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Sprawl #0
Burning Chrome
Ten tales, from the computer-enhanced hustlers of Johnny Mnemonic to the technofetishist blues of Burning Chrome.
Johnny Mnemonic (1981)
The Gernsback Continuum (1981)
Fragments of a Hologram Rose (1977)
The Belonging Kind (1981) with John Shirley
Hinterlands (1981)
Red Star, Winter Orbit (1983) with Bruce Sterling
New Rose Hotel (1984)
The Winter Market (1985)
Dogfight (1985) with Michael Swanwick
Burning Chrome (1982)
Johnny Mnemonic (1981)
The Gernsback Continuum (1981)
Fragments of a Hologram Rose (1977)
The Belonging Kind (1981) with John Shirley
Hinterlands (1981)
Red Star, Winter Orbit (1983) with Bruce Sterling
New Rose Hotel (1984)
The Winter Market (1985)
Dogfight (1985) with Michael Swanwick
Burning Chrome (1982)
32 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1986
About the author
William Gibson
224 books13.5k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
William Ford Gibson is an American-Canadian writer who has been called the father of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction, having coined the term cyberspace in 1982 and popularized it in his first novel, Neuromancer (1984), which has sold more than 6.5 million copies worldwide.
While his early writing took the form of short stories, Gibson has since written nine critically acclaimed novels (one in collaboration), contributed articles to several major publications, and has collaborated extensively with performance artists, filmmakers and musicians. His thought has been cited as an influence on science fiction authors, academia, cyberculture, and technology.
---------------------------------
William Gibson. (2007, October 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:30, October 19, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?t...
William Ford Gibson is an American-Canadian writer who has been called the father of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction, having coined the term cyberspace in 1982 and popularized it in his first novel, Neuromancer (1984), which has sold more than 6.5 million copies worldwide.
While his early writing took the form of short stories, Gibson has since written nine critically acclaimed novels (one in collaboration), contributed articles to several major publications, and has collaborated extensively with performance artists, filmmakers and musicians. His thought has been cited as an influence on science fiction authors, academia, cyberculture, and technology.
---------------------------------
William Gibson. (2007, October 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:30, October 19, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?t...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,179 reviews
June 8, 2018
Posted at Heradas
William Gibson blew the Science Fiction world wide open in the mid eighties with his cyberpunk novels, particularly the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick award winning Neuromancer. Ridley Scott gave us the visual aesthetic with Blade Runner, but Gibson firmly established Cyberpunk as a literary movement. As a genre it would go on to live a fairly short life, plateauing in the late eighties, followed by a handful of peak post-cyberpunk moments in the nineties (Snow Crash, Ghost in the Shell) culminating in The Matrix and then almost immediately fading into relative obscurity.
Burning Chrome collects Gibson’s short fiction, mostly published in OMNI magazine in the early eighties. Unlike a lot of short fiction collections, this one isn’t a totally mixed bag, most of the stories ranging from “good” to “great”. Three of them, (Johnny Mnemonic, New Rose Hotel, and Burning Chrome) are set in the same universe as Gibson’s Sprawl series (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive), with some of their characters and events mentioned or referenced in the main novels.
As a rambling aside, I was born in 1984, making me much too young to have experienced cyberpunk when it was new and revolutionary. When I read cyberpunk now, nearing the third decade of the twenty-first century, it’s hard to think of it as anything other than a form of retrofuturism. The technological tropes of the genre were one possible direction for things to head. In reality, they didn’t. Instead of the cumbersome and clunky virtual reality user interfaces, and “jacking in”, we went with the more boring, economical methods: a little white search box on a screen, and fingers on keys or key analogs. Just as space opera was written back before anybody knew the realities of space travel, cyberpunk was written before anyone knew the realities of the internet. All we knew was that it was going to change everything, no one knew how exactly.
There are of course still giant multinational evil corporations, another trope of the genre, but instead of inspiring monolithic dread, they have friendly, marketable faces. We all know that Amazon is terrible to their employees, and drives small businesses into the ground, but it’s just so.. convenient. We all know that our devices are made by slaves, but those new animated emoji are just so cute. In the twenty-first century we adore the giant evil corporation. We buy their devices to put in our homes and listen to our conversations, so it’ll be easier to order things with our voices. Convenience kills us, slowly but assuredly.
“It was hot, the night we burned Chrome.”
This current drowning-in-technology age has brought with it a sort of resurgence in, not specifically cyberpunk, but a more modern interpretation of its core theme: alienation among ubiquities connection. Being alone together. Television shows like Black Mirror embody this better than anything else currently around. There has also been a cyberpunk resurgence in pop culture, specifically music, visible primarily in the retrowave / synthwave / “outrun” genre of electronic music. Retrowave is a Baudrillardian simulacra of eighties electronic music usually created by those too young to have first-hand experience of eighties culture. It’s created with postmodern sensibilities, as an idea of what eighties culture could’ve been, not what it actually was. A sort of copy of a copy of some collective idea that never existed, except in the imaginings of its purveyors. Highly influenced by multimedia created in the eighties, specifically science fiction and horror films and books, it’s dark and menacing, and accompanies with it a mental image of dystopic science fictional landscapes. It’s the aural version of cyberpunk.
I say all of this because I think right now, with all of these elements converging, is the perfect time to read cyberpunk literature. Our temporal distance from its inception gives us the perspective to appreciate it as retrofuturism, and the relational closeness of the technological and emotional aspects of our lives to its themes, creates this nebulous landscape that makes it highly relatable to our modern moment. Our technology makes us chrome and neon and dark inside, but externally we’re living it up on social media while we collectively experience a sort of soul-death alone behind our screens, our modern day mirrorshades.
It’s a weird ass world, and these stories give us a glimpse into a stranger one that could’ve been, had just a few things played out differently. Cyberpunk is an alternate now.
High points: The Hinterlands, New Rose Hotel, and Burning Chrome
Low Points: Johnny Mnemonic, Red Star, Winter Orbit
Johnny Mnemonic: 2/5
I find Gibson’s writing very difficult to digest here. The structure of the writing is unlike anything else I’ve read, and I think it’s safe to say that no one quite saw the world the was that he did. Weird concepts, weird execution. Set in the Sprawl universe. This was adapted into the not-so-great Keanu Reeves film in the mid nineties.
The Gernsback Continuum: 4/5
A man gets stuck in an idea of a future 1980s that never was. Built out of the retrofuturism of 1930s design. Great little paranoid Philip K. Dickian story.
Fragments of a Hologram Rose: 3/5
A melancholy take on lost love and being out of place in the world. The ASP tech is a cool idea, and it seems to be the analogue of reading someone's journal, in a sense.
The Belonging Kind: 3/5
Nice analog for social anxiety, it was fun but nothing special.
The Hinterlands: 5/5
This is a new personal favorite. It’s written in exquisitely beautiful prose, and has such a unique story, like nothing I've ever read. I actually read it twice in a row, because I was initially confused by the first few sections. It all became much clearer with the accompanying context of the rest of the story. A great little tale about loss, alien contact, and psychology. I loved it.
Red Star, Winter Orbit: 1/5
Very difficult to follow, kind of boring.
New Rose Hotel: 5/5
A great corporate espionage noir. For me, this is the definitive high-tech low-life story. It was adapted into the eponymous Christopher Walken/Willem Dafoe film by Abel Ferrara in 1998. Set in the Sprawl universe.
The Winter Market: 4/5
Entertainment in an age where we've moved beyond the audiovisual form, and into something much stranger. I enjoyed the existentialism.
Dogfight: 3/5
A drifter on the way to Florida picks up a competitive VR game, and befriends a college student.
Burning Chrome: 4/5
The most ‘Cyberpunk’ story in the collection. Set in the Sprawl universe.
William Gibson blew the Science Fiction world wide open in the mid eighties with his cyberpunk novels, particularly the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick award winning Neuromancer. Ridley Scott gave us the visual aesthetic with Blade Runner, but Gibson firmly established Cyberpunk as a literary movement. As a genre it would go on to live a fairly short life, plateauing in the late eighties, followed by a handful of peak post-cyberpunk moments in the nineties (Snow Crash, Ghost in the Shell) culminating in The Matrix and then almost immediately fading into relative obscurity.
Burning Chrome collects Gibson’s short fiction, mostly published in OMNI magazine in the early eighties. Unlike a lot of short fiction collections, this one isn’t a totally mixed bag, most of the stories ranging from “good” to “great”. Three of them, (Johnny Mnemonic, New Rose Hotel, and Burning Chrome) are set in the same universe as Gibson’s Sprawl series (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive), with some of their characters and events mentioned or referenced in the main novels.
As a rambling aside, I was born in 1984, making me much too young to have experienced cyberpunk when it was new and revolutionary. When I read cyberpunk now, nearing the third decade of the twenty-first century, it’s hard to think of it as anything other than a form of retrofuturism. The technological tropes of the genre were one possible direction for things to head. In reality, they didn’t. Instead of the cumbersome and clunky virtual reality user interfaces, and “jacking in”, we went with the more boring, economical methods: a little white search box on a screen, and fingers on keys or key analogs. Just as space opera was written back before anybody knew the realities of space travel, cyberpunk was written before anyone knew the realities of the internet. All we knew was that it was going to change everything, no one knew how exactly.
There are of course still giant multinational evil corporations, another trope of the genre, but instead of inspiring monolithic dread, they have friendly, marketable faces. We all know that Amazon is terrible to their employees, and drives small businesses into the ground, but it’s just so.. convenient. We all know that our devices are made by slaves, but those new animated emoji are just so cute. In the twenty-first century we adore the giant evil corporation. We buy their devices to put in our homes and listen to our conversations, so it’ll be easier to order things with our voices. Convenience kills us, slowly but assuredly.
“It was hot, the night we burned Chrome.”
This current drowning-in-technology age has brought with it a sort of resurgence in, not specifically cyberpunk, but a more modern interpretation of its core theme: alienation among ubiquities connection. Being alone together. Television shows like Black Mirror embody this better than anything else currently around. There has also been a cyberpunk resurgence in pop culture, specifically music, visible primarily in the retrowave / synthwave / “outrun” genre of electronic music. Retrowave is a Baudrillardian simulacra of eighties electronic music usually created by those too young to have first-hand experience of eighties culture. It’s created with postmodern sensibilities, as an idea of what eighties culture could’ve been, not what it actually was. A sort of copy of a copy of some collective idea that never existed, except in the imaginings of its purveyors. Highly influenced by multimedia created in the eighties, specifically science fiction and horror films and books, it’s dark and menacing, and accompanies with it a mental image of dystopic science fictional landscapes. It’s the aural version of cyberpunk.
I say all of this because I think right now, with all of these elements converging, is the perfect time to read cyberpunk literature. Our temporal distance from its inception gives us the perspective to appreciate it as retrofuturism, and the relational closeness of the technological and emotional aspects of our lives to its themes, creates this nebulous landscape that makes it highly relatable to our modern moment. Our technology makes us chrome and neon and dark inside, but externally we’re living it up on social media while we collectively experience a sort of soul-death alone behind our screens, our modern day mirrorshades.
It’s a weird ass world, and these stories give us a glimpse into a stranger one that could’ve been, had just a few things played out differently. Cyberpunk is an alternate now.
High points: The Hinterlands, New Rose Hotel, and Burning Chrome
Low Points: Johnny Mnemonic, Red Star, Winter Orbit
Johnny Mnemonic: 2/5
I find Gibson’s writing very difficult to digest here. The structure of the writing is unlike anything else I’ve read, and I think it’s safe to say that no one quite saw the world the was that he did. Weird concepts, weird execution. Set in the Sprawl universe. This was adapted into the not-so-great Keanu Reeves film in the mid nineties.
The Gernsback Continuum: 4/5
A man gets stuck in an idea of a future 1980s that never was. Built out of the retrofuturism of 1930s design. Great little paranoid Philip K. Dickian story.
Fragments of a Hologram Rose: 3/5
A melancholy take on lost love and being out of place in the world. The ASP tech is a cool idea, and it seems to be the analogue of reading someone's journal, in a sense.
The Belonging Kind: 3/5
Nice analog for social anxiety, it was fun but nothing special.
The Hinterlands: 5/5
This is a new personal favorite. It’s written in exquisitely beautiful prose, and has such a unique story, like nothing I've ever read. I actually read it twice in a row, because I was initially confused by the first few sections. It all became much clearer with the accompanying context of the rest of the story. A great little tale about loss, alien contact, and psychology. I loved it.
Red Star, Winter Orbit: 1/5
Very difficult to follow, kind of boring.
New Rose Hotel: 5/5
A great corporate espionage noir. For me, this is the definitive high-tech low-life story. It was adapted into the eponymous Christopher Walken/Willem Dafoe film by Abel Ferrara in 1998. Set in the Sprawl universe.
