Best/most forward thinking cyberpunk novels

Depends on what you mean by "forward thinking". In the way I'm thinking, all cyberpunk novels are forward thinking insofar as they envision how computers and corporations control our lives and none of them are insofar as they envision mohawked people listening to the Sex Pistols and speaking Japanese. Cyberpunk was a very limited near-future, earth-based, perhaps naively youth-oriented (and paradoxically optimistic) fashion statement. Although Bruce Sterling might have turned away from it and Swanwick was usually no cyberpunk at all, perhaps the former's Schismatrix (1985) (and certainly the Shaper/Mechanist universe with its half-dozen stories) and the latter's Vacuum Flowers (1987) were the most forward thinking in that, however inaccurately, they envisioned what an "earth+" slightly more futuristic society might be like. Sterling got more into the transformation of man beyond just a handy "jack in the back of the skull" concept that merely made humans be humans with builtin modems. And they're certainly excellent reads.

Similarly, Greg Bear was only briefly, unwillingly drafted into the ranks and Blood Music (1985) is lacking most of the characteristics of cyberpunk but its body-invasive and transformative thrust would make it extremely, apocalyptically forward thinking but it's really just good ol' "transcendent hard SF".

Not forward thinking at all in the sense that it depicted a NATO/Warsaw Pact war in 2020 but Shirley's Eclipse (1985) is a criminally underrated masterpiece.

And, internally, perhaps in the sense Ray put forward Brunner (which is in the Pile, so I don't know but hope to find out) I'd say John Varley was "forward thinking" (and great) in basically laying the groundwork for most of cyberpunk in the 70s though it's more to be found in the stories than the novels.

People forget that cyberpunk was created in the short fiction laboratories of Asimov's, F&SF, and fanzines. Gibson's "Johnny Mnemonic" (1981) and Sterling's Shaper/Mechanist stories (1982-4), Cadigan's Deadpan Allie (love that name) stories (1981-7) and many of Shirley's stories from even back in the 70s to "The Incorporated" in 1985 and so on - much of this predates Neuromancer and the vast majority of it predates the vast majority of the other famous novels.
 
Ray McCarthy said:
The Shockwave Rider John Brunner ?
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Faked identities via computer
Computer Viruses
Widespread surveillance
Massive "whistle blower" exercise at the end
Internet
Genetic Engineering
Most people on a Drug (to cope). (C.f. Ritalin, Prozac and massive prescription drug use in UK today and campaigns to legalise Marijuana, "head shops / so called legal highs")
Digital Money (Only "reserves" had real cash). I don't mean Bitcoin, it's Digital Tulips. IBAN, Paypal, Debit cards, Credit Cards are working Digital money. USA doesn't have IBAN, but it's free in Eurozone and cheap to free (depending if Exchange is needed) elsewhere. It's Secure. You can give anyone your IBAN and they can only put money in.

All in 1975 ...

Personal computers mostly from 1976 (IBM 1980 USA/1981 UK)

internet embryonic in mid 1980s (Arpanet, Bitnet), Web sites from about 1992 (spec of HTML maybe 1990, though many non-internet hyper text products and projects earlier, such as Hypercard on Apple, Futurenet CAD /CAE, Project Xanadu)
 
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J-Sun said:
Depends on what you mean by "forward thinking". In the way I'm thinking, all cyberpunk novels are forward thinking insofar as they envision how computers and corporations control our lives and none of them are insofar as they envision mohawked people listening to the Sex Pistols and speaking Japanese. Cyberpunk was a very limited near-future, earth-based, perhaps naively youth-oriented (and paradoxically optimistic) fashion statement. Although Bruce Sterling might have turned away from it and Swanwick was usually no cyberpunk at all, perhaps the former's Schismatrix (1985) (and certainly the Shaper/Mechanist universe with its half-dozen stories) and the latter's Vacuum Flowers (1987) were the most forward thinking in that, however inaccurately, they envisioned what an "earth+" slightly more futuristic society might be like. Sterling got more into the transformation of man beyond just a handy "jack in the back of the skull" concept that merely made humans be humans with builtin modems. And they're certainly excellent reads.

Similarly, Greg Bear was only briefly, unwillingly drafted into the ranks and Blood Music (1985) is lacking most of the characteristics of cyberpunk but its body-invasive and transformative thrust would make it extremely, apocalyptically forward thinking but it's really just good ol' "transcendent hard SF".

Not forward thinking at all in the sense that it depicted a NATO/Warsaw Pact war in 2020 but Shirley's Eclipse (1985) is a criminally underrated masterpiece.

