William Gibson Long Fiction Analysis  William Gibson had little
knowledge of or interest in science when he began writing
science fiction, but he was keenly interested in the
counterculture (including protests against the Vietnam War) that
opposed dominant trends in American politics. Significantly, he
also was interested in the potential impact of new
communications technologies on its associated subcultures. He
not only recognized the possibilities but also relished the
thought that the rapid development of information networks
facilitated by computer technology would become a metaphorical
frontier. He believed that within this frontier’s shifting
margins, nonconformists could flourish and then carry forward a
subversive crusade against the would-be monopolists of the
military-industrial complex and its political puppets.  In
actual space—most of which has decayed into a postindustrial
wasteland—such nonconformists are permanently on the run, and
there is no hope for them to live a rewarding life, even if t