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Title: Globalhead by Bruce Sterling ISBN: 0-553-56281-9 Publisher: Spectra Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.14 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Hits and Misses
Comment: This collection of short stories contains some interesting "hits" (Hollywood Kremlin, Storming the Cosmos, We See Things Differently, Are you for 86?) and some disappointing "misses" (The Sword of Damocles).
Sterling is at his best when he is discussing alternative futures close to our own, and he has done his homework in studying two rival cultures that play roles in his alternate universes -- the Muslim world and the world of the old Soviet Union. He creates memorable characters (the international arms dealer/hustler Leggy Starlitz, for instance) and generates a lot of thought-provoking ideas (Will Turing-conscious AI's embrace Islam? Was the Tunguska blast really caused by an alien speacecraft? Will Islam become the dominant superpower -- threatened only by American rock and roill? Will genetically engineered pets capable of human-like thought and speech exist?).
Sterling's prose here is not of the quality of William Gibson's, or indeed, as good as Sterling is in other works, such as Schismatrix, or The Difference Engine. It is a good collection of stories, for the most part, and makes a good companion on a trip to the beach.
Rating: 4
Summary: An Intriguing Mix Of Sterling's Short Stories
Comment: Admittedly this isn't Sterling's best short story collection, yet it does contain an intriguing set of 11 tales which run the gamut from slightly hard science fiction ("Storming The Cosmos") to humor ("Hollywood Kremlin"). Sterling is at his finest writing lean, lyrical cyberpunk prose in the tales I mentioned. Yet anyone expecting a literary classic comparable in quality to William Gibson's "Burning Chrome" may be disappointed. Still, Sterling, as always, is intriguing to read for his ideas and his uncanny knack at conjuring plausible near future scenarios, as well as his fine writing.
Rating: 4
Summary: A mixed bunch of stories
Comment: In this book, you will find 11 stories by Bruce Sterling and two collaborations. All but one of the stories has prviously appeared in magazine form between 1985 and 1991.
Most of the stories here are well worth reading. Especially "Hollywood Kremlin" and "Are You For 86?" which introduce Leggy Starlitz, one of Sterling's enduring characters. Also, the two collaborations, "Storming the Cosmos" and "The Moral Bullet" respectively with Rudy Rucker and John Kessel, are very good.
There are also one or two stories here which quite fankly should not have seen the light of day. "The Sword of Damocles" is the sort of exercise often tackled in writer's workshops and that is where is should have stayed.
There is not as much hard science in here in some of Sterling's other books but that does not detract from this collection. Indeed, a number of the best stories would escape all but the broadest definition of SF.
In the Leggy Starlitz tales, Sterling lays out lots of technical trivia in the same style as do many thriller writers. His facts are often wrong and self contradicting. Often laughably so and that does detract from the writing.
This is not the best collection to introduce you to Sterling's short fiction. I would recommend "A Good Old Fashioned Future" as an introduction but if you read and enjoy that and want more, you will not be disappointed by this book.
If you enjoy this book and want to read something in the same vein, I'd suggest William Gibson's collection "Burning Chrome" or the anthology "Mirrorshades" edited by Bruce Sterling.
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Title: A Good Old-Fashioned Future: Stories by Bruce Sterling ISBN: 0553576429 Publisher: Spectra Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Quicksilver : Volume One of The Baroque Cycle (Stephenson, Neal. Baroque Cycle, V. 1.) by Neal Stephenson ISBN: 0380977427 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan ISBN: 0345457684 Publisher: Del Rey Books Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Zeitgeist by Bruce Sterling ISBN: 0553576410 Publisher: Spectra Books Pub. Date: 31 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years by Bruce Sterling ISBN: 0679463224 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 17 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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