And, internally, perhaps in the sense Ray put forward Brunner (which is in the Pile, so I don't know but hope to find out) I'd say John Varley was "forward thinking" (and great) in basically laying the groundwork for most of cyberpunk in the 70s though it's more to be found in the stories than the novels.

People forget that cyberpunk was created in the short fiction laboratories of Asimov's, F&SF, and fanzines. Gibson's "Johnny Mnemonic" (1981) and Sterling's Shaper/Mechanist stories (1982-4), Cadigan's Deadpan Allie (love that name) stories (1981-7) and many of Shirley's stories from even back in the 70s to "The Incorporated" in 1985 and so on - much of this predates Neuromancer and the vast majority of it predates the vast majority of the other famous novels.
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I've read a few of those--Eclipse, Blood Music and Schismatrix--but a long time ago. After finishing the new Gibson, which isn't actually all that cyberpunky, I'm nevertheless gripped by nostalgia for the style. Just not sure what direction I want to go in--the full on nostalgia of re-reading the Sprawl trilogy or trying something new. I recently read When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger, and really enjoyed it, so may hit up the sequels.
 
Not to be 'that guy', but this sort of question is easier to answer if you describe what you mean by cyberpunk. Cyberpunk themes? Cyberpunk elements? Or works that came about during and after the coining of the term 'cyberpunk'. Do you include postcyberpunk? Etc. As with all movements or subgenres, there are always ripples of precursors before the term is coined or put into concrete usage. So with a loose usage of the term, you can find cyberpunk themes and elements long before the term existed - but that defeats the purpose of using a term such as 'cyberpunk.'

As a movement, nobody comes close to the Mirrorshades Group if you want to examine what made cyberpunk what it was. So for me those authors would be the definitive answer to the 'best' part of your question. As for 'forward thinking,' since you said other than Neuromancer, I would have to say that I would cheat and say that the transitional books and authors between cyberpunk and postcyberpunk are especially notable. A classic example of this is Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. It is difficult to think of another novel that started to expand what could be done with cyberpunk themes - expand it to the point where we could start calling it 'postcyberpunk.'
 
I think all of the above mentioned are good contenders; though I might qualify that I don't see it as 'forward thinking' as much as 'far reaching', since most of them come off looking more like the magic we see in the Matrix movies. Few came even close to getting a handle on the true nature of the hackers we find 'out there' today. The majority of which are very young . None quite envisioned the delicate fluidity that is the world wide web, or its fragile nature against a force that have given the FBI 'pause' before pursuing the children. A force against which there are often few if any adequate intelligent programming measures being taken; rather we have grey tape patches of code as temporary measures that [as usually happens between the world and criminals] cause more grief for the ones who pay to use the internet as a tool.

But this happens with a lot of fiction and not just the cyberpunk type. We're not quite at the right level of amoral grit that many novels depicted. We're at a more tender and equally dangerous level of social inexperience mixed with a slight lack of moral compass and a legal system that isn't yet ready to handle the whole mess. Perhaps it will take something like what was depicted in that movie War Games before we are forced to make that desperate a move. Until then we can hope that the ISP admins and ITs will be able to muddle through trying to self police the cyberspaces and all the implied spaces left by the strange architecture they chose to build into the whole infrastructure.

On the other hand, though; it is as though bits and pieces off all the Cyberpunk novels have been woven into the reality like some Frankenstein-ian monster awaiting the massive lightning strike to bring it to life. So in a way they each and every one bring a piece of 'forward thinking' that looks like 'forward thinking by committee'.
 
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Nova - Samuel Delany. Not strictly cyberpunk, I know, but there are a lot of elements in this book that went into cyberpunk as a genre.

Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson. After Snow Crash and The Diamond Age this one came as a bit of a shock. It was actual cyberpunk in the 90s. While it doesn't have the usual sf trappings of cyberpunk it was a great look into how computer technology was and would continue to affect our world.
 
Just read an indie cyberpunk novel. Pretty interesting. While he wrote the novel, he listened to some hard Metallica.
 
I'm halfway through Gibson's latest - "The Peripheral" and its fantastic so that would have to be my immediate choice...but I would also recommend Jon Courtney Grimwood's Arabesk trilogy - 'Pashazade', 'Effendi' and 'Fellaheen'
 
Vince W said:
The Peripheral is a great read. I hope we get more in the future.
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Gibson's prose is a good as it ever has been..."he turned the lights down to teen boy sex pit" is a great line!

However, did you find yourself trying relate the characters to those in Neuromancer (because of the similar-ish names)?
 
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