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.

In this image made from video, woman protesters march with a sign outside the building housing the Saudi consulate in Sydney, Thursday, January 10, 2019. Four women held a topless protest in Sydney on Thursday to support runaway Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, as Australia began considering her bid to settle in the country as a refugee. (Photo by Australia Broadcast Corporation via AP Photo)

This bat gives a cheeky smile as he gobbles down his food at Singapore Zoo, on September 10, 2013. (Photo by Benny Iskander/HotSpot Media)

Karis, a one month old lion cub being weighed at Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling, Scotland, Thursday October 10, 2013. Weighing in at 5kg, the cub will stay with her mother, Teekay until she is 12 weeks old before they are returned to the pride. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/AP Photo/PA Wire)

Kendall Jenner wearing a bikini and spraying water out of a hose on a photoshoot in Miami on February 5, 2020. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

The Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) expedition 64 crew of NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov blasts off to the ISS from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 14, 2020. (Photo by Roscosmos/Handout via AFP Photo)

A red deer stag in Bushy Park, southwest London, pulls a comical face for the camera in the second decade of November 2023. (Photo by Andrew Wood/Caters News Agency)

A vender arranges goods for sale at a market on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, January 10, 2024. (Photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)