The Shockwave Rider

Brunner, John

ISBN 10: 0060105593 / ISBN 13: 9780060105594

Published by Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1975

About this Item

Considered by Bruce Bethke, among others, to be the first cyberpunk novel eight years before the term was popularized by Dozois. It depicts a world immersed in e-communication, topped up with surveillance and control of people and societies through information and data. Dust-jacket art by Creston Ely. Slight darkening to the edges, fine otherwise, protected in Brodart. First edition. 6" - 8½".

Seller Inventory # 277290

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Shockwave Rider
• Publisher: Harper and Row Publishers, New York
• Publication Date: 1975
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060105593
• ISBN 13: 9780060105594
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Creston Ely
• Edition: First edition.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near fine
• Book Type: book

About this title

Synopsis

Ex-library with some markings (crossed over with red marker) and missing front endpaper, otherwise, straightl tight and clean in Hardcover first edition - New York:: Harper & Row,, (1975). Hardcover first edition -. Ex-library with some markings (crossed over with red marker) and missing front endpaper, otherwise, straightl tight and clean in a very good unmarked dustjacket (original price of 8.95 still present but outer edges of dj flaps are slightly thinned from being pasted to endpapers) . First printing. Classic dystopian novel, the last in his cycle of dystopian fction which began with 'Stand of Zanzibar.' This is set in the 21st century, where a massive computer data-net links all of North America and giving information to anyone with a high enough access code. One man, picked out of a poor and parentless environment and delivered for "training" to an institution dedicated to molding genuises, runs away when he discovers that they are breeding genetically modified children, physically deformed, but brilliant, and he spends 6 years trying to find a safe place. David Langford in the Anatomy of Wonder noted that this novel "anticipated 'cyberpunk' by nearly a decade, and trendier real-world virus programs by longer still." We are just now beginning to live in a real world of overwhelming data collection and destruction of privacy. 246 pp. Dust jacket art by Creston Ely.

Review

This book has always been popular with the techy-geeky crowd, but, since it was first published in the '70s, it missed out on the cyberpunk revolution of the '80s. It's too bad, because this is a compelling story of a future world tied together by a universal data network, a world that could be our tomorrow. It's a tense place filled with information overload and corporate domination, and nearly everything is known about everybody. Except Nickie Haflinger, a prodigy whose talents allow him to switch identities with a phone call. Nickie plans to change the world, if only he can keep from getting caught.