Martha Millard Archive of William Gibson Collection
- TxAM-CRS C000161
- Collection
- 1977-2002
This collection was originally assembled by Martha Millard, the literary agent of noted science fiction author William Gibson. The collection contains correspondence between Millard and Gibson, agency business correspondence to and from Millard concerning Gibson's publishing career, assorted photographs, and an agency publicity file that includes publicity materials, files of Gibson's book reviews, interviews with Gibson, and articles about Gibson and/or the cyberspace and cyberpunk phenomenons.
Of particular note are a number of Gibson's original writings, which are also housed in the collection. These writings include such important Gibsoniana as his original 1981 outline for what would become Gibson's first novel Neuromancer; a 1984 outline for a never-completed novel, The Log of the Mustang Sally; an outline for Mona Lisa Overdrive(1986); a chronology and notes for The Difference Engine(1987); and copies of Gibson's screenplays for Alien III(c. 1990, unused) and Johnny Mnemonic(1992, 1994).
The Martha Millard Archive of William Gibson is a important collection for exploring not only the development of Gibson's writing career, but the ways in which an author, his agent, and his publishers interact with one another, working together to create and publicize a final literary product. The collection also provides numerous examples of the cultural impact that Gibson, as the coiner of the term 'cyberspace' and founder of the cyberpunk sub-genre of science fiction, has had on his colleagues, fans, and contemporaries.
Gibson, William