“For more than three decades the Americans had been gradually sliding into isolationism and industrial decline. Space, he thought ruefully, they should have gone into space. He'd never understood the strange paralysis of will that had seemed to grip their brilliant early efforts. Or perhaps it was simply a failure of imagination, of vision.”

—  William Gibson, Burning Chrome

"Red Star, Winter Orbit"
Burning Chrome (short story anthology, 1986)

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William Gibson117
American-Canadian speculative fiction novelist and founder … 1948

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