Afghan children have ice cream during the Afghan New Year (Newroz) celebration in Kabul March 21, 2014. Afghanistan uses the Persian calendar which runs from the vernal equinox. The calendar takes as its start date the time when the Prophet Mohammad moved from Mecca to Medina in 621 AD. The current Persian year is 1393. (Photo by Ahmad Masood/Reuters)

A Shi'ite worshiper bleeds after cutting his scalp in a ritual display of mourning during an Ashura commemoration ceremony outside Kadhimiya shrine on December 6, 2011 in Baghdad, Iraq. Ashura marks the death of Prophet Muhammad's grandson the revered Imam Hussein in Karbala, Iraq in 680 AD. Shi'ite festivals were prohibited during the time of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein's rule. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Hong Kong art gallery director Sarah Greene said that Wolf, known for his work depicting mega-cities, has died Tuesday, April 24, 2019 night at his home. She said he was 64. Wolf won first prize in the World Press Photo competition in 2005 and 2010. Here: Architecture of Density #119, 2009. (Photo by Michael Wolf, courtesy of Flowers Gallery)

Picture of a float taking part in the “White Day” parade during the Carnival of Blacks and Whites in Pasto, Colombia on January 6, 2024. The Blacks and Whites carnival has its origins in a mix of Andean, Amazonian and Pacific cultural expressions, and it celebrates the ethnic diversity in the region and was proclaimed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2009. (Photo by Joaquín Sarmiento/AFP Photo)

A sacrificial bull decorated for sale stands at its feed trough at the animal market on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, September 22, 2015. Muslims across the world are preparing to celebrate the annual festival of Eid al-Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice, which marks the end of the annual haj pilgrimage, by slaughtering goats, sheep, cows and camels in commemoration of the Prophet Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son to show obedience to Allah. (Photo by Faisal Mahmood/Reuters)

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.

Syrian boys play with plastic guns on the first day of the Muslim religious festival of Eid al-Adha in al-Dana in Syria's rebel-controlled Idlib region, near the border with Turkey, on August 11, 2019. Muslims across the world are celebrating the first day of the Feast of Sacrifice, which marks the end of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorates prophet Abraham's sacrifice of a lamb after God spared Ishmael, his son. (Photo by Aaref Watad/AFP Photo)

A Pakistani owner tries to load camel on a truck at a cattle market set up for the upcoming Muslim festival Eid al-Adha in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, August 17, 2018. Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, most important Islamic holiday marks the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham to Christians and Jews) to sacrifice his son. (Photo by Shakil Adil/AP Photo)