Burning Chrome

A very strong collection of short stories. Usually, anthologies are uneven but in this collection of 10 stories by William Gibson (three with co-writers) I do not find a single misstep. In one or two of these tales are the seeds of Gibson's famed Neuromancer novel. "The Gernsback Continuum" is a particularly strong story, simultaneously acknowledging the roots of science fiction and refuting them. But my favorite tale in the tome is "Hinterlands," which is evocative of the great existential loneliness embodied in the knowing that vast gulfs of darkness surround humanity and that humanity will never be able to fully connect with the unknown.