This blogpost is about the character Chrome in William Gibson’s Burning Chrome. The Burning Chrome master blogpost is here.

The Girl With The Heart-Shaped Face

Despite being the target of out protagonists, and thus the villain, Chrome is described in the physical world until halfway through the story. The first half of the story is focused on the Matrix run our heroes are undertaking. There we meet Chrome’s representation in cyberspace – her foreboding ice castle. But we didn’t see a mention of her until the midpoint of the story when the Jack gives us the lowdown on Chrome.

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Her face is described as “heart-shaped” that frames the nastiest pair of eyes. And she’s looked fourteen for ages. She’s hopped up on hormones and serums. Gibson’s description gives the impression that she is a young female version of Dracula. “The nastiest pair of eyes you ever saw” combined and contrasted with the young looking “heart-shaped face” gives strong super villain vibes. And the fact that her appearance relies on drugs is similar Dracula’s appearance relying on drinking blood.

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She manages the Mob’s money so there’s a sense she is sucking money from the everyday lowlifes that populate the Sprawl in the same way that Dracula sucks the blood of the townspeople.

The 14-year-Old Girl In The Bar

The narrator has seen Chrome in the bar a handful of times. It is an interesting image of some young girl walking around a bar and all the adults are afraid of her because she’s the Mob’s financier. The image is very cyberpunk: the child is in the bar because the bar doesn’t enforce any border around age and everyone’s afraid of the rich child because money is all that matters. I wish Gibson had developed this image further, because as written it is just a quick aside that briefly interrupts the narrative.

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There’s probably a feminist angle someone (not me) would write about why the villain is seen as a girl who is of the age where she just reached sexually maturity. That argument would point out that the 14-year-old girl is the villain because the average high tech low sex guy science fiction reader finds the sexually mature female intimidating. But that angle is more polemic than criticism. But it’s worth thinking through how other people could interpret the story – even people like your average blue haired feminist with tenure.

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My cyberpunk story also has a scene where a young kid walks into a bar, and it is completely unremarkable because all borders have been broken down. I call it THE LAST BLONDE and you can find it at www.blackflagliterature.com