Count Zero

Count Zero

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author	William Gibson
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Sprawl trilogy
Genre	Science fiction, cyberpunk
Publisher	Victor Gollancz Ltd
Publication date	1986
Media type	Print (hardback and paperback)
Pages	256
ISBN	(first edition)
Preceded by	Neuromancer
Followed by	Mona Lisa Overdrive

Count Zero is a science fiction novel written by William Gibson, originally published 1986. It is the second volume of the Sprawl trilogy, which begins with Neuromancer and concludes with Mona Lisa Overdrive, and is a canonical example of the cyberpunk subgenre.

Count Zero was serialized by Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in the 1986 January (100th issue), February and March issues. The black and white story art was produced by J. K. Potter. The January cover is devoted to the story, with art by Hisaki Yasuda.

Count Zero was nominated for the Locus and British Science Fiction Awards in 1986, as well as the Hugo and Nebula awards in 1987.

Seven years after the events of Neuromancer, strange things begin to happen in the Matrix, leading to the proliferation of what appear to be voodoo gods (hinted to be the fractured remains of the joined AIs that were Neuromancer and Wintermute).

Two powerful multinational corporations, Maas Biolabs and Hosaka, are engaged in a battle for control over a powerful new technology (a biochip), using hackers and the Matrix as well as espionage and violence.

The title of the book, other than being the pseudonym of the main character Bobby Newmark, was also claimed by Gibson to be a word-play on the computer programming term count zero interrupt. According to a frontleaf of the book, in a "count zero interrupt", an interrupt of a process decrements a counter to zero. The exact quote is "On receiving an interrupt, decrement the counter to zero." (The term "count zero interrupt" or CZI could be found in the book Programming the Z80 by Rodnay Zaks.)