Neal Stephenson

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Neal Stephenson

Stephenson at a book signing
Pseudonym:	Stephen Bury
Born:	October 31, 1959 (age 47) Fort Meade, Maryland
Occupation:	novelist, short story writer, essayist
Nationality:	United States
Genres:	Science fiction, essays
Literary movement:	Cyberpunk, Postcyberpunk
Influences:	Bruce Sterling, William Gibson
Influenced:	Charles Stross
Website:	nealstephenson.com

Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer, known primarily for his science fiction works in the postcyberpunk genre with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, currency, and the history of science. He also writes non-fiction articles about technology in publications such as Wired Magazine, and works part-time as an advisor for Blue Origin, a company (funded by Jeff Bezos) developing a manned sub-orbital launch system. [1]

Contents 1 Background 2 Literary works 3 Style 4 Quote 5 Bibliography 6 External links

[edit] Background

Born in Fort Meade, Maryland Stephenson came from a family comprised of engineers and hard scientists he dubs "propeller heads". His father is a professor of electrical engineering whose father was a physics professor; his mother worked in a biochemistry laboratory, while her father was a biochemistry professor. Stephenson's family moved to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois in 1960 and then to Ames, Iowa in 1966 where he graduated from Ames High School in 1977. Stephenson furthered his studies at Boston University. He first specialized in physics, then switched to geography after he found that it would allow him to spend more time on the university mainframe. He graduated in 1981 with a B.A. in Geography with a minor in Physics. His first novel, The Big U, was published in 1984. The Big U received very little attention when it first came out, and was subsequently out of print until Stephenson allowed it to be reprinted in 2001. Since 1984 Stephenson has lived mostly in the Pacific Northwest and currently resides in Seattle with his family.

[edit] Literary works

After The Big U, Stephenson published the eco-thriller Zodiac before rising to prominence in the early 1990s with the novel Snow Crash (1992), which fuses memetics, computer viruses, and other high-tech themes with Sumerian mythology, along with an analysis of the differences between ideologies such as libertarianism, laissez-faire capitalism, and communism. Averaging one novel every four years, he has written several subsequent novels:

• The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (1995), which deals with a future with extensive nanotechnology and dynabooks. It has been announced that the SciFi Channel will be producing a miniseries adaptation of the Diamond Age, which will be penned by Stephenson.
• Cryptonomicon (1999), a novel concerned with concepts ranging from computing and Alan Turing's research into codebreaking and cryptography during the Second World War at Bletchley Park, to a modern attempt to set up a data haven. It has subsequently been reissued in three separate volumes in some countries, including in French and Spanish translations.
• The Baroque Cycle is a series of historical novels that is in some respects a prequel to Cryptonomicon. Consisting internally of eight books, it was originally published in three volumes (in a similar manner to The Lord of the Rings):
  • Quicksilver (2003) (containing the books Quicksilver, King of the Vagabonds, and Odalisque);
  • The Confusion (2004) (containing the books Bonanza and Juncto);
  • The System of the World (2004) (containing the books Solomon's Gold, Currency, and System of the World).
• The Baroque Cycle has subsequently been republished as eight separate books (both in English and in Spanish translation).

Though it can be argued that neither Cryptonomicon nor The Baroque Cycle constitute works of science fiction, Stephenson himself insists on describing these books as SF and booksellers have tended to classify them as such.

With the 2003 publication of Quicksilver, Stephenson debuted The Metaweb (main page as partially preserved in the Wayback Machine at 5 April 2006), a wiki (using the same software as Wikipedia) annotating the ideas and historical period explored in the novel.

[edit] Style

Stephenson, at least in his earlier novels, deals heavily in pop culture-laden metaphors and imagery, and in quick, hip dialogue, as well as in extended narrative monologues. The tone of his books generally is more irreverent and less self-serious than in previous cyberpunk novels, notably those of William Gibson.

Stephenson's books tend to have elaborate, inventive plots drawing on numerous technological and sociological ideas at the same time. This distinguishes him from other mainstream science fiction authors who tend to focus on a few technological or social changes in isolation from others. This penchant for complexity and detail suggests a baroque writer. His book The Diamond Age features "neo-Victorian" characters and employs Victorian-era literary conceits, and perhaps could be considered as falling into the steampunk genre. In keeping with the baroque style, Stephenson's books have become longer as he has gained recognition. (At least one printing of Cryptonomicon is well over one thousand pages long and contains various digressions, including a lengthy erotic story about antique furniture and stockings.)

