Burning Chrome is collection of William Gibson’s short stories. It is sometimes referred as part zero of Sprawl trilogy. Some stories happen in Sprawl universe but not every story. I probably should have started from this one but I didn’t know its connection to Neuromancer and Sprawl trilogy when I started Neuromancer. After Sprawl trilogy some stories felt familiar. I am not sure if other stories has similar connections as Johnny Mnemonic.
I like Johnny Mnemonic movie. It was big reason why I got Burning Chrome. Movie has core parts from short story but it adds quite a lot to short story. Happy ending being one or should I say happier and more uplifting ending. Short story’s ending isn’t exactly sad. More open ended. I thought Keanu Reeves was bit too much over the top in the movie but it was from the short story.
I liked Flash Gordon reference of second story. Started to wonder how much of other author’s characters you can us in your own story. Maybe just using the name on character which has similar aims without making it big deal doesn’t cross lines.
I enjoyed Burning Chrome more than Sprawl trilogy. Having short tight stories made it easier to follow and stories didn’t extra to make them longer. Mona Lisa Overdrive had too much waiting. Neuromancer had additional scenes to make it longer. Additional scenes broke the flow. Mona Lisa Overdrive took time to get into flow and then jumped into other scene. I have almost forgotten Count Zero already.
This collection is good start if you want to check William Gibson’s work. Last story Burning Chrome gets quite close to Neuromancer. Neuromancer is much more of everything. You get light version of it plus some extra in this book.