William Gibson

**William Gibson** (born March 17, 1948) is a writer. He writes science fiction books. He is one of the most important people in the part of science fiction called cyberpunk. His most famous book is _Neuromancer_.

### Childhood, moving around, and adolescence

William Ford Gibson was born in Conway, South Carolina on the Atlantic coast. He spent most of his childhood in Wytheville, Virginia. Whytheville is a small town in the Appalachians. His parents had been born and raised there.

Gibson was shy and awkward as a teenager. He grew up in a place and time where most people thought and acted alike. This was a problem for him. He chose not to believe in religion. He read science fiction and writers such as William S. Burroughs and Henry Miller. Gibson was not doing well in school and his mother was frustrated. She threatened to send him to a boarding school. She was very surprised when he liked this idea very much.

### Avoiding the military, leaving home, and counterculture

Gibson's mother died when he was eighteen years old. He left school and did not graduate. He traveled a lot. He became very interested in the counterculture. He left the United States and moved to Canada during the Vietnam War draft.

### After graduation, early writing, and the beginning of cyberpunk

Gibson finished a graduate degree about science fiction. He stopped writing for one year. He did not like the trends he saw in SF. He was more interested in punk rock. He met other writers such as Bruce Sterling, Lewis Shiner, and Rudy Rucker. These writers became the important members of the cyberpunk movement in SF.

### Early short fiction

Gibson's first published short story was "Fragments of a Hologram Rose" (1977). He wrote other short stories for magazines such as Omni. He was often compared to J. G. Ballard. Some of the characters and places in his short stories are also in his Sprawl novels.

### Neuromancer

- _The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel._
    - --the first sentence of _Neuromancer_ (1984)

Terry Carr asked Gibson to write _Neuromancer_ for the second series of Ace Science Fiction Specials. The purpose of the series was to give attention to first-time novelists.

### The Sprawl trilogy, The Difference Engine, and the Bridge trilogy

_Neuromancer_ was a success and Gibson kept writing SF. _The Sprawl trilogy_ continued the story of Neuromancer, even though Gibson did not plan to write any sequels. Then he explored other ideas. _The Difference Engine_ was alternate history. In _The Bridge trilogy_, Gibson wrote about new problems. He paid less attention to large corporations or artificial intelligence. He wrote more about mass media and celebrity.

### Blue Ant

Gibson's novels _Pattern Recognition_ (2003), _Spook Country_ (2007) and _Zero History_ (2010) happen in the same contemporary universe — "more or less the same one we live in now"

### Working with other writers

He has written short stories and novels with others, especially other cyberpunk authors John Shirley and Bruce Sterling.

### Film

There have been many attempts to make films based on Gibson's writing. Most of these have never been completed.

### Shows, poetry, music, and performance art

Gibson has written poems too. He has also worked with artists, architects, and musicians.

In 1990, Gibson was part of an exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art called  "Visionary San Francisco". He wrote a short story, "Skinner's Room", that took place in San Francisco. In the story, the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge was closed and became a community for homeless people. Architects Ming Fung and Craig Hodgetts were interested in the story and imagined a future San Francisco. Their idea of the future showed rich people living in high-tech towers above a city that was falling apart. Gibson was part of the architects' exhibit. Visitors could watch a video of him discussing the future and reading from the story "Skinner's Room". Another version of the short story appeared a year later in _Omni magazine_.

In 1993, Gibson wrote some lyrics for the album _Technodon_ by the Japanese group Yellow Magic Orchestra. He was the vocalist on the track _"Hi-Tech Hippies"_. He wrote lyrics to the track _"Dog Star Girl"_ on Deborah Harry's _Debravation_.

### Essays and short nonfiction

Gibson sometimes writes nonfiction for newspapers or magazines. He has written essays, opinion-editorials, and commentary for publications such as: _Wired_,  _The New York Times_, _The Observer_, _Addicted to Noise_, _New York Times Magazine_, _Rolling Stone_, and _Details Magazine_.

### Ideas about cities

In his fiction and non-fiction, Gibson often writes about cities. He thinks many cities are losing variety. One way of describing this is "Disneylanding".

### Importance in the culture

Many writers believe that Gibson helped science fiction become cool.

### Important ideas and seeing the future

His work seemed did not just predict the future of technology such as the World Wide Web. The ideas in his books were important to the people who created Internet technology.

## Some writing by Gibson

- Novels
- Sprawl trilogy:
    - _Neuromancer_ (1984)
    - _Count Zero_ (1986)
    - _Mona Lisa Overdrive_ (1988)
- _The Difference Engine_ (1990; with Bruce Sterling)
- Bridge trilogy:
    - _Virtual Light_ (1993)
    - _Idoru_ (1996)
    - _All Tomorrow's Parties_ (1999)
- Bigend trilogy:
1. _Pattern Recognition_ (2003)
1. _Spook Country_ (2007)
1. _Zero History_ (2010)

- Short stories
- _Burning Chrome_ (1986, preface by Bruce Sterling), collects Gibson's early short fiction, listed by original publication date:
    - "Fragments of a Hologram Rose" (1977, _UnEarth 3_)
    - "Johnny Mnemonic" (1981, _Omni_)
    - "The Gernsback Continuum" (1981, _Universe 11_)
    - "Hinterlands" (1981, _Omni_)
    - "New Rose Hotel" (1981, _Omni_)
    - "The Belonging Kind", with John Shirley (1981, _Shadows 4_)
    - "Burning Chrome" (1982, _Omni_)
    - "Red Star, Winter Orbit", with Bruce Sterling (1983, _Omni_)
    - "The Winter Market" (Nov 1985, _Vancouver_)
    - "Dogfight", with Michael Swanwick (1985, _Omni_)
- "Skinner's Room" (Nov 1991, _Omni_)

- Nonfiction

- _Agrippa (a book of the dead)_ (1992) – a poem and artist's book

- "Disneyland with the Death Penalty" – a 1993 _Wired_ article

## Other websites

- William Gibson official website
- William Gibson on Twitter

## Infobox (writer)

- **name**: William Gibson
- **image**: William Gibson 60th birthday portrait.jpg
- **caption**: Portrait of Gibson in Paris during an interview on his 60th birthday, March 17, 2008
- **birth place**: Conway, South Carolina
- **occupation**: Novelist
- **citizenship**: United States, Canada
- **period**: 1977–
- **genre**: Speculative fiction
- **movement**: Cyberpunk, steampunk, postcyberpunk
- **notableworks**: _Neuromancer_ (novel, 1984)
- **awards**: Nebula Award, Nebula, Hugo Award, Hugo, Philip K. Dick Award, Philip K. Dick, Ditmar Award, Ditmar, Seiun Award, Seiun, Prix Aurora Award, Prix Aurora