Conversations with William Gibson

Patrick A. Smith

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781628460155
• eBook ISBN:
  9781626740938
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Biographies
• Index: Literature

"After reading Neuromancer for the first time, " literary scholar Larry McCaffery wrote, "I knew I had seen the future of [science fiction] (and maybe of literature in general), and its name was William Gibson." McCaffery was right. Gibson's 1984 debut is one of the most celebrated SF novels of the last half century, and in a career spanning more than three decades, the American-Canadian science fiction writer and reluctant futurist responsible for introducing "cyberspace" into the lexicon has published nine other novels. Editor Patrick A. Smith draws the twenty-three interviews in this collection from a variety of media and sources—print and online journals and fanzines, academic journals, newspapers, blogs, and podcasts. Myriad topics include Gibson's childhood in the American South and his early adulthood in Canada, with travel in Europe; his chafing against the traditional SF mold, the origins of "cyberspace, " and the unintended consequences (for both the author and society) of changing the way we think about technology; the writing process and the reader's role in a new kind of fiction. Gibson (b. 1948) takes on branding and fashion, celebrity culture, social networking, the post-9/11 world, future uses of technology, and the isolation and alienation engendered by new ways of solving old problems. The conversations also provide overviews of his novels, short fiction, and nonfiction.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chronology
• Eye to Eye: An Interview with William Gibson
• An Interview with William Gibson
• Conversation with William Gibson
• Queen Victoria’s Personal Spook, Psychic Legbreakers, Snakes, and Catfood: An Interview with William Gibson and Tom Maddox
• “The Charisma Leak”: A Conversation with William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
• An Interview with William Gibson: Virtual Light Tour
• William Gibson Interview
• The Man Who Named Cyberspace: An Interview with William Gibson
• William Gibson, Webmaster
• William Gibson Interview
• William Gibson Interview
• An Interview with William Gibson
• William Gibson: Waiting for the Man
• William Gibson Interview Transcript
• Redefining William Gibson
• William Gibson: The Father of Cyberpunk
• Futuristic Fantasy Lives Now for Author William Gibson
• Space to Think
• Interview: William Gibson
• William Gibson Talks to io9 about Canada, Draft Dodging, and Godzilla
• William Gibson: The Art of Fiction No. 211
• Why William Gibson Distrusts Aging Futurists’ Nostalgia
• William Gibson: The Complete io9 Interview
• Key Resources
• Index