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.

Security chase a spectator on centre court during a rain delay on Day Two of the National Bank Open presented by Rogers at IGA Stadium on August 10, 2021 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Bystanders look on as workers arrange silver blue fabric, part of the process of wrapping L'Arc de Triomphe in Paris on September 13, 2021, designed by the late artist Christo. Work has begun on wrapping the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in silvery-blue fabric as a posthumous tribute to the artist Christo, who had dreamt of the project for decades. Bulgarian-born Christo, a longtime Paris resident, had plans for sheathing the imposing war memorial at the top of the Champs-Elysees while renting an apartment near it in the 1960s (Photo by Geoffroy Van der Hasselt/AFP Photo)

Faithful wearing face mask pray during the Arafah prayer ceremony ahead of Eid al-Adha, at the Tehran university’s mosque in Tehran, Iran, 30 July 2020. Iran will not hold the Eid al-Adha prayers and ceremonies over the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis in the country. (Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/EFE)

An Indian woman performs rituals near the body of her husband who died of COVID-19 in Gauhati, India, Monday, September 28, 2020. India’s confirmed coronavirus tally has reached 6 million cases, keeping the country second to the United States in number of reported cases since the pandemic began. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)

Devotees wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), carry a chariot of Pachali Bhairab amid the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Kathmandu, Nepal on October 21, 2020. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

A woman wearing a traditional costume attends the celebrations marking the National Flag Day and the Day of Kyrgyz national “Ak-kalpak” hat at the central Ala-Too Square in Bishkek on March 4, 2021. (Photo by Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP Photo)

Erica Daly, a District Nurse Team Leader at Mersey Care NHS, stands in front of the “Liver Bird Wings”, an artwork by Paul Curtis on a wall within Liverpool's Baltic Triangle on April 29, 2020. (Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)