A man carrying wall-clocks for sale walks along closed currency exchange shops, in Peshawar, Pakistan on September 12, 2023. (Photo by Fayaz Aziz/Reuters)

An ethnic Shan artist performs during a ceremony to mark the 8th anniversary of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) at the Myanmar International Convention Center in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, October 15, 2023. (Photo by Aung Shine Oo/AP Photo)

An alpaca chewing a leaf is pictured on November 18, 2014 in the zoo of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Frank Rumpenhorst/AFP Photo/DPA)

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.

Cambodian children sleep on a pavement at a park in Phnom Penh on July 8, 2016. (Photo by Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP Photo)

A man standing on the first cables during the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge with the Presidio and San Francisco in the background, San Francisco, California, 1935. (Photo by Underwood Archives/Getty Images)

In this photograph taken on January 19, 2012, Indonesian schoolchildren hold on to iron cables as they cross a nearly-collapsed suspension bridge at Sanghiang Tanjung village in Indonesia's Banten province to reach their school. (Photo by Kris Aria/AFP Photo)

Young girls perform in front of the monument to Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin during the City Day celebrations in Yekaterinburg, Russia on August 19, 2017. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)