Like other forms of radical art movements, cyberpunk was quickly consumed and commodified by the culture at large, becoming another aesthetic choice, a skin in a video game. While Japan had its homegrown crop of writers and artists, in America the genre quickly showed its preferred “type” and continued the tradition of “radical” anthologies, such as Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions, which dared to challenge the status quo but not the editor’s Rolodex. Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology (edited by Bruce Sterling) was published in 1986 and seemingly set both the tone and limitations of the movement: out of 12 stories in that anthology, 11 were by male authors, and all of them were white. These interests were very much of their time, especially the fascination (by mostly white males) with Japanese culture as something both exotic and novel. The genre was formulated in the 1980s, not as some conscious moment (at least, not at first), but as a collection of popular breakout writers with shared thematic, or at least aesthetic, interests. Unlike something as generic as “science fiction” or “horror,” which could be almost anything the author wants it to be, cyberpunk carries certain expectations. What this book lacks, however, is a mission statement there isn’t a forward by the editor explaining what it means to make a cyberpunk collection in the year 2020. The talent list is almost enviable, starting with McDonald himself (carrying on from his cyberpunk graphic novel SP4RX), and including Giannis Milonogiannis ( Old City Blues), Jane Mai ( P.E.O.W), Sophia Foster-Dimino ( Sex Fantasy), and more. It’s a neat-looking package with a strong aesthetic sense and some very welcome touches that make it stand out as an anthology the “artist interview cards” that end the book are a great way to explore the artists involved in a visual manner. Individually, the stories here are mostly winners but is this enough?Įx.Mag #1 is as well-curated as anything else in the Peow Studio catalog. For Ex Mag, editor Wren McDonald has chosen a bunch of extremely talented creators for a dazzling showcase of science fiction tales. This volume opens with the following definition “a subgenre of science fiction typically set in dystopian societies dominated by technology, often featuring artificial intelligence, cybernetics and antiheroes railing against distorted social order” and it bears the legend “high tech / low life” (paraphrasing genre prophet William Gibson). The first book in Peow Studio’s Ex.Mag, a new series of genre-focused anthologies, is focused on the theme of cyberpunk.

SP4RX by Wren McDonald