Cyberpunk is on the rise. If you’re into the video games and TV shows, but wondering where to go for the best cyberpunk novels, I’d love to help you out.
First, I want to make sure we’re on the same page in regards to what constitutes cyberpunk.
There has been quite a bit of “genre dysphoria” around cyberpunk since the 1980s, so it’s hard to be 100% precise about what counts as a modern cyberpunk novel. (A lot of lists out there include books that most genre fans wouldn’t consider cyberpunk at all!)
Ask any ten people what cyberpunk is (and I’m counting avid readers AND people who create in the cyberpunk genre) and you’ll get seven or eight different answers.
Sometimes simplicity is the key, and I’ve found that sticking to the maxim of “High Tech, Low Life” is a very apt way to define the spirit of the genre.
This perspective helps eliminate conflating cyberpunk with general science fiction. Just because a story takes place in a future tech wonderland, it’s not cyberpunk. Cybernetic limbs, robots, and gangs do not immediately indicate cyberpunk.
There needs to be some element of social degradation involved. A huge class divide is key, and you’ll commonly see corporations, in lieu of governments, stomping on the common person. This is where the high-tech part comes in, as cyberpunk generally warns us about technology becoming the key tool of oppression. It’s cyberpunk because fighting authority is key to the genre.
Now, I would argue that the spirit of cyberpunk demands that welcome technology is that tool for oppression. Some system or tech that the people desire is turned against them. (Think social media.)
With that very basic intro to the concepts that make cyberpunk awesome, allow me to introduce my novels for your reading consideration.
Into the BeanStalk (2024)
This is my debut cyberpunk novel, and marks the beginning of my earnest pursuit of an author career. (This is the first book in my cyberpunk book series, but there is a prequel short story titled The Lucky Seven!)
I wrote this novel to be accessible to readers who aren’t familiar with the genre, while still delivering many of the tropes that cyberpunk lovers expect. When creating the world of what has come to be called the Hope Cyberpunk Universe, I diverged from other IPs and spent hundreds of hours researching and speaking with experts on tech, economics, and futurism.
That’s because I didn’t want to write inside the familiar “future of the 1980s” where cyberpunk often lives. My goal was to create a cyberpunk future based on the technology, trajectories, and fears of the 2020s.
The main character of ITBS, Jack Fletcher, has earned herself quite a few fans. She even impressed a production company named Arcane Fiction enough to secure a media deal! Now, ITBS is being adapted into a full cast audio drama, as well as a motion comic.
Into the BeanStalk has great reviews and has won the Best Indie Book award, the Readers’ Favorite Award, and several others. If you like fast-paced, character-driven stories with extremely deep worldbuilding, this indie cyberpunk novel is for you!
Into the Looking Glass (2024)
The cyberpunk sequel to ITBS that is slowly but steadily racking up great reviews. Looking Glass continues Jack’s story and expands the immense world of Hope Megacity.
In this novel, we go deeper into the corporate power structure, space exploration, and the tech-based class struggle that defines the main characters’ lives.
The final book in Jack’s arc, Into the Wishing Star, is coming in Winter 2025.
The Game State (2025)
This is the first book in a new trilogy within the universe of Into the BeanStalk. The Game State follows the life of entitled corporate UI developer Jakob Qadir after losing his employment and going on the run.
Jakob falls in with a techno-religious order of monks that have deep, mysterious roots in the creation of Hope Megacity and the technology that governs society in the 2160s. After being assigned an epic spiritual quest by the AI arbiter of this religion, Jakob finds himself reluctantly working with street level gangers and mercs.
This story intertwines heavily with Jack’s arc, and explores aspects of the Hope Cyberpunk Universe that aren’t deeply examined in the previous books. If you enjoy deep worldbuilding and heavily-researched sci fi, you’ll love The Game State!
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I had a lot of fun writing these novels, and I’ve got a lot more in the works! If you’re looking for cyberpunk action and rich, detailed worlds with cybernetics and streetwise hackers, I know you’ll love this universe. Currently, all of these books can be read for free through Kindle Unlimited, so head over to my Amazon page and check them out!
If you’d like to support my work (you’re awesome 😎) you can also purchase signed paperbacks in my store!
