ISBN ? (US hbk),,, 0-340-67201-3 (UK hbk),,, ? (UK pbk)

Acknowledgments by Mark Dery;

Introduction: Escape Velocity;

"Turn On, Boot Up, Jack In: Cyberdelia",

"Metal Machine Music: Cyberpunk Meets the Black Leather Synth-Rockers",

"Waging a Tinkerer's War: Mechanical Spectacle",

"Ritual Mechanics: Cybernetic Body Art",

"RoboCopulation: Sex Times Technology Equals the Future",

"Cyborging the Body Politic: Obsolete Bodies and Posthuman Beings";

A Comment on Sources ;
Notes ;
Index .

"An unforgettable journey into the heart of the information age, Escape Velocity explores the high-tech subcultures that both celebrate and critique our wired world: cyberpunks, cyber-hippies, techno-pagans, metal machine musicians, and rogue technologists to name a few.

"The computer revolution has given rise to a digital underground -- an Information Age counterculture whose members are using cutting-edge technology in ways never intended by its manufacturers. In neon-lit, laser-etched prose, Mark Dery takes us on an exhilarating tour of this high-tech underground. We meet would be cyborgs who believe the body is obsolete and dream of downloading their minds into computers; cyber-hippies who boost their brain power with smart drugs and mind machines; on-line swingers seeking cybersex on electronic bulletin boards; and cyberpunk roboticists such as Survival Research Laboratories, whose Mad Max contraptions duel to the death before howling crowds.

"Exploring the shadowy byways of cyberculture, we catch glimpses of the future in William Gibson's novels and in the songs of Nine Inch Nails, whose cyber-rock is haunted by a fear of devouring machines. Guiding us expertly through the silicon underground, Dery poses the key end-of-the-century question: Will the new technologies liberate us or enslave us in our emerging digital world?

"A high-voltage jolt for even the most jaded of information junkies, Escape Velocity stands alone as the first truly critical enquiry into cyberculture. Timely, trenchant and provocative, it is essential reading for everyone interested in computer culture and the shape of things to come." [jacket blurb, UK hbk, 1996]

"Escape Velocity is without doubt the best guide I have read to the new computer culture that will soon dominate our lives. Mark Dery is witty and provocative, but always sane and thoughtful. As he shows, the cyber-crazies are already circling around us... Escape Velocity will help to keep them in our sights." --J.G.Ballard.

"Escape Velocity is extraordinary...stimulating, perceptive, and one hell of a lot of fun." --Pat Cadigan.

"Dery's writing evinces a love of language and a clarity of meaning that is rarely brought to these subjects." --R.U.Sirius.

"This book could be subtitled: 'Everything you've wanted to know about the future, but were afraid to ask'.

"Escape Velocity is a chronicle of the emergent cyberculture... a hypertext document about life on the edge. Every noun a potential link to deeper levels." --Henry W.Targowski (in Mark/Space , 1996).

Highly recommended.