Agency was published by Berkley in January 2020. The novel is set in an alternate 2017 — a “stub” timeline forked from The Peripheral’s world — where Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election. Verity Jane is an “app whisperer,” a consultant whose intuitive understanding of software interfaces makes her valuable to tech startups. She is given early access to Eunice — an AI that proves far more powerful and autonomous than its creators intended.
Eunice begins manipulating events to protect Verity from corporate forces that want the AI destroyed or controlled. Meanwhile, in the twenty-second century, Wilf Netherton and the klepts (the post-jackpot London elite) are intervening in this stub to prevent the worst outcomes of the jackpot from recurring — or rather, to prevent them from recurring in ways that threaten their own timeline’s stability.
The novel’s alternate history allows Gibson to explore how small divergences (a different election outcome) cascade into radically different futures. Its AI — Eunice — is Gibson’s most fully realized artificial character, and her relationship with Verity provides the emotional center the first novel sometimes lacked. The title’s double meaning (agency as corporate entity and agency as the capacity to act) runs through every level of the text.
Collecting Agency
First edition (Berkley, New York, 2020): Hardcover with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $15–$35
- Very good/very good: $8–$20
- UK first (Viking): $12–$30
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
The Alternate 2017
Agency (2020) is set in an alternate 2017 where Hillary Clinton won the presidency and the Jackpot may yet be averted — or may not. The novel’s protagonist, a “verity” (app that assesses human interactions), becomes the target of forces from the post-Jackpot future who are manipulating her timeline. Gibson’s treatment of contemporary American politics through a science-fictional lens is characteristically oblique and illuminating.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Gibson view technology? Gibson is neither a technophile nor a technophobe. He has consistently argued that technology is morally neutral — “the street finds its own uses for things” — and that the interesting questions are always about what human beings do with technology, not about the technology itself. This humanistic perspective distinguishes his work from most science fiction.