William Gibson

American science fiction writer William Gibson is credited with giving birth to the pioneering genre of science fiction known as cyberpunk. And it is not surprising: even before the concepts of "artificial intelligence", "virtual reality", "cyberspace" appeared in popular culture, the writer had already dissected them in his debut novel "Neuromancer". Despite the fact that more than 30 years have passed since the release of the work, it is considered cult to this day.

William Ford Gibson was born on March 17, 1948 in the coastal town of Conway, South Carolina. Much of his early life was spent in Whitewill, Virginia.

William's father worked as a manager for a large construction company, so the Gibsons moved frequently. When the boy attended Pines Elementary School in Norfolk, Virginia, his father died - suffocated while eating. A few days after the incident, the family returned to Whiteville. William was sent to George White High School.

The boy's entourage gravitated towards sports, and at the age of 12 he "wanted nothing more than to be a science fiction writer." Gibson spent all his free time in his room reading books. His literary taste was brought up by the authors of the beat generation - prose writers William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, poet Allen Ginsberg.

As he read, William forgot about his lessons. The mother, dissatisfied with his academic performance, threatened to send her son to a boarding school, to which he reacted with enthusiasm. As a result, Gibson ended up at the Arizona Boys' School in Tucson.

When William Gibson was 18 years old, his mother died. He dropped out of school and traveled to Europe, eager to immerse himself in the counterculture. In 1967, the writer moved to Canada to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War. In a 2008 interview, he explained that he did not formally deviate from the army, he never received a summons.

The young man spent the rest of the 1960s in Toronto, then went on a tour of European countries in which the fascist regime remained. Gibson did not want to work, so he entered the University of British Columbia to receive a scholarship. He completed his education in 1977.

As a student, William met the writer John Shirley, who convinced the young talent to take writing seriously. At that time, Gibson had already written several stories in the style of science fiction. Thanks to Shirley, the manuscripts fell into the hands of Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner, famous American science fiction writers. They were delighted with Gibson's works.

Gibson's early work, such as Shards of the Holographic Rose (1977), are stories of the impact of cybernetics on the human race. The themes developed in the stories "Johnny the Mnemonic" (1981) and "The Burning of Chrome" (1982) formed the basis of the debut novel "The Neuromancer".

After writing a third of the novel, Gibson watched Blade Runner (1982), a cyberpunk genre, and realized that Neuromancer was going to fail in comparison with this "strikingly beautiful" film. Scientist rewrote the book 12 times and was convinced that after publication, his reputation would be "forever disgraced." However, in the end, a canonical cyber novel was released from the pen of the novice writer.

Neuromancer (1984) won the Nebula and Hugo Prizes and the Philip Dick Prize. In 2005, Time magazine included the work in the list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923.

The final phrase "He never saw Molly again" did not give hope for the continuation of the story of the Neuromancer, but Gibson set about writing the novel "Count Zero", or "Count Zero" (1986). These two works, as well as "Mona Lisa Overdrive" (1988) constitute the first trilogy "Cyberspace" in the author's bibliography.

The trilogy was followed by the novel Difference Machine (1990), co-written with Bruce Sterling. Writers introduced information technology into the scenery of 19th century Victorian England. The book is still considered a bright representative of the steampunk genre.

Simultaneously with the writing of major works, Gibson wrote stories, some of them in collaboration with famous science fiction writers. So, "Affiliation" (1981) helped to come up with John Shirley, "Red Star, Winter's Orbit" (1983) - Bruce Sterling, and "Duel" (1985) - Michael Swanwick.

Gibson's second series, The Bridge Trilogy, includes the novels Virtual Light (1993), Idoru (1996) and All Tomorrow's Parties (1999). The author sees the main evil not in artificial intelligence, but in the media, which give rise to the cult of celebrities and in fact enslave people.

After The Bridge Trilogy, Gibson began to pursue a more realistic writing style and consistent storytelling. In this manner, books from the Bigend Trilogy are written - "Pattern Recognition" (2003), "The Land of Ghosts" (2007) and "Zero Dossier" (2010). Gibson himself brings these works together under the title Blue Ants Books.

In 2014, the science fiction writer released the novel "Peripherals", The story unfolds in two eras - 30 years after the present and in the distant future. Its sequel, already dubbed "The Agency", should be released on April 2, 2019.

William Gibson is known not only as a writer but also as a screenwriter. His first work was a screenplay for the fantasy film Alien 3 (1992), few elements of which survived in the final version.

