The eighth annual Nipponbashi Street Festa stamped Osaka March 20, 2012 (Nipponbashi is Osaka’s geek district – much like Akihabara is for Tokyo). Cosplayers turned up in colourful outfits, dressing as characters from their favourite manga, anime, and video games. The street was closed to cars, and otaku flooded the streets, snapping pics, cosplaying, and hanging out.

A security exercise takes place along the River Thames on January 19, 2012 in London, England. The exercise including around 44 police officers, 94 military personnel, 15 boats and a Royal Navy Lynx helicopter was conducted by both the Metropolitan Police and the Royal Marines and designed to test their joint capability ahead of the 2012 London Olympic Games. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Hamar women dance before a bull jumping ceremony in Ethiopia's southern Omo Valley region near Turmi on September 19, 2016. The Hamar are a Nilotic ethnic group in Ethiopia. The construction of the Gibe III dam, the third largest hydroelectric plant in Africa, and large areas of very “thirsty” cotton and sugar plantations and factories along the Omo river are impacting heavily on the lives of tribes living in the Omo Valley who depend on the river for their survival and way of life. (Photo by Carl De Souza/AFP Photo)

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.

A general view of atmosphere during 2016 New York Comic Con – Day 1 on October 6, 2016 in New York City. The annual event offers pop culture fans exhibitors and displays of popular video games, movies and comic books and many people attending dress as their favorite character. (Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images)