The Winter Market: 4/5
Entertainment in an age where we've moved beyond the audiovisual form, and into something much stranger. I enjoyed the existentialism.
Dogfight: 3/5
A drifter on the way to Florida picks up a competitive VR game, and befriends a college student.
Burning Chrome: 4/5
The most ‘Cyberpunk’ story in the collection. Set in the Sprawl universe.
June 29, 2022
I jacked into the Toronto construct matrix and downloaded Gibson’s Burning Chrome onto my deck, plugged the simstim recorder on and zoned out.
Gibson’s Sprawl collection from eighty-six was as lethal as black ice, but my neural implants would keep me dosing through all ten shorts. A handful of amitriptyline and a slug of Sobieski would also keep me running. Gibson is at his best in the short medium and I wanted to catch it all.
Some stories shine on BAMA and others are stand-alones, but all good. Last summer when I took the glider into Kiev to torch the Maas Biolabs, I thought about Molly and "Johnny Mnemonic", Gibson’s anthem blaring like Lado-Acheson. Stories like "Dogfight" and the "Belonging Kind" show that William can collaborate. "Red Star, Winter Orbit" is a tasty alternate history where the rooskies won the space race.
"The Gernsback Continuum" reminds me of Gibson’s golden age roots and also a Bradburyesque salute.
Two sticks of dex gets me to Freeside and a meeting with the Yakuza rep. A Tessier-Ashpool goon smashes the deck under his jack boot but I was already done, Gibson’s smooth prose gliding through the pages like chrome.
Now it’s off to Chiba City where I think I can find Molly.
*** 2022 reread -
Gibson's prose has lost none of its weird potency though all of these stories are over 30 years old and a couple over 40.
Most of these stories are set (or seem to be set) in the same universe as his Sprawl trilogy and we even see Molly and The Fin in a couple. What holds these together is Gibson's endearing writing and his imagination.
Also, the word "chrome" is mentioned in every story.
This may need to become an annual reread.
Gibson’s Sprawl collection from eighty-six was as lethal as black ice, but my neural implants would keep me dosing through all ten shorts. A handful of amitriptyline and a slug of Sobieski would also keep me running. Gibson is at his best in the short medium and I wanted to catch it all.
Some stories shine on BAMA and others are stand-alones, but all good. Last summer when I took the glider into Kiev to torch the Maas Biolabs, I thought about Molly and "Johnny Mnemonic", Gibson’s anthem blaring like Lado-Acheson. Stories like "Dogfight" and the "Belonging Kind" show that William can collaborate. "Red Star, Winter Orbit" is a tasty alternate history where the rooskies won the space race.
"The Gernsback Continuum" reminds me of Gibson’s golden age roots and also a Bradburyesque salute.
Two sticks of dex gets me to Freeside and a meeting with the Yakuza rep. A Tessier-Ashpool goon smashes the deck under his jack boot but I was already done, Gibson’s smooth prose gliding through the pages like chrome.
Now it’s off to Chiba City where I think I can find Molly.
*** 2022 reread -
Gibson's prose has lost none of its weird potency though all of these stories are over 30 years old and a couple over 40.
Most of these stories are set (or seem to be set) in the same universe as his Sprawl trilogy and we even see Molly and The Fin in a couple. What holds these together is Gibson's endearing writing and his imagination.
Also, the word "chrome" is mentioned in every story.
This may need to become an annual reread.
December 21, 2020
As a Canadian, I'm very proud of a seemingly little known fact about our country; my favourite subgenre of science fiction, cyberpunk, was born here. Its most influential founding texts were written in Vancouver, B.C., by legendary Canadian science fiction author William Gibson. In his excellent short story collection Burning Chrome, he actually sets one of the stories in Vancouver, mentioning other nearby cities and districts like Richmond and Granville Island in it as well.
There has been a longstanding debate in this country on whether Robertson Davies or Margaret Atwood is Canada's greatest author. Some even say Alice Munro. Though I've never read Munro, I have read multiple works by each of Davies, Atwood, and Gibson, and can tell you definitively that at his best Gibson is at least as great as the former two, and I personally believe that at times he is better. Highly decorated, critically acclaimed worldwide, and the pioneer of one of science fiction's most popular subgenres, Gibson at least deserves to be in the conversation, and in my opinion he may be our greatest author.
The stories in Burning Chrome are above-average at worst and superb at best. Not a single one was bad out of ten stories in the collection, and the title story, the very last in the book, is an absolute masterpiece; it's one of the best short stories I've ever read, in any genre. Cyberpunk can be defined as "high-tech, low-life". Its stories, which include the cult classic movie Blade Runner and the hit video game Cyberpunk 2077, take place in technologically-advanced futures, with flying cars, immersive virtual reality technology, hologram technology, and etc. But the "low-life" part of cyberpunk means the people of these futures are ethically questionable, to put it lightly; thieves, skinheads, and otherwise shady characters are pretty much everywhere, and the atmosphere is often very gritty.
In this vein, the collection is quintessentially cyberpunk, but not to the point of being too depressing, though the stories generally are somewhat bleak in tone. It was also really cool to again encounter Gibson's character Molly Millions, who features in his legendary cyberpunk-founding book Neuromancer. She appears in one of the stories in Burning Chrome.
Speaking of Molly Millions, I still wonder to this day whether Gibson was ever paid by Hollywood for the apparent theft of his ideas. I mean, c'mon. In his book Neuromancer, Molly Millions is a badass female character, clad all in black, who, along with another male character who is a computer programmer and hacker, enters a virtual simulation Gibson calls "the matrix"? That sounds an awful lot like Trinity and Neo from the hit movie The Matrix, which shares not only the name of the simulation but individual character profiles with Gibson's novel. Makes you wonder...
Getting back to Burning Chrome though: this is an absolute must-read for any science fiction fan, especially one interested in the cyberpunk subgenre. Each story has its own unique tone; some are page-turning thrillers, others are reflective and poignant, exploring issues like class structure, others yet are something in-between. Though I found them all to be quite different, and though I enjoyed some far more than others, I enjoyed every story in this collection. Highly recommended!
My scores for the individual stories, as well as my cumulative score for the book as a whole, are below:
Johnny Mnemonic: 4.5/5
The Gernsback Continuum: 3.5/5
Fragments of a Hologram Rose: 4/5
The Belonging Kind: 3.5/5
Hinterlands: 5/5
Red Star, Winter Orbit: 4/5
New Rose Hotel: 3.5/5
The Winter Market: 3.5/5
Dogfight: 5/5
Burning Chrome: 5/5
41.5/50 = 83% = 4.15 stars
There has been a longstanding debate in this country on whether Robertson Davies or Margaret Atwood is Canada's greatest author. Some even say Alice Munro. Though I've never read Munro, I have read multiple works by each of Davies, Atwood, and Gibson, and can tell you definitively that at his best Gibson is at least as great as the former two, and I personally believe that at times he is better. Highly decorated, critically acclaimed worldwide, and the pioneer of one of science fiction's most popular subgenres, Gibson at least deserves to be in the conversation, and in my opinion he may be our greatest author.
The stories in Burning Chrome are above-average at worst and superb at best. Not a single one was bad out of ten stories in the collection, and the title story, the very last in the book, is an absolute masterpiece; it's one of the best short stories I've ever read, in any genre. Cyberpunk can be defined as "high-tech, low-life". Its stories, which include the cult classic movie Blade Runner and the hit video game Cyberpunk 2077, take place in technologically-advanced futures, with flying cars, immersive virtual reality technology, hologram technology, and etc. But the "low-life" part of cyberpunk means the people of these futures are ethically questionable, to put it lightly; thieves, skinheads, and otherwise shady characters are pretty much everywhere, and the atmosphere is often very gritty.
In this vein, the collection is quintessentially cyberpunk, but not to the point of being too depressing, though the stories generally are somewhat bleak in tone. It was also really cool to again encounter Gibson's character Molly Millions, who features in his legendary cyberpunk-founding book Neuromancer. She appears in one of the stories in Burning Chrome.
Speaking of Molly Millions, I still wonder to this day whether Gibson was ever paid by Hollywood for the apparent theft of his ideas. I mean, c'mon. In his book Neuromancer, Molly Millions is a badass female character, clad all in black, who, along with another male character who is a computer programmer and hacker, enters a virtual simulation Gibson calls "the matrix"? That sounds an awful lot like Trinity and Neo from the hit movie The Matrix, which shares not only the name of the simulation but individual character profiles with Gibson's novel. Makes you wonder...
Getting back to Burning Chrome though: this is an absolute must-read for any science fiction fan, especially one interested in the cyberpunk subgenre. Each story has its own unique tone; some are page-turning thrillers, others are reflective and poignant, exploring issues like class structure, others yet are something in-between. Though I found them all to be quite different, and though I enjoyed some far more than others, I enjoyed every story in this collection. Highly recommended!
My scores for the individual stories, as well as my cumulative score for the book as a whole, are below:
Johnny Mnemonic: 4.5/5
The Gernsback Continuum: 3.5/5
Fragments of a Hologram Rose: 4/5
The Belonging Kind: 3.5/5
Hinterlands: 5/5
Red Star, Winter Orbit: 4/5
New Rose Hotel: 3.5/5
The Winter Market: 3.5/5
Dogfight: 5/5
Burning Chrome: 5/5
41.5/50 = 83% = 4.15 stars
March 17, 2024
Gibson's bleak-yet-awesome visions of the future within still hold up today, and in fact, I appreciated this collection much more this time around compared to my first read nearly 30 years ago. This is partially due, I'm sure, to just being a bit out of my depth as a 14 year old, especially when it came to subtly strange entries like "The Gernsback Continuum," which deals with the Jungian concept of the collective unconscious and relating it to things like UFO and Bigfoot encounters (much like Jung himself did), as well as the capital W Weird tale (co-written by John Shirley) "The Belonging Kind," which concerns secret sects of people who can The themes of alienation and isolation went right over my head back in the day.
Not every story here is cyberpunk, but they nearly all have that gritty urban noir feel, with shades of horror and even some tripped-out surrealism here and there, all with spare, economical prose that's still somehow wildly vivid, and featuring all the neon-soaked streets, seedy nightclubs, decked-out cybernetically-enhanced tough guys, sprawling cityscapes, holograms, and hallucinatory cyberspace surfing one could hope for. And chrome. Lots of chrome.
Though I know it's not for everyone, this has definitely shot up my list of all time favorite collections. It's more of a vibe than anything, more about experiencing the city sprawl and hanging with matrix cowboys ("Johnny Mnemonic," "New Rose Hotel," "Burning Chrome,") or even feeling the cold isolation of living on a distant Russian space station, as in "Red Star, Winter Orbit," than it is the plot or characters (most of whom are unpleasant to say the least). All I know is that I'll be going on a major Gibson binge in the not-so-distant future.
Not every story here is cyberpunk, but they nearly all have that gritty urban noir feel, with shades of horror and even some tripped-out surrealism here and there, all with spare, economical prose that's still somehow wildly vivid, and featuring all the neon-soaked streets, seedy nightclubs, decked-out cybernetically-enhanced tough guys, sprawling cityscapes, holograms, and hallucinatory cyberspace surfing one could hope for. And chrome. Lots of chrome.
Though I know it's not for everyone, this has definitely shot up my list of all time favorite collections. It's more of a vibe than anything, more about experiencing the city sprawl and hanging with matrix cowboys ("Johnny Mnemonic," "New Rose Hotel," "Burning Chrome,") or even feeling the cold isolation of living on a distant Russian space station, as in "Red Star, Winter Orbit," than it is the plot or characters (most of whom are unpleasant to say the least). All I know is that I'll be going on a major Gibson binge in the not-so-distant future.
August 11, 2017
“if poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world, science-fiction writers are its court jesters.”
― Bruce Sterling introducing William Gibson's, Burning Chrome
A set of 10 short stories: early Gibson cyberpunk and sic-fi that anticipate both his SPRAWL and BLUE ANT series. All the Gibson tropes are there just waiting to bud and bloom. Gibson's cyberpunk, dark and messy near-future; his obsession with technology, music, clothing; his uncanny ability to describe and name the bleeding edge where culture and technology blend; his noirish tribalism; his satire; his slick style; his curvy asians. The book is an uneven group of stories that approximate a pimply and adolescent Gibson sitting confidently on a couch ready to hack your future and steal your dated sci-fi pulp.
― Bruce Sterling introducing William Gibson's, Burning Chrome
A set of 10 short stories: early Gibson cyberpunk and sic-fi that anticipate both his SPRAWL and BLUE ANT series. All the Gibson tropes are there just waiting to bud and bloom. Gibson's cyberpunk, dark and messy near-future; his obsession with technology, music, clothing; his uncanny ability to describe and name the bleeding edge where culture and technology blend; his noirish tribalism; his satire; his slick style; his curvy asians. The book is an uneven group of stories that approximate a pimply and adolescent Gibson sitting confidently on a couch ready to hack your future and steal your dated sci-fi pulp.
