Mirrorshades

Of all the stories, I especially enjoyed "Petra", "Stone Lives", and "Red Star, Winter Orbit". The other stories were fine. I typically think anthologies are helpful for getting an idea of whether one wants to read more of a particular author's work. Interestingly, I enjoyed William Gibson's contributions in this anthology far more than his other works. In the co-authored "Red Star, Winter Orbit", I finally found the Gibson I've been wanting to read.

The blurbs before each story are well done and I walked away wanting to read more from Greg Bear and Paul Di Filippo.

The stories range in length from ~30 pages to 110+ (the first "Freezone" piece).

I am quick to DNF books I don't enjoy. I considered marking this DNF: the stories I liked weren't enough to make the entire anthology compelling reading. Ultimately, I read it all because it's on my r/fantasy bingo card and I have just over a week to go.

This anthology starts with yet another clumsy Gibson story... (sorry, I know he's a God to some people, but I find his writing style boring). Thankfully, the second story, “Snake-Eyes” by Tom Maddox, was very interesting and grabbed me in with its used-up war vet who got an AI stuck in his head.
Some of my other favorites were:
“Solstice” by James Patrick Kelly – I think this was my favorite of them all. Drugartist and a dude who is in love with himself.
“Freezone” by John Shirley – The main character reminded me of Johnny Silverhand from CP2077. I plan on reading the book series this was an excerpt from.
“Stone Lives” by Paul Di Filippo – The tech and the dystopian corpo world is always an excellent depressing time.
“Mozart in Mirrorshades” by Bruce Sterling/Lewis Shiner – I love a good alt-history story.
The rest were okay, and some didn't seem to be cyberpunk at all.


Rock On by Pat Cadigan — DNF
Tales of Houdini by Rudy Rucker - why was this story included...
400 Boys by Marc Laidlaw – Interesting enough. It felt more “punk” than cyber. I liked it though.
Petra by Greg Bear – I don't remember much from this one. Take that as you will
Till Human Voices Wake Us by Lewis Shiner – I thought this one was fairly humorous. It was enjoyable and kept my attention. Not very “punk” though.
Red Star, Winter Orbit by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling – Despite Gibson being involved, Sterling helps make this book interesting enough that I wanted to keep reading. However, Gibson's clumsiness does show off from time to time.