Hi Ho Quicksilver

A short personality piece from when I met up with author Neal Stephenson
2003-10-21

I was able to share a small slice of my lifetime tonight with one of my favorite authors, Neal Stephenson. He was just 'passing through' London after a long American tour, promoting his new book Quicksilver. If you are a big fan like me, you might find the following interesting. And there are no spoilers regarding Quicksilver, as I've yet to read it myself. Enjoy!

Tonight was a very strange night. My friend Dale works at a bookstore, and was able to get me into a "publisher's party" for Neal Stephenson's new book Quicksilver. I had no idea what this was, and wasn't sure what to expect. He told me it was roughly twenty people, having some wine and snacks, as a kind of get-to-know-you-party for publishing representatives. It didn't sound very tangible at first, as if people would actually do such a strange thing.

I mean Neal Stephenson isn't a party guy. But he is one of the greatest living authors in this universe. Snow Crash is considered to be the defining novel of cyberpunk in the nineties. His next novel The Diamond Age, won the Hugo award in 1996. After a large break he released Cryptonomicon , the 900 page epic connecting WWII cryptography and 90s dot com silliness. And so this month he released his latest and possibly greatest, Quicksilver.

Neal Stephenson's work is called many things, sometimes cyberpunk, sometimes science fiction, but it's getting harder to categorize. His latest book is about the transition from alchemy into Natural Philosophy, brought forward by the Royal Society and Sir Isaac Newton. I think of it as "engineering fiction". It's more about the way things work , and how it builds up from a personal level to something that revolutionizes the world. This is a concept that runs through all of his novels. His heroes are insatiable tinkerers, poking and prodding, inevitably uncovering a Really Cool Hack that changes your perceptions of how things work.

So naturally I had to go. We show up at the Random House office in Pimlico, and go up to the eighth floor. Down a little hallway, and to the left is a small room lined with Random House books, and a small group of fifteen to twenty people having a respectable time. We were greeted by the publicist and given some complimentary wine. "This is nice", I thought.

The publicist was very courteous and said just tell me when you want to talk to him, and I'll introduce you. We walked over, she broke the ice, I made some small talk. He was about my height (6ft.) a neat ponytail, a long face, and wearing an immaculate dark green suit. he seemed tired, and unphased by small talk. I could tell that he gets a lot of chatter from people, and so I cut to the chase. The most philosophically interesting question I could think of was:

"So are you still using BeOs?"

"Oh no, I'm done with that."

"So what are you using right now then ?"

"I am using Mac Os 10."

"Do you still code?"

"Not really, now that I've changed operating systems I don't really feel like learning a new API just to open a window."

And so we went, quickly covering many topics . He asked what I did for a living, and I told him I'm an animator and comic book artist. It feels weird saying that now, considering I don't really know what it is I'm doing myself, but it's good enough for a publisher's party. I told him about my animations, and the BitPass micropayment system. He mentions Scott McCloud was doing something like that a while back. I replied yes he's still doing it and I was just emailing with him recently. He seemed very genuinely interested in my work and asked me to write down my web address. I was very honored to think he would be viewing my web site. I'm still reeling from the great review that Scott McCloud gave Geeks In Love.

During our conversation the publicist came by and gave me a proof copy of his next book. Not Quicksilver, but the one after, volume two of The Baroque Cycle! I couldn't believe my eyes! Not only was the second book near complete , but it was in my hands! It's called "The Confusion", and while he was graciously signing it for me I asked him what the name of the third book would be. He said, "The System of the World". I was taken aback. The way he pronounced the title shook me. Whatever vision that pushed him to write this 3000 page trilogy was more serious than the playfully profound ideas in his earlier books. He signed the book with a big swirly circular signature , and then moved on to the next book.

It was all a bit surreal. Here I was, drinking wine with Neal Stephenson, and a bunch of book publishers talking about first editions of Neal's books. Neal had been on a 232-city tour in the U.S., and had come to London for a week before leaving for Toronto. He looked very weary. I pondered whether it really was Neal Stephenson or a clone that he had created to do marketing. His own website makes him out to be an extreme introvert, and the clone acted the part perfectly. I imagined the real Neal relaxing in his quiet home, writing a new 6-part 10,000 page novel, trying for a world record.

We talked a bit more, but I could see him inching towards the snacks, and we stood quietly staring into nothing for a couple minutes. I had no idea what to say that wouldn't make me sound like another stupid fanboy, and he was trying very hard to be sociable. One of the things people know but don't realize about introverts (which I am one) is that they are easily drained by being around lots of people. Sometimes I just want to go away and spend some time in my head alone. I could feel the same feeling coming from Neal. It's just how some people are hardwired.

Me and Dale and a "pub rep" went on the balcony, overlooking the Thames. The pub rep pointed out Geoffrey Archer's flat across the river. We had a good chat and went back in. I explained to him what I did and what micropayments were, and he hadn't even thought something like that existed, and I could tell he thought it was an odd idea. "Have you ever thought about publishing your work?" he said. We talked a bit more, then I decided to go "listen in" to Neal's conversation.

Me and Dale walked over and the person Neal was talking with was just leaving. Naturally. I was alone with Neal. I had to think of something to say and fast. I asked about his tendency to write very long books, the length of his tour, topic-jumped for a bit and then another long silence. He let out a big sigh. I looked him over and quizzed, "You done?". And he replied quietly, "Yep."

We said our goodbyes. I was almost hyperactive to shake his hand. He wished me luck with my micropayments. I gave him a small smile and a laughing "thanks". Maybe we were both thinking the same thing. Micropayments are generally considered a 'dot com bomb'. Perhaps Neal felt I was wasting my time with a dead technology. This from a man who wrote a novel about a company's pursuit to finance an online currency using Nazi gold? But I could see the life go into his weary eyes as he said, "It's the future."

He paused.

"Maybe."

I smiled knowingly and left shortly after.