Burning Chrome by William Gibson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Burning Chrome
Book Review: Cyberpunk is Still Fresh
Summary: 4 Stars
William Gibson burst onto the scene with slick writing and a dismal view of the future. His protagonists were all flawed and the endings resulted in bittersweet Pyrrhic victories - a world were pain begets pain. Mostly set in the criminal underground or the criminal corporate world at war, he explored the darkness in his future worldview and the darkness within each of us.
What I liked best about this collection is what I like best about all of Gibson's work, the fluid prose. Like liquid poetry injected directly into the consciousness it raises your pulse and quickens the anticipation. He's brilliant at creating a mood, a true master.
The highlight of this anthology was the title story, Burning Chrome. To describe it with words like octane and infused would be to weaken its impact, a pure rush of language that conveys the story of desire: wealth, sex, life. There may be no better story in the genre than Burning Chrome.
Of the other stories, Johnny Mnemonic and Hinterlands stood out as exciting rides of fictional craziness. Hinterlands was half-horror, half cyber, and full out corporate espionage. Johnny Mnemonic foreshadowed Neuromancer with the introduction of Molly and the ill-fated Johnny run cross of the true corporate power in Gibson's stories, the Yakuza.
The rest of the collection is a fine sampling of Gibson's writing. Some better than others.
The following is the contents:
"Johnny Mnemonic"
"The Gernsback Continuum"
"Fragments of a Hologram Rose"
"The Belonging Kind"
"Hinterlands"
"Red Star, Winter Orbit"
"New Rose Hotel"
"The Winter Market"
"Dogfight"
"Burning Chrome"
- CV Rick
Book Review: Darn good cyberpunk
Summary: 5 Stars
If you've only read William Gibson's novel-length stories such as NEUROMANCER, you're missing some of his best works. Not all of the short stories in BURNING CHROME fall within the cyberpunk genre, but all of them deal with a future gone haywire, populated by high-tech low-lifes, corporate headhunters, cyberspace cowboys, and even astronauts facing some unusual challenges. Two stories, JOHNNY MNEMONIC and NEW ROSE HOTEL, have already been made into full-length features; the rest should definitely entertain careful review from Hollywood producers, especially the title story itself. Don't pass this one up.Book Review: Definitive Cyber-punk
Summary: 5 Stars
This book, and the title story inside, pretty much defines Cyber-Punk. Yes, John Brunner's The Shockwave Rider (1975) and Ryan's The Adolescence of P-1 (1977) pre-dated the Cyberpunk movement by a decade but their views of a computer based world didn't take off the way Gibson's work did. The earlier novels also lacked a bit of the noir/pulp fiction flavor that Gibson's work has. The '70's novels had the protagonists fighting a machine/network set up by 'the man' and ultimately subverting it. In Gibson's stories, the characters are the rats in the walls, just trying to get ahead or around 'the man'. Yeah, I can't really describe the difference but it's there.
One other factor that makes Gibson's work stand above others in the this genre is his descriptive powers. He paints a very realistic seeming world that is very visual but he doesn't bog down the narrative while doing so. When I start reading his stuff, I rarely find myself knocked out of the story by the text. Cool!
Book Review: Excellent collection of short stories
Summary: 5 Stars
If you liked Neuromancer - you gonna love this collection of short stories by the master of cyber punk genre.
Highly recommended!
Book Review: Fond memories
Summary: 5 Stars
These stories brought me back to the days of OMNI magazine. Well written.