His paddock boots – impeccable – were made semi-bespoke in Northampton and shipped to New York, where he bought them 'for more than they should cost' I spy an artisanal denim shirt collar. Those familiar with his books will know Gibson’s habit of introducing characters through their clothes, and he dresses both considerably younger than his 71 years and with panache. 'There are things I didn't predict - Tinder for one.' Eyes the colour of familiar tech logos (Facebook, Twitter, Safari) peer through his quietly complicated glasses. Gibson is tall - 6’5” officially, although a little shorter with stoop – and wiry. 'One of the things I’ve worried about writing this book is that I don’t want to depress anyone,' Gibson tells me, perched on an orange bar stool. As one of his 2136 characters asks the book alternative 2017 world: 'Are people happier there? Happier than they were here, then?' To which Gibson’s antihero Wilf Netherton replies: 'I gather they aren’t, particularly.' But Agency also begs us to posit 'What Ifs' on every scale, from the international to the domestic. His latest, Agency, entangles the plotlines of two different eras: that of 2136 – a dystopian and grimly believable future of the world as we know it – and an alternative 2017, in which neither Vote Leave nor Donald Trump win their respective votes.īetween these two eras a thriller unfolds with the assistance of bots, wearable tech and friendly billionaires. Gibson has been deemed something of a soothsayer since the release of his 1984 debut Neuromancer, largely thanks to his ability to 'predict' aspects of the near-future that have subsequently come to pass. On the morning I meet sci-fi author-turned-social prophet William Gibson, these are the headlines – and they align uncannily with subplots of his latest novel, Agency. The world is gripped by fear over the emergence of the Corona virus. Data is causing political turmoil in the US primaries.
It appears something nasty is about to happen there - and fixing it will require not only Eunice's unique human-AI skillset but also a little help from the future.Ī future which Verity soon fears may never be.Shot by Stuart Simpson for Penguin, February 2020 Meanwhile, in a post-apocalyptic London a century from now, PR fixer Wilf Netherton is tasked by all-seeing policewoman Ainsley Lowbeer with interfering in the alternative past in which Verity and Eunice exist. Pretty soon, Verity knows that Eunice is smarter than anyone she's ever met, conceals some serious capabilities and is profoundly paranoid - which is just as well since suddenly some bad people are after Verity. They call Verity 'the app-whisperer,' and she's just been hired by a shadowy start-up to evaluate a pair-of-glasses-cum-digital-assistant called Eunice. Clinton's in the White House, Brexit never happened - and Verity Jane's got herself a new job.
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