I don’t write much cyberpunk myself (apart from dipping my toe in with the flash fiction story Another Arm for Gemini a couple of years ago [1]). Which is strange, because it’s a genre I’m very fond of reading, having imprinted on novel William Gibson’s Neuromancer and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash at a comparatively early age.
I also love listening to interesting people talking about cyberpunk’s themes, motifs and narrative goals. Should you happen to feel the same way, or if you desperately miss being able to sit in on convention panel discussions because nobody gets to do that these days, then I have some great news for you.
As part of Australia’s bid to host the 2025 Worldcon, and via Melbourne’s Continuum convention, author and YouTube host Kat Clay has put together a powerhouse panel of cyberpunk authors and designers for a discussion on how the genre is developing beyond its origins in 80’s American economic xenophobia to new and diverging Australian and south-east Asian perspectives.
At just over an hour, it’s an insightful and fun discussion (although not without the usual Zoom-based technical difficulties), and well worth your time and the reading list you’ll walk away with. Australian spec fic fans are likely to have come across at least some of the locals – Corey J White, Amanda Bridgeman, and TR Napper – and if you don’t, then I recommend you check their work out.
Of greater interest to me were the panel members I’d never come across before – Jamila R. Nedjadi (from the Philippines) and Yudhanjaya Wijeratne (Sri Lanka). Both bring smart and insightful perspectives on cyberpunk’s intersections with culture, tabletop roleplaying and public policy (topics close to my nerd heart).
Worth your time to sit back and get your discussion panel fix. Neural enhancement guaranteed.
[1] Go on, give it a read – you’ll be one of the very few who ever did 🙂
