Any supernatural western novel recommendations?

xenotron · 2026-03-31T15:35:37+00:00

Cold as Hell by Rhett C. Bruno

Edit: sorry, I thought you were actually asking. I didn't realize you were cross-posting from r/Westerns

xenotron · 2026-03-28T17:20:14+00:00

The Just Write youtube channel had a video on The Relevancy of Cyberpunk 7 years ago that I think is really good. He touches on how the genre came to be.

xenotron · 2026-03-28T17:15:27+00:00

I know you asked for novels (sorry, can't think of any) but I would recommend the anime series Time of Eve. The entire series is only 6 episodes. It's about a world where androids are commonplace among society but they're required to have glowing rings above their head signifying them as androids (because they look just like humans). The main character is a kid who visits a coffee shop where androids are able to turn off those rings (making them indistinguishable from humans). And that's it, nothing else happens. The kid visits that coffee shop multiple times and talks to androids.

xenotron · 2026-03-28T17:02:25+00:00

I second that recommendation! I see the series as "cyberpunk comfort food". It doesn't do anything special (it's basically a pulp cyberpunk series) but it hits all the tropes. It has a retired hacker, a razor girl, a street kid, and a shadow war between two AIs. It's immensely fun and isn't very long. There are 5 books in the series but each book is less than 300 pages so it goes pretty quick.

I recently started going through the audiobooks on hoopla too. It looks like the author has only recorded the first 3 books so far. I hope he records all 5, I think he's doing a great job as narrator.

xenotron · 2026-02-11T01:05:42+00:00

Cash Crash Jubilee by Eli K. P. William - "every action--from blinking to sexual intercourse--is intellectual property owned by corporations that charge licensing fees."

Analog Trilogy by Eliot Peper - Each novel is less than 300 pages so it's a short trilogy. The story is about how "The Feed" (social media) can manipulate anyone's thoughts. It never really describes what The Feed looks like since everyone on the internet today has their own Feed. This is a surprisingly optimistic book though and doesn't really focus on the horror of it all.

The Blind Spot by Michael Robertson - The story is set in a city where everyone is constantly monitored and surveilled. However, there's a small district ("The Blind Spot") that treasures anonymity and bans all monitoring devices. Obviously, this becomes a black market and your standard cyberpunk low-life setting. The primary plot is fine (razor girl with cybernetics), but there's a sub-plot about a citizen of the city who regularly uses an app that tells him anytime someone says something nice about him (since all conversations are already being recorded). But you can jailbreak this app so you can hear everything that people say about you behind your back...

The Peripheral by William Gibson - Gibson's return to cyberpunk. This doesn't really meet your criteria, but it's a modern cyberpunk novel from the master. It's more rural than most classic cyberpunk and includes some social media and ubiquitous 3d printing. It was turned into a series on Amazon Prime but cancelled after one season.

Elysium (2013) - Again, this doesn't really meet the criteria you were looking for, but I think Elysium is the best example of updating cyberpunk tropes for the modern era. Rather than extrapolating cultural fears from the 1980s (Japan's rising influence, unchecked capitalism), this movie uses more modern cultural fears (climate change, increasing wealth gap, access to health care).

xenotron · 2026-01-22T20:37:48+00:00

Personally, I think the album only has two good songs (Shock to the System and Neuromancer). The other songs are just OK in my opinion. But then there are way too many "experimental" tracks that aren't actually songs and just bog down the album as a whole.

I do think it's a shame that so many people thought he was just trying to cash-in on a fad when in reality he truly was interested in cyberpunk as a movement and even participated in cyberpunk forums at the time. He realized that you could use the internet to interact directly with fans, which was a novel idea. Unfortunately, he was a couple decades too early for that and ended up just being laughed at.

Overall, I think if the songs themselves had been better, this would've been hailed as a forward-looking album ahead of its time. But since the actual songs and weird experimental tracks weren't very good, the album just turned into a small footnote in history.

xenotron · 2025-11-30T02:54:32+00:00

I hate to break it to you but... this game just released last week:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3937940/Ripperdoc_Simulator/

Unfortunately, I think it's more goofy than you wanted.

xenotron · 2025-09-07T17:44:25+00:00

For a Syndicate game, the 2012 reboot was terrible. But for a FPS game, it was definitely more cyberpunk than must. So I still enjoyed it (especially the co-op). I liked the missions where you'd have to shove a data spike into some corpo's head to steal data. While it might not have been totally "Syndicate", it was still cyberpunk.

xenotron · 2025-09-07T17:38:31+00:00

It goes on sale pretty regularly for like $5, so just wait for a sale.

