The technology isn't as advanced as the digital matrix in “Neuromancer', which was apparently set in the 2030's. This 1993 novel isn't so much set in the cyberspace of Gibson's “Neuromancer', as in the world of an imagined 2005/2006 (the exact date doesn't seem to be mentioned in the text itself, and there's a conflict in the extrinsic evidence), after some event (perhaps an earthquake) has destroyed much of San Francisco, and California has been split into two states, NoCal and SoCal. SF readers who could not buy into the Sprawl books may find this one more approachable. While this lacks the fringe element edgy cool of Neuromancer, this is told more straightforward and has some early indications of the kind of writing Gibson would do with his Blue Ant series.

Taking off from his archetypal Sprawl series, Gibson gives us another foray into a near future cyberpunk landscape that mesmerizes as it entertains. In the air of great protagonist names won hands down by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 cyberpunkapalooza Snow Crash with Hiro Protagonist, Gibson introduces us to Chevette Washington, a messenger living on the Bay Bridge between San Francisco and Oakland who gets caught up in corporate espionage surrounding some stolen glasses.īut these are not just any glasses, they produce virtual light, enabling the viewer to see more than reality, and this is not just the Bay Bridge, this is Gibson’s world building after devastating earthquakes and after tumultuous socioeconomic and political upheavals.

William Gibson begins his Bridge trilogy with this 1993 publication that was nominated for both the Hugo and the Locus awards.

Virtual Light by William Gibson