# Is "Software" by Rudy Rucker a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Software by Rudy Rucker (Ace Books, 1982) is identified by: US Ace paperback original, 1982, in pictorial wrappers (Ace Science Fiction; ISBN 0-441-77408-3, Ace catalog 77408). The US Ace paperback original of 1982 is the true first; there was no preceding hardcover in any market.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- US Ace paperback original, 1982, in pictorial wrappers (Ace Science Fiction
- ISBN 0-441-77408-3, Ace catalog 77408)
- Being a wrappered paperback original there is no dust jacket; the price is printed on the cover
- First printing is identified in the usual Ace manner: the copyright page carries the printer's key / first-printing notation and, critically, no statement of a later printing
- Because Ace applied number lines inconsistently in this period, the reliable tell for the first printing is the absence of any added later-printing line on the copyright page
- Publisher imprint reads Ace Books
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Rudy Rucker |
| Publisher | Ace Books |
| Year | 1982 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | US Ace paperback original, 1982, in pictorial wrappers (Ace Science Fiction |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
US Ace paperback original, 1982, in pictorial wrappers (Ace Science Fiction; ISBN 0-441-77408-3, Ace catalog 77408). Being a wrappered paperback original there is no dust jacket; the price is printed on the cover. First printing is identified in the usual Ace manner: the copyright page carries the printer's key / first-printing notation and, critically, no statement of a later printing. Because Ace applied number lines inconsistently in this period, the reliable tell for the first printing is the absence of any added later-printing line on the copyright page.

## Is this the true first?
The US Ace paperback original of 1982 is the true first; there was no preceding hardcover in any market. Software was a co-winner of the inaugural Philip K. Dick Award (for the 1982 publication year, presented 1983). It is the first volume of Rucker's Ware tetralogy.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
As a paperback original there is no book-club edition. Later Avon/Eos printings and the collected 'Ware Tetralogy' omnibus are reprints or 'first thus,' not the true first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Software* by Rudy Rucker a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/software
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.