American soldiers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Battle Company, on a battalion-wide mission in the Korengal Valley, looking for caves, weapons caches and known Taliban leaders, 2007. Tanner Stichter tends to Spc. Carl Vandeberge in the bushes moments after Vandeberge was shot in the stomach during a Taliban ambush, which killed one soldier and wounded two others. (Photo by Lynsey Addario)

A worker stack bricks on his head at a brick factory in Lalitpur January 12, 2015. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Baka pygmies in their forest home preparing food in, Sangha Forest, Central African Republic, February 2016. Here, in their forest home, traditional life continues in the face of multiplying challenges ranging from poachers, to ill health. Deep in the rainforests of central Africa lives one of the world’s most mysterious tribes. (Photo by Susan Schulman/Barcroft Images)

A model prepares backstage at the Meskita fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Spring 2015 on September 4, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Meskita)

Tyson the Bulldog sits with reindeer antlers on Christmas Day at Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 25, 2016. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

American singer-songwriter and businesswoman Beyoncé, 43, looks like she means business as she promotes her whisky brand in the first decade of October 2024. (Photo by Instagram)

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.