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.

Fearless daredevils clamber up the worlds highest man-made climbing wall – running up the face of a 540ft dam. The Diga di Luzzone in Switzerland is considered by climbers as the Everest of wall climbing. (Photo by Ilana Marcus/Caters News)

The Leshan Giant Buddha, a 71-metre tall stone statue, is carved out of a cliff face in the southern part of Sichuan province in China. (Photo by Suchet Suwanmongkol/500px)

Migrants seeking asylum in the U.S., who returned to the Mexican side of the border to avoid deportation, play soccer in a makeshift migrant camp in Braulio Fernandez Ecological Park in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, September 22, 2021. (Photo by Go Nakamura/Reuters)

Policemen escort a Femen activist who broke into a rally of Franco's dictatorship regimen followers in Madrid, Spain, 28 March 2021. (Photo by Zipi/EPA/EFE)

The moon rises on the behind the “Torchbearer” statue in Hannover, Germany, Wednesday, November 5, 2025. (Photo by Julian Stratenschulte/dpa via AP Photo)

People sit at an oversize picnic table in Soho Square in London May 19, 2014. (Photo by Luke MacGregor/Reuters)