Molly Millions (also known as Sally Shears, Rose Kolodny, and others) is a recurring character in stories and novels written by

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...

, particularly his

Sprawl trilogy The Sprawl trilogy (also known as the Neuromancer trilogy) is William Gibson's first set of novels, and is composed of ''Neuromancer'' (1984), ''Count Zero'' (1986), and '' Mona Lisa Overdrive'' (1988). The novels are all set in the same fictio ...

. She first appeared in "

Johnny Mnemonic "Johnny Mnemonic" is a Cyberpunk short story by American-Canadian writer William Gibson. It first appeared in '' Omni'' magazine in May 1981, and was subsequently included in ''Burning Chrome'', a 1986 collection of Gibson's short fiction. It tak ...

", to which she makes an oblique reference in ''

Neuromancer ''Neuromancer'' is a 1984 science fiction novel by American-Canadian author William Gibson. Set in a near-future dystopia, the narrative follows Case, a computer hacker enlisted into a crew by a powerful artificial intelligence and a traumatis ...

'' (where she is referred to as "Molly" with no last name given). She later appeared in ''

Mona Lisa Overdrive ''Mona Lisa Overdrive'' is a science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson, published in 1988. It is the final novel of the cyberpunk Sprawl trilogy, following ''Neuromancer'' and ''Count Zero'', taking place eight years afte ...

'' under the name "Sally Shears".

Character history

In all three stories, Molly is a physically tough (but not instantly imposing) bodyguard/mercenary

cyborg A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.Rastafarian Rastafari is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much ...

enclave aboard a space station. A useful contact for dealing with gangs and black market elements, she tends to show little remorse for the opponents she ruthlessly dispatches in the course of her objectives. In fact she shows few deep emotions towards anyone outside of hatred, suspicion or amused contempt. Nevertheless, Molly is always regarded throughout the book as a loyal, morally strong character, opposed to the progressing decay of human relations in the world Gibson depicts. An exception to her cold, somewhat cynical approach to life was her relationship with Johnny (of "

"), for whom she still mourned at the time of ''Neuromancer''. This is part of the personal history she relates to its protagonist, Case, in addition to the revelation that she worked as a "meat puppet" (a

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

) in a "puppet parlor" (a

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

where people lend out their bodies while maintained in a blanked-out state) to pay for her considerable cybernetic enhancements. Another

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

, used when she rents a hotel room in ''Neuromancer'', is "Rose Kolodny", the name by which the Turing Police refer to her. The Turing Police may have simply gotten the name from the hotel's registry, but it is sometimes speculated to be her original name. The later trilogy books speculate that she is "SINless", having been an unrecorded birth and never having been issued a "Single Identity Number". This would give her the advantage of being more difficult to track in the cyberspace environment. Critic

Larry McCaffery Lawrence F. McCaffery Jr. (born May 13, 1946) is an American literary critic, editor, and retired professor of English and comparative literature at San Diego State University. His work and teaching focuses on postmodern literature, contemporary f ...

asserts that the name "Molly" is a reference to her status as a

gun moll 'A gun moll is early 1900s slang for the female companion, girlfriend or mistress of a male professional criminal or mob leader. Some gun molls were themselves gangsters and they were accomplices in criminal activities. Terminology They may also ...

. William Gibson has stated that he derived inspiration for the character from the image of

Chrissie Hynde Christine Ellen Hynde (born September 7, 1951) is an American-British musician. She is a founding member of the rock band the Pretenders and is the band's lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter; she and drummer Martin Chambers are the ...

on the

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of c ...

of the first

Pretenders Pretenders may refer to: Film * ''Pretenders'' (2018 film), an American drama film * ''The Pretenders'' (1916 film), a lost American silent film * ''The Pretenders'' (1981 film), a Dutch film Literature * ''Cemetery Girl – Book One: The P ...

album.

Augmentations

Molly's metabolism, sensory input, and reflexes are artificially heightened by means of electronic implants and other advanced medical procedures. She has razor-sharp retractable blades underneath her fingernails, each double-edged and four centimeters in length. Appearing at first glance to be wearing mirrored sunglasses, Molly has in fact had her eye sockets sealed with vision-enhancing mirrored lenses, installed by the skilled black-market surgeons of

Chiba City is the capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It sits about east of the centre of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay. The city became a government-designated city in 1992. In March 2025, its population was 983,045, with a population density of 3,617 people ...

. To accommodate the inset lenses her tear ducts have been re-routed to her mouth; on the very rare occasions she cries, she either spits out or swallows the tears. She never lets others touch the lenses as it would leave messy fingerprints requiring extra cleaning.

Portrayal in other media

The 1995 film version of ''

'' replaced Molly with a character named Jane who did not have modifications to her eyes or to her fingers. Jane did share the modified nervous system but used a single razor attached to the tip of a flexible spring rod as a weapon. In the 2003

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

adaptation of ''

'', Molly was played by the English actress

Nicola Walker Nicola Jane Walker (born 15 May 1970) is an English actress, known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, including that of Ruth Evershed in the spy drama '' Spooks'' (2003–2006 and 2009–201 ...

Sasha Grey Marina Ann Hantzis (born 1988), known professionally as Sasha Grey, is an American actress, model, writer, musician, and former pornographic film actress. She began her acting career in the pornographic film industry, winning 15 awards for h ...

took on the role in ''Case'', a six-hour dramatic contemporary adaptation of the novel staged in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in November 2009.

Literary analysis

The character has been described as one of Gibson's most complex characters.

References in pop culture

Molly is the subject of a song called "Mirrorshades" by the group

Information Society An information society is a society or subculture where the usage, Content creation, creation, information distribution, distribution, manipulation and information integration, integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drive ...

.Comments: Mirrorshades

Notes

References

* William Gibson, ''Burning Chrome'' ("Johnny Mnemonic"), 1986, * William Gibson, ''Neuromancer'', 1984, * William Gibson, ''Mona Lisa Overdrive'', 1988,

External links

Fan site
Voidspace
Online excerpts from ''Neuromancer'' and ''Mona Lisa Overdrive''
MOLLY'S MIRRORSHADES; ZEISS-IKON EYES
"I could never dream up a sufficiently convincing way to imagine them being attached." {{DEFAULTSORT:Millions, Molly Fictional cyborgs Sprawl trilogy William Gibson characters Literary characters introduced in 1981 Characters in American novels of the 20th century