everything people have told me to read, watch and play

Most cyberpunk stories were written before the world they describe existed, and some of it landed uncomfortbly close. Here’s the running list of cyberpunk including the novels it grew from, the films everyone quotes, and the shows + games that came after.

sort

Books

Wells, H.G. The Time Machine. 1895.
Forster, E.M. The Machine Stops. 1909.
people live alone in pods and talk through screens
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. 1949.
Asimov, Isaac. Foundation. 1951.
plus the robot and empire books if I end up going all the way in
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. 1953.
Dick, Philip K. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. 1965.
Herbert, Frank. Dune. 1965.
Ellison, Harlan. I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. 1967.
Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. 1968.
the novel Blade Runner came from
Dick, Philip K. Ubik. 1969.
Herbert, Frank. Dune Messiah. 1969.
Brunner, John. The Sheep Look Up. 1972.
Nourse, Alan E. The Bladerunner. 1974.
Brunner, John. The Shockwave Rider. 1975.
Laumer, Keith. Bolo: Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade. 1976.
the first collection. the earliest Bolo story goes back to 1960.
Dick, Philip K. A Scanner Darkly. 1977.
Burroughs, William S. Blade Runner (a movie). 1979.
Vinge, Vernor. True Names. 1981.
beat Neuromancer to the punch by three years
Dick, Philip K. VALIS. 1981.
Herbert, Frank. God Emperor of Dune. 1981.
Gibson, William. Neuromancer. 1984.
Jeter, K.W. Dr. Adder. 1984.
Herbert, Frank. Heretics of Dune. 1984.
Gibson, William. Burning Chrome. 1986.
the short story collection. has Johnny Mnemonic and New Rose Hotel in it
Sterling, Bruce, ed. Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology. 1986.
Effinger, George Alec. When Gravity Fails. 1987.
also the Budayeen Nights collection
Williams, Walter Jon. Voice of the Whirlwind. 1987.
Sterling, Bruce. Islands in the Net. 1988.
Banks, Iain M. The Player of Games. 1988.
Simmons, Dan. Hyperion. 1989.
first of the Hyperion Cantos
Gibson, William, and Bruce Sterling. The Difference Engine. 1990.
Cadigan, Pat. Synners. 1991.
Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. 1992.
Sterling, Bruce. The Hacker Crackdown. 1992.
Abnett, Dan. Gaunt's Ghosts. 1999.
starts with First and Only
Danielewski, Mark Z. House of Leaves. 2000.
Abnett, Dan. Eisenhorn. 2001.
starts with Xenos
McNeill, Graham. Nightbringer. 2002.
Morgan, Richard K. Market Forces. 2004.
Abnett, Dan. Horus Rising. 2006.
Kosemen, C.M. All Tomorrows. 2006.
the author put it out as a free PDF.
Dembski-Bowden, Aaron. Night Lords. 2009.
starts with Soul Hunter
Herbert, Frank, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson. Tales of Dune. 2011.
Howey, Hugh. Wool. 2011.
the self-published short. the omnibus novel came in 2012.
Gibson, William. The Peripheral. 2014.
Stephenson, Neal. Seveneves. 2015.
Jones, Stu, and Gareth Worthington. It Takes Death to Reach a Star. 2018.
Rath, Robert. The Infinite and the Divine. 2020.
Doctorow, Cory. Enshittification. 2025.
The Protopias Collection.
starting with POLIS

Essays and Manifestos

Hughes, Eric. A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto. 1993.
Vinge, Vernor. The Coming Technological Singularity. 1993.
Gibson, William. “Disneyland with the Death Penalty”. 1993.
Barlow, John Perry. A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace. 1996.

Films

World on a Wire. 1973.
Rollerball. 1975.
Blade Runner. 1982.
Brazil. 1985.
Akira. 1988.
They Live. 1988.
Total Recall. 1990.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day. 1991.
Ghost in the Shell. 1995.
Johnny Mnemonic. 1995.
The Last Angel of History. 1996.
The Fifth Element. 1997.
Dark City. 1998.
New Rose Hotel. 1998.
The Matrix. 1999.
Tron: Legacy. 2010.
Oblivion. 2013.
not cyberpunk, but asking the Blade Runner question with the lights on
Blade Runner 2049. 2017.
Blade Runner 2022: Black Out. 2017.
Ghost in the Shell. 2017.
the live-action one
Alita: Battle Angel. 2019.
Tenet. 2020.
Blade Runner: Black Lotus. 2021.

TV and Anime

Cowboy Bebop. 1998.
Serial Experiments Lain. 1998.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. 2002.
Battlestar Galactica. 2003.
the reboot. the miniseries aired in 2003, the series proper from 2004.
Psycho-Pass. 2012.
Mr. Robot. 2015.
Altered Carbon. 2018.
Upload. 2020.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. 2022.
Pantheon. 2022.
The Peripheral. 2022.
Silo. 2023.
Dune: Prophecy. 2024.

Games

Warhammer 40,000. 1987.
first edition, Rogue Trader
Shadowrun. 1989.
Steve Jackson Games. GURPS Cyberpunk. 1990.
Cyberpunk 2020. 1990.
the tabletop game that came first
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. 1995.
Deus Ex. 2000.
Mass Effect. 2007.
Cyberpunk 2077. 2020.

Audio

Bricky. 2015.
on YouTube
The 40K Lorecast. 2023.

Some of these are faves of mine, but a lot of these came from you! If something is missing or you thought of another cool thing to add, send it over and I’ll add it. Happy lore-ing!