William Gibson

William Gibson wrote three cyberpunk novels - Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive. He also wrote three short stories which also take place in The Sprawl - Johnny Mnemonic, Burning Chrome and New Rose Hotel.

The Sprawl stories, written in the 80s, capture 80s culture, integrating technology and fashion. They paint a credible future, a realistic future. A future based on the modern condition (as it was in the 80s), but still relevant when re-read today. Rather than all robots and spaceships, the stories take place in post-modern cities, full of cybernetics, biotech and communications webs.

The cities and the world are dominated by Multi-National Corporations - even the Yakuza are now a MNC and have taken over the Triads and the Mafia (a hostile takeover one would imagine). The citizens of these new cities are burnt out, like the citizens in Judge Dredd or Blade Runner.

Night City in Neuromancer is described as "a deranged experiment in Social Darwinism, designed by a bored researcher who kept one thumb permanently on the Fast Forward button".

What makes the Sprawl stories so good is that they are recognisable. This could be our future, in one of our cities. This is the underbelly of future life on the streets. Gibson's characters are on the fringe of society, as many of our modern fictional heroes are. They are hustlers, cowboys and losers who live in this future nightmare Gibson has created. This future is alive, not just speculative. These stories take place on the mean streets, in the avenues and alleyways.

This is the section of the iceberg that is far below the surface, the deepest and darkest parts of this future world. In this sense, Gibson is as much a sociologist and anthropologist as he is a scientist.