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Bruce Sterling has been one of my favorite authors for a number of years.
In fact, almost since the day I discovered the cyberpunk genre. I became acquainted
with it the day I stumbled across "Burning Chrome" (By William Gibson) in
an early issue of OMNI magazine. As soon as I got over my confusion about his name,
I also became a fan of Mr. Sterling's. To this day, I still enjoy the fast-paced
down-beat techno frission of cyberpunk.
Too, there is nothing quite so gratifying as to be able to pick up a book and
know you've got some solid entertainment ready and waiting. Mr. Sterling's
work has that quality. I've simply never been disappointed.
This collection was no exception. All of these stories were originally
published in magazines. This, of course, explains why I had not seen most of them.
Its not that I dislike Science Fiction magazines - I no longer have the time to
read them, as I used to.
Warning!! Spoilers ahead!!
My favorite story is one which Mr. Sterling wrote with Rudy Rucker, "
Big Jelly". This was the one story of the lot I had read before. Still, it
was one of the more satisfying - probably because the techno-geek wins out over
the entrepreneur. Or maybe because said entrepreneur happens to be an oilman from
Texas. Between the two of them, they seem to have captured the spirit of the
wildcatters we Texans have come to know. (For the un-initiated, keep one hand
firmly on your wallet!)
The rest of the stories are as good as it gets. "Maneki Neko"
shows us an Internet run wild. Governments cannot even manage to collect taxes
in this future Internet Economy. Many people ( not just Americans ) can relate
to this scenario.
If you enjoy this type of fiction as much as I do, you shouldn't miss this one!
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