Re: Next Neal Stephenson?

Ilya the Recusant <qin@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The blatantly anachronistic dialogue and behaviour didn't frustrate
you?

Actually, no. I found it playful, and sometimes made me stop and ponder on
the evolution of the ideas expressed -- whether any real people of that
time would have expressed related concepts, or concepts that led to them.
Invariably, they were important.

I didn't think of the books as purely historical drama. They were
explorations of the evolution of the concepts upon which modern science and
civilization are based.

I tried so hard to get through Quicksilver, and it just drove me mad.
Endless regressions are okay in my book (I had no problem with
anything yet published by Pynchon), but mother of saints, the
characters just never grabbed me.

Not sure what you mean about regressions -- maybe they just come naturally
to me. And I'm not a person who gets all wrapped up in characters and
their emotions. I focus more on ideas. But I definitely did get involved
with the characters, and still think back on them.

Kind of like cyberpunk in reverse, perhaps.

Or post-cyberpunk in reverse. Or science-fiction in reverse?

Whatever. But as cyberpunk-type stories try to project current day
sociological/technical trends, NS was showing where today came from.

/kenw
Ken Wallewein
K&M Systems Integration
Phone (403)274-7848
Fax (403)275-4535
kenw@xxxxxxxx
www.kmsi.net
.

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