Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...

. His novels have been categorized as

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...

postcyberpunk Since the advent of the cyberpunk genre, a number of derivatives of cyberpunk have become recognized in their own right as distinct subgenres in speculative fiction, especially in science fiction. Rather than necessarily sharing the digitally and ...

, and

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

. Stephenson's work explores

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...

, and the

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...

. He also writes non-fiction articles about technology in publications such as ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

''. He has written novels with his uncle,

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, beginni ...

("J. Frederick George"), under the collective pseudonym Stephen Bury. Stephenson has worked part-time as an advisor for

Blue Origin Blue Origin, LLC is an American private spaceflight, privately funded aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company headquartered in Kent, Washington. Founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Am ...

, a company (founded by

Jeff Bezos Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ''né'' Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut. He is the founder, executive chairman, and former preside ...

) developing a spacecraft and a space launch system, and is also a cofounder of Subutai Corporation, whose first offering is the

interactive fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

project ''

The Mongoliad ''The Mongoliad'' is a fictional narrative set in the ''Foreworld Saga'', a secret history transmedia franchise developed by the Subutai Corporation. ''The Mongoliad'' was originally released in a serialized format online, and via a series of iO ...

''. He was

Magic Leap Magic Leap, Inc. is an American technology company that released a head-mounted virtual retinal display, called ''Magic Leap One'', which superimposes 3D computer-generated imagery over real world objects, by "projecting a digital light field ...

's Chief Futurist from 2014 to 2020.

Early life

Born on October 31, 1959, in

Fort Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, Stephenson came from a family of engineers and

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

s; his father is a professor of

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

while his paternal grandfather was a

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

professor. His mother worked in a

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

laboratory, and her father was a

professor. Stephenson's family moved to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in 1960 and then in 1966 to

Ames, Iowa Ames () is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States, located approximately north of Des Moines in central Iowa. It is best known as the home of Iowa State University (ISU), with leading agriculture, design, engineering, and veterinary medici ...

. He graduated from

Ames High School Ames High School is the sole public high school in Ames, Iowa, United States. It is in the Ames Community School District. Academics This school is the only public high school in the city of Ames. In August 2019, Ames High School was named ...

in 1977. Stephenson studied at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, first specializing in physics, then switching to geography after he found that it would allow him to spend more time on the university mainframe. He graduated in 1981 with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

and a minor in physics. Since 1984, Stephenson has lived mostly in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

and currently lives in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

with his family.

Writing

Stephenson's first novel, '' The Big U'', published in 1984, is a satirical take on life at American Megaversity, a vast, bland, and alienating research university beset by chaotic riots. His next novel, ''

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the Sun path, apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. ...

'' (1988), is a thriller following a radical environmentalist in his struggle against corporate polluters. Neither novel attracted much critical attention on first publication, but showcased concerns that Stephenson would further develop in his later work. Stephenson's breakthrough came in 1992 with ''

Snow Crash ''Snow Crash'' is a science fiction novel by the American writer Neal Stephenson, published in 1992. Like many of Stephenson's novels, it covers history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography ...

'', a

post-cyberpunk Since the advent of the cyberpunk genre, a number of derivatives of cyberpunk have become recognized in their own right as distinct subgenres in speculative fiction, especially in science fiction. Rather than necessarily sharing the digitally and ...

novel fusing

memetics Memetics is a study of information and culture. While memetics originated as an analogy with Darwinian evolution, digital communication, media, and sociology scholars have also adopted the term "memetics" to describe an established empirical study ...

computer virus A computer virus is a type of computer program that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code. If this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be "infected" with a compu ...

es, and other high-tech themes with Sumerian mythology, along with a sociological extrapolation of extreme

laissez-faire capitalism ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. A ...

and

collectivism Collectivism may refer to: * Bureaucratic collectivism, a theory of class society whichto describe the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin * Collectivist anarchism, a socialist doctrine in which the workers own and manage the production * Collectivis ...

. Stephenson at this time would later be described by

Mike Godwin Michael Wayne Godwin (born October 26, 1956) is an American attorney and author. He was the first staff counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and he created the Internet adage Godwin's law and the notion of an Internet meme, as ...

as "a slight, unassuming grad-student type whose soft-spoken demeanor gave no obvious indication that he had written the manic apotheosis of cyberpunk science fiction." In 1994, Stephenson joined with his uncle, J. Frederick George, to publish a political thriller, ''

Interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * '' Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Int ...

