1948-
"I really don't see myself as a futurist. I think the world we live in is so hopelessly weird and complex that in order to come to terms with it, you need the tools that science fiction develops."
Birthplace
South Carolina, US
Education
University of British Columbia (English literature)
Did you know?
Gibson left the USA for Canada in 1972 to avoid the draft. He never returned.
Critical verdict
The founding father of cyberpunk, extrapolating contemporary technology into a future of urban decay and the social mores of the post-punk generation, Gibson blazed on to the sci-fi scene with the critically lauded Neuromancer, in which he established the concept of 'cyberspace' as a medium in which computers store data (the author has, however, long professed his technological illiteracy). He was the most influential SF visionary of the 1990s; 2003's Pattern Recognition saw him abandon future shocks for a present day thriller about branding, terrorism, internet mores and the nature of art.
Recommended works
Neuromancer (1984), Count Zero (1985), Pattern Recognition (2003)
Influences
Philip K Dick
Now read on
Paul J McAuley, Ian McDonald, Bruce Sterling, Jack Womack, Jeff Noon
Adaptations
Johnny Mnemonic (from the short story of the same name, directed by Robert Longo, 1995); New Rose Hotel (from the short story of the same name, Abel Ferrera, 1998).
Useful links and work online
Work online
· Excerpt: Neuromancer
Background
· Official site
· 1996 Salon interview
· 1994 interview, with sound files of Gibson explaining his take on cyberspace
· The Difference Dictionary, a supplement to The Difference Engine
