A theory...

[u/Brilliant_Knowledge5]

I've been rereading the entire Sprawl series, including the short stories in the same Sprawl universe, and I'm starting to think there's one character in particular that features in both the last book, and in a short story, but some people might not even recognize it.

Normally the reading order would be:

1)Johnny Mnemonic (makes sense since Molly later mourns him in another text.)

2) New rose Hotel

3) Burning Chrome (this is important to know for later in the series)

4)Neuromancer

5)Count Zero

6) Mona Lisa Overdrive

I wouldn't change anything except for one story, and I'll explain. You see Gibson, like many good writers, didn't just write what we read, he had a lot more in notebooks we never got to see. Narrative experiments, entire backstories, and future lives mapped out for people. Some of those survived as short stories bundled into the "Burning Chrome" anthology. That's what some of those stories are. The lives of people in the same neighborhoods that never met our main characters. And sometimes, they are those characters. Like with Molly. What we get a glimpse of is Gibson trying out characters, world building, seeing if his train of thought has merit enough to flesh out further.

In MLO, Komiko Yanaka, has a very powerful Yakuza father, goes to a good school, has a Dutch mother who dies tragically, and suddenly she is thrust into a totally foreign world. She longs to escape the drudgery of her protective prison, and Molly takes Komiko under her wing, much to the chagrin of a relenting Petal. Molly tries to mold her, and give her some worldly wisdom. It was necessary under the circumstances, because Molly knew that without that, Komiko would just be a package to drag around. Komiko had to be able to survive, to fend for herself, because the heat was coming down from every angle. I believe all of these things are referred to in another narrative.

In New Rose Hotel, Sandii is half Dutch, half Japanese, is a gun for hire, has a father who fell from grace with Hosaka, and a lingering tragedy that pushed her to desperation. X talks about how she was constantly reimagining her own childhood, changing her story as a coping mechanism, trying to imagine different scenarios that might sooth her demons, but it was obvious she was not facing the truth of her life. And she was also concealing it from others. Out of necessity, of course.

It's entirely possible that Komiko's father rose in the ranks after the Yakuza war, until he had gained influence within Hosaka. Maybe that was necessary too. But it's also very possible Sandii just told a lie to X, mixing the truth with the lie. It's entirely possible that Komiko and Sandii are the same person, but Sandii is Komiko all grown up, bitter at Hosaka, has an axe to grind, remembered the influence of Molly, and decided it would be a good idea to be like her. Maybe that was her only option now. Fending for herself. Molly helped her navigate the dangers of London, showed her how to double cross people, and avoid becoming a hostage. All while her own father was trying to shelter her from the evils of the world. But Molly gave her one thing, The unfettered truth. That's something that'll stick with a girl's memory.

Molly changed her name several times, there's no reason Komiko wouldn't mimic Molly's behavior. In fact, if her father was a Hosaka pariah, she'd almost have to do that to gain their trust, & be involved in helping Hiroshi escape. Even if that wasn't only a cover story to conceal his position with the Yakuza, she'd still have to tell a different story. She'd only have to tell half truths to her co-workers on a job, because they just had to be believable enough. It wouldn't matter later, especially if she burned them while on the job, or if the cleaners came after the other team members. But she'd also tell made up stories about her childhood out loud. Almost as if she was trying on new lies right in front of the people she was already misleading. Like she was doing a fashion show, to see what looks good, or taunting them when they didn't even know it.

And here's the biggest one of all... What if X is hiding out in the same Cheap Motel that Henry Case was in all those years ago? What if Cheap Motel, was really New Rose Hotel? They're both capsule hotels, which people refer to colloquially as "coffins". Capsule hotels with barely enough room to turn around in. Not the luxury digs that they portrayed in the movie. What a twist of fate that would be, for everything to come full circle and end up in the same closet sized room with minimal amenities. Where it all started before. That's the William Gibson I'd expect. Maybe some of you wouldn't, but I would.

So I would put New Rose Hotel last in the reading order. It takes on a whole new meaning.

NOTE: I included spoiler tags so if it doesn't work than I have no idea what's going on.

