Burning Chrome
I am currently reading a short anthology of short stories called "Burning Chrome" by Canadian author William Gibson. My first experience with William Gibson, like that of many others, was a book titled "Neuromancer" which described a future world dystopia of technology run rampant. His writing style is very visual, which brings images, smells, tastes, and sensations right to the surface of your imagination.
The short stories in "Burning Chrome" and Gibson's other books are the colourful setting of what we call the cyberpunk genre of writing. The Keanu Reeves movie "Johnny Mnemonic" was loosely based on the short story of the same name. A number of the other stories in the book influenced the look of that movie. The coffin motels described with such detail you can almost feel the claustrophobic confines. The future vision that Gibson wrote two decades ago has ironically begun to manifest today. The line between human and machine has begun to blur. Implanted microchips, RFID technology, hacker society, alternative fuel sources, and the destruction of the environment. Sometimes I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up as I see our world moving inexorably toward that science fiction come true.
Movies like Bladerunner, The Matrix, and Johnny Mnemonic and the Shadowrun RPG were prime influences for me to seek out William Gibson as an author. If I had known about authors like Gibson while I was still in school, I probably would have become a more erudite reader. Needless to say, if you like the cyberpunk genre, you should definitely look up Mr. Gibson.
