“Burning Chrome”, the early stories of William Gibson.

Finally had the chance to read William Gibson's only short story collection "Burning Chrome"! Gibson didn't write a whole lot of short stories in his career, and he has written just only 11 stories, one of which is not included in this collection.

This includes the first ten stories that he did. His earliest ones, all dating from 1977-1985. And all very much the same William Gibson that I've come to know.

The stories are all peak Gibson, and I could easily see it in these early stories that he did. Especially with his 1977 first story "Fragments of a Holographic Rose". This collection also includes three stories set in the Sprawl series.

Most are pretty much in the cyberbunk mode, but a couple of them, "The Gernsback Continuum" and "The Belonging Kind", are straight up surreal! And three, even including "The Belonging Kind", are done in collaboration with others like Bruce Sterling (still another cyberbunk author I still need to check out!), John Shirley and Michael Swanwick.

These stories have the feel of New Wave SF, but less dense and complex. And that is the whole point with Gibson's work; writing some pretty cerebral SF that is very accessable, with plenty of action to spare. It's pretty short, and is also a pretty easy read too. Though it's the only short story collection that was ever published (given that he's best known for his novels) this is really good collection. Plus it's also a great introduction for anyone who's never read Gibson before.

There are still some of his other novels that I've still haven't read, and there is also the works of Bruce Sterling that I also want to sample too. And by then I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for them when I get that chance!