- Hackers (anthology)
infobox Book |
name = Hackers
title_orig =
translator =
image_caption = Original paperback cover.
author = Edited byJack Dann andGardner Dozois
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country =United States
language = English
series =Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois Ace anthology series
genre =Science fiction anthology
publisher =Ace Books
release_date = 1996
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Paperback )
pages = 256 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-441-00375-3
preceded_by = Dinosaurs II
followed_by = Timegates"Hackers" (ISBN 0-441-00375-3) is an
anthology of short stories edited byJack Dann andGardner Dozois . It contains stories by notedscience fiction andcyberpunk writers of the late 1980s and early 1990s about hackers."Burning Chrome"
This story was written by
William Gibson and was first published in "Omni" in 1982. It tells the story of two hackers who hack systems for profit. The two main characters are Bobby Quine who specializes in software and Automatic Jack whose field is hardware. A third character in the story is Rikki, a girl with whom Bobby becomes infatuated and for whom he wants to hit it big. Automatic Jack acquires a piece ofRussia nhacking software that is very sophisticated and hard to trace. The rest of the story unfolds with Bobby deciding to break into the system of a notorious and vicious criminal called Chrome, who handles money transfers fororganized crime , and Automatic Jack reluctantly agreeing to help. One line from this story — "...the street finds its own uses for things" — has become a widely-quoted aphorism for describing the sometimes unexpected uses to which users can put technologies (for example,hip-hop DJ s' reinvention of the turntable, which transformed turntables from a medium of playback into one of production). The Finn, a recurring character in Gibson'sSprawl trilogy of novels, makes his first appearance in this story as a minor figure. The events of the story are referenced in "Count Zero ", the second entry of the Sprawl trilogy.The word
Cyberspace , coined by Gibson, was first used in this story.This story and "Dogfight" were later published in a collection of William Gibson short stories, also titled "
Burning Chrome ".The story functioned as a conceptual protoype for Gibson's
Sprawl trilogy of novels. [cite book | pages=p.83 |last = Wills | first = David | title = Prosthesis | publisher = Stanford University Press | location = Stanford | year = 1995 | isbn = 0804724598 ]"Spirit of the Night"
This story was written by
Tom Maddox , and was first published in "Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine " in 1987. This is the story of a man whose wife is kidnapped during a business dealing about bio computers. The man then finds out that his wife's electronic records have disappeared. Bound by his wife's love, he plunges back to his hacker days to track his wife's abductor, and even enlists the help of his old college hacking master. Thinking originally that it was the company involved in the business deal, he blackmails them, but then finds out that something else may be behind the ordeal."Blood Sisters"
This story was written by
Greg Egan , and was first published in "Interzone 44 " in 1991. Two twin sisters in the near future find themselves in the middle of a world where a virus evolved through mutation and natural selection as part of biological warfare research has escaped. Both sisters become infected with a version of the virus, but only one of them survives. The surviving sister uses her hacking skills to find out the reason behind her sister's death, exact revenge and inform the public."Rock On"
This story was written by
Pat Cadigan , and was first published in "Light Years and Dark " in 1984. This story takes place in a post-modern world where Rock and Roll is about to become extinct. Bands of the time have to use "sinners" (i.e. Synthesizer), or people who have experienced Rock and Roll in person, in order to realize their music. This is the story of one such sinner."The Pardoner's Tale"
This story was written by
Robert Silverberg and was first published in "Playboy " in 1987. In the future, an alien species has colonized the Earth and used the humans' own information infrastructure to control them through their in-body implants. Hackers have become valuable because they can exploit the system. Some hackers have become known as pardoners because they can arrange for people to escape the aliens' sentences in exchange for profit. The story focuses on one of the best pardoners. He is bested in a hacking duel only to find out that his opponent is an android. The pardoner faces a mistake he made in his past and finds a way to escape by hacking the alien mainframe with the help of a woman he had swindled."Living Will"
This story was written by
Alexander Jablokov and was first published in "Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine " in June 1991.A man inflicted withAlzheimer's disease programs his personality into a computer, and enlists the machine's help for his final wish."Dogfight"
This story was written by
