March 31, 2008 1:51
The Return of Neal Stephenson
An e-mail containing the most astounding news just surfaced in my inbox, still dripping wet from the great oceanic Interweb. Neal Stephenson, author of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, etc., you know who he is, has a new novel out this September. It's called Anathem. Below, lovingly hand-transcribed, is the catalog copy:
Since childhood, Raz has lived behind the walls of a 3,400-year-old monastery, a sanctuary for scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians—sealed off from the illiterate, irrational, unpredictable "saecular" world that is plagued by recurring cycles of booms and busts, world wars and climate change. Until the day that a higher power, driven by fear, decides that only these cloistered scholars have the abilities to avert an impending catastrophe. And, one by one, Raz and his cohorts are summoned forth without warning into the Unknown.
I'm not sure what we're supposed to get from this. Sounds like a post-apocalyptic scenario, maybe something along the lines of A Canticle for Liebowitz (which is also set post-apocalypse and also has monks in it)? Anyroad, Stephenson is going back to the future, and I'm very very excited.
(I thought I was first w/ this information, but I see Wikipedia has the pub date. Damn you, Wikipedia, you beautiful million-headed monster.)
About Nerd World
Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman blogs about anything and everything that could be plausibly labeled geeky--science fiction, fantasy, video games, comic books, tech stuff, and so on. If it could get you beaten up in junior high, it's fair game. About the Author
Matt Selman
Matt Selman has worked on eleven seasons and over two hundred episodes of The Simpsons. He currently serves as an Executive Producer. About the Author
RSS Feed
 |
Reader Comments (15)
I think I just poo'd myself a little.
The Amazon page has been up for a few weeks, but tantalizingly without any sort of description.
Posted by a wong | March 31, 2008 2:46 PM
The release date and general genre of "far future science fiction" have been known for a while, but this is the first I've seen of plot details.
I'm a bit worried myself; it strikes me as a bit too much "I can beat this Vinge fellow at his own game!". And frankly, his track record on future material is mixed: Diamond Age is, of course, awesome, but "Jipi and the Paranoid Chip" is, well, not.
Not that I won't be pre-ordering this immediately, but worried nonetheless.
Posted by Tom Shaw | March 31, 2008 3:01 PM
I am doing a happy little geek dance right now.
Diamond Age has been a favorite of mine since highschool and I literally just finished Snow Crash last week (after years of false starts so now Im on a neuro linguistics kick) and as a former philosophy major I love the Baroque Cycle and am working my way through System of the World.
Yay I am so excited! And I've had too much coffee!
Posted by Lintila | March 31, 2008 3:18 PM
Even money that Enoch Root makes an appearance.
Posted by Kemper | March 31, 2008 4:22 PM
Below, lovingly hand-transcribed...
You make it sound as if there should be woven Celtic-knot creatures dancing in a hyperlinked manner about the edges.
Posted by SpotWeld | March 31, 2008 4:29 PM
Neal has been my favorite living author since I read Snow Crash. I can hardly wait!
Posted by 13enster | March 31, 2008 6:23 PM
Anyone else getting flashbacks to Ayn Rand's Anthem? Seems like a similar setting/premise of intellectual outcasts from a rigid, change-adverse communist society.
Posted by Heradel | March 31, 2008 7:34 PM
I hear the echo of Isaac Newton's story that was told all throughout Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle. Brilliant and isolated, Newton is called to action to solve something vitally important.
Rings a bell.
Posted by Darth | March 31, 2008 7:55 PM
I love Stephenson. But has anyone else noticed his propensity for putting one completely goofy and unbelievable element into each of his stories? (Examples: The satanists in Zodiac. Or Cryptonomicon's insane lawyer shooting at the protagonists with arrows near the end of the book.)
Posted by Borogove | April 1, 2008 3:31 AM
(And I'm getting more of a Das Glasperlenspiel vibe from this description.)
Posted by Borogove | April 1, 2008 3:34 AM
@Borogove:
You are right about the unbelievable elements in his books... well except for the Big U. That book was completely and utterly plausible!
I don't mind the crazy elements in Neil's books. I think they are one of the many enjoyable ingredients in his books.
Posted by 13enster | April 1, 2008 9:25 AM
Sounds like Tepper's "The Visitor" to me...
Posted by kmallon2002 | April 1, 2008 11:08 AM
My day suddenly rocks. I expect the world every time Stephenson delivers a major work because, as we all know, he delivers.
Posted by Epicure | April 1, 2008 11:45 AM
Borogove:
"But has anyone else noticed his propensity for putting one completely goofy and unbelievable element into each of his stories?"
You say that like that's a bad thing.
Me? I live for the mad adventures of Jack Shaftoe.
Posted by Cliff | April 1, 2008 12:19 PM
I wonder if Enoch Root will appear, to help Hari Seldon invent psychohistory and preserve knowledge, technologickal arts, etc. etc. by establishing a clubb or Foundation, thereby sparing us from large-scale Chiseled Spam. And will Enoch be bound by the Three Laws of Robotics? And will General Wing try to control the Spice (thus controlling the universe) until Ali Zayback learns to ride sandworms?
Posted by bridgman
|
April 16, 2008 12:06 PM