We caught up with Stephenson, who was in the throes of creating his next work, tentatively titled "Quicksilver," and peppered him with questions about nerds, Linux, the science-fiction ghetto and not getting rich.
Neal Stephenson and the Sci-Fi Ghetto
From TIME Daily: "Can you make a Unix administrator into a character people will find compelling?"
In 1992 Neal Stephenson published "Snow
Crash", one of the most prescient and
entertaining visions of the future of the Internet
ever written. He instantly became a cult figure
among computer geeks. Last year Stephenson
released "Cryptonomicon," a historical thriller
about cryptography and the invention of the
computer. (Online excerpt.) It became a
best-seller, and suddenly Stephenson had
stormed out of the AV club and into the
mainstream.