When asked , during a 2005 interview , " Why was your book Cyberpunk never published when you sold it to a publisher in 1989 ? " Bruce replied , " Ah , well , hindsight is 20/20 . The book was never released because the publisher hated the ending and I refused to rewrite it . What the publisher wanted me to write was a " Frazetta cover " ending ; you know , the hero , center stage , with a mighty weapon in his hands , a cowering half-naked babe at his feet , and the blood-smeared corpses of his many enemies piled high all around . To get to this ending I would have had to end the book with the lead character committing a massacre inside a school — which is what the publisher specifically asked me to write — but even 10 years before Columbine , I found that idea utterly revolting . So I refused to write it . Perhaps the publisher was right . Perhaps the book would have sold well with a blood-soaked adolescent revenge fantasy ending . But sales are n't everything . " Bruce Bethke won the Philip K. Dick Award for SF original paperback published in the US
Columbine
Columbine High School massacre
Bruce Bethke