Synners
by Pat Cadigan
Arthur C. Clarke Award winner 1992, Nebula Award nominee 1991.
In Synners, the line between technology and humanity is hopelessly slim. To be a Synner is to join the online hardcore, an outlaw band of hackers, simulation pirates, and reality synthesizers hooked on artificial reality and virtual space. Now you can change yourself to suit the machines - all it costs you is your freedom, and your humanity.
Synners shows us a world perilously close to our own. A constant stream of new technology spawns new crime before it hits the streets, and the human mind and the external landscape have fused to the point where any encounter with "reality" is incidental. Equal parts thrill-ride and cautionary tale, this classic novel by the Queen of Cyberpunk offers us a terrifying glimpse into the future of our race.
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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.