June 2, 2010
Is it okay, do you think, to say I find William Gibson's cycle of short stories, Burning Chrome, to be a work of profound beauty? Probably not, but I'm going to say it anyway: Burning Chrome is beautiful.
But how can it be? How can something like the Sprawl, Gibson's pollution choked mega-city, and our shared technological-future-nightmare be beautiful? My description suggests it can't, yet I find much beauty in Gibson's future.
There's something magnificent about monomolecular wires and Razorgirl fingernails, something profound about the rejection of a sterile utopia for a filthy sprawl, something thrilling about dreamy future-noir, something tragic about the thirst to belong for even the most peripheral people, something eerily familiar in the desire to offer the ultimate sacrifice, something nostalgic about the Soviet era trappings that are long gone, something terrifying in the prescient vision of corporate power, something hopeful in the concept of future immortality, something touching in its melancholy, and something comfortable about improvements that can't hide a classic love story of the "if-you-love-her-let-her-go" kind.
Well...I'm a guy who loves the magnificent the profound the thrilling the tragic the familiar the nostalgic the terrifying the hopeful the touching and the comfortable. I find all of them beautiful. And if those aren't beautiful enough for you, consider this: Burning Chrome coins the word "cyberspace." William Gibson imagined it, and computer geeks made it. Can you beat that for beautiful?
But how can it be? How can something like the Sprawl, Gibson's pollution choked mega-city, and our shared technological-future-nightmare be beautiful? My description suggests it can't, yet I find much beauty in Gibson's future.
There's something magnificent about monomolecular wires and Razorgirl fingernails, something profound about the rejection of a sterile utopia for a filthy sprawl, something thrilling about dreamy future-noir, something tragic about the thirst to belong for even the most peripheral people, something eerily familiar in the desire to offer the ultimate sacrifice, something nostalgic about the Soviet era trappings that are long gone, something terrifying in the prescient vision of corporate power, something hopeful in the concept of future immortality, something touching in its melancholy, and something comfortable about improvements that can't hide a classic love story of the "if-you-love-her-let-her-go" kind.
Well...I'm a guy who loves the magnificent the profound the thrilling the tragic the familiar the nostalgic the terrifying the hopeful the touching and the comfortable. I find all of them beautiful. And if those aren't beautiful enough for you, consider this: Burning Chrome coins the word "cyberspace." William Gibson imagined it, and computer geeks made it. Can you beat that for beautiful?
September 27, 2022
Я проґавив ті часи на межі тисячоліть, коли читати Ґібсона було ознакою контр-культурності. Декілька років тому пробував читати російською Нейроманта, але... Вочевидь, справа в російському перекладі, бо тоді роман зовсім не сподобався. Але ця спроба лише утвердила мене в переконанні: Ґібсон - контр-культурний автор. Іншими словами, він епатує, пише так, щоб максимально заперечити цінності та норми домінуючої культури. Не запропонувати щось своє, а викрит�� прогнилість існуючого ладу. Власне, тому я очікував, що Ґібсон пише брутально, нарочито жорстоко та жорстко, а його персонажі та й твори мають викликати огиду та протест заради протесту.
На щастя, цього року Видавництво Жупанського опублікувало кіберпанковий Снігопад Ніла Стівенсона, який мене захопив, а тому руки потяглися до Нейроманта, перша третина якого настільки мене заворожила, що... Що я відклав роман - і вирішив прочитати спершу Спалити Хром, бо в цій збірці є три оповідання, які стосуються "світу" Нейроманта - Мнемонік Джонні, Готель "Нью-Роуз" та Спалити Хром. Фактично, цю збірку можна вважати "нульовою" частиною кібепросторової трилогії Ґібсона. До речі, я й інші оповідання записав би в той же світ, але це справа смаку.
Читаючи цю збірку я виявив, що Ґібсон дає мені те, що я так безуспішно шукав в творах Рея Бредбері - людяність. Центральна ідея оповідань Спалити Хром - інтерес та співчуття до людини в нових, в чомусь страхітливих часах. Цим мене підкуповував і Бредбері, але... Рей Бредбері народився 1920 р., а тому його молодість припала на часи різких змін. Пасторальна Америка 1930-х та 1940-х поступалася бурхливому та динамічному і в чомусь цинічному життю повоєнного економічного зростання. Власне, Бредбері лякає цей поступ, він бачить в ньому потужну загрозу дегуманізації, відчуження людини. Але одразу пропонує рецепт - ідилія 1930-х рр. Тоді трава дослівно була зеленішою, адже Бредбері ідеалом повноцінного життя уявляє Ґрінтаун (дослівно "Зелене місто") - місто свого дитинства. Оця ностальгічність і відштовхувала мене в Бредбері. Ми ніколи не повернемося до пасторальних часів 1930-х рр. (тим більше в Україні цей час аж ніяк не був пасторальною ідилією). Світ змінюється, шкодувати за минулим - це намагатися зупинити локомотив, який повним ходом мчить по рейках.
І тут на сцену вийшов Ґібсон. В нього немає "золотого віку" як в Бредбері. Ба більше, він вірить, що ми живемо в хорошому світі. Могло бути й гірше. І, звісно ж, може стати гірше.
Тому для Ґібсона є три центральні теми:
1) технологія як підсилення;
2) неолібералізм як розпад соціального;
3) неолібералізм як фактор дегуманізації людини.
Завдяки їм він порівнює свою візію майбутнього не з якимось "золотим віком", а з самою природою людини. Він бере тенденції сучасності - неолібералізм - і прикладає їх до цифрової епохи. (Епохи, якої на момент написання оповідань ще не існувало!) І показує, до якої потворності може привести технологія. Бо вона не є ні благом, ні злом. Вона підсилювач. Підсилювач того, чого прагнуть люди. І те суспільство, в якому ми живемо... Що ж, каже Ґібсон, підсилення в ньому виглядатиме ось так.
І це страхітлива візія. Але вона дуже людяна в своїй основі. Адже у 1980-х панує неолібералізм. З одного боку, він наголошує на індивідуалізмі: спільнота стримує ваш розвиток. Фактично, його девіз: Кожен за себе, Господь Бог проти всіх. А тому й держава самоусувається з соціального та економічного життя - і передає дуже багато влади корпораціям. За цих умов люди перетворюються на... ресурс. Human resources - це з цього світу.
Технології ж просто підсилюють ці тенденції. Вони збільшують масштаб та глибину перетворення людини на ресурс.
Відповідно, Ґібсона менше цікавлять сюжети. Його цікавить... Хотілося написати естетика, але це не зовсім вона. Точніше, не лише вона. Його цікавить соціологія майбутнього. Додавши їй естетичного виміру, він створює візії, які виглядають реальними. Які захоплюють, змушують в них вірити. Вони песимістичні, але водночас дуже людяні. Ґібсон не хоче жити в такому майбутньому - і застерігає від нього.
Кожне з оповідань - перлина. Вони розташовані по наростанню напруги. "Спалити Хром" видається найслабшим, бо в ньому багато що не сказано. Його потрібно читати між рядків - і тоді воно виявляється одним з найсильніших оповідань. Натомість "Червона зоря, зимова орбіта" - це найбільш оптимістичне зі всіх оповідань. А "Повітряний бій" - найбільш соціологічне. Але всі вони шикарні.
Детальніше про всі оповідання планую написати згодом.
На щастя, цього року Видавництво Жупанського опублікувало кіберпанковий Снігопад Ніла Стівенсона, який мене захопив, а тому руки потяглися до Нейроманта, перша третина якого настільки мене заворожила, що... Що я відклав роман - і вирішив прочитати спершу Спалити Хром, бо в цій збірці є три оповідання, які стосуються "світу" Нейроманта - Мнемонік Джонні, Готель "Нью-Роуз" та Спалити Хром. Фактично, цю збірку можна вважати "нульовою" частиною кібепросторової трилогії Ґібсона. До речі, я й інші оповідання записав би в той же світ, але це справа смаку.
Читаючи цю збірку я виявив, що Ґібсон дає мені те, що я так безуспішно шукав в творах Рея Бредбері - людяність. Центральна ідея оповідань Спалити Хром - інтерес та співчуття до людини в нових, в чомусь страхітливих часах. Цим мене підкуповував і Бредбері, але... Рей Бредбері народився 1920 р., а тому його молодість припала на часи різких змін. Пасторальна Америка 1930-х та 1940-х поступалася бурхливому та динамічному і в чомусь цинічному життю повоєнного економічного зростання. Власне, Бредбері лякає цей поступ, він бачить в ньому потужну загрозу дегуманізації, відчуження людини. Але одразу пропонує рецепт - ідилія 1930-х рр. Тоді трава дослівно була зеленішою, адже Бредбері ідеалом повноцінного життя уявляє Ґрінтаун (дослівно "Зелене місто") - місто свого дитинства. Оця ностальгічність і відштовхувала мене в Бредбері. Ми ніколи не повернемося до пасторальних часів 1930-х рр. (тим більше в Україні цей час аж ніяк не був пасторальною ідилією). Світ змінюється, шкодувати за минулим - це намагатися зупинити локомотив, який повним ходом мчить по рейках.
І тут на сцену вийшов Ґібсон. В нього немає "золотого віку" як в Бредбері. Ба більше, він вірить, що ми живемо в хорошому світі. Могло бути й гірше. І, звісно ж, може стати гірше.
Тому для Ґібсона є три центральні теми:
1) технологія як підсилення;
2) неолібералізм як розпад соціального;
3) неолібералізм як фактор дегуманізації людини.
Завдяки їм він порівнює свою візію майбутнього не з якимось "золотим віком", а з самою природою людини. Він бере тенденції сучасності - неолібералізм - і прикладає їх до цифрової епохи. (Епохи, якої на момент написання оповідань ще не існувало!) І показує, до якої потворності може привести технологія. Бо вона не є ні благом, ні злом. Вона підсилювач. Підсилювач того, чого прагнуть люди. І те суспільство, в якому ми живемо... Що ж, каже Ґібсон, підсилення в ньому виглядатиме ось так.
І це страхітлива візія. Але вона дуже людяна в своїй основі. Адже у 1980-х панує неолібералізм. З одного боку, він наголошує на індивідуалізмі: спільнота стримує ваш розвиток. Фактично, його девіз: Кожен за себе
Технології ж просто підсилюють ці тенденції. Вони збільшують масштаб та глибину перетворення людини на ресурс.
Відповідно, Ґібсона менше цікавлять сюжети. Його цікавить... Хотілося написати естетика, але це не зовсім вона. Точніше, не лише вона. Його цікавить соціологія майбутнього. Додавши їй естетичного виміру, він створює візії, які виглядають реальними. Які захоплюють, змушують в них вірити. Вони песимістичні, але водночас дуже людяні. Ґібсон не хоче жити в такому майбутньому - і застерігає від нього.
Кожне з оповідань - перлина. Вони розташовані по наростанню напруги. "Спалити Хром" видається найслабшим, бо в ньому багато що не сказано. Його потрібно читати між рядків - і тоді воно виявляється одним з найсильніших оповідань. Натомість "Червона зоря, зимова орбіта" - це найбільш оптимістичне зі всіх оповідань. А "Повітряний бій" - найбільш соціологічне. Але всі вони шикарні.
Детальніше про всі оповідання планую написати згодом.
August 7, 2018
’Quemando Cromo’ (Burning Chrome, 1986) contiene los primeros relatos de William Gibson, el aclamado autor de ‘Neuromante’, que dio lugar a todo un subgénero, el cyberpunk (pequeña definición de cyberpunk: normalmente transcurre en un futuro cercano, distópico, dominado por megacorporaciones, donde se aúnan personajes marginales con alta tecnología, en un ambiente cercano al género negro, todo ello bajo una estética que recuerda a ‘Blade Runner’).
Hacía tiempo que no leía a Gibson, y ha sido todo un placer reencontrarse con su obra. Con algunos de estos cuentos he vuelto ha sentir la maravilla que supuso ‘Neuromante’. Gibson es más que un narrador de ciencia ficción. Sus historias están repletas de detalles y descripciones que te obligan a permanecer atento en todo momento a lo que te está contando, y su prosa contiene un cierto lirismo a la hora de acercarnos a sus personajes.
Estos son los diez relatos incluidos en ’Quemando Cromo’, escritos entre 1977 y 1985, algunos ellos en colaboración con Bruce Sterling, John Shirley y Michael Swanwick:
Johnny Mnemónico (*****). El trabajo de Johnny es bien curioso: almacenar información y datos de sus clientes, a la que él no tiene ningún acceso. Pero hay un cliente que le debe dinero, así que Johnny decide forzar la situación, y es aquí donde todo empieza a complicarse. En esta historia aparece por primera vez Molly Millions, una de las protagonistas de ‘Neuromante’. Imprescindible.
