''Interface'' is a 1994

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, and baroque. Stephenson's work exp ...

and J. Frederick George (a pseudonym of

George Jewsbury George F. Jewsbury (born November 26, 1941) is an American historian who has collaborated on several textbooks in the ''Civilization: Past & Present'' series. He joined authors T. Walter Wallbank, Alastair M. Taylor, and Nels M. Bailkey, begin ...

) and originally published under the joint

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Stephen Bury. Reprints of the novel have credited the work to Stephenson and George. It is a thriller, set in the then-future year of 1996 when a shadowy coalition bent on controlling the world economy attempts to manipulate a candidate for president of the United States through the use of a computer biochip brain implant. It was described by writer

Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of ...

in 2007 as an "underappreciated masterpiece".Interface: Neal Stephenson's underappreciated masterpiece
/ref>

Story

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

governor William Cozzano suffers a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

. Meanwhile, in a separate subplot,

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

Eleanor Richmond, unemployed and living in a trailer park, discovers that her husband has committed suicide in their repossessed former home. An underground business coalition called the Network arranges for Cozzano to have a biochip implanted and for him to run for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

. The Network is made up of a number of large fictional companies, with parallels in real business entities. Richmond, after verbally humiliating a local racist

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...

Public-access television Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...

talk show personality who was running for Senate, has since found herself working in the offices of a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

senator. After an event where she accused the citizens of Colorado of being

welfare queen A "welfare queen" is a derogatory term used in the United States to refer to women who allegedly misuse or collect excessive welfare payments through fraud, child endangerment, or manipulation. Reporting on welfare fraud began during the early 196 ...

s, she finds herself in the public eye as a candidate for Cozzano's running mate. The Network's ability to perceive public opinion, skewed on the night of the vice presidential debate by a twist of fate, makes them select Richmond as vice presidential candidate. Their canny act of

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

work enables Cozzano to save his Presidential campaign. President-elect Cozzano is shot at his inauguration by a psychotic former factory worker who has learned of almost the entirety of the Network's plans. He dies almost instantly. Richmond becomes the first black and the first female President of the United States.

Characters

*Eleanor Richmond, unemployed, protagonist *William Cozzano, governor of Illinois *Mary Catherine Cozzano, his daughter and a

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

*Cy Ogle, campaign manager *Dr. Radhakrishnan,

neurosurgeon Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Interface (Novel) 1994 American novels Novels by Neal Stephenson American science fiction novels American thriller novels Collaborative novels Works published under a pseudonym Fiction set in 1996