A Free Syrian Army fighter walks past a flag of al-Furqan brigade as a rifle hangs from a branch in the orchards of Kafar Zita in Hama countryside January 22, 2015. (Photo by Mohamad Bayoush/Reuters)

A military band prepares to play the national anthems before Cuban President Raul Castro welcomes U.S. President Barack Obama at the Palacio de la Revolucion in Havana March 21, 2016. Barack Obama on Sunday became the first US president in 88 years to visit Cuba, touching down in Havana for a landmark trip aimed at ending decades of Cold War animosity. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

A woman walks against blowing snow in Evanston, Illinois, on February 8, 2014. (Photo by Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press)

In an observance of Epiphany, Russian Orthodox believers swim in an icy pond outside Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. (Photo by Olga “Zwezdochka”)

Some runners fall during the “El Pilon” running-the-bulls in the village of Falces, Navarra, northern Spain, 16 August 2022. “El Pilon” running-the-bulls is held on a hill where runners have to avoid the herd of cows on a 800 meter long and narrow slope with the mountain on one side and a steep cliff on the other. (Photo by Peio H/EPA/EFE)

A sloth peeks out from behind a door on a floating house in the “Lago do Janauari” near Manaus, Brazil, Tuesday, May 20, 2014. Manaus is one of the host cities for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

William Gibson is not one of the authors that spits out novels like a machine – in his long and fruitful career he has only published 11 novels andof short stories and articles in the tens each. Still his impact on modern literature was huge – the “noir prophet” of the cyberpunk subgenre (that he was one of the pioneers of) has predicted the rise of reality television, virtual reality, video games and the internet. He is a Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction writer, with a special eye for what the future might bring.

A Muslim boy takes part in Friday prayers on a street outside a mosque in Mumbai, India, June 24, 2016. (Photo by Shailesh Andrade/Reuters)