Although he is often introduced as one of the original defenders of a fusion between "cyber" and "punk" sensibilities, to a 90s sci-fi reader, Rudy Rucker might appear more like an apologist for the sensibilities and lifestyle of "grungers." His narrative style in Software is easily differentiated from more formal sci-fi writers, like Isaac Asimov, by his gritty and corporeal vocabulary. Words like "wavy" and "wiggly" are suggestive of physical sensations that jump from character to reader. The liberal use of such words in the text tie the reader to Rucker's motley crew of characters, which includes "pheezers," drug-addicts, cops, and robots. In the following passage, one of Rucker's heroes, Sta-Hi, is too high for comfort after having dropped acid:
"Wiggly," Sta-Hi murmured to himself, reflexively, "Stuzzy. And this too. And this too." And two three? He felt sick, sick bad. A vortex sensation at the pit of his stomach. Fat stomach, layered with oil pools, decayed dinosaur meat, nodules of yellow chicken fat. The ocean breeze pushed a lank, greasy strand of hair down into Sta-Hi's eye (Rucker 16).The short staccato clauses and sentences comprising Sta-Hi's thoughts each communicate new sensations to the reader. Things feel "wiggly" and "stuzzy." Sta-Hi feels bad in the pit of his stomach. Then he sees pools of oil on his skin. And yellow fat under his skin. His skin seems to be decaying like rotting meat. The sensations are all closely tied to parts of his body -- namely his stomach, skin, and hair -- and the emphasis is on how that body feels or how it looks. Finally, the repetition of "And this too" is suggestive of a spinning sensation that likely has something to do with the effects of the drugs. The related but discontinuous third thought -- "And two three?" -- suggests a dizziness on top of this spinning. Slightly randomized, associative thoughts are occurring almost too rapidly for Sta-Hi's spaced-out brain. The passage as a whole, like much of the rest of Software, offers highly descriptive writing that connects the reader to the grungy bodies and lifestyles of different characters. This connection, while gritty, is rather enticing because it enables the reader to experience intense sensations or emotions vicariously.
Apart from his choice of words, Rucker also makes his grungy characters enticing through his use of humor. Software is littered with snappy one-liners that show even Rucker's most hygienically-challenged characters to be intellectually sharp . In an exchange between Cobb and Mr. Frostee, Cobb humorously sums up the "big boppers" failure to understand the immorality of murder. Cobb is an aging bopper designer who has become a robot himself and Mr. Frostee is his big bopper partner-in-crime disguised as an ice-cream truck. In the exchange, they are discussing a gas station worker who seems too curious about the Mr. Frostee truck:
"I think you should kill him and eat his brain," Mr. Frostee said quickly.The brevity of such clever retorts meshes well with Rucker's sensory and grungy writing style. Sharp bursts of rapid-fire humor are mixed with the gritty vocabulary and realistic physical sensations of different, intriguing characters.
"That's not the answer to every problem in interpersonal relations," Cobb said, hopping out (Rucker 145).
Finally, physical sensations and rapid-fire humor are put together in Software's short, flashy chapters. Told from a variety of perspectives, these chapters share a similar descriptiveness and humor that make them intense and exciting. A particularly intense chapter is Sta-Hi's encounter with the "Little Kidders" serial killers. It begins with Sta-Hi awaking from his drug-induced slumber with the Kidders preparing to cut off his skull in order to feast on his brain. The whine of a variable buzz saw, an sharp pain above his eyebrow, and the smell of his own singed flesh spur Sta-Hi into a frenzied attempt to free himself from his shackles (Rucker 33). The chapter ends with Sta-Hi losing consciousness as the Kidder's hideout is raided by police. Like others in the book, this chapter is equivalent to sharing all of a character's physical sensations and experiences from consciousness to loss-of-consciousness. Software is a plot driven novel, but the plot is told from a variety of fresh perspectives which hold the reader's interest. Coupled with Rucker's witty and realistic writing style, these fresh perspectives help to create a counterculture that is simultaneously gritty and seductive.