Tea from an Empty Cup
"How can you drink tea from an empty cup?"
That ancient Zen riddle holds the key to a baffling mystery: a young man found with his throat slashed while locked alone in a virtual reality parlor.
The secret of this enigmatic death lies in an apocalyptic cyberspace shadow-world where nothing is certain, and even one's own identity can change in an instant.
Pat Cadigan
Pat Cadigan (born 1953) is an American-born science fiction author, who emigrated to England in 1996. Her work is described as part of the cyberpunk movement. Her novels and stories all share a common theme, exploring the relationship between the human mind and technology.
Pat Cadigan's first novel, Mindplayers (1987), introduces what becomes the common theme to all her works. Her stories blur the line between reality and perception by making the human mind a real and explorable place. Her second novel, Synners (1991), expands upon the same theme, and both feature a future where direct access to the mind via technology is possible. While her stories include many of the gritty, unvarnished characteristics of the cyberpunk genre, she further specializes in this exploration of the speculative relationship between technology and the perceptions of the human mind.
Artificial Reality
Artificial Reality consists of two books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.