El continuo de Gernsback (*****). El protagonista es un fotógrafo al que se le encarga un trabajo, hacer fotos de edificios y arquitecturas retrofuturistas, inspiradas en las obras de la ciencia ficción de los años 30 y 40. Hasta aquí todo normal, pero un buen día la realidad de las fotografías empieza a filtrarse en su propia realidad. Excepcional.
Fragmentos de una rosa holográfica (***). Relato complejo de resumir, ya que se basa fundamentalmente en las sensaciones del protagonista al destruir una postal de una rosa, asociada a su novia, así como a ciertas grabaciones con sus percepciones sensoriales. Interesante.
La especie, de John Shirley y William Gibson (****). Una noche, mientras está en un bar, Michael Coretti se fija en una mujer de la que se siente inmediatamente fascinado, obsesionado. Más que la trama en sí, me ha gustado la manera de contarla por parte de Gibson, su gusto por los detalles.
Regiones apartadas (****). La Humanidad ha entrado en contacto con extraterrestres. Una estación orbita en el punto conocido como La Autopista, donde se realizan intercambios, pero donde los astronautas también quedan terriblemente afectados. Una historia muy bien construida.
Estrella roja, órbita de invierno, de Bruce Sterling y William Gibson (****). En un futuro donde la Unión Soviética tiene la primacía en el espacio, la estación Kosmogrado pasa por problemas, ya que se ha tomado la decisión de desmantelarla, y sus habitantes deben abandonarla. Pero no todos están dispuestos a dejarla. Muy bueno.
Hotel New Rose (***). Esta historia narra la extracción de un biólogo de una gran corporación por parte de un espía industrial, para traspasarlo a la Hosaka, otra gran empresa. Interesante.
El mercado de invierno (****). Casey es un editor de sueños que conoce un buen día Lise, una chica con una enfermedad que le obliga a utilizar un exoesqueleto para poder moverse, y que le proporciona sueños para su edición. Muy bueno.
Combate aéreo, de Michael Swanwick y William Gibson (***). Deke queda fascinado cuando descubre un juego mezcla de realidad virtual y holográfica sobre combates aéreos, cuyos aviones están controlados con la mente. Interesante.
Quemando Cromo (***). En esta historia aparecen Aumatic Jack y Bobby Quine, que también aparecían en ‘Neuromante’. Jack y Bobby deciden infiltrarse en Cromo y hacerse con sus cuentas. Para ello harán uso de un programa rompe hielos. Bueno.
Drogas, implantes, neón, realidad virtual, armas de alta tecnología, grandes corporaciones, piratas informáticos, todo lo que hizo grande a Gibson y al género, se encuentran en estos relatos.
Hacía tiempo que no leía a Gibson, y ha sido todo un placer reencontrarse con su obra. Con algunos de estos cuentos he vuelto ha sentir la maravilla que supuso ‘Neuromante’. Gibson es más que un narrador de ciencia ficción. Sus historias están repletas de detalles y descripciones que te obligan a permanecer atento en todo momento a lo que te está contando, y su prosa contiene un cierto lirismo a la hora de acercarnos a sus personajes.
Estos son los diez relatos incluidos en ’Quemando Cromo’, escritos entre 1977 y 1985, algunos ellos en colaboración con Bruce Sterling, John Shirley y Michael Swanwick:
Johnny Mnemónico (*****). El trabajo de Johnny es bien curioso: almacenar información y datos de sus clientes, a la que él no tiene ningún acceso. Pero hay un cliente que le debe dinero, así que Johnny decide forzar la situación, y es aquí donde todo empieza a complicarse. En esta historia aparece por primera vez Molly Millions, una de las protagonistas de ‘Neuromante’. Imprescindible.
El continuo de Gernsback (*****). El protagonista es un fotógrafo al que se le encarga un trabajo, hacer fotos de edificios y arquitecturas retrofuturistas, inspiradas en las obras de la ciencia ficción de los años 30 y 40. Hasta aquí todo normal, pero un buen día la realidad de las fotografías empieza a filtrarse en su propia realidad. Excepcional.
Fragmentos de una rosa holográfica (***). Relato complejo de resumir, ya que se basa fundamentalmente en las sensaciones del protagonista al destruir una postal de una rosa, asociada a su novia, así como a ciertas grabaciones con sus percepciones sensoriales. Interesante.
La especie, de John Shirley y William Gibson (****). Una noche, mientras está en un bar, Michael Coretti se fija en una mujer de la que se siente inmediatamente fascinado, obsesionado. Más que la trama en sí, me ha gustado la manera de contarla por parte de Gibson, su gusto por los detalles.
Regiones apartadas (****). La Humanidad ha entrado en contacto con extraterrestres. Una estación orbita en el punto conocido como La Autopista, donde se realizan intercambios, pero donde los astronautas también quedan terriblemente afectados. Una historia muy bien construida.
Estrella roja, órbita de invierno, de Bruce Sterling y William Gibson (****). En un futuro donde la Unión Soviética tiene la primacía en el espacio, la estación Kosmogrado pasa por problemas, ya que se ha tomado la decisión de desmantelarla, y sus habitantes deben abandonarla. Pero no todos están dispuestos a dejarla. Muy bueno.
Hotel New Rose (***). Esta historia narra la extracción de un biólogo de una gran corporación por parte de un espía industrial, para traspasarlo a la Hosaka, otra gran empresa. Interesante.
El mercado de invierno (****). Casey es un editor de sueños que conoce un buen día Lise, una chica con una enfermedad que le obliga a utilizar un exoesqueleto para poder moverse, y que le proporciona sueños para su edición. Muy bueno.
Combate aéreo, de Michael Swanwick y William Gibson (***). Deke queda fascinado cuando descubre un juego mezcla de realidad virtual y holográfica sobre combates aéreos, cuyos aviones están controlados con la mente. Interesante.
Quemando Cromo (***). En esta historia aparecen Aumatic Jack y Bobby Quine, que también aparecían en ‘Neuromante’. Jack y Bobby deciden infiltrarse en Cromo y hacerse con sus cuentas. Para ello harán uso de un programa rompe hielos. Bueno.
Drogas, implantes, neón, realidad virtual, armas de alta tecnología, grandes corporaciones, piratas informáticos, todo lo que hizo grande a Gibson y al género, se encuentran en estos relatos.
December 4, 2014
We are very spoiled, and very privileged, to live now in the twenty-first century. We look back on works of science fiction from the 1950s, 1960s, and onward that reference the 1990s or 2000s as "the future" and make grandiose predictions: we'll have flying cars! a eugenics war! robot apocalypse! It's interesting to note that such extrapolation, while often falling very short of the mark, tends to be conservative when it describes the technological platforms through which we acquire these flying cars, supermen, and killer robots. The twenty-first century of the early twentieth century still involved cassette tapes and analog computers. The digital revolution is a true paradigm shift in science fiction just as it has been in the rest of our society, rendering such visions of the present future quaint. For people more open-minded than myself, this is often not a problem. I have difficulty immersing myself in stories that allude to now-obsolete technology as if it were the future—I can do it, as is evident by my enjoyment of the original Star Trek series, but it is difficult. I'm a child of the digital age, and I'm spoiled that way.
William Gibson is a special case. His work, too, is vulnerable to the effects of aging. Yet he is rightly called a visionary and a prescient master of this field: after all, he coined the term cyberspace, and his descriptions of virtual reality have influenced its depictions in film and literature ever since Neuromancer first appeared on the scene. So even though Gibson's stories have aged as his future never came to pass, they remain amazing and brilliant. He infused them with ideas and conflicts that continue to grip readers even as the futures these stories depict turn into alternative versions of history.
Burning Chrome is a wonderful treasure trove of Gibson's genius. I did not like every story within, but every story is brilliant in its own way. I never liked the film version of Johnny Mneumonic, and the short story, though substantially different, did not change my mind. Gibson throws around some intriguing ideas, but he never really explores them with the depth I'd like. I wonder if I would feel the same way about "Burning Chrome" if I hadn't read Neuromancer: like the novel, it makes computer hacking into an exciting, adrenaline-fuelled experience, as the name "console cowboy" might suggest. And I really enjoyed "Burning Chrome" for the way its narrator judges the relationship between Bobby Quine and Rikki. Unlike "Johnny Mneumonic," Gibson establishes the backstory just enough to justify the main action but not so much that one feels like one is missing out on the larger picture. (But if you do, and you haven't read it, then you really should go get a copy of Neuromancer.)
Though "Johnny Mneumonic" is very well-known and "Burning Chrome" lends its title to this entire collection, these were not the most memorable stories for me. Those stories are tame compared to some of the utterly weird stuff that Gibson has displays in between them. From recorded personalities lurking just off stage to a man slowly discovering he might not be human after all, Burning Chrome delivers stories that demonstrate Gibson's grasp on the breadth of what science fiction can accomplish.
I'm not sure how to describe "The Winter Market." I could say a recording engineer discovers an artist who, encumbered by an exoskeleton and suffering from a terminal illness, uploads herself to a computer. That's pretty accurate, although it doesn't quite capture the nuances that Gibson infuses into the story. As the main character questions whether the recorded version of Lise's personality is actually "her" (all the while dreading the moment "she" calls him), we're treated to a flashback explanation of how they met and how her detached attitude toward life has made him dissatisfied with his own. It's interesting that so many of Gibson's protagonists are young, dissatisfied males who are down on their luck and fall in with a mysterious woman who owes him no particular allegiance: Johnny Mneumonic, Case (from Neuromancer), Parker, Bobby, the narrator of "The Winter Market," and Deke all fall into this category. They are certainly not the same characters—not even close!—but it's an intriguing recurring motif.
"Red Star, Winter Orbit" is one of those stories of a future that never was. Space has been largely abandoned, except for a communist, Russian space station and bubble-like domes inhabited by Americans. But Russia wants to retire its space station, which is bad news for Colonel Korolev, the first man on Mars. Thanks to an accident years ago, Korolev is unable to return to Earth and must live out his remaining days aboard the Russian space station. So when it gets decommissioned, naturally, he isn't very happy. Together with several sympathetic members of the crew, they hatch a plan to leak word to the rest of the world what Russia intends to do to its hero. It's a touching story with a nice twist at the end.
In contrast, "Dogfight" is also a touching story but does not have the endearing twist. Deke is the main character, but I hesitate to call him a protagonist. He starts low and falls farther as he seeks pre-eminence in his new obsession, combat with holographic, mentally-directed biplanes.
"The Belonging Kind" is a really weird, almost purely psychological tale about a man who meets a shapeshifter in a bar and becomes obsessed with her. I don't want to spoil the ending, although it's a little predictable, just because Gibson and co-author John Shirley do such a good job bringing it about.
However, the real star of Burning Chrome has to be "Hinterlands." It's a somewhat dark, depressing vision of how we might join the interstellar community. In "Hinterlands," Russian Colonel Olga Tovyevski accidentally discovers an anomaly near an L-5 point. Her space capsule disappears through it, returning years later with a catatonic Russian on board, trashed communications equipment … a seashell of extraterrestrial origin.
Boom, as they say, goes the dynamite.
You can imagine what would happen if that occurred today, except you don't have to, because Gibson describes it for us. The world's governments leap into action, and "exobiology suddenly found itself standing on unnervingly solid ground." They soon discover an awful catch to this wormhole phenomenon (which the Americans dub "the Highway"): every pilot returns dead from suicide or mad, and the mad ones usually commit suicide shortly thereafter. So why bother to pay the price of a ticket? Our narrator, Toby, explains:
To me, this paragraph shows why William Gibson is a master of the science fiction field. It's a somewhat chilling interpretation of the role humans might have if we ever enter into contact with a larger, established interstellar community: we'll be the primitive species. We won't necessarily communicate effectively or benignly, but we will acquire advanced technology and then ask for more, and it might very well destroy us. In Star Trek, despite the fact that they are the new kids on the block, humans go on to become the founders of the United Federation of Planets (along with the older, more stoic Vulcans and the volatile Andorians). Science fiction often portrays humans as special (warning: TVTropes), which is not surprising considering the species of both the writers and their audience. So it's refreshing when authors take a step back, think critically, and present a different perspective, even one as bleak as this: we're just rats, pushing a button to make food come out.
Toby and his lover Charmian, by the way, were rejected as pilots and now serve as "surrogates" on Heaven. They greet the returned pilots—the live ones, that is—and try to help bring them back to something approaching a normal mental state. As Toby explains, they are seldom successful. Whatever happens to pilots who go through the Highway, it breaks them. Yet "Hinterlands" concludes with Toby's laments that he and Charmian were found unsuitable for being pilots and his description of their continual longing to go on this almost-certainly fatal adventure. It's an amazing story, both in concept and in execution, and it alone is worth finding a copy of Burning Chrome.
