As the title suggests, this is a fascinating interview with sci-fi author William Gibson, the man who coined the term “cyberpunk”. While the video could have been put together a little more smoothly, the filmmakers wisely stand out of the way and give Gibson center stage.

Things get off to a fairly rough start. The reason Gibson agreed to do the interview in the first place was to promote his new book, CODE SOURCE. But the title isn’t even mentioned in the video. We get a brief upside-down shot of the beautifully designed cover art for the book, but that’s all. The interview portion doesn’t start off so great, either. When discussing the writing process, Gibson tends to ramble a bit. I was scratching my head and just about to switch off the video when things got much more interesting.

The best part of the interview is when Gibson talks about the climate in which he wrote CODE SOURCE, and some of the ways in which reality compares and contrasts with the themes in his book. He describes the Bush years as “a nightmarish dark period,” but he dismisses the notion that anyone but Al-Qaeda was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. He has some profound insights into why conspiracy theories are so widespread, describing them as “comforting in their simplicity.” Fans of the author will be especially intrigued by the latter portions of the interview, in which Gibson discusses his “quiet, orderly life.”

The camerawork is merely okay and the video has some distractingly flashy editing. The author is the main draw, and just like his work he doesn’t disappoint.