Neal Stephenson

 Imaginary Interviewer: What's the next book?

Humble Writer: It's a book by Neal Stephenson, 'The Diamond Age, or 'A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer'. 

II: Have you read it before?

HW: Several times. It's one of my all time favorites. A genuine classic. This book won both the Hugo and Locus awards when it came out in 1995. 

II: What can you tell us about the author?

HW: Neal Stephenson is one of my favorite living authors. His writing is incredibly intelligent. As a reader, I often have to stop and think about the setting and circumstances that he has put together. He's a tremendous world-builder. His futuristic works seem very possible and his historical works feel like he understood the period better than those inside of it.

II: Historical works?

HW: I first came to Stephenson through a trilogy that he wrote called 'The Baroque Cycle'. The books take place in the late 1600s and early 1700s. They involve everything from the workings of England's natural philosophers, the beginnings of modern finance, cryptography, royal politics and a lovable rogue named Half Cocked Jack. I'm a huge fan. A word of caution though, each book is nearly 1000 pages. 

II: That's a lot. How big is 'The Diamond Age'?

HW: Only about 500 pages. My rule of thumb for books is that I give them 100 pages to hook me. If they fail in that span, then I set them down. I've easily passed that mark in all of Stephenson's works. 

II: Is Stephenson well regarded? 

HW: Uh yes, but he does have his detractors. His last few books have criticized both sides of the culture wars, which I'm guessing did not make him many friends. To go along with that, not everyone appreciates the doorstop size of his works. And to top all of that, several of his books end without a climax. The story stops at a point when it absolutely could have gone forward. This isn't a way to make fans happy. 

II: Anything else we should know?

HW: Yes. The man is an absolute master at writing info-dumps. These happen when an author needs to explain something to the reader. A new concept, a technology, a crucial bit of history, that kind of thing. Stephenson is better at this than virtually any other author that I know of. I've heard it said that reading a different book of his, 'Cryptonomicon', makes you the smartest person in your vicinity. There is something to that. I hope you enjoy 'The Diamond Age'!