Rating: 
Summary: If you like imagery, this is for you.
Review: William Gibson compiles ten of his short stories in Burning Chrome. It is a progression of his work from the beginnings of his writing until the mid eighties. These stories describe the adventures of his characters that tend to be running from and/or trying to beat someone or something. A couple characters, Molly and Bobby Quine, show up in his novel Neuromancer. Gibson continues his credible predictions of how the future will be with his very imaginative predictions like the small computer that is inserted into Johnny's brain to help him remember more with the loss of his childhood memories. It is also fascinating to see that his predictions aren't far from what might really happen, like how big business takes over the government. Gibson also writes about humans with new body parts and computer-rendered brains. He still maintains the Sci-Fi tradition but extends it by breaking in new ideas, especially new additions to the human body such as Molly's steel fingernails. If you liked Neuromancer, this collection would be a perfect match. Familiarity throughout these stories and the novel, like several characters and places, will form a unique little world in the reader's head. It is a world of endless possibilities with the ever-persistent internet and ever-changing technology of the future prevailing over the present. Burning Chrome is a good read, especially for those who enjoy the Cyberpunk or Sci-Fi genres. I would give it four stars.
Rating: 
Summary: A Landmark Work of Cyberpunk
Review: Featuring stories by the "father of cyberpunk", William Gibson, as well as collaberations with many other important figures in the genre, BURNING CHROME, is as good a collection of cyberpunk short fiction as can be found (short of Bruce Sterling's MIRRORSHADES, which has been out of print for some time). First and foremost, the first story in the anthology, "Johnny Mnemonic", will, no doubt, garner the most interest. (Readers of Gibson's NEUROMANCER will easily make the correlation between Molly and Johnny.) Gritty and imaginative, "Johnny Mnemonic" is worth the price of admission alone, spinning the story (made into the movie of the same name), of Johnny Mnemonic, a data courier, and his gal Molly Millions. "Burning Chrome" and "Dogfight" are considered to be two of Gibson's best short stories, showing off Gibson's creative powers at their strongest. "Fragments of a Hologram Rose" is a lyrical masterpiece, exquisitely detailed and haunting in delivery. Gibson's work is prophetic and amazing, rounding out his Sprawl series (NEUROMANCER, COUNT ZERO, and MONA LISA OVERDRIVE). Bordering on poetic at times, crystal clear at others, Gibson is truly a versatile author. All in all, fans of Gibson's other works or fans of cyberpunk in general will find this anthology immensely rewarding.
Rating:
Summary: Cyberpunk must read
Review: If you like Cyberpunk, you'll have to read these short stories. Not only do they make Neuromancer a lot more comprehensible, but they are good short stories in their own right. From gritty noir type stories to the more happy, each explores a part of the human condition. Although some, like Chrome, hardly aspire to human condition. Why is it some people just fit in? You don't want to know what Gibson thinks. What happens to someone who is alive before the art they can create is creatable? Or - what would Picasso's home page look like, if you prefer to reverse the question. And if you take away someone's reason to live, can you take their place. Plus there is, as always, monoclonal antibodies, drugs, the hot research scientists who create them and the Edge. The people who live around the Edge. It's filled with delightful images: "Teeth so straight they could be used as a credit reference." It's little pieces of Gibson's world, put out like a jigsaw puzzle, that Neuromancer assembles.
Rating:
Summary: Good and bad, but worth the worst
Review: This collection of stories is anything but even; the tone of each story varies wildly, and it's sort of a mixed bag. But for the best stories in the lot, the book is more than worth it. "Johnny Mnemonic", which puts the dreadful movie to shame, is a sort of prequel to Neuromancer, introducing the character of Molly when she was new to her work. "Burning Chrome" is a story about two cowboys, one of them Bobby Quine who later became Case's mentor, who pulled off the ultimate theft from an underworld queen. But what really stand out in this collection are two other stories from different universes that could have come straight out of the Twilight Zone. "The Belonging Kind", one of Gibson's collaborations, is a thought-provoking glimpse at creatures that are neither human nor alien--and a little too much of both. "Hinterlands" is creepy beyond words, a story that plays on our deepest fears: Astronauts volunteer to be taken to a place where they will most likely return with some technological treasure, but at the cost of their own sanity; no one knows what's out there because no one who comes back ever tells--they kill themselves or become vegetables, without exception. These stories illustrate Gibson's versatility like nothing else; these two alone make the book worth owning. Some of the stories just aren't as interesting, but they're so overshadowed by the greatness of the better ones that they're just not worth considering as part of a rating. Read it yourself and decide which stories you like better; it's a mixed bag, with probably a little something wonderful for everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Good to see where Gibson began - not his best by far.
