Look up erratic writer and there's a picture of this guy. He seems incapable of writing anything that isn't either a: excellent, or b: utter garbage. There's nothing in between.

all hail the king of cyberpunk

Beats me how Gibson has become some sort of poster child for the new SF. His one and only interesting concept was the idea of the internet as a virtual reality hang-out. Too bad it's smothered by the lifelessness of the characters and plot. Better works on the theme of virtual reality come from writers such as Neal Stephenson and Michael Marshall Smith. Read them instead.

My favorite sci-fi writer. Cool ideas and technology, but with a grit and realism that's closer to detective novels or even the work of social reformist stuff like <i>Grapes of Wrath</i>. Except Gibson is trying to reform things that haven't happened yet...