Burning Chrome by William Gibson (collection)

Burning Chrome is a book collection of short stories Gibson wrote until 1986, but also the title of the short story that comes last in the book. This review is about the entire book.  These are early Gibson stories, some dating back to 1977, when he moved from Toronto to Vancouver, after dodging the draft in his native United States. The first story, or almost a novella, is Johnny Mnemonic, but I already reviewed that one separately. 

From the rest of the stories I really liked "Hinterland" which has a bit of Lovecraftian feeling of "Cosmic Horror" that I enjoy (cannot stand slasher/gore "Horrors").  In alternate future where USSR won the space and economic race, a cosmonaut accidentally discovers a type of wormhole from where ships and people go into another universe.  The people mostly come back dead or crazy, committing suicide soon after return.  However, some, but not all, astronauts come back with amazing technological advances, which seem to be from a science and technology that is fundamentally different from ours in its very concept.  One example is a metal ring which has magnetically encoded information on how to cure every kind of cancer.  Another example is detailed diagrams and schematics of constructing molecular-based computers which are microscopic and yet as powerful as the best available at the time.  This reminds of the "Cargo Cult" in the Pacific Ocean during World War 2, where the less developed tribes living on the islands would create altars and worship the technologically advanced Allied planes and people, who would sometimes leave them some piece of technology that helped the tribes-men's lives immensely. 

"New Rose Hotel" is also interesting, albeit quite short, but already set in "The Sprawl" universe that Gibson uses for his later Cyberpunk classics.  "Winter Market" is another story that I really liked, not because it has a very interesting plot (it doesn't), but because it happens on Granville Island in Vancouver, BC, with Kitsilano, False Creek, Downtown, West End and other landmarks being central to the story.  Even though I don't live in Vancouver anymore, the 7 years I spent there are still full of fond memories for me, and the city has a soft spot in my heart.

The titular story is very alike Gibson's best known work "Neuromancer," although the characters are different.  It is set in the Sprawl, Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Area (BAMA) with the technology and social elements as in the novel. The Cyberspace is described similarly, though no computer scientists has figured out yet why should Big Data be represented with 3D geometrical objects and figures. Also no tech executive has figured why should Big Data be accessed with "decks" that hook up to one's skull and work directly with the vision center in one's brain. Anyways, at the end the girl turns out to be a Meat Puppet because she needed money - maybe a forerunner of Molly Millions who (unfortunately) does not appear in the story.

Tales of Ordinary Madness by Charles Bukowski

This is the first volume of the split collection "Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness", the second volume being "The most Beautiful Woman in Town" which I actually read first. And it was better that way! The first volume if very underwhelming. The stories are not as disturbing as in the second, but they are not as good either. Both volumes contain anecdotal, semi-biographical stories (he always exaggerates and makes himself the hero of every story), but the events described and the characters described are not as interesting.

Probably the best story in this volume is "Animal Crackers in my Soup" which is made even better by the hydrogen bomb falling in the very last sentence.  I guess in today's world of #metoo the "Rape! Rape!" story would elicit quite a heated discussion. Of course, the story is mostly fiction, probably based on some fragments of truth that Bukowski exaggerated and fantasized. 

Several stories deal with how bad career writing is, and especially writing of poetry.  He complains that while his books are taught in universities, he barely makes $500 a year, and has to do shit jobs just to pay his rent (and his alcohol, which is the main expense).  He also advises that all other writers and poets are either assholes or complete wrecks which "die in steaming pots of shit." His perfect life, as before, is described as being alone in a small room with a lot of alcohol, cigarettes and a typewriter, while listening to classical music.  Not too much to yearn for, one would say?

Most Beautiful Woman in Town and Other Stories by Charles Bukowski

I just read that this is volume 2 of the reprint in 1983 of the 1972 short story collection printed by City Lights "Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness."  I am reading volume 1 as well.  What can I say, Buk is Buk.  He is one my favourite writers because of the raw honesty of his writing.  He doesn't beat around the bush. He calls a cunt a cunt. He calls a cock a cock.  No Latin terms, no euphemisms.  He describes his morbidly fat characters as morbidly fat, not overweight or anything lighter.  He describes the crazies as crazies, not victims of society with unfortunate upbringing.  He describes the whores as whores, the murderers as murderers, the sadists as sadists, the pedophiles as pedophiles, exactly as the garbage that they are, no punches pulled.