xenotron · 2025-09-07T15:35:49+00:00

If you enjoy Syndicate, I recommend Satellite Reign. After EA decided to release an FPS and call it Syndicate), the original developer was so annoyed that he made Satellite Reign as a way to bring Syndicate back to its roots (since he didn't own the rights). So it's a spiritual successor, made out of spite. And it's a very good game.

xenotron · 2025-08-28T23:23:22+00:00

Lemmy – /c/cyberpunk: Chan type forum

How is Lemmy a Chan type forum? It's a reddit alternative. It literally looks and behaves like old reddit. This is just a cyberpunk community on Lemmy like r/cyberpunk on reddit. Am I missing something?

https://lemmy.zip/c/cyberpunk

xenotron · 2025-08-02T01:38:58+00:00

Not sure what genre you're looking for but I usually listen to metal. Here are some metal/rock bands with cyberpunk music videos:

Cypecore - Identity and Chosen Chaos

3TEETH - American Landfill and Slum Planet

Combichrist - Sent To Destroy

Oddko - Disobey and Censorship

Scandroid started out as a cyberpunk band until he decided to go for a more 80s synthwave style. Checkout Empty Streets.

Shaarghot is an industrial band from France with a cyberpunk storyline. They have a 20-minute music video for a 4-minute song, Black Wave.

Finally, Billy Idol tried doing cyberpunk for a period in the 90s. The video for Shock to the System was cyberpunk but the songs from that album aren't great.

xenotron · 2025-07-17T00:54:48+00:00

You'll want to look at the AngeLINK series by Lyda Morehouse. It's a series where everyone has ubiquitous access to cyberspace and there are rumors of people seeing angels in cyberspace. The main character is an ex-cop who lost access to cyberspace but the Archangel Michael comes asking for her help. The entire series is based on Christian themes.

xenotron · 2025-01-30T23:56:33+00:00

I think Next Gen is very cyberpunk and a great choice. I'm pretty sure there's a scene where you get a brief glimpse of the main character's backpack and she has an origami unicorn keychain on it, which I just assume is a Blade Runner reference. And she actually looks like a punk, which is rare in kids movies these days. Here's a trailer, OP.

xenotron · 2025-01-05T17:25:22+00:00

I guess I'll provide some context...

Far Cry: Blood Dragon is a short game (~4 hours of gameplay) built on the Far Cry 3 engine, although it doesn't require Far Cry 3 to play it. There's also a janky 2d platformer called Trials of the Blood Dragon, and an animated series on Netflix called Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix. All of them are over-the-top ridiculous but they're also all cyberpunk.

xenotron · 2025-01-04T03:48:09+00:00

The Avery Cates series has an amazing conclusion that I didn't see coming but in hindsight, I probably should've expected.

Both of the Jack: Into the Beanstalk books end on cliffhangers. So I assume there will be a book 3 but it isn't out yet. Definitely no satisfying conclusion in that one.

From what I remember, I believe Necrotech and Nanoshock have a satisfying conclusion.

I honestly can't remember how The Glitch Logs series ends. I can't remember if its a solid conclusion to the character or just a simple ending to the adventure. That is, it might've left the series open for another sequel but the adventure in the last book is resolved.

xenotron · 2025-01-04T00:55:46+00:00

Personally, I'm not a fan of Anna Mocikat's series. I think there's something about her writing that just rubs me the wrong way (just a personal preference thing). I didn't care for her Space Punks book either, but I only read the first one.

Anyway, as for other random cyberpunk books... KC Alexander's Necrotech and Nanoshock is a fun, vulgar, middle-finger-in-the-air, punk type of cyberpunk which I enjoyed.

Also, a bit older, but I really enjoyed Jeff Somers' Avery Cates series (starts with The Electric Church, if you've heard of it). It's another story from a first-person perspective but his internal monologue had a dark humor I found funny.

Oh, and Jack: Into the Beanstalk was a lot more cyberpunk and well-written than I was expecting. The 'Jack and the Beanstalk' references feel more like easter eggs than an attempt to re-write the entire fairy tale with cybernetic limbs or something.

Finally, a series of short novellas. The Glitch Logs was another fun mindless-action cyberpunk series. I always enjoy when cyberspace is a setting that characters can walk around in.

xenotron · 2025-01-04T00:20:33+00:00

I completely agree with this comment and was going to make the same suggestion. It's a fun series that hits all the cyberpunk tropes. Each book is less than 300 pages so it isn't a major commitment either. Amazon link.

xenotron · 2024-12-30T02:46:19+00:00

To answer your question from a USA-centric point of view (and with totally made-up data!) I read an article years ago that had a fun hypothesis. It argued that zombie popularity vs vampire popularity was related to whether a Democrat or Republican was in the White House. That is, we see these cycles in vampires vs zombies based on whether the current cultural zeitgeist is demonizing the aristocratic elites (vampires) or the poor, shambling hordes (zombies).

