Chimera

Rosenblum, Mary. Chimera. New York: Del Rey, 1993.

Cyberpunk story of a male virtual-reality artist on the Net, his male partner, and Jewel, who "escaped the violent, dirt-poor 'burbs by becoming a medical aide" and was "determined to make it as a VR deal-broker in the economic network that spanned the world," or at least two worlds: "the Net" and "fleshworld" (Fantastic Fiction website entry, which we quote here).[1]

Discussed in Karen Cadora's "Feminist Cyberpunk" (p. 359, 362-63), who notes the novel's undercutting of cyberpunk's frequent masculinist (heterosexist) constructions with "The appearance of explicit homoeroticism" (Cadora p.363). In Chimera, the cyberspace "matrix is explicitly identified with the male body. David, a cyberspace artist, it 'netted,' which means that he is covered, from head to toe with electronic fibers that allow him to utilize his sense of touch in the Net. He is, essentially, in constant physical contact with virtual reality [VR]" (Cadora 362). Note for imagery of both confinement and entrapment — the netted image going back to classic Greek tragedy[2] and beyond — and freedom within the Net.

(Historical comment: Since Cadora's 1995 essay, a company named "Constant Contact" has been spawned, allowing large scale commercial near-"constant [... virtual] contact" via e-mail and probably other social media.[3] — RDE)

RDE, Initial Compiler, 15/16May19