Characteristic aspects of his books include the "breakdown in events", an acceleration in plot development, typically about three quarters into the novel, accompanied by a marked increase in violence and general confusion among the characters (and often readers); and abrupt endings without strong conclusions or denouement, which sometimes leave the reader hanging. While many readers consider this an annoyance, there is a contingent that admires the author's ability to tie up loose ends and transact a great deal of novelistic business within the space of 20 or 30 pages. This pattern holds for all of Stephenson's books, including (when taken as a whole) The Baroque Cycle.

[edit] Quote

"The science fiction approach doesn't mean it's always about the future; it's an awareness that this is different." - Neal Stephenson

[edit] Bibliography

• Fiction:
  • The Big U (1984)
  • Zodiac (1988)
  • Snow Crash (1992)
  • Interface (1994) as Stephen Bury with J. Frederick George
  • Short story: "Spew" (1994)
  • Short story: "The Great Simoleon Caper" (1995)
  • The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (1995)
  • The Cobweb (1996) as Stephen Bury with J. Frederick George
  • Short story: "Jipi and the paranoid chip" (1997)
  • Cryptonomicon (1999) (Website)
  • Quicksilver (2003), volume I of The Baroque Cycle
  • The Confusion (2004), volume II of The Baroque Cycle
  • The System of the World (2004), volume III of The Baroque Cycle (winner 2005 Prometheus Award)

• Non-fiction:
  • "Smiley's people". 1993.
  • "In the Kingdom of Mao Bell". 1994. A billion Chinese are using new technology to create the fastest growing economy on the planet. But while the information wants to be free, do they?
  • "Mother Earth Mother Board". 1996. In which the Hacker Tourist ventures forth across three continents, telling the story of the business and technology of undersea fiber-optic cables, as well as an account of the laying of the longest wire on Earth.
  • "Global Neighborhood Watch". 1998. Stopping street crime in the global village.
  • In the Beginning...was the Command Line. Perennial. 1999. ISBN 0-380-81593-1. (Homepage)
  • "Turn On, Tune In, Veg Out". New York Times, June 17, 2005.
  • "It's All Geek To Me". New York Times, March 18, 2007.

[edit] External links

• Neal Stephenson's official website
• Neal Stephenson's older personal website
• Neal Stephenson at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• HyperDig collection of Neal Stephenson links
• In the Kingdom of Mao Bell as it appeared in Wired magazine 1994
• Spew as it appeared in Wired magazine 1994
• The Great Simoleon Caper as it appeared in Time magazine 1995
• Mother Earth Mother Board as it appeared in Wired magazine 1996
• Jipi and the Paranoid Chip as it appeared in Forbes magazine 1997
• Global Neighborhood Watch as it appeared in Wired magazine 1998
• Neal Stephenson Sees the Light by David Chute, LA Weekly 1999
• A Conversation With Neal Stephenson by Catherine Asaro, SF Site 1999
• Neal Stephenson Responds With Wit and Humor Slashdot interview 2004
• The Summit of Mount Stephenson, Salon Article
• Deep Code, Salon Article
• The Salon Interview
• Neal Stephenson's Past, Present, and Future Interview by Mike Godwin in the February 2005 issue of Reason
• Turn On, Tune In, Veg Out Op-Ed piece on Star Wars as it appeared in the New York Times 2005

Works by Neal Stephenson
Full-Length Novels	The Big U (1984) | Zodiac (1988) | Snow Crash (1992) | Interface (1994) | The Diamond Age (1995) | The Cobweb (1996) | Cryptonomicon (1999) | The Baroque Cycle: Quicksilver (2003), The Confusion (2004), and The System of the World (2004)
Short Stories	"Spew" (1994) | "The Great Simoleon Caper" (1995) | "Jipi and the paranoid chip" (1997)
Non-Fiction	Smiley's people (1993) | In the Kingdom of Mao Bell (1994) | Mother Earth Mother Board (1996) | Global Neighborhood Watch (1998) | In the Beginning...was the Command Line (1999)

Persondata
NAME	Stephenson, Neal
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Stephenson, Neal Town; Bury, Stephen
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American writer
DATE OF BIRTH	31 October 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH	Fort Meade, Maryland
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH