I am amazed that no one has referenced this TVTropes page yet... - 23/04/2011 07:45:14 PM 1311 Views
Playing with fire; I should've known TVTropes would exhaustively cover the derivatives. - 24/04/2011 03:11:56 AM 1255 Views
It's always hard to pigeonhole things, especially as they become more specific - 24/04/2011 06:27:28 PM 914 Views
Precisely. - 26/04/2011 03:04:54 AM 1204 Views
The "dated" idea is interesting. - 23/04/2011 08:08:26 PM 999 Views
PS the Takeshi Kovacs books are great, and you should all go read them *NM* - 23/04/2011 08:09:54 PM 429 Views
I'll add it to the list then, thanks. *MN* - 24/04/2011 03:19:09 AM 859 Views

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