William Gibson fans, put Burning Chrome on your to-read list if it's not already there. And for those of who you haven't read William Gibson, this would be a fine place to start (though I still recommend Neuromancer as well). This anthology is a snapshot of Gibson at his best, from the familiar milieu of his Sprawl world and beyond, to even weirder and more imaginative places. Gibson is a source of great ideas, and he always manages to wrap them in even greater stories.
William Gibson is a special case. His work, too, is vulnerable to the effects of aging. Yet he is rightly called a visionary and a prescient master of this field: after all, he coined the term cyberspace, and his descriptions of virtual reality have influenced its depictions in film and literature ever since Neuromancer first appeared on the scene. So even though Gibson's stories have aged as his future never came to pass, they remain amazing and brilliant. He infused them with ideas and conflicts that continue to grip readers even as the futures these stories depict turn into alternative versions of history.
Burning Chrome is a wonderful treasure trove of Gibson's genius. I did not like every story within, but every story is brilliant in its own way. I never liked the film version of Johnny Mneumonic, and the short story, though substantially different, did not change my mind. Gibson throws around some intriguing ideas, but he never really explores them with the depth I'd like. I wonder if I would feel the same way about "Burning Chrome" if I hadn't read Neuromancer: like the novel, it makes computer hacking into an exciting, adrenaline-fuelled experience, as the name "console cowboy" might suggest. And I really enjoyed "Burning Chrome" for the way its narrator judges the relationship between Bobby Quine and Rikki. Unlike "Johnny Mneumonic," Gibson establishes the backstory just enough to justify the main action but not so much that one feels like one is missing out on the larger picture. (But if you do, and you haven't read it, then you really should go get a copy of Neuromancer.)
Though "Johnny Mneumonic" is very well-known and "Burning Chrome" lends its title to this entire collection, these were not the most memorable stories for me. Those stories are tame compared to some of the utterly weird stuff that Gibson has displays in between them. From recorded personalities lurking just off stage to a man slowly discovering he might not be human after all, Burning Chrome delivers stories that demonstrate Gibson's grasp on the breadth of what science fiction can accomplish.
I'm not sure how to describe "The Winter Market." I could say a recording engineer discovers an artist who, encumbered by an exoskeleton and suffering from a terminal illness, uploads herself to a computer. That's pretty accurate, although it doesn't quite capture the nuances that Gibson infuses into the story. As the main character questions whether the recorded version of Lise's personality is actually "her" (all the while dreading the moment "she" calls him), we're treated to a flashback explanation of how they met and how her detached attitude toward life has made him dissatisfied with his own. It's interesting that so many of Gibson's protagonists are young, dissatisfied males who are down on their luck and fall in with a mysterious woman who owes him no particular allegiance: Johnny Mneumonic, Case (from Neuromancer), Parker, Bobby, the narrator of "The Winter Market," and Deke all fall into this category. They are certainly not the same characters—not even close!—but it's an intriguing recurring motif.
"Red Star, Winter Orbit" is one of those stories of a future that never was. Space has been largely abandoned, except for a communist, Russian space station and bubble-like domes inhabited by Americans. But Russia wants to retire its space station, which is bad news for Colonel Korolev, the first man on Mars. Thanks to an accident years ago, Korolev is unable to return to Earth and must live out his remaining days aboard the Russian space station. So when it gets decommissioned, naturally, he isn't very happy. Together with several sympathetic members of the crew, they hatch a plan to leak word to the rest of the world what Russia intends to do to its hero. It's a touching story with a nice twist at the end.
In contrast, "Dogfight" is also a touching story but does not have the endearing twist. Deke is the main character, but I hesitate to call him a protagonist. He starts low and falls farther as he seeks pre-eminence in his new obsession, combat with holographic, mentally-directed biplanes.
"The Belonging Kind" is a really weird, almost purely psychological tale about a man who meets a shapeshifter in a bar and becomes obsessed with her. I don't want to spoil the ending, although it's a little predictable, just because Gibson and co-author John Shirley do such a good job bringing it about.
However, the real star of Burning Chrome has to be "Hinterlands." It's a somewhat dark, depressing vision of how we might join the interstellar community. In "Hinterlands," Russian Colonel Olga Tovyevski accidentally discovers an anomaly near an L-5 point. Her space capsule disappears through it, returning years later with a catatonic Russian on board, trashed communications equipment … a seashell of extraterrestrial origin.
Boom, as they say, goes the dynamite.
You can imagine what would happen if that occurred today, except you don't have to, because Gibson describes it for us. The world's governments leap into action, and "exobiology suddenly found itself standing on unnervingly solid ground." They soon discover an awful catch to this wormhole phenomenon (which the Americans dub "the Highway"): every pilot returns dead from suicide or mad, and the mad ones usually commit suicide shortly thereafter. So why bother to pay the price of a ticket? Our narrator, Toby, explains:
If the first ones to come back had only returned with seashells, I doubt that Heaven [the space station] would be out here. Heaven was built after a dead Frenchman returned with a twelve-centimeter ring of magnetically coded steel locked in his cold hand, black parody of the lucky kid who wins the free ride on the merry-go-round. We may never find out where or how he got it, but that ring was the Rosetta stone for cancer. So now it's cargo cult time for the human race. We can pick things up out there that we might not stumble across in research in a thousand years. Charmian says we're like those poor suckers on their islands, who spend all their time building landing strips to make the big silver birds come back. Charmian says that contact with 'superior' civilizations is something you don't wish on your worst enemy.
To me, this paragraph shows why William Gibson is a master of the science fiction field. It's a somewhat chilling interpretation of the role humans might have if we ever enter into contact with a larger, established interstellar community: we'll be the primitive species. We won't necessarily communicate effectively or benignly, but we will acquire advanced technology and then ask for more, and it might very well destroy us. In Star Trek, despite the fact that they are the new kids on the block, humans go on to become the founders of the United Federation of Planets (along with the older, more stoic Vulcans and the volatile Andorians). Science fiction often portrays humans as special (warning: TVTropes), which is not surprising considering the species of both the writers and their audience. So it's refreshing when authors take a step back, think critically, and present a different perspective, even one as bleak as this: we're just rats, pushing a button to make food come out.
Toby and his lover Charmian, by the way, were rejected as pilots and now serve as "surrogates" on Heaven. They greet the returned pilots—the live ones, that is—and try to help bring them back to something approaching a normal mental state. As Toby explains, they are seldom successful. Whatever happens to pilots who go through the Highway, it breaks them. Yet "Hinterlands" concludes with Toby's laments that he and Charmian were found unsuitable for being pilots and his description of their continual longing to go on this almost-certainly fatal adventure. It's an amazing story, both in concept and in execution, and it alone is worth finding a copy of Burning Chrome.
William Gibson fans, put Burning Chrome on your to-read list if it's not already there. And for those of who you haven't read William Gibson, this would be a fine place to start (though I still recommend Neuromancer as well). This anthology is a snapshot of Gibson at his best, from the familiar milieu of his Sprawl world and beyond, to even weirder and more imaginative places. Gibson is a source of great ideas, and he always manages to wrap them in even greater stories.
December 6, 2019
I know I am repeating myself, but after having already read Sterling, Reynolds and Gibson’s Neuromancer, this collection didn’t surprise me the way I expected.
However, I do not contest its originality and groundbreaking impact it had at the moment of its appearance; it’s just that some books should be read at their time, especially in science fiction.
I still liked it a lot, though. More than 30 years after it was published, the stories seem both fresh and vintage at the same time; the audio cassette is not something you encounter anymore (if ever) in this genre.
I particularly liked The Gernsback Continuum, Fragments of a Hologram Rose, The Hinterlands, New Rose Hotel, Dogfight and Burning Chrome.
The letdown was Johnny Mnemonic, which I better enjoyed as a movie.
That being said, I believe it’s a must read for every sci-fi fan; after all, Gibson is one of the pioneers of cyberpunk.
However, I do not contest its originality and groundbreaking impact it had at the moment of its appearance; it’s just that some books should be read at their time, especially in science fiction.
I still liked it a lot, though. More than 30 years after it was published, the stories seem both fresh and vintage at the same time; the audio cassette is not something you encounter anymore (if ever) in this genre.
I particularly liked The Gernsback Continuum, Fragments of a Hologram Rose, The Hinterlands, New Rose Hotel, Dogfight and Burning Chrome.
The letdown was Johnny Mnemonic, which I better enjoyed as a movie.
That being said, I believe it’s a must read for every sci-fi fan; after all, Gibson is one of the pioneers of cyberpunk.
July 2, 2022
Wired West
"Burning Chrome" is a fascinating collection of stories that chart the origin of the Sprawl Trilogy. You can watch William Gibson building the world of the Sprawl ("of cities and smoke"), cyberspace and the characters who would later be explored in the three novels.
Equally importantly, you can observe him developing a unique style of writing suited to this world.
It's data- and sensory-rich, almost exhausting in its detail, which is revealed without information dumps or definitions. It assumes that we're keeping up with the story and we get it, without having to have things explained to us at length.
Gibson's world is a combination of the physical world, computers, data, the matrix, cyberspace, and people who use technology to travel between these substrata.
Gibson is equally adept at finding the future in the present, and the present in the future.
Gentleman Losers
The narrators of the stories are often down on their luck technophiles and hackers who illicitly access the corporate segments of cyberspace. Gibson calls them "console cowboys", "hustlers" and "industrial espionage artists" who rustle data. They frequent saloons like "The Gentleman Loser" (named after a line in Steely Dan's "Midnight Cruiser") and visit brothels like the House of Blue Lights. This isn't the Wild West, but the Wired West, although it incorporates Japan, China, Hong Kong, Macao and Russia.
Not surprisingly, the style of some of the stories resembles that found in western novels, others resemble pulp or crime fiction.
In Recognition of a Woman's Sleeping Patterns
There are several narrators, all male. The women are talented, artistic, beautiful, adventurous, energetic, and mysterious, with exotic or kitsch names like Molly Millions, Dialta Downes, Angela, Antoinette, Leni, Charmian, (Colonel) Olga, Hillary, Valentina, Nina, Tatjana, Sandii, Lise (who records an album of her dreams called "Kings of Sleep"), Nance, and Rikki Wildside.
Naomi Watts in "King Kong"
Where is Your Bounty of Fortune and Fame?
The final story "Burning Chrome" contains the original use of the word "cyberspace". Interestingly, it had already become the proprietary name of some computer hardware, "the Cyberspace Seven", which the narrator, Automatic Jack, repairs and customises so that he can access and burn Chrome's data towers with a Russian "glitch system" or cybernetic virus analog. Meanwhile, Jack withdraws a significant undisclosed amount of cash from Chrome's Zurich account (which stores its income from global property and prostitution assets):
"I watched zeros pile up behind a meaningless figure on the monitor. I was rich...
"I thought about Chrome, too. That we'd killed her, murdered her, as surely as if we'd slit her throat."
Despite the female face Jack subconsciously attaches to it, Gibson's corrupt new global economy was just as dependent on data as it was on cash. As were console cowboys like Jack who knew how to hack into both in pursuit of fortune and fame.
"Tell me where are you driving
Midnight cruiser
Where is your bounty
Of fortune and fame?"
SOUNDTRACK:
"Burning Chrome" is a fascinating collection of stories that chart the origin of the Sprawl Trilogy. You can watch William Gibson building the world of the Sprawl ("of cities and smoke"), cyberspace and the characters who would later be explored in the three novels.
Equally importantly, you can observe him developing a unique style of writing suited to this world.
It's data- and sensory-rich, almost exhausting in its detail, which is revealed without information dumps or definitions. It assumes that we're keeping up with the story and we get it, without having to have things explained to us at length.
Gibson's world is a combination of the physical world, computers, data, the matrix, cyberspace, and people who use technology to travel between these substrata.
Gibson is equally adept at finding the future in the present, and the present in the future.
Gentleman Losers
The narrators of the stories are often down on their luck technophiles and hackers who illicitly access the corporate segments of cyberspace. Gibson calls them "console cowboys", "hustlers" and "industrial espionage artists" who rustle data. They frequent saloons like "The Gentleman Loser" (named after a line in Steely Dan's "Midnight Cruiser") and visit brothels like the House of Blue Lights. This isn't the Wild West, but the Wired West, although it incorporates Japan, China, Hong Kong, Macao and Russia.
Not surprisingly, the style of some of the stories resembles that found in western novels, others resemble pulp or crime fiction.
