I am titillated by the snippet and looking forward to devouring another one of his books.

Any clue whether or not this comes in at anything less than 1200 pages?

Neal could write about his bowel movements and it would be the best writing in the PNW all year. He's amazing.

Snow Crash was fun, but pretty much terrible.

@2 according to Amazon it is 928 pages. Release date September 9th.

Also very, very, very dense "pulp" -- reading his stuff for me is like trying to power through eating an entire "death by chocolate" style cheesecake. I can only do it in small nibbles and bites over a looooong period of time.

I can't wait. I wonder if he's figured out how to write a convincing ending yet.

I'm not much of a sci-fi fan, but his Baroque Cycle, which i wouldn't call sci-fi at all, was fantastic. Looking forward to this.

Ah, Neal. I enjoy his characters, and the wild plots to which he subjects them. I've read Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon and all the books of his Baroque Cycle.

I have two complaints about his writing. He needs an editor who will heartlessly cut out the filler in his books and keep them focused on driving the story forward, and he has yet to write a satisfying ending to a book.

I think I may pass on this one or at least wait until it's in paperback. I'm still recovering from my Baroque-cycle hangover, and I'm still pissed about the ending of Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon.

i never realized he lived in Seattle! i look forward to his next book - hopefully it's a little easier read then the 3000 page Baroque Cycle - and also, stalking my favorite local (he's local! i didn't know!) author.

omgomgomg

YESSSSS I love Neal Stephenson. THIS IS GOING TO RULE.

I was never a big fan of Stephenson. I tried to read Cryptonomicon and found it just couldn't finish it. The only reason I got as far as I did was because it was the only book I had on a flight to Greece. The prose was pretentious and overly long with terrible metaphors ("he swiped his card in the phone like an assassin sliding a razor across the throat of a tubby politician"). The characters I found to be boring and couldn't care less about them . He also has the annoying habit of pages of prose that seem to exist solely to show the research he has done on a particular topic. I was really excited to read the book too, as so many people I knew liked his stuff.

Maybe he just needed better editing, but as a result I never read another one of his books.

Ari would you pls help me stalk Neal Stephenson? You can have his top half.

@12, you can't only half-read Cryptonomicron and then say you don't like his work.

that's like getting raped by a pizza and deciding you don't like anchovies, it just doesn't make sense.

He is a insufferable prick in person, and I have never met a writer who harbors so much disdain for his fans.

This book sounds entirely too much like "Idiocracy" meets "Canticle for Liebowitz". Not very original.

Check out Peter Hamilton if you like good "pulp".

Oh, and most "pulp", as you say, is a damn site better that what passes for "Literature" these days. Talk about pretentious bullshit attempting to make Oprah's book club.

@15: He's painfully shy. Did you, perhaps, overwhelm him when you met him? I can't imagine why I would assume that you didn't approach him politely, but that might have had something to do with it.

Also: damn 'sight' better.

And also also: I don't understand what your last sentence means. Is it pulp?

@9: Bingo on the need for a heartless editor. Too much of his writing he cruises on his research and his breezy style. But the breezy style got overwhelmed by the research starting in the Baroque Cycle. Still had some great bits (in the 40% I subjected myself to) but too much of everything.

Too bad. He's pretty interesting when he's on his game.

Oh, and the end of Snow Crash was pretty awful.

I have come to the conclusion that Neal Stephenson can't write. I liked Snow Crash, despite its lack of an ending. Diamond Age was OK, despite even less of an ending. Cryptonomicon was two halfway interesting books crammed together with the slightest of connections, padded with a bunch of self-indulgent nonsense. I swore off his writing at that point, but my wife loves him so at some point I'll probably be conned into reading part of the Baroque Cycle. I hope not.

Stephenson is by nerds, for nerds. If you're not comfortable with that, it's not really for you, and that's OK. However, for me, it's catnip.

@14 Do you mean that the first half of Cryptonomicon is the worst of his work? I got more then halfway mind (about 3/4) but it never hooked me. I stopped reading as soon as I got off the plane. Sorry, but if you can't hook a reader within 3/4 of a book then the book isn't very good. And he showing off his research is also what made me avoid the Baroque Cycle like the plague. I cannot imagine being subjected to Stephenson showing off his superficial research on the 17th century, and was sure he would screw it up regardless.

@19 I am also a huge nerd, and I know many other nerds that felt the same way or even stronger about his work. I may read Snow Crash at some point, I've heard that is good, but other then that, I'll pass.

While I agree that an editor is indeed important, I think an editor would have cut out the Captain Crunch chapter in Cryptonomicon, which is maybe my favorite passage in the book.

OK, no, that'd be Admiral Yamamoto's epiphany, followed closely by the main character's cereal ritual.

Damn, I loved that book. Yes, he has a tough time with endings, but Stephenson is one of my all-time faves.