Burning Chrome Summary
William Gibson

Burning Chrome Summary

Of course, radical body alterations cost a lot of money. Of the ten stories in Burning Chrome, many feature characters that could be considered to be trying to get ahead in an information-driven, class-divided society.

In "Johnny Mnemonic" the mental courier Johnny finds himself out of a job when his broker (or fence, depending on your point of view) stores Yakuza stolen data in his head. In order to avoid being killed, Johnny forms an alliance with Molly Millions, a free-agent bodyguard, and Jones, a technologically enhanced dolphin addicted to junk.

They hide from the Yakuza in Lo Tek territory: "The Lo Tek's leech their webs and huddling places to the city's fabric with thick gobs of epoxy and sleep above the abyss in mesh hammocks. Their country is so attenuated that in places it consists of little more than holds for hands and feet, sawed into geodesic...

(read more from the Short Guide)