In Recognition of a Woman's Sleeping Patterns
There are several narrators, all male. The women are talented, artistic, beautiful, adventurous, energetic, and mysterious, with exotic or kitsch names like Molly Millions, Dialta Downes, Angela, Antoinette, Leni, Charmian, (Colonel) Olga, Hillary, Valentina, Nina, Tatjana, Sandii, Lise (who records an album of her dreams called "Kings of Sleep"), Nance, and Rikki Wildside.
Naomi Watts in "King Kong"
Where is Your Bounty of Fortune and Fame?
The final story "Burning Chrome" contains the original use of the word "cyberspace". Interestingly, it had already become the proprietary name of some computer hardware, "the Cyberspace Seven", which the narrator, Automatic Jack, repairs and customises so that he can access and burn Chrome's data towers with a Russian "glitch system" or cybernetic virus analog. Meanwhile, Jack withdraws a significant undisclosed amount of cash from Chrome's Zurich account (which stores its income from global property and prostitution assets):
"I watched zeros pile up behind a meaningless figure on the monitor. I was rich...
"I thought about Chrome, too. That we'd killed her, murdered her, as surely as if we'd slit her throat."
Despite the female face Jack subconsciously attaches to it, Gibson's corrupt new global economy was just as dependent on data as it was on cash. As were console cowboys like Jack who knew how to hack into both in pursuit of fortune and fame.
"Tell me where are you driving
Midnight cruiser
Where is your bounty
Of fortune and fame?"
SOUNDTRACK:
March 16, 2024
Es un libro de relatos, y como siempre de calidad dispar, o al menos, así me ha ocurrido a mí al leerlos. Puntuaciones:
- Johnny Mnemónico 7/10
-El continuo de Gernsback 6/10
-Fragmentos de una Rosa holográfica 5/10
-La especie 7/10
-Regiones apartadas 5/10.
-Estrella roja, órbita de invierno 6/10
-Hotel New Rose 7.5/10
-El mercado de invierno 6.75/10
-Combate aéreo 7/10
-Quemando Cromo 5.5/10.
Valoración: 6.3/10
Sinopsis: 'Quemando cromo' reúne los primeros cuentos de William Gibson, publicados en antologías y revistas, y nominados para todos los principales premios del género. Dos de estos cuentos, 'Quemando cromo' y 'Johnny Mnemónico', tienen como escenario el universo de 'Neuromante' y preanuncian el controvertido movimiento estético eléctrico-tecnológico llamado más tarde el movimiento cyberpunk.
Mi 2º acercamiento al cyberpunk, no estuvo mal, sigo con esta serie, este ha sido un pequeño aperitivo.
A por el siguiente: Neuromante.
- Johnny Mnemónico 7/10
-El continuo de Gernsback 6/10
-Fragmentos de una Rosa holográfica 5/10
-La especie 7/10
-Regiones apartadas 5/10.
-Estrella roja, órbita de invierno 6/10
-Hotel New Rose 7.5/10
-El mercado de invierno 6.75/10
-Combate aéreo 7/10
-Quemando Cromo 5.5/10.
Valoración: 6.3/10
Sinopsis: 'Quemando cromo' reúne los primeros cuentos de William Gibson, publicados en antologías y revistas, y nominados para todos los principales premios del género. Dos de estos cuentos, 'Quemando cromo' y 'Johnny Mnemónico', tienen como escenario el universo de 'Neuromante' y preanuncian el controvertido movimiento estético eléctrico-tecnológico llamado más tarde el movimiento cyberpunk.
Mi 2º acercamiento al cyberpunk, no estuvo mal, sigo con esta serie, este ha sido un pequeño aperitivo.
A por el siguiente: Neuromante.
June 19, 2022
This was... a very different reading experience than I expected, but I liked it. I already knew that Gibson's a writer who really divides readers, and even though I generally prefer the New Wave/cyberpunk school of science-fiction over the genre's "golden age" there were still several surprises.
One thing that struck me was how unlike the cyberpunk stereotypes the stories found in "Burning Chrome" are. Less than half even qualify as tangential to that sub-genre, with a few being closer to hallucinatory magical realism and "New Rose Hotel" having so few science-fiction elements that it could just as well pass for an offbeat hardboiled crime story. Another interesting thing is how Gibson's writing contains primordial forms of the most annoying tendencies in present day Anglosphere "experimental fiction" (fragmented surrealistic manner of expression, super cynical worldview, fascination with the most dysfunctional parts of Japanese culture) but here they're used successfully and not at all annoying.
This brings me to my main point: I think many people, even some of his fans, misunderstand William Gibson. While he on the surface appears as self-consciously futuristic and technophiliac as the vintage futurists mocked in "The Gernsback Continuum", the overall ethos is that of a William Burroughs/Thomas Pynchon-style psychedelic post-modernist mind-bender more than a conventional science-fiction writer. Since that's the angle I read Gibson's work from, I find the so-called flaws many readers find to be my favourite things about his writing style. Likewise, the "nerd-macho" fascination with the power of technology is actually for the most part secondary to very different themes I personally find much more fascinating.
To put it bluntly: What I like about the stories collected in "Burning Chrome" is that down to fine details in the prose style, they seem to written by and for people living in the fictional worlds they describe, rather than a real-life audience contemporary to the author. It's like the readers have to "re-program" their own ways of thinking in order to get what's going on. That's a really cool way to approach science-fiction, and I think Gibson for the most part succeeds here.
One thing that struck me was how unlike the cyberpunk stereotypes the stories found in "Burning Chrome" are. Less than half even qualify as tangential to that sub-genre, with a few being closer to hallucinatory magical realism and "New Rose Hotel" having so few science-fiction elements that it could just as well pass for an offbeat hardboiled crime story. Another interesting thing is how Gibson's writing contains primordial forms of the most annoying tendencies in present day Anglosphere "experimental fiction" (fragmented surrealistic manner of expression, super cynical worldview, fascination with the most dysfunctional parts of Japanese culture) but here they're used successfully and not at all annoying.
This brings me to my main point: I think many people, even some of his fans, misunderstand William Gibson. While he on the surface appears as self-consciously futuristic and technophiliac as the vintage futurists mocked in "The Gernsback Continuum", the overall ethos is that of a William Burroughs/Thomas Pynchon-style psychedelic post-modernist mind-bender more than a conventional science-fiction writer. Since that's the angle I read Gibson's work from, I find the so-called flaws many readers find to be my favourite things about his writing style. Likewise, the "nerd-macho" fascination with the power of technology is actually for the most part secondary to very different themes I personally find much more fascinating.
To put it bluntly: What I like about the stories collected in "Burning Chrome" is that down to fine details in the prose style, they seem to written by and for people living in the fictional worlds they describe, rather than a real-life audience contemporary to the author. It's like the readers have to "re-program" their own ways of thinking in order to get what's going on. That's a really cool way to approach science-fiction, and I think Gibson for the most part succeeds here.
December 11, 2012
I think this is the collection where I finally understood the cyberpunk of William Gibson despite having read four of his novels.
For me he is all about the mileau, the crafting of the dystopian world that his stories exist in and his characters evolve from is his primary skill, everything that comes evolves from there. Not to doubt his acknowedged talent as an ideas man.
I was particularly impressed with New Rose Hotel, his style of narration called to mind Chris Markers La Jetee and Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express, the overall feel of the piece settles on melancholy without even attempting to play with your emotions or adrenaline. Johnny Mnemonic is a completely different proposition to the movie, I'm not even sure why that was allowed to happen, which was a great surprise.
Some of the stories are a bit clunky and the better ones are co-written with somebody else but even so this would work as a great introduction to the world of Cyberpunk, much more so than jumping straight in to Neuromancer.
For me he is all about the mileau, the crafting of the dystopian world that his stories exist in and his characters evolve from is his primary skill, everything that comes evolves from there. Not to doubt his acknowedged talent as an ideas man.
I was particularly impressed with New Rose Hotel, his style of narration called to mind Chris Markers La Jetee and Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express, the overall feel of the piece settles on melancholy without even attempting to play with your emotions or adrenaline. Johnny Mnemonic is a completely different proposition to the movie, I'm not even sure why that was allowed to happen, which was a great surprise.
Some of the stories are a bit clunky and the better ones are co-written with somebody else but even so this would work as a great introduction to the world of Cyberpunk, much more so than jumping straight in to Neuromancer.
Read
March 17, 2024дуже довго підступався, бо в минулому збірка дзеркальні окуляри під редакцією брюса стерлінга трошки попсувала мені кіберпанк. але спалити хром від вільяма ґібсона зовсім інший: 1 книжка, 10 оповідань, 200 сторінок, зіро буллщіт.
джонні мнемонік не змінився: одразу прописує з вертухи в борщ. це оповідання стартує на підвищених обертах і не спиняється ні на секунду, просто якесь свято вісцеральності. естетика того самого кіберпанку вже повністю оформлена (1981 рік, на хвилиночку), а також тут вперше зʼявляється моє сонечко моллі мілліонз. кароч, це найкраще оповідання в галактиці, але я заангажований та ностальгійний, тому діліть все навпіл (ніт).
континуум гернсбека в перекладі не перевантажує своїми вишуканими словоформами, як це робив оригінал, але загальну ідею ретранслює пречудово. ґібсон пояснив хонтологію краще за тих пихатих французів, ще й примудрився вкласти це в однісіньке оповідання на пʼятнадцять сторінок. у 2022 році нічого цікавого я тут побачити не зміг, у 2024-му повністю змінив свою думку. люблю нейропластичність.
уламки голографічної троянди поранили мене в саме серденько, бо меланхолійний, просякнутий холодним кислотним дощем, вайб цього тексту відчувається глибоко всередині. гіркий ретрофутуристичний ромфант.
доречні принесли трошки біопанку, це історія про міміків-допельгангерів, що чіп��яють жертв у нічних барах та заманюють у своє лігво. в цілому вийшов непоганий кавер на викрадачів тіл. а ще я бачив серію x-files про таку самісіньку халепу, тільки там все скінчилось трошки краще. принаймні, для людства, хехе.
по глушині видно, що ґібсон теж шарив стругацьких. тільки в тих було про сміття на узбіччі космічних магістралей, а тут безпосередньо про подорожі тими самими магістралями. іронічно, мабуть. енівей, карго культ як спроба домовитись з невідомим — це дуже сумно, цілком логічно, і безмежно красиво.
червону зорю, зимову орбіту й досі огидно читати, бо в цій історії русня перемогла штати в космічній гонитві та холодній війні, але з другого разу я хоча б зміг побачити за деревами ліс: люди здатні зруйнувати все навколо, аби утримати статус кво. не новина, але все одно моторошно. а ще космічні сквотери це доволі мило.
готель «нью-роуз» це концентрований нуар про невдалу спробу пограбування в декораціях корпоративних війн. тут є настільки яскрава femme fatale, що навіть де пальмі не снилося. а ще в оповіданні так багато реймонда чандлера та дешила геммета, що аж непристойно. та ні, це жарт, реймонда чандлера багато не буває.
зимовий ринок — це про повільну руйнацію тіла та спробу перенести свідомість в мережу. скільки таких історій вже було — не злічити, але ця інша. головний герой — талановитий режисер монтажу VR-фільмів, котрий має компілювати в більш-менш притомний експіріенс нарізку з кошмарів та фантазій однієї чарівної особи, закоханої у власне самознищення. милота, нє?
повітряний бій це, мабуть, найконвенційніше оповідання в збірці, бо має найбільш структурований наратив. історія проста як двері: один завзятий хлопчина в прагненні до перемоги руйнує себе й близьких, але замість загальної любові й визнання публіки отримує тільки презирство та розчарування. напрочуд прямолінійна мораль, що якось навіть дивно для кіберпанку з його любовʼю до антигероїв та сірих зон. але написано захопливо.
спалити хром (чому саме такий переклад? чому не палаючий хром?) це водночас і любовний трикутник, і heist story, і дуже ретрофутуристична візуалізація процесу зламу компʼютерних систем: доінтернетний інтернет — це місто, бази даних компаній — це хмарочоси, а віруси (на дискетах, хехе) виглядають буквально як зброя, що плавить стіни будинків. все ж таки TRON мав неабиякий вплив на естетику жанру.
що у підсумку? та розйоб, звісно. вільям ґібсон — майстерний письменник, неймовірний оповідач, химерний винахідник. цікаво тільки, чим його так сильно надихнув ванкувер?
джонні мнемонік не змінився: одразу прописує з вертухи в борщ. це оповідання стартує на підвищених обертах і не спиняється ні на секунду, просто якесь свято вісцеральності. естетика того самого кіберпанку вже повністю оформлена (1981 рік, на хвилиночку), а також тут вперше зʼявляється моє сонечко моллі мілліонз. кароч, це найкраще оповідання в галактиці, але я заангажований та ностальгійний, тому діліть все навпіл (ніт).
