Neuromancer

The next-generation cyberpunk novel — where Gibson is noir and atmospheric, Stephenson is satirical and kinetic. Snow Crash made cyberspace social; Gibson made it existential.

The predecessor — Dick's androids raise the same questions about consciousness and authenticity that Gibson's AIs do, but Dick is metaphysical where Gibson is material.

The origin of the 'created intelligence' narrative. Shelley's creature wanted love; Gibson's AIs want completion. Both novels ask what the creator owes the created.

Gibson's direct prose ancestor — the hardboiled voice, the corrupt landscape, the cynical protagonist navigating systems of power. Marlowe walked mean streets; Case jacks into mean data.

The paranoid systems novel that cyberpunk inherited — Pynchon's vast conspiratorial networks of technology and power prefigure Gibson's matrix, but Pynchon is denser and more chaotic.

The visual twin — released two years before Neuromancer, Blade Runner shares the rain-soaked neon aesthetic and questions about artificial consciousness. Gibson nearly abandoned his novel after seeing it.