A lot has happened in the year or so since I wrote this book. More than usually happens in a year. Thanks to technologies like the computer, the modem, interactive media, and the Internet, we no longer depend on printed matter or word of mouth to explore the latest rages, innovations, or discoveries. By the time a story hits the newstands, most insiders consider it "old news" and are already hard at work on the next flurry of culture-bending inventions and activities.

Cyberia is about a very special moment in our recent history -- a moment when anything seemed