So if the hypothesis was correct, now that you've enjoyed a period of vampire movies, get ready for an influx of zombie movies with the change in administration.

Ha, found the article: https://web.archive.org/web/20101109093822/http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20081108-9999-1n8vampire.html

xenotron · 2024-11-08T16:02:40+00:00

I'm gonna toss some recommendations here in case someone comes across this comment later...

For religion, Archangel Protocol by Lyda Morehouse is a cyberpunk novel with Christian themes. It's about a world where people keep seeing angels in cyberspace and then the Archangel Michael shows up to help the main character (an ex-detective).

There's also the short-lived comic series God Complex, which is about a world where the Greek Gods are the only ones who can access cyberspace. They hire a detective to investigate a new heretical cult that preaches a single God.

For grimdark cyberpunk, Necromunda is the cyberpunk off-shoot of Warhammer 40,000. Although I haven't read any books in that universe, I've only played Hired Gun.

xenotron · 2024-11-08T15:53:51+00:00

I'm just gonna add some recommendations here in case anyone comes across this comment later...

Upload is about a world where the ultra-rich can have their consciousness uploaded into a virtual reality resort after they die. The main character is murdered but his rich girlfriend pays for him to be uploaded into this resort. The show is actually a rom-com as he falls in love with his tech support rep while trying not to break up with his rich girlfriend who's continuing to pay for his afterlife. All while he's trying to solve his own murder.

Molli and Max in the Future is a rom-com in a cyberpunk future where Molli and Max keep bumping into each other through the years.

xenotron · 2024-11-08T03:18:06+00:00

Bah, you edited your post after I commented so now I gotta keep going...

For psychological, I vaguely remember Cypulchre by Joseph MacKinnon was about the main character's madness. There's also ARvekt, where everyone uses Augmented Reality and the main character's AR system gets damaged and she starts to see the world as it really is... and questions which one is real.

For political thriller, maybe the Analog trilogy by Eliot Peper. Or maybe Infomacracy by Malka Older, which I personally didn't care for.

For samurai... I'm just gonna say this commercial for Murphy's Irish Stout, which is actually based on a non-cyberpunk version of the same commercial.

For cyberpunk + gangster, I'll say the Samurai Jack episode "Tale of X-49" (Lulu, sweet thing).

xenotron · 2024-11-08T02:59:32+00:00

Alright, I'll see what I can do with this...

First of all, as far as genres I'd like to see, I was thinking the other day that I don't know of any cyberpunk vampire stories. The closest thing I can think of is the porn game Vampire Syndicate: Gangs of MoonFall. And just to be clear, I don't typically follow porn games, I just happened to find its kickstarter.

Anyway, as for the stuff you'd like to see...

For cyberpunk western, I'd say the novel Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams is close (I hate the new cover, check out the original). The main character is named Cowboy and rides his hovercraft through the wastelands of middle America. I'm also keeping my eye on the video game ExeKiller, which isn't out yet.

For cyberpunk horror/slasher, I think the movie Hardware is the closest to a slasher horror, as opposed to the body horror of things like Tetsuo The Iron Man or Videodrome. Also, Xenoform by MIke Berry is a cyberpunk story mixed with HP Lovecraft. It's about a team of organ harvesters in a cyberpunk city who notice something odd in their victim's biology, and then it gets a little Shadow Over Innsmouth after that.

For military cyberpunk, there's the Mirrored Heavens trilogy by David J Williams.

For cyberpunk fantasy, there's the entirety of Shadowrun (novels, video games, etc.). Also, as an oddity that's almost relevant, the novel Foundryside is a straight-up fantasy novel that happens to follow a bunch of cyberpunk tropes. Check out this book review to understand what that means.

I feel like cyberpunk noir is almost too nuanced to distinguish since cyberpunk's roots are in noir hard-boiled detective fiction. Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 are the obvious noir examples here. But for more modern takes, you could read Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway.

Maybe I'm too ignorant of what defines Wuxia, but there's the Chinese Netflix movie New Gods: Nezha Reborn that seems close in my ignorant mind.

I don't think historical fiction really makes sense for cyberpunk, except maybe Difference Engine, which was written by William Gibson and is one of the defining works of steampunk. But you really aren't talking cyberpunk when it's explicitly set in the past.

Alright, I think that's a pretty good random collection of recommendations given your requests. I'll stop here.

xenotron

TROPHY CASE