9 Cyberpunk Stories Like Tron: Ares

Many thousands of years in the future, the human race has split into two warring factions: the aristocratic Mechanists, who believe that humans must meld themselves with technology to become their best selves; and the rebel Shapers who reject all "improvements" as abominations of humanity. In the middle of this forever war is Abelard Lindsay, a former Shaper diplomat and the child of Mechanists who was cast out of both groups. He just wants to look out for himself, but now he's the unwitting hero of a greater story that could unite humans beyond the stars... or destroy them forever.

In the far future, after a bloody war against the Umbrathane system, the Heliothane Dominion has become the dominant force in the solar system. But some of the Umbrathane have escaped into the distant past, where they can rewrite the course of history and undo their humiliating defeat. The most fanatical of them is the superhuman Cowl, who sends his terrifying hyperdimensional pet, the torbeast, through the timeline to hunt for human specimens. In our own near-future, Tack is a killer for hire who can be programmed by his bosses to kill. Now, he's up against Cowl and his creature, and humanity's very existence is at risk in this battle to the death.

Few books have defined the entire concept of the cyberpunk more than Neuromancer. It remains the first and only novel to win all three of the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the Philip K. Dick Award. Case is a low-level hustler who was once a legendary computer hacker, but after he was caught stealing from his boss, his brain was damaged, leaving him unable to access the matrix. He's offered a second chance in the form of a shady deal with a former military officer named Armitage. 

But there's a hitch: Case has been cured of his ailment but now he has a time-delayed poison lodged inside him. If he doesn't complete Armitage's mission, Case will die. Now, he has to pull off the heist to end all heists or pay the ultimate price.

Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel has been wildly influential on both literature and the world of computing. This is the book that popularized terms like "avatar" and "metaverse." After a worldwide economic collapse ushered in a new era of corporate rule across America, it’s become commonplace for people to have two lives: a real one and a fantastical one in the online world. Hiro Protagonist is a freelance hacker and pizza delivery driver for the mafia. In the metaverse, he is a warrior prince. He's offered a mysterious datafile named Snow Crash that seems to have the power to give its users brain damage. And someone wants to use it to bring down the metaverse. 

Probably better known to the world as the source material behind the sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner, Philip K. Dick’s classic novel is one of the most influential works in the entire sci-fi genre. War has left Earth with a radioactive atmosphere. Robots are now commonplace, both human and animal. Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter for the San Francisco Police Department, is assigned to "retire" six defective and defiant androids who have escaped from Mars and are hiding out on Earth. But how can you differentiate between the human and the synthetic in a world where these androids look, sound, and feel so real?

What does it mean to be human when you're part of the machine? Synners are people, not machines, but they're also synthesizing forces that take images from others' brains and turn them into something that can be packaged and sold. It's all synthetic, isn't it? Artificial reality can be addicted, and it can be infected. An outlaw group of hackers must find out the source of a new computer virus that threatens the destruction of both the real and unreal.

Four hundred years from now, mankind has broken free from Earth and has spread out across space, inhabiting what was once an ancient civilization discovered on Mars. The colonies are linked together by space journeys and data-casting. Human consciousness can be uploaded like a package and transported through the stars via bodies for hire. 

Takeshi Kovacs, a former convoy and now a criminal, has his consciousness downloaded into a new body as part of an offer be can't refuse. A suspicious billionaire wants Kovacs to find out who murdered his last body. The answer will reveal a dark conspiracy that could shake at the foundations of humanity's future.

Titus and his friends just wanted to go to a party on the moon during spring break. Then a crazed hacker broke into all of the always-online feeds implanted in their heads and sent them to the emergency ward with empty brains. While there, Titus meets Violet, a bright and rebellious teen who has decided to reject the feed. Everyone has the feed, but at what cost? Titus is about to find out how much of his identity has been tied to this device and what he risks by breaking free from the system.

In the future, the government is now a corporation and employees are defined by their jobs, taking on the surname of the company they work for. Hack Nike, a lowly merchandising officer, has been trapped into street cred debt for a new line of $2500 sneakers by shooting customers. Now, he's under the watchful eye of Jennifer Government, a corporate watchdog and agent of the governing forces with ruthless crime fighting powers. The only catch? She has to get the funding required before she can actually do anything. In this world, there's a price on everything.