The Winter Market

Infobox short story |
name = The Winter Market
title_orig =
translator =
author = William Gibson
country = Canada
language = English
series = Burning Chrome
genre = Science fiction short story
publication_type = Anthology
published_in = "Burning Chrome"
publisher = Arbor House
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pub_date = April 1986
english_pub_date =
preceded_by = New Rose Hotel
followed_by = Dogfight

"The Winter Market" is a science fiction short story written by William Gibson, and published as part of his "Burning Chrome" short story collection.

The theme of the story primarily concerns human relationships and their tenuous and problematic qualities by deploying the concept of technological immortality, in which one's consciousness is separated from the body and "uploaded" into a supercomputer, where it continues to think and function on its own. Characters in the story are marked by a distinct failure to connect, while they express typical genre concerns regarding this type of theoretical mind transfer; whether or not the online consciousness really is the same individual, and whether or not it was moral to allow this to happen.

In this particular tale, Lise's original body is defective and failing, partially due to a congenital disease, and partially due to drug abuse. Hence, the act of leaving behind the original physical form is potentially one of escape into an untainted existence. However, the story undercuts this simplistic reading by convincingly evoking Lise's humanity and her longing for a "normal" relationship to her body.

Characteristic of Gibson's early writing, this story conveys an individual's (Lise) story mediated through the voice of another character. It also examines what constitutes "waste" within a consumer culture.

"The Winter Market" was commissioned by "Vancouver Magazine" with the stipulation that it be set in the city.cite news |first=Joe |last=Wiebe |authorlink = Joe Wiebe |title=Writing Vancouver |url= http://canada.com/vancouversun/news/arts/story.html?id=99d2236b-c329-4969-b07e-6ffebeff5871&p=2 |work=Special to the Sun |publisher= The Vancouver Sun |date=2007-10-13 |accessdate =2008-02-01]

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