Neuromancer is, quite simply, the iconic cyberpunk novel. And it’s incredibly prophetic. Here we have a book published in 1984 that imagines the rise of the internet, super-powerful AI, megacorporations controlling what we see, body modification and bioengineering – it even introduced the idea of the Matrix. But it’s not just these prescient elements that make it a great book: its style calls to mind the hard-boiled American noir novels of the 1930s and 1940s, fused with William Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon and Jack Kerouac.

And along with being one of the most revered and beloved sci-fi books of all time – the only novel to win the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award and the Hugo Award – it has also been one of our most requested books. There are so many people out there who love Neuromancer. So we were incredibly happy to hear that William Gibson himself wanted to be involved when we celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the book's publication with our Limited Edition in 2024, and it’s his influence that made the edition, and now our Folio book, so special.

Gibson also wrote a new foreword, which takes the form of a call and response with his UK editor Malcolm Edwards. They go into the gestation of the novel, how it came to be published, and its evolution. It also quotes from their original correspondence, which had never been published before the publication of our Limited Edition in 2024.

It’s absolutely fascinating to read Gibson’s feelings when he sent Edwards the first draft. ‘My own reaction to the thing is one of shame and loathing. Surely this book is a disgrace to dog me the rest of my days…’ How wrong he was – and how lucky we are to have his unique stamp on the book that made his name.