SOURCE: Suvin, Darko. “On Gibson and Cyberpunk SF.” Foundation, no. 46 (autumn 1989): 40–51.

In the following essay, Suvin discusses the category of cyberpunk, considering Gibson's short fiction as representative of the subgenre. This is a revamped version by Suvin in 1991 of the above cited essay.

To the memory of Raymond Williams 

0. Preliminary Reflections

More so than for other literary genres, a commentator of current SF has to cope with its very spotty accessibility. It is well known that new books in what the market very loosely calls SF come and go quickly, and are apt to be taken off the bookstore shelves in weeks if not days. Even in the case of those recognized names whose titles get reprinted, the reprinting is as a rule patchy, both selective and shortlived, governed by long-ago contracts and bureaucratic middlemen in publishing and distribution whose reasoning may be accessible to some ESP godhead...