Review: I think of this book as Gibson's original pencil sketches of the world in which his novels take place; this is to those, particularly the Sprawl trilogy, what watercolors are to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. First, it does give you some basic ideas of the historical significance of names dropped without overt purpose in later books. Case in point: in _Neuromancer_, Case asks whether Bobby Quine will participate in the games conceived by Armitage and his handlers, and Molly replies in a stern, negative tone about him. Until you read this, Quine remains a cipher in the building mythos, a legendary afterthought that compels admiration from the characters but not long enough for an explanation of who he is. Second, it shows that William Gibson did work to refine his craft before he began writing novels. While he has made further refinements in his writing since, the leap between _Burning Chrome_ and _Neuromancer_ is apparent. "The sky was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." Very few science-fiction novels have one sentence to compare with that one, and you won't find one in _Burning Chrome_. However, you will see the pre-novel works that made such beautiful writing possible.
Rating:
Summary: Can I have my shorts back, please?
Review: Although Gibson will forever have his works compared with Neuromancer, he shines through in this collection of short stories which take up different aspects of his imagination and breathes life into them on a similar scale to Neuromancer. If only he had done that with Virtual Light...
Rating:
Summary: Cyberpunk short story treasure trove
Review: From the man who wrote the classic cyberpunk novel, Burning Chrome is a collection of early Williami Gibson short stories, each one breaking new ground in the science fiction world. Gibson fans will immediately recognize the scenery of these dark but fascinating tales of the possibilities of the future. Neuromancer fans will recognize a few names as well: Molly, one of Gibson's most interesting characters, makes her debut in Johnny Mnemonic, the story of a man who stores data in his head but just accepted a package others will kill for; in the title story, where Gibson reveals his awesome vision of the future of data networks, Bobby Quine, hacker extraordinaire who is mentioned in Neuromancer as Case's teacher, decides that the Net isn't big enough for him and his rival. Gibson scores a major victory with these stories, showing us not only what might be, but what will be.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed Feelings ...
Review: I'm a sci-fi fan from way back and particularly fond of short stories. I'd never read any stuff by Gibson, so I thought that Burning Chrome would be a good place to start. The blurb on the back of the book had quotes saying "father of the term cyberspace" and "truly original" and "new classic that has revitalized the genre" etc. The funny thing is that all that stuff was true, but I still didn't like the book. I guess the best way to put it is that he's got great ideas, but that's not enough to make a sci-fi story rise to the level of good literature. You still have to be a good writer, and in particular, Gibson's characters stink. They're one-dimensional and poorly realized; he's in love with technology but not so good at people. Maybe Gibson would be better at a full length novel; not everyone can write shorts. (my favorite sci-fi shorts still have to be Ray Bradbury's) His ideas were interesting enough for me to give him another try, though, and read Neuromancer.
Rating:
Summary: Great short story collection
Review: This is a great collection of short stories. I admit I didn't like all of them equally, but that is a matter of taste--I think Gibson is a gifted writer, and 'Dogfight' is one of the best short stories I have ever read. I think it will turn up in anthologies one day along with 'To Build a Fire.' It is too bad that people compare the Internet to cyberspace and think that Gibson has nothing left to write about anymore. I only hope that he will branch out and flex his talent in writing about other themes in SF. If you are reading this, Mr. Gibson: You have a ton of good stories in you, just don't let people pin you to cyberspace SF.
Rating:
Summary: Gibson's best
Review: If anything, these short stories - particularly the Sprawl stories, "Johnny Mnemonic", "New Rose Hotel" and "Burning Chrome" - are even more brilliant than "Neuromancer". Gibson's squashed, baroque style is perfectly suited to the short story format, leaving you in a sort of floundering metaphysical dizziness, even though they're only a few pages long. Better still, those who complain at Gibson's "hard to get into" plots can now more easily read the stories several times over. Each timw will reveal more. Real masterpieces.
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