However, I have to say that some of the stories in this collection traumatized me.  The Murder of Ramon Vasquez is horrible in its direct description of homosexual rape, extreme torture and murder.  It is even worse knowing that it was based on a real event of a silent movie actor.  The Fiend is absolutely traumatizing description of a rape of a 6 year old girl by a pedophile.  I get the honesty and the direction, but - still traumatizing. I wish I never read it. The White Beard is also disgusting, partly because of the 13 year old hooker and partly because the eating of a watermelon mixed with cum.  A Drinking Partner describes a horrible attach on a pregnant woman, where the fetus dies, and then a murder of her husband. I get that these things happen and there are such monsters out there, looking just like the rest of us, but one of the reasons I stopped watching the news is exactly these kinds of stories.  I just don't want that information in my brain.  I know it exists, but I don't want to have it in my memory banks.

Of course that there are many good stories in this collection that did not traumatize the reader like the ones mentioned above.  Life and Death in the Charity Ward describes the cruelness and banal evil of the 'free' hospitals in the United States and the people (?) who work there.  The title story is touching narrative about a suicide. My Big-Assed mother is hilarious in its honesty and description of rotten cops.  I don't care much about his horse racing stories, as I always found that kind of gambling the most boring of all possible forms of gambling, but there is some very detailed advice given by Buk. Good literature, but not something to read while eating.

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

 I have to admit I only read 40% of this book, but it was becoming a torture to continue, so I had to abandon it. It is too boring.  I never thought I would say that, since I loved Dawkins' previous book "The Selfish Gene", which I still think is one of the best books ever written and every human being should read it to understand what is driving them.  However this one is too boring.  Dawkins kind of gets back to all his adversaries who insulted him in the past and makes the arguments against their arguments, but it is not very interesting to read.

Hitchens was much more interesting read on the same topic.  Yes, Hitchens has a bombastic and self-aggrandizing style, but it still makes for an interesting reader, if not literature.  This book by Dawkins is neither.  Maybe I should have finished it, but I realized that I was just going on out of respect for his previous book, "The Selfish Gene" and although I found this one mildly interesting, I just didn't want to waste my precious time on this planet finishing it.  I would rather waste my precious time watching silly shows on Netflix. At least they hypnotize me for a while.

I really don't get what Dawkins has against Agnostics, but he is very hostile towards people who say that we will never know for real about the existence of God.  He says he has more respect for a religious fanatic, or, obviously, for a militant atheist like himself, than for people, as he perceives them, who cannot decide either way.  He doesn't seem to perceive that agnostics are not sitting on the fence, and cannot decide between the two sides, but they've decided for themselves that neither of the choices is worth of their time.  They are not waiting for some final proof from the atheists that God doesn't exist, or the same from the religious in the other direction.  Agnostics have decided, after serious and prolonged thinking process, that neither side will ever produce a proof that will be irrefutable, simply because our human brains, the few pounds of blood and grey/white matter that gives us sentience, will never be able, and was never meant to understand something so outside its scope of capabilities, like an Infinite God.  We simply do not have the instruments.

 

God is not great by Christopher Hitchens

I've heard a lot about Mr. Hitchens and his brand of atheism/anti-theism, so I wanted to read at least one of his 30 books, and this one came highly recommended in reviews, and is one of the last writings he published before his untimely death in 2011 at age 62.  His biographers said that he was heavy smoker and heavy drinker since his teenage years, so it is possible that such lifestyle could have contributed to his esophageal cancer.  Or, it is also possible that it was completely unrelated, as we've all heard of people who smoked like chimneys all their lives and lived into their late 90s.  

The book is well written, though Mr.Hitchens' style is quite bombastic, and he seems to enjoy hearing himself speak.  The arguments are solid, that is, the anti-theist arguments, not the the title of the book, however most or all of them have been presented before and in other publications in a more scientific and less sensational way, which appeals more to me.

One thing that Mr. Hitchens seems to want to prove is that nothing good ever came out of any religion.  I would have to disagree with that postulate.  Of course, many, many bad and even horrible things came out of most known religions, however, even if we adopt a very harsh and objective attitude, some positive traits are undeniable.  

As Freud said, to paraphrase, as long as humans are dreadfully afraid of their final death and indulge wholeheartedly in wishful thinking fantasies - religions will continue to exist.