John Shirley

John Shirley (born February 10, 1953) is an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and songwriter whose work includes science fiction and horror. He is associated with the early development of cyberpunk; his 1980 novel City Come A-Walkin' predates many of the works commonly associated with the genre, and William Gibson described Shirley as "cyberpunk's Patient Zero" in an introduction to a later edition of the novel. His fiction also includes the A Song Called Youth trilogy and the story collection Black Butterflies.