Michael Swanwick andWilliam Gibson , and was first published in "Omni" in 1985. A lonely ex-shoplifter who suffers from a neural block preventing him from returning to his hometown ofWashington, D.C. , finds a female friend, whose parents have set a neural block on her to protect hervirginity – a sort of a mentalchastity belt . He becomes enthralled by a new video game – "Fokker s & Spads" – where he engages indogfight s as aWorld War I fighter pilot and, with help from his female friend (a gifted hacker of both hardware and software) becomes one of the best fighters. To beat the very best fighter, though, he betrays and hurts his newfound friend only to find himself alone again after his victory over the crippled war-veteran Tiny.The story is typical of the cyberpunk genre in that its mood never rises from the melancholy and that the protagonist ends up suffering a kind of
Pyrrhic victory , realizing too late that succeeding in his endeavor (i.e. winning the game) is actually worthless. As infilm noir , the theme ofbetrayal exists strongly in the tale, as the protagonist sacrifices everything around him to succeed."Our Neural Chernobyl"
This story was written by
Bruce Sterling , and was first published in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction " in 1988. In a bizarre future, free fromAIDS and genetic diseases, everyone can be a humangenome hacker. One such hacker/scientist, while trying to find a way for the human body to become a cocaine-producing factory, engineers a virus that enriches the dendritic connections of mammalian brains. This virus seems to produce eccentric, absent-minded geniuses, but most humans are apparently immune to this neuralChernobyl (though the reader should be aware of the possibility of anunreliable narrator ). Instead, it is animals that suffer the most obvious changes as a result of this virus, leading to more intelligent dogs and cats, as well as a culturally-awareraccoon society."(Learning About) Machine Sex"
This story was written by
Candas Jane Dorsey , and was first published in "Machine Sex and Other Stories " in 1988. A young female hacker, coming to terms with her own sexuality, invents "wet-ware": software and hardware that can plug into the human body, and has the ability to sexually stimulate men."Conversations with Michael"
This story was written by
Daniel Marcus , and was first published in "Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine " in 1994. A couple is faced with having to deal with the loss of their child due to a partial nuclear meltdown. The mother comes to terms with the loss by having conversations with her son in a virtual reality setting, at first assisted by an analyst and then on her own. The father cannot come to terms with the loss of his son, and instead immerses himself in virtual reality almost completely, disregarding even his own health."Gene Wars"
This story was written by
Paul J. McAuley , and was first published in "Interzone 48 " in 1991. The story tells of the progress that humanity makes by hacking genes. It originally starts with companies using their power and knowledge to profit by introducing stronger crops and presenting a cure forHIV , but then it progresses into a genetic war as people and countries make use of these new genes without licensing them from the companies that made them. The story's main character is Evan, who finds himself in the middle of the gene wars immediately after graduating with a degree in molecular genetics. He becomes deeply involved in his company's business, but is eventually infected with aTrojan horse that removes the loyalty genes the companies had put into him. Evan makes a cure for HIV available and eventually brings about a fundamental change in genetics that allows people to change and shape their own bodies. No one has to die anymore and some people, "greens", even choose to get all their sustenance from the sun. In a telling quote from the story Evan says, "I remember when you knew what a human being was, I suppose I'm old-fashioned, but there it is.""Spew"
This story was written by
Neal Stephenson , and was first published in "Wired" in 1994. [ [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.10/spew.html "Spew"] as it appeared in Wired magazine 1994] The story is presented in the form of a letter from the main character, Stark, to a femalecypherpunk whom he meets in the course of his work. In the story, most information and media channels are hooked together in something called the Spew. This is a version of today's Internet, except it congregates all sorts of information (from credit card transactions, to security camera feeds). It is possible to profile people in a most complete way because the Spew was allowed by the government to be insecure. Stark is hired as a Profile Auditor, someone who tracks other people and their profiles in the Spew in order to track consumer trends. He does this inside the Demosphere, or in DemoTainment Space, which is avirtual reality representation of the Spew. He comes across a woman whose profile seems "too normal" and discovers that she is a cypherpunk, using the Spew to her own advantage without being tracked."Tangents"
This story was written by
Greg Bear , and was first published in "Omni" in 1986. Pal Tremont, aKorea n boy who likes classical music, is adopted by an American family and comes into the life of Peter Tuthy and writer Lauren Davies. Peter is a mathematician and computer hacker (seemingly based in part onAlan Turing ) who is very interested in 4-dimensional space (4-D). Lauren wants Pal to help her with her writings, but Pal is more useful to Peter as he can easily visualize 4-D space. Pal is able to see a whole new world, inhabited by 4-D beings and is even able to play 4-D music for them. The beings eventually make contact and take Pal and Peter into their own world.References
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