Burning Chrome
by
William Gibson
As the creator of Cyberpunk, William Gibson is one of the most important writers within the sci-fi genre. His marriage of hard-boiled noir and speculative fiction gave a genre drowning in
Dune and
Star Wars rip-offs the kick up the arse it desperately needed.
Burning Chrome collects ten of his early short stories and what’s fascinating about them is how Gibson has already developed the style that would define his Sprawl trilogy. The dirty futurescapes; corporate governments; the homages to Japanese comic-book culture – they are all present in these stories.
As with any collection, some stories are obviously better (
New Rose Hotel;
Johnny Mnemonic;
Fragments of a Holographic Rose) than others (
Dogfight) but all are worth reading. Despite their brevity, Gibson’s prose and use of dialogue is able to transport you into a fully realised world. It may scare you and it may haunt you but you’ll never want to leave. Soon, you’ll be one of
The Belonging Kind.
Highly recommended!