континуум гернсбека в перекладі не перевантажує своїми вишуканими словоформами, як це робив оригінал, але загальну ідею ретранслює пречудово. ґібсон пояснив хонтологію краще за тих пихатих французів, ще й примудрився вкласти це в однісіньке оповідання на пʼятнадцять сторінок. у 2022 році нічого цікавого я тут побачити не зміг, у 2024-му повністю змінив свою думку. люблю нейропластичність.
уламки голографічної троянди поранили мене в саме серденько, бо меланхолійний, просякнутий холодним кислотним дощем, вайб цього тексту відчувається глибоко всередині. гіркий ретрофутуристичний ромфант.
доречні принесли трошки біопанку, це історія про міміків-допельгангерів, що чіп��яють жертв у нічних барах та заманюють у своє лігво. в цілому вийшов непоганий кавер на викрадачів тіл. а ще я бачив серію x-files про таку самісіньку халепу, тільки там все скінчилось трошки краще. принаймні, для людства, хехе.
по глушині видно, що ґібсон теж шарив стругацьких. тільки в тих було про сміття на узбіччі космічних магістралей, а тут безпосередньо про подорожі тими самими магістралями. іронічно, мабуть. енівей, карго культ як спроба домовитись з невідомим — це дуже сумно, цілком логічно, і безмежно красиво.
червону зорю, зимову орбіту й досі огидно читати, бо в цій історії русня перемогла штати в космічній гонитві та холодній війні, але з другого разу я хоча б зміг побачити за деревами ліс: люди здатні зруйнувати все навколо, аби утримати статус кво. не новина, але все одно моторошно. а ще космічні сквотери це доволі мило.
готель «нью-роуз» це концентрований нуар про невдалу спробу пограбування в декораціях корпоративних війн. тут є настільки яскрава femme fatale, що навіть де пальмі не снилося. а ще в оповіданні так багато реймонда чандлера та дешила геммета, що аж непристойно. та ні, це жарт, реймонда чандлера багато не буває.
зимовий ринок — це про повільну руйнацію тіла та спробу перенести свідомість в мережу. скільки таких історій вже було — не злічити, але ця інша. головний герой — талановитий режисер монтажу VR-фільмів, котрий має компілювати в більш-менш притомний експіріенс нарізку з кошмарів та фантазій однієї чарівної особи, закоханої у власне самознищення. милота, нє?
повітряний бій це, мабуть, найконвенційніше оповідання в збірці, бо має найбільш структурований наратив. історія проста як двері: один завзятий хлопчина в прагненні до перемоги руйнує себе й близьких, але замість загальної любові й визнання публіки отримує тільки презирство та розчарування. напрочуд прямолінійна мораль, що якось навіть дивно для кіберпанку з його любовʼю до антигероїв та сірих зон. але написано захопливо.
спалити хром (чому саме такий переклад? чому не палаючий хром?) це водночас і любовний трикутник, і heist story, і дуже ретрофутуристична візуалізація процесу зламу компʼютерних систем: доінтернетний інтернет — це місто, бази даних компаній — це хмарочоси, а віруси (на дискетах, хехе) виглядають буквально як зброя, що плавить стіни будинків. все ж таки TRON мав неабиякий вплив на естетику жанру.
що у підсумку? та розйоб, звісно. вільям ґібсон — майстерний письменник, неймовірний оповідач, химерний винахідник. цікаво тільки, чим його так сильно надихнув ванкувер?
January 30, 2018
I seen the error of my ways. William Gibson isn't an easy author to get into and my mistake was jumping directly into Neuromancer without any prior knowledge of his writing. So from now on when somebody asks me if they should get into Gibson I will advise them to start from this anthology. It shows the themes he likes to tackle, his writing style and the worlds he likes to create and is an excellent way to ease new readers into his works.
Now, onward to rest of his works!
Now, onward to rest of his works!
March 13, 2021
Summary: William Gibson, Grandmaster of SF, published some 20 short stories in his long writing career since 1981. Half of them found their way into this 1986 collection. They are representative of his works in the 1980s given that three of them - Johnny Mnemonic, New Rose Hotel, and Burning Chrome - are set in his famous Sprawl universe. You know, the one he became famous with: Neuromancer (review).
Gibson set out to revolutionize the stale SF business, creating with a handful other authors a new subgenre known as Cyberpunk. Two of them, John Shirley and Bruce Sterling, can be found as co-authors here, adding to Gibson's special style.
Why would one want to read stories which were visionary at the time but nearly fourty years old now? True enough, Gibson coined the word "cyberspace" in the novelette Burning Chrome. His "matrix" and memorable, super cool fighting lady Molly Millions from "Johnny Mnemonic" were adapted in the 1999 action film "The Matrix" (just think of Trinity). But then again, this is 20 years ago. Add to this that Cyberpunk is way past its hype phase, Post-Cyberpunk anthologies are old again already, and one could ask: Why bother?
First of all, Gibson is a fantastic author, juggling techno language with real life sceneries like no one. Come here to read that, at least. Some of the stories, like Johny Mnemonic, Dogfight, or Burning Chrome, have fast-paced plots or draw interesting characters. There's something in it for everyone and there isn't a single bad story in it, they range from good to great, feeling both fresh and nostalgic at the same time.
In my humble opinion, this collection should be part of every SF library as a milestone of the genre.
See you at Chiba city, drinking a beer with Molly.
Contents (review links will lead you to my blog):
1 • Preface • essay by Bruce Sterling
6 • ★★★★☆ • Johnny Mnemonic • 1981 • Cyberpunk short story by William Gibson • review
28 • ★★★☆☆ • The Gernsback Continuum • 1981 • SF short story by William Gibson • review
41 • ★★★☆☆ • Fragments of a Hologram Rose • 1977 • Cyberpunk short story by William Gibson • review
49 • ★★+☆☆☆ • The Belonging Kind • 1981 • Horror short story by William Gibson and John Shirley • review
65 • ★★★★☆ • Hinterlands • 1981 • Space Opera short story by William Gibson • review
87 • ★★★+☆☆ • Red Star, Winter Orbit • 1983 • Alternate History novelette by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling • review
110 • ★★★★☆ • New Rose Hotel • 1984 • Cyberpunk short story by William Gibson • review
125 • ★★★★☆ • The Winter Market • 1985 • Cyberpunk novelette by William Gibson • review
150 • ★★★★☆ • Dogfight • 1985 • Cyberpunk novelette by William Gibson and Michael Swanwick • review
176 • ★★★★★ • Burning Chrome • 1982 • Cyberpunk novelette by William Gibson • review
November 6, 2011
The stories in this volume pre-date Neuromancer by date of composition, but were published slightly after as a set. I had no idea that Molly in Neuromancer was also Molly Millions in Johnny Mnemonic (I also didn't know William Gibson wrote that story! Time to watch the movie....)
Burning Chrome is the most significant story in this volume, because it contains most of the ideas and atmosphere that would later become Neuromancer - the cybercowboy, ICE, and the idea of viruses.
The other stories contain similar elements - cyberpunk societies full of commercialized technology, AIs taking the place of humans on multiple levels, and altering brain function in ways we don't currently do (and, of course, more drugs!).
Burning Chrome is the most significant story in this volume, because it contains most of the ideas and atmosphere that would later become Neuromancer - the cybercowboy, ICE, and the idea of viruses.
The other stories contain similar elements - cyberpunk societies full of commercialized technology, AIs taking the place of humans on multiple levels, and altering brain function in ways we don't currently do (and, of course, more drugs!).
August 1, 2016
Executive Summary: An anthology of 10 short stories mostly related to or set in Mr. Gibson's Sprawl world. I enjoyed some, but not all of the stories. Only worth picking up if you really like the Sprawl books in my opinion.
Audio book: 10 stories. 10 different narrators. None of them stand out one way or another. Nobody was excellent and nobody was terrible. A few did occasional voices or accents, but none of them struck as particularly memorable.
Full Review
Neuromancer is one of those books that has stuck with me 20 years later. I had the fortune of reading it before the Matrix movie came out in the early days of the internet when many of his concepts still seemed fresh.
With this anthology you can see the building blocks of that book. Megacorporations, cyberspace, keyboard cowboys, black ice. The elements are there.
But for the most part these stories just weren't very good in my opinion. My favorite story, Dogfight seems like it could be set in the Sprawl, but could just as easily be set in a completely different sci-fi setting.
Some of the stories are "near-future" which when read 30 years later don't feel very futuristic at all any more.
The other story I really enjoyed was Johnny Nuemonic. I guess it's a lot different from the movie, but it's been so many years since I've seen it I don't really remember. This again is one of those stories that could be at home in some generic sci-fi future as it could in the sprawl.
The only story that is directly related to the sprawl is Burning Chrome, which I found to be OK, but not great.
From a literary point of view, this anthology is interesting to read and see how Mr. Gibson was putting together elements of his previous works to come out with Neuromancer, but in my opinion most of these stories can be skipped.
3 Stars overall.
Story Ratings
Johnny Nuemonic - 4
The Gernsback Continuum - 2
Fragments of a Hologram Rose - 2.5
The Belonging Kind - 3
Hinterlands - 3.5
Red Star, Winter Orbit - 3
New Rose Hotel - 2
The Winter Market - 2.5
Dogfight - 4.5
Burning Chrome - 3
Audio book: 10 stories. 10 different narrators. None of them stand out one way or another. Nobody was excellent and nobody was terrible. A few did occasional voices or accents, but none of them struck as particularly memorable.
Full Review
Neuromancer is one of those books that has stuck with me 20 years later. I had the fortune of reading it before the Matrix movie came out in the early days of the internet when many of his concepts still seemed fresh.
With this anthology you can see the building blocks of that book. Megacorporations, cyberspace, keyboard cowboys, black ice. The elements are there.
But for the most part these stories just weren't very good in my opinion. My favorite story, Dogfight seems like it could be set in the Sprawl, but could just as easily be set in a completely different sci-fi setting.
Some of the stories are "near-future" which when read 30 years later don't feel very futuristic at all any more.
The other story I really enjoyed was Johnny Nuemonic. I guess it's a lot different from the movie, but it's been so many years since I've seen it I don't really remember. This again is one of those stories that could be at home in some generic sci-fi future as it could in the sprawl.
The only story that is directly related to the sprawl is Burning Chrome, which I found to be OK, but not great.
From a literary point of view, this anthology is interesting to read and see how Mr. Gibson was putting together elements of his previous works to come out with Neuromancer, but in my opinion most of these stories can be skipped.
3 Stars overall.
Story Ratings
Johnny Nuemonic - 4
The Gernsback Continuum - 2
Fragments of a Hologram Rose - 2.5
The Belonging Kind - 3
Hinterlands - 3.5
Red Star, Winter Orbit - 3
New Rose Hotel - 2
The Winter Market - 2.5
Dogfight - 4.5
Burning Chrome - 3
November 16, 2019
This is a collection of early (1977-1985) short stories and novelettes by the master of cyberpunk, William Gibson. It contains two stories from Sprawl universe and I decided to read them before continuing with the Sprawl Challenge in Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group.
Here are the stories and their ratings
Johnny Mnemonic 5 stars this story won Nebula. It is about a man who uses his brain to transport sensitive data. Once he got data from wrong and powerful people.
The Gernsback Continuum 5 stars, a photographer gets a project about the US futurist architecture, “future as seen from the past” and gets quite deep into it.
Fragments of a Hologram Rose 1.5 stars, author’s first published story, a classic ‘a boy lost a girl’ but with some future items.
The Belonging Kind 3 stars, more horror than SF, a re-interpretation of the classic Or All the Seas with Oysters but with people. The protagonist, a linguistic professor accidently meets a woman in a bar, who easily shifts between styles of speech and as he follows her, see that she can change the appearance just as easy.
Hinterlands 4.5 stars a way to travel to distant stars is found, but all returnees are either mad or dead.
Red Star, Winter Orbit 3 stars the Soviet Union satellite and a ‘forgotten man’
New Rose Hotel 3 stars, semi-thriller about small-time crooks who crossed serious guys
The Winter Market 2.5 stars a new talent, whose appearance is due to the new tech
Dogfight 4 stars flying virtual WWI planes in a depression-hit future USA
Burning Chrome 3 stars hackers breaking ice (Instrusion Countermeasures Electronics) in their great last swindle.
Here are the stories and their ratings
Johnny Mnemonic 5 stars this story won Nebula. It is about a man who uses his brain to transport sensitive data. Once he got data from wrong and powerful people.
The Gernsback Continuum 5 stars, a photographer gets a project about the US futurist architecture, “future as seen from the past” and gets quite deep into it.
Fragments of a Hologram Rose 1.5 stars, author’s first published story, a classic ‘a boy lost a girl’ but with some future items.
