Welcome to Mona Lisa Overpod, the show that asks the question "What is cyberpunk?" On each episode, hosts Ka1iban and author Lyda Morehouse dive into the genre that helped define sci-fi fiction in '80s and they break down its themes which remain relevant to our lives in the 21st century. Pull on your mirrorshades, jack into the matrix, and start your run with us today!

The worlds of cyberpunk stories provide their characters the ability to be whoever they want to be, freed from the prison of biology by body modification technology and virtual experiences. But the origin and first steps of the publishing reality of cyberpunk were primarily filtered through the pens of white, male, and straight authors. How has the future of cyberpunk kept pace with our present in the representation of queer bodies in the 21st century? And is there something intrinsic about cyberpunk fiction that mirrors the LGBT+ experience?

In this episode, we discuss the "queerness" of cyberpunk fiction in all its forms, and we try to set the table for an ongoing examination of the evolution of LGBT+ representation in cyberpunk, both on the page and behind the pen. We also talk about whalepunk, identity vs. sexuality, the seeming inherent machismo of cyberpunk protagonists, the influence of LGBT writers on early cyberpunk scribes, gay characters as signifiers of "danger", the liminal spaces of cyberpunk, the marginalized fans of sci-fi, quantum computing is gay computing, the absence of trans protagonists, Glen or Gren?, the false "essentialism" of the body in cyberpunk, stanning for Switch, the triumph of the mind over the meat, and Pride Month in Night City!

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