Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology was published by Arbor House in 1986, edited by Sterling. The book is cyberpunk’s founding document — not because it invented the movement (which had been developing since the early 1980s) but because it collected its practitioners, defined its aesthetics, and provided its manifesto in Sterling’s combative preface.
Sterling’s introduction is as important as the stories: it defines cyberpunk as the “Movement” — a self-conscious literary tendency characterized by “the overlapping of worlds that were formerly separate: the realm of high tech, and the modern pop underground.” The “mirrorshades” of the title are the movement’s emblem: reflective surfaces that hide the wearer’s eyes while reflecting the world back at itself.
The stories include Gibson’s “The Gernsback Continuum,” Rudy Rucker’s “Tales of Houdini,” Pat Cadigan’s “Rock On,” Lewis Shiner’s “Till Human Voices Wake Us,” John Shirley’s “Freezone,” Tom Maddox’s “Snake-Eyes,” and Sterling’s own “Green Days in Brunei.” Together they demonstrate cyberpunk’s range: not just hackers-and-corporations but a broader attention to how technology transforms culture, identity, and power.
Collecting Mirrorshades
First edition (Arbor House, New York, 1986): Hardcover with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $60–$150
- Very good/very good: $25–$60
- Ace paperback: $10–$25