I’ve written a big ol’ 6,000 word essay entitled Metal Machine Movies: The Lasting Influence of Heavy Metal and Métal Hurlant on Blade Runner and the Science Fiction Cinema of Ridley Scott for a rather terrific new book entitled The Cyberpunk Nexus: Exploring the Blade Runner Universe. It features a veritable plethora of insightful essays about the original Blade Runner movie and its sequel, Blade Runner: 2049. If, like me, you love these films then the book is essential reading.

Here’s the blurb from publisher Sequart:

The Cyberpunk Nexus:
Exploring the Blade Runner Universe

Edited by Lou Tambone and Joe Bongiorno
Foreword by Paul M. Sammon

Essays by Mike Beidler, Jean-Francois Boivin, Joe Bongiorno, R. Lee Brown, Robert Meyer Burnett, Nathan Butler, Bryce Carlson, Julian Darius, Ian Dawe, Joseph Dilworth Jr., Mario A. Escamilla, Kelli Fitzpatrick, Sabrina Fried, Rich Handley, Zaki Hasan, Stephen Slaughter Head, Tom Lennon, Bentley Ousley, Nelson W. Pyles, Brian Robinson, Paul J. Salamoff, Leah Schade, Timothy Shanahan, and Lou Tambone

Cover by Matt Busch

In 1982, a new benchmark was set for science-fiction film with the release of Blade Runner. Based on the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by the acclaimed novelist Philip K. Dick and directed by Ridley Scott, Blade Runner was a visual and philosophical tour-de-force, set in a dystopian future in which artificially intelligent replicants, nearly indistinguishable from humans, are hunted down by police-operatives known as Blade Runners. Featuring the talents of Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Joanna Cassidy, Edward James Olmos, and Darryl Hannah, the film tackled numerous themes and birthed controversies that have been poured over by fans and critics ever since. Blade Runner has also inspired literary and comic-book spin-offs, and a cinematic sequel released in 2017.

The Cyberpunk Nexus: Exploring the Blade Runner Universe examines the entire Blade Runner saga, from the original novel to its numerous film iterations. The book features a foreword by Paul M. Sammon (Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner).

The book’s available now from Amazon in paperback and Kindle.