Gibson, William, 1948–, Canadian science fiction writer, b. Conway, S.C., moved to Canada in the 1960s. He first published short stories in sci-fi magazines; many are collected in Burning Chrome (1982). One story, “Johnny Mnemonic” (1981), was made into a film (1995). His first novel, Neuromancer (1984), is a pioneering example of cyberpunk—cyber for cybernetics, punk for the tough, anarchic sensibility of the punk movement. The novel tells of a robbery that occurs in the near future, partially in physical space, partially in “the matrix,” and was the first to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards. Count Zero (1986) and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) are sequels. Virtual Light (1993), Idoru (1996), and All Tomorrow's Parties (1999), a second trilogy, is set in the late 21st cent., and a third, Pattern Recognition (2003), Spook Country (2007), and Zero History (2010), in a dystopian contemporary world dominated by the Internet and consumerism. Other novels include The Peripheral (2014) and its sequel, Agency (2020). Archangel (2016–17) is a comic-book series. A selection of his articles and essays was published as Distrust That Particular Flavor (2011).
See T. Henthorne, William Gibson: A Literary Companion (2011).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: American Literature: Biographies
