Burning Chrome by William Gibson. 1986
Burning Chrome is rated 90%.
1 great / 7 good / 2 average / 0 poor.
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Burning Chrome is a collection of 10 short stories by Cyberpunk Master William Gibson. It includes many of his most famous stories: including Johnny Mnemonic, Gernsback Continuum, Belonging Kind, and Burning Chrome. These are tightly written adventures jam-packed with science fiction invention. The style of writing is tense, crisp, and clear and definitely pulls you into the world of these tales. If there is anything to complain about, it is that Gibson has been so influential in the genre that many of these don’t impress upon the reader the originality that they held upon publication.
Burning Chrome is rated 90%.
1 great / 7 good / 2 average / 0 poor. How do I arrive at a rating?
Johnny Mnemonic.
Great. This is probably the best story in the collection. Far superior to the awful film of the same title. The story crackles with excitement, razor sharp writing, and lots of speculation about the future. It is great first cyberpunk story for any reader as you follow Johnny with a secret trapped in his brain that he can’t access and many people want to kill him for.
The Gernsback Continuum
Good. A fantasy fable of science fiction’s past as Hugo-Gernsback-era design bleeds enticingly into the present world.
Fragments of a Hologram Rose
Average. A little scattershot as the main character reminisces about a girl he knew
The Belonging Kind. By John Shirley and William Gibson
Good. A dreamlike fantasy story as a man follows a mysterious woman through a hypnotic cityscape.
Hinterlands
Good. Atmospheric tale of the horrible price of space exploration
Red Star, Winter Orbit. by Bruce Sterling and William Gibson
Average. Mutiny aboard a Soviet-controlled space station.
New Rose Hotel
Good. Enough invention here for another writer’s trilogy of novels. This is a crime story and spy story and a love story - within a complex cyberpunk world.
The Winter Market
Good. Another spectacular story. This one tells about a man who writes dreams in to VR entertainment and an artist genius of a \ woman at the end of her rope.
Dogfight. by Michael Swanwick and William Gibson
Good. The dogfights here are the airplanes of world wars past. A transient man with dreams of winning money from virtual dogfights meets a privileged college girl and begins a friendship. Visceral and heartbreaking.
Burning Chrome
Good. Another classic. A deep run in the Matrix against a brutal mob figure. A beautiful girl caught up in transhuman technological upgrades. Love, betrayal, and greed.
