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Neal Stephenson

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Image:Neal-stephenson.jpg thumb|150px|Neal Stephenson '''Neal Town Stephenson''' (b. October 31, 1959 in Fort George G. Meade Fort Meade, Maryland) is known primarily as a science fiction writer in the postcyberpunk genre with a penchant for diverting into explorations of 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 suborbital launch system [http://www.well.com/user/neal/myrelationship.html].

Background
Born in Fort Meade, Maryland â€” home of the National Security Agency â€” Stephenson comes from a family composed of engineers and hard science 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, 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, first as a physics major, then, when he found that it would allow him to spend more time on the university mainframe, Stephenson became a geography major. He graduated in 1981 with a B.A. in geography and a minor in physics. His first novel, ''The Big U'', was published in 1984 in literature 1984. ''The Big U'' was never popular, and for a while, was out of print. It has only recently been republished. Since 1984 he has lived mostly in the Pacific Northwest and currently resides in Seattle with his family.

Literary works
Although he wrote earlier novels such as the eco-thriller ''Zodiac (book) Zodiac'', he came to fame in the early 1990s with the novel ''Snow Crash'' (1992 in literature 1992), which fuses memetics, Computer virus computer viruses, and other high-tech themes with Sumerian mythology. Averaging one novel every four years, he has written several subsequent novels: *''The Diamond Age The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer'' (1995 in literature 1995), which deals with a future with extensive nanotechnology and dynabooks. *''Cryptonomicon'' (1999 in literature 1999), a novel concerned with concepts ranging from computing and codebreaking during the World War II Second World War to a modern attempt to set up a data haven. *''The Baroque Cycle (novel) The Baroque Cycle'', a three volume work consisting of ''Quicksilver (novel) Quicksilver'' (2003 in literature 2003), ''The Confusion (novel) The Confusion'' (2004 in literature 2004) and ''The System of the World (novel) The System of the World'' (2004), making a very long historical fiction historical novel cycle that is in some respects a prequel to ''Cryptonomicon''. 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, a wiki (using the same software as ) annotating the ideas and historical period explored in the novel.

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 (novelist) William Gibson. His novels are also notable in that they are usually written in the present tense. 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 conceit literary conceits. In keeping with the baroque style, Stephenson's books have gotten longer as he has gained recognition. (''Cryptonomicon'' is nearly a thousand pages long and contains various digressions, including a lengthy erotic story about antique furniture and stockings). A characteristic aspect of his books is 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 the readers), and abrupt endings without strong conclusions or denoument, 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 the Stephenson-penned books except perhaps ''Quicksilver''. However, on the evidence of ''The Confusion (novel) The Confusion'' (2004), that rule may still hold if one considers ''The Baroque Cycle'' as a single work.

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

Bibliography
*Fiction: ** ''The Big U'' (1984) ** ''Zodiac (book) Zodiac'' (1988) ** ''Snow Crash'' (1992) ** ''Interface (novel) Interface'' (1994) as Stephen Bury with J. Frederick George ** Short story: "Hackers (short stories)#"Spew" Spew" (1994) ** Short story: "The Great Simoleon Caper" (1995) ** ''The Diamond Age 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) ([http://www.cryptonomicon.com/ Website]) **''Quicksilver (novel) Quicksilver'' (2003), volume I of ''The Baroque Cycle (novel) The Baroque Cycle'' (annotated in the [http://www.metaweb.com/wiki/wiki.phtml Metaweb] wiki) * ''The Confusion (novel) The Confusion'' (2004), volume II of ''The Baroque Cycle'' **''The System of the World (novel) The System of the World'' (2004), volume III of ''The Baroque Cycle'' *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 0380815931. ([http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html Homepage])

External links
{{wikiquote}}
- Neal Stephenson's official website
- Neal Stephenson's older personal website * {{isfdb name|id=Neal_Stephenson|name=Neal Stephenson}}
- 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
- ''Turn On, Tune In, Veg Out'' Op-Ed piece on Star Wars as it appeared in the New York Times 2005 {{Persondata |NAME=Stephenson, Neal |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= |SHORT DESCRIPTION=American writer |DATE OF BIRTH=October 31, 1959 |PLACE OF BIRTH=[Fort George G. Meade|Fort Meade]], Maryland |DATE OF DEATH= |PLACE OF DEATH= }} Category:1959 births Stephenson, Neal Category:Seattleites Stephenson, Neal Category:American science fiction writers Stephenson, Neal Category:American technology writers Stephenson, Neal Category:Hugo Award winning authors Stephenson, Neal Category:Living people Stephenson, Neal Category:Baroque Cycle Stephenson, Neal de:Neal Stephenson es:Neal Stephenson fr:Neal Stephenson it:Neal Stephenson nl:Neal Stephenson ja:ãƒ‹ãƒ¼ãƒ«ãƒ»ã‚¹ãƒ†ã‚£ãƒ¼ãƒ´ãƒ³ã‚¹ãƒ³ pl:Neal Stephenson ru:Ð¡Ñ‚Ð¸Ð²ÐµÐ½Ñ?Ð¾Ð½, Ð?Ð¸Ð» sv:Neal Stephenson

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