“Red Star, Winter Orbit” is a collaboration between Gibson and Bruce Sterling. He is excited when one is rumored to return with a live crewmember, but he finds the explorer dead. The protagonist, Halpert, is given the job of examining returning expedition ships. “Hinterlands” describes a space station crew’s failed attempts to reach an alien civilization that appears to be contacting them. Corretti stalks Antoinette, losing his job and well-being as a result, until he reconnects with her in a grotesque mating ritual. One night, he encounters an attractive woman named Antoinette who magically transform her looks and personality at will. In this story, a socially awkward linguist named Corretti hangs out in bars, trying to meet people. Gibson co-wrote “The Belonging Kind” with John Shirley. He becomes addicted to the technology to the point that he cannot sleep without using the ASP machine. Using an apparent sensory perception (ASP) machine, Parker is able to revisit those memories in virtual reality, over and over again. In “Fragments of a Hologram Rose,” Gibson’s first published story, a man named Parker lives for memories of his ex-lover. The photographer obsesses over the style, even hallucinating a flying wing ship, and seeks advice for overcoming his mania. The style is steeped in the stereotypes of mid-20th-century science fiction, like rocket ships, aliens, and ray guns. “The Gernsback Continuum” tells the story of a photographer documenting examples of the Streamlined Moderne design style. Johnny meets a cyborg named Molly Millions, who helps detangle him from the plot and counter-blackmail his ex-clients for profit. The first story, “Johnny Mnemonic,” follows a data trafficker named Johnny who becomes embroiled in a plot involving extortion and the Yakuza crime organization.

Burning chrome by william gibson