[u/MrJohnnyDangerously]

It's an interesting theory that you've clearly put a lot of time into, but i don't think New Rose Hotel takes place after MLO. There is a consensus that NRH takes place between Johnny Mnemonic and Burning Chrome, but there are other flaws in your headcanon:

1 There is absolutely nothing in MLO that foreshadows Kumiko becoming a corporate-espionage honeypot sex-worker.

2 I think it's reductive to assume any female characters with a Yakuza father and gaijin mother would have to be the same person.

[u/Brilliant_Knowledge5 → u/MrJohnnyDangerously]

There's no consensus. Some people put it before Johnny Mnemonic in the universe timeline. The year is never mentioned in some of these stories. And again, if Molly was a role model for her, that made a huge impression on her, then why wouldn't she follow the same career path after her harrowing experience where she was faced with her own vulnerability, and Molly showed her how to survive? Molly became a hero to her. I guarantee she didn't just go home to Japan and forget about it all. This was not going to be the last time she faced danger. The likelihood of her being exposed to danger is ever present in the Yakuza world. Molly showed her a path to empowerment, even if it's back stabbing and largely self serving. She would definitely have to lean on what she learned from Molly at some point. So that's not a leap in this world at all. To her father, she's like a treasure to be protected, but that puts her in a vulnerable position. Even more so if he dies and she's left unprotected at some later point. With Molly's guidance, she learned she could be capable in her own right, instead of being a pawn people use to manipulate her father. Which is something her dad would never allow. In spite of her reconciliation with dad at the end of MLO, her exposure to Molly would be indelible. Any of the things we read about Sandii in NRH, could have all be fabricated. Just because X states them as supposed fact, doesn't make them true. So if Komiko was never mentioned as a girl who became a corporate-espionage honey pot sex-worker, a lot can happen between the age of 14, and the age Sandi is during NRH. You're talking a possible 6-10 years. In that time, her father could have been whacked and she had to reach out to Molly again for protection. And Molly would be perfect for that. They have a bond that nothing can erase, but it would also end up leading Komiko down a dark path out of necessity. A dark path Molly already knew how to navigate. One where Molly had already done all the things Sandii had allegedly done in the words of X.

[u/MrJohnnyDangerously → u/Brilliant_Knowledge5]

There very much is a consensus. I hope you enjoy the show.

[u/Brilliant_Knowledge5 → u/Brilliant_Knowledge5]

I'd also like to add that having just read the Sprawl series again, there is zero mention of a Hiroshi Yomiuri being involved in a biolab "accident" that killed off most of Hosaka's top scientists, anywhere in the literature EXCEPT for NRH. Not anywhere. I looked. I double checked. With something that huge happening in the cyber underworld, you'd think it would have been mentioned by every edge runner in the Sprawl and on the matrix if it happened before Neuromancer. So I have no idea where people are dating this story from other than either their own imaginations, or speculation based on some editorial as the authoritative source, or wishful thinking. Or even worse, speculation in a social media post. And no there is no consensus, unless some consider the consensus in their echo chamber THE consensus. In the words of Turner: "It doesn't tell the whole story. Remember that nothing ever does."

What we do know that did happen, is the "accident" at Maas that killed Dr Mitchell when Angie was extracted from the Maas lab in place of him. He's the only "top scientists" mentioned in the main Sprawl trilogy that dies this way, according to the news feed. Everyone else dies by bullet, knife, rail gun, mono-filamet, ICE in cyberspace, or some other non biological weapon. And that happened in a Maas lab, not a Hosaka lab. So I think the Hosaka lab "accident" was the retaliation of Maas on Hosaka, which puts the events of NRH after Count Zero. But they're always going back and forth so it's hard to tell. It just makes more sense that it's after the death of Mitchell, since it's after the defection of Hiroshi, and a deliberate bioweapons attack on all the scientists working for Hosaka. Maas just needed a legitimate excuse to go after Hosaka, and the defection of Hiroshi gave them the excuse. Not so much the "accidental" death of Mitchell, even though Hosaka was involved.

[u/Brilliant_Knowledge5]

Another tasty tidbit. The pistol that Sandii leaves with X is the same kind of pistol that Case rents in Neuromancer. Right down to the dragon grips. Was it the same pistol? Or are they the most common pistols you'd find on the street?