Pretty Boy Crossover

'''Cadigan, Pat. "Pretty Boy Crossover."''' 1985. The 1987 Annual World's Best SF. Donald A. Wollheim, ed. New York: DAW, 1987.

Cited and briefly discussed by V. Hollinger, as presenting a world in which everyday reality isn't as efficient as "computerized simulation, and video stars are literally video programs" — pure information (see under Literary Criticism, V. Hollinger, "Cybernetic Deconstructions: Cyberpunk and Postmodernism" 36).

Discussed by Karen Cadora in "Feminist Cyberpunk," significantly for themes of embodiment and immortality, and perhaps ontological questions on the nature of reality: "The proliferation of human consciousness in cyberspace takes reality beyond the limits of embodied existence. Immortality becomes possible in electronic realms. The title character of Cadigan's [...] 'Pretty Boy Crossover' (1987) is offered the chance to 'live as sentient information' (111). Ultimately unwilling to 'cross over,' the Pretty Boy resists of temptation of this "exalted" and eternal electronic existence (112)" (Cadora p. 367). Cf. and contrast such works as The Boy Who Would Live Forever, where digital immortality is chosen.

Expanded RDE, 16May19