Previously, Gibson's involvement in the film industry extended far beyond the Hollywood blockbuster system. In the late 1980s, the science fiction writer collaborated with the Kazakh director Rashid Nugmanov on the Soviet-American film The Citadel of Death. The main role in it was to be played by the leader of the Kino group Viktor Tsoi, who died in a car accident in 1990.

Collaboration with the Japanese director Sogo Ishii did not work out in 1991 either. The film, over which the men worked, was supposed to be filmed in the walled city of Kowloon, but in 1993 it was demolished. Gibson is the screenwriter for the film adaptations of his works Johnny the Mnemonic (1995), starring Keanu Reeves, and The New Rose Hotel (1998), starring Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe and Asia Argento.

It is noteworthy that the key novels of the science fiction writer were never filmed. Canadian director Vincenzo Natali has repeatedly said in interviews that he is working on a film version of Neuromancer. Hayden Christensen and Liv Tyler were supposed to star in the lead roles, but the project never materialized. Since 2017, Tim Miller has been filming. He also owns the filming rights for the rest of the Cyberspace trilogy novels.

The personal life of a science fiction writer is partly covered with a shadow of obscurity.

In the late 1960s, while evading conscription in the Vietnam War, William Gibson met Deborah Jean Thompson, a Vancouver girl. In 1972 she became his wife. Together they raised a Canadian child from their first marriage.

Despite a long, strong union, Gibson never showed up with his wife at events. Moreover, in the press there is not a single photo of the chosen one of science fiction. It is also not known whether the spouses had more children.

The family now lives in Vancouver. Gibson obtained Canadian citizenship while remaining a US citizen.

Gibson's novel The Agency is one of the most anticipated books of 2019. It is said to be both a prequel and a sequel to Peripherals.

The events of the Agency will unfold in the version of reality where Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump, won the US presidential elections in 2016. In other words, Gibson will have to go back in time to imagine an alternative version of the American future.

Despite his advanced age, the science fiction writer hopes to turn "Peripherals" and "Agency" into another trilogy. There is no information yet about what the third novel will be about.

1977 - Holographic Rose Shards 1981 - Johnny Mnemonic 1982 - Chromium Burning 1985 - Duel 1990 - Difference Machine

2014 - "Peripherals"

Cyberspace Trilogy

1984 - "Neuromancer" 1986 - "Count Zero" 1988 - "Mona Lisa Overdrive"

"Bridge Trilogy"

1993 - "Virtual Light" 1996 - "Idoru" 1999 - "All the Parties of Tomorrow"

Bigend Trilogy

2003 - "Pattern Recognition" 2007 - "Ghost Land" 2010 - "Zero Dossier"

William Gibson 's estimated Net Worth, Salary, Income, Cars, Lifestyles & many more details have been updated below.

Let's check, How Rich is William Gibson in 2021 ?

William Gibson Net Worth 2022

William Gibson 's revenue is $ 1.8M in 2022. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is William Gibson and could vary in the range between $ 839.8K - $ 1.9M.

William Gibson Net Worth 2021

William Gibson 's revenue is $1.6M in 2021. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is William Gibson and could vary in the range between $636.9K - $1.6M.

William Gibson Net Worth 2020

William Gibson 's revenue is $1.1M in 2020. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is William Gibson and could vary in the range between $690K - $1.5M.

William Gibson Net Worth 2019

William Gibson 's revenue is $1.4M in 2019. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is William Gibson and could vary in the range between $967.6K - $1.8M.

William Gibson Net Worth 2018

William Gibson 's revenue is $1.7M in 2018. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is William Gibson and could vary in the range between $580.2K - $1.7M.

William Gibson Net Worth 2017

William Gibson 's revenue is $2M in 2017. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is William Gibson and could vary in the range between $575.2K - $1.6M.

William Gibson Net Worth 2016

William Gibson 's revenue is $1M in 2016. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is William Gibson and could vary in the range between $742.3K - $1.5M.

It is an overall forecast for the net worth of William Gibson. The evaluation covers the latest 5 years and an approximation for next year. See above to learn how much money does William Gibson makes a year.

The range above shows an estimation based on evaluation generated by public information about sponsorships or other sources found on the internet. It's summarized data from William Gibson's projects existing in AidWiki's repository. It's an approximation of the revenue compiled by AidWiki and may not correspond with the real amount.