The Belonging Kind 3 stars, more horror than SF, a re-interpretation of the classic Or All the Seas with Oysters but with people. The protagonist, a linguistic professor accidently meets a woman in a bar, who easily shifts between styles of speech and as he follows her, see that she can change the appearance just as easy.
Hinterlands 4.5 stars a way to travel to distant stars is found, but all returnees are either mad or dead.
Red Star, Winter Orbit 3 stars the Soviet Union satellite and a ‘forgotten man’
New Rose Hotel 3 stars, semi-thriller about small-time crooks who crossed serious guys
The Winter Market 2.5 stars a new talent, whose appearance is due to the new tech
Dogfight 4 stars flying virtual WWI planes in a depression-hit future USA
Burning Chrome 3 stars hackers breaking ice (Instrusion Countermeasures Electronics) in their great last swindle.
October 17, 2007
In 2005 my husband and I rented Johnny Mnemonic; it was one of the stupidest films we had ever seen. Curious to see if it was a problem with the translation to film or the source material, I decided to get a copy of the book: Burning Chrome, the first story being "Johnny Mnemonic." Having now suffered through the entire collection of stories, I can say that both the filmmakers and the author can share the blame equally.
I know that there are many fans of William Gibson's books but he doesn't do much for me. The worst of the stories in Burning Chrome bored me. The others were vaguely derivative of Philip K. Dick and Jack Kerouac but with some new cyber-babble thrown in. The three best stories of the book were ones that Gibson co-wrote: "The Belonging Kind" with John Shirley, "Red Star, White Orbit" with Bruce Sterling, and "Dogfight" Michael Swanwick. These collaborations allowed Gibson to world build (his strong suit) while the plot was left to the collaborator.
I know that there are many fans of William Gibson's books but he doesn't do much for me. The worst of the stories in Burning Chrome bored me. The others were vaguely derivative of Philip K. Dick and Jack Kerouac but with some new cyber-babble thrown in. The three best stories of the book were ones that Gibson co-wrote: "The Belonging Kind" with John Shirley, "Red Star, White Orbit" with Bruce Sterling, and "Dogfight" Michael Swanwick. These collaborations allowed Gibson to world build (his strong suit) while the plot was left to the collaborator.
September 7, 2022
1. Johnny Mnemonic - 4 stars
2. The Germsback Continuum - 3 stars
3. Fragments of a Hologram Rose - 3.5 stars
4. The Belonging Kind - 3.5 stars
5. Hinterlands - 5 stars
6. Red Star, Winter Orbit - 4 stars
7. New Rose Hotel - 3 stars
8. The Winter Market - 4 stars
9. Dogfight - 2 stars
10. Burning Chrome - 3 stars
Overall, 3.5 stars, rounded down because it just didn’t feel like I enjoyed it enough to warrant a 4 star rating.
2. The Germsback Continuum - 3 stars
3. Fragments of a Hologram Rose - 3.5 stars
4. The Belonging Kind - 3.5 stars
5. Hinterlands - 5 stars
6. Red Star, Winter Orbit - 4 stars
7. New Rose Hotel - 3 stars
8. The Winter Market - 4 stars
9. Dogfight - 2 stars
10. Burning Chrome - 3 stars
Overall, 3.5 stars, rounded down because it just didn’t feel like I enjoyed it enough to warrant a 4 star rating.
December 23, 2021
12-23-2021 UPDATE: THIS, ON SALE, LIMITED TIME,
AMAZON 1.99
This short story collection was awesome. Everything I've been wanting in literature. "The Matrix" in literary form. Gibson creates these worlds that make you experience them as if he has taken unseen plugs and jacked you in to the story, or he has laced every one of the copies of his books with nanobots that create the experience as an interface in the brain when you read it.
He has this powerful, poetic style. He is a master of the craft.
I enjoyed "Johnny Mnemonic." Molly Millions (Neuromancer) shows up and saves his ass with a death dance. He writes some stories with emotional connections on the deepest levels: failure, broken love, the tragedy of greed and selfish gain, the sensitivity of PTSD from a former soldier hanging on to hope. He writes of loneliness and the extent humans will go for love, and how far sentient beings may be able to evolve into that same need.
This collection has become a favorite of favorites, and Gibson my third favorite writer, under Tolkien and Kafka.
"It was hot, the night we burned Chrome."
AMAZON 1.99
This short story collection was awesome. Everything I've been wanting in literature. "The Matrix" in literary form. Gibson creates these worlds that make you experience them as if he has taken unseen plugs and jacked you in to the story, or he has laced every one of the copies of his books with nanobots that create the experience as an interface in the brain when you read it.
He has this powerful, poetic style. He is a master of the craft.
I enjoyed "Johnny Mnemonic." Molly Millions (Neuromancer) shows up and saves his ass with a death dance. He writes some stories with emotional connections on the deepest levels: failure, broken love, the tragedy of greed and selfish gain, the sensitivity of PTSD from a former soldier hanging on to hope. He writes of loneliness and the extent humans will go for love, and how far sentient beings may be able to evolve into that same need.
This collection has become a favorite of favorites, and Gibson my third favorite writer, under Tolkien and Kafka.
"It was hot, the night we burned Chrome."
April 10, 2024
«ДЖОННІ МНЕМОНІК», «КОНТИНУУМ ҐЕРНСБЕКА», «ЗИМОВИЙ РИНОК», «ПОВІТРЯНИЙ БІЙ», «СПАЛИТИ ХРОМ» — найбільше сподобались.
тобто, 5 оповідань з 10.
а, взагалі, то файна книга для знайомства з кіберпанком.
тобто, 5 оповідань з 10.
а, взагалі, то файна книга для знайомства з кіберпанком.
June 25, 2012
This is the fist time I have read anything by William Gibson and I have to say since I have already purchased each book in the Sprawl Trilogy I am really excited to read some more by him, especially Neuromancer; being next on the William Gibson list!
"Source Code" *****
"Johnny Mnemonic" *****
"The Gernsback Continuum" *****
"Fragments of a Hologram Rose" ***
"The Belonging Kind," with John Shirley *****
"Hinterlands" ****
"Red Star, Winter Orbit," with Bruce Sterling *****
"New Rose Hotel" *****
"The Winter Market" ***
"Dogfight," with Michael Swanwick *****
"Burning Chrome" *****
Johnny Mnemonic being by my favorite of the lot.
July 8, 2016
Did not finish. Giving up due to the book being too confusing. I didn't understand anything; perhaps I've just been too tired when trying to read it, perhaps I just don't get it.
April 10, 2019
Completa colección de relatos de ciencia ficción. William Gibson, conocido por ser uno de los padres del cyberpunk nos deleita con unos cuentos donde la realidad virtual, la eléctronica o los videojuegos construyen un universo propio que más tarde el autor desarrolaría en su más conocida obra: "Neuromante", libro del que he oído maravillas y algún dia abordaré.
La prosa es de Gibson es original pero no deja espacio al despiste, en algunos cuentos se omiten detalles que aparecen más tarde en la historia y es cuando todo cobra sentido, algo que desalentará al lector más impaciente o que espere una trama clara.
La variedad de ls temas y la calidad de estos relatos es lo que más me ha atrapado de este libro. Destaco los siguientes:
El continuo de Gernsback (*****): Un hombre recorre parajes desolados de EEUU buscando edificios vintage o antiguos de singular arquitectura. Las sensaciones que despiertan esas arquitecturas y el tono weird me encantó.
La especie, de John Shirley y William Gibson (****). Michael Coretti se queda prendadod e una mujer en un bar y la sigue hasta que la acaba perdiendo de vista. Más adelante se dará cuenta de que esa mujer puede cambiar de aspecto a placer.
Regiones apartadas (****). En el futuro la humanidad descubre un agujero deonde la gente que pasa vuelve con material extraterrestre aunque frecuentemente el viajero vuelve desquiciado. Se crea un cuerpo de viajeros para intercambiar objetos con la civilización que creó este agujero.
Estrella roja, órbita de invierno, de Bruce Sterling y William Gibson (****) En una estación espacial sovietica llega el comunicado de que tras años de servivio todo el mundo debe abandonar la nave y volver a la tierra. Un general se negará en redondo y intentará permanecer en su puesto de trabajo hasta el final.
Combate aéreo, de Michael Swanwick y William Gibson (***). Un hombre queda prendado de un juego de realidad virtual donde se manejan aviones de guerras y se propone convertirse en el mejor jugador de este juego. Recibirá la ayuda de una joven hacker que tiene un implante que asegurá su virginidad.
La prosa es de Gibson es original pero no deja espacio al despiste, en algunos cuentos se omiten detalles que aparecen más tarde en la historia y es cuando todo cobra sentido, algo que desalentará al lector más impaciente o que espere una trama clara.
La variedad de ls temas y la calidad de estos relatos es lo que más me ha atrapado de este libro. Destaco los siguientes:
El continuo de Gernsback (*****): Un hombre recorre parajes desolados de EEUU buscando edificios vintage o antiguos de singular arquitectura. Las sensaciones que despiertan esas arquitecturas y el tono weird me encantó.
La especie, de John Shirley y William Gibson (****). Michael Coretti se queda prendadod e una mujer en un bar y la sigue hasta que la acaba perdiendo de vista. Más adelante se dará cuenta de que esa mujer puede cambiar de aspecto a placer.
Regiones apartadas (****). En el futuro la humanidad descubre un agujero deonde la gente que pasa vuelve con material extraterrestre aunque frecuentemente el viajero vuelve desquiciado. Se crea un cuerpo de viajeros para intercambiar objetos con la civilización que creó este agujero.
Estrella roja, órbita de invierno, de Bruce Sterling y William Gibson (****) En una estación espacial sovietica llega el comunicado de que tras años de servivio todo el mundo debe abandonar la nave y volver a la tierra. Un general se negará en redondo y intentará permanecer en su puesto de trabajo hasta el final.
Combate aéreo, de Michael Swanwick y William Gibson (***). Un hombre queda prendado de un juego de realidad virtual donde se manejan aviones de guerras y se propone convertirse en el mejor jugador de este juego. Recibirá la ayuda de una joven hacker que tiene un implante que asegurá su virginidad.
June 25, 2015
Col suo cyberpunk lirico e visionario, William Gibson proietta il lettore in un universo noir e disperato dove l’economia e la tecnologia si sono fuse in un solo gigantesco leviatano capace di infilarsi sotto pelle alla natura umana. Distopia del capitalismo, la raccolta descrive un mondo dominato da una globalizzazione tecnocratica e biomedicale, abitata da fantasmi semiotici e pirati informatici. I protagonisti soli e senza speranza vivono isolati in città-ghetto clandestine, bassifondi di megalopoli tentacolari. Sono bari cinici e variopinti che affollano la metafora di un mondo post-industriale sovrappopolato e angosciante: il corpo incontra la macchina, il sistema nervoso dell’uomo entra in rete, la droga catalizza tutte le esperienze. E al cuore di questi racconti troviamo sempre la stessa preoccupazione ecologista affiancata alla disillusione nei confronti del nostro sistema economico-sociale.
Si rileva un certo calo di tensione nei brani scritti a 4 mani (con Bruce Sterling, John Shirley e Michael Swanwick), mentre gli altri raggiungono vertiginose vette fantascientifiche. I film Johnny Mnemonic e New Rose Hotel sono tratti da questa raccolta.
Si rileva un certo calo di tensione nei brani scritti a 4 mani (con Bruce Sterling, John Shirley e Michael Swanwick), mentre gli altri raggiungono vertiginose vette fantascientifiche. I film Johnny Mnemonic e New Rose Hotel sono tratti da questa raccolta.
January 20, 2021
"ma com’è possibile che un delfino cibernetico sia diventato eroinomane?"
Il livello medio della raccolta è davvero alto. Inoltre, pare quasi che la penna di Gibson scriva per me, tocchi sempre le corde giuste. Questa raccolta di racconti non ha fatto che confermare questa impressione e non è un caso che i due racconti che mi hanno affascinato di meno sono tra quelli scritti in collaborazione con altri autori.
4 stelle meritate.
Il livello medio della raccolta è davvero alto. Inoltre, pare quasi che la penna di Gibson scriva per me, tocchi sempre le corde giuste. Questa raccolta di racconti non ha fatto che confermare questa impressione e non è un caso che i due racconti che mi hanno affascinato di meno sono tra quelli scritti in collaborazione con altri autori.
4 stelle meritate.
July 20, 2023
Gibson’s classic collection of short stories is one of those books you enjoy even more if you re-read them in older age. I’m a huge fan of William Gibson since my teenage years and revisiting this book was a powerful experience. It’s magical how he can place such a rich palette of emotions and moods into relatively few words. How human his characters and situations are – even under neon cyberpunk light. Each story here is great (my personal favs are Winter Market, Dogfight and Burning Chrome) and deserves your attention.
After all these years? Always.
After all these years? Always.
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