'', under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

"Stephen Bury"; they followed this in 1996 with '' The Cobweb''. Stephenson's next solo novel, published in 1995, was '' The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer''. The plot involves a weapon implanted in a character's skull, near-limitless replicators for everything from mattresses to foods,

smartpaper Electronic paper, also sometimes electronic ink, e-ink or electrophoretic display, are display devices that mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike conventional flat panel displays that emit light, an electronic paper display re ...

, and air and blood-sanitizing nanobots. It is set in a world with a neo-Victorian social structure. This was followed by ''

Cryptonomicon ''Cryptonomicon'' is a 1999 novel by American author Neal Stephenson, set in two different time periods. One group of characters are World War II-era Allied codebreakers and tactical-deception operatives affiliated with the Government Code an ...

'' in 1999, a novel including concepts ranging from

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...

's research into

codebreaking Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic sec ...

and cryptography during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, to a modern attempt to set up a data haven. In 2013, ''Cryptonomicon'' won the

Prometheus Hall of Fame Award The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newl ...

. ''

The Baroque Cycle ''The Baroque Cycle'' is a series of novels by American writer Neal Stephenson. It was published in three volumes containing eight books in 2003 and 2004. The story follows the adventures of a sizable cast of characters living amidst some of th ...

'' is a series of

historical novels Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

set in the 17th and 18th centuries, and is in some respects a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

to ''Cryptonomicon''. It was originally published in three volumes of two or three books each – '' Quicksilver'' (2003), '' The Confusion'', (2004) and ''

The System of the World ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (2004) – but was subsequently republished as eight separate books: ''Quicksilver'', ''King of the Vagabonds'', ''Odalisque'', ''Bonanza'', ''Juncto'', ''Solomon's Gold'', ''Currency'', and ''System of the World''. (The titles and exact breakdown vary in different markets.) ''

'' won the

Prometheus Award The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newl ...

in 2005. Following this, Stephenson wrote ''

Anathem ''Anathem'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Neal Stephenson, published in 2008. Major themes include the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics and the philosophical debate between Platonic realism and nominalism. Plot sum ...

'' (2008), a long and detailed novel of

. It is set in an Earthlike world, deals with metaphysics, and refers heavily to

Ancient Greek philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empire ...

. ''

'' won the

Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel The Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel is one of the annual Locus Awards presented by the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus''. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. The award f ...

in 2009. In May 2010, the Subutai Corporation, of which Stephenson was named chairman, announced the production of an experimental multimedia fiction project called ''

'', which centered upon a narrative written by Stephenson and other speculative fiction authors. Stephenson's novel ''

REAMDE ''Reamde'' is a technothriller novel by Neal Stephenson, published in 2011. The story, set in the present day, centers on the plight of a hostage and the ensuing efforts of family and new acquaintances, many of them associated with a fictional M ...

'' was released on September 20, 2011. The title is a play on the common filename

README In software development, a README file contains information about the other files in a directory or archive of computer software. A form of documentation, it is usually a simple plain text file called README, Read Me, READ.ME, README.TXT, R ...

. This thriller, set in the present, centers around a group of

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

developers caught in the middle of Chinese cyber-criminals, Islamic terrorists, and Russian mafia. On August 7, 2012, Stephenson released a collection of essays and other previously published fiction entitled ''Some Remarks: Essays and Other Writing''. This collection also includes a new essay and a short story created specifically for this volume. In late 2013, Stephenson stated that he was working on a multi-volume work of historical novels that would "have a lot to do with scientific and technological themes and how those interact with the characters and civilisation during a particular span of history". He expected the first two volumes to be released in mid-to-late 2014.Kelion, Leo. (2013-09-17
BBC News - Neal Stephenson on tall towers and NSA cyber-spies
. Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved on 2014-01-14. However, at about the same time, he shifted his attention to a science fiction novel, ''

Seveneves ''Seveneves'' is a hard science fiction novel by Neal Stephenson published in 2015. The story tells of the desperate efforts to preserve ''Homo sapiens'' in the wake of apocalyptic events on Earth after the unexplained disintegration of the Moo ...

'', which was completed about a year later and was published in May 2015. On June 8, 2016, plans were announced to adapt ''Seveneves'' for the screen. In May 2016, as part of a video discussion with

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

, Stephenson revealed that he had just submitted the manuscript for a new historical novel—"a time travel book"—co-written with

Nicole Galland Nicole Galland is an American novelist, initially known for her historical fiction. She has written ''The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.'' in collaboration with Neal Stephenson. She wrote the contemporary comedic novel ''Stepdog''. Under the name E.D. d ...

, one of his ''Mongoliad'' coauthors. This was released as ''

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. ''The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.'' is a science fantasy novel by American writers Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland. It was published in 2017. Premise The story follows the members of a secret U.S. government agency known as the Department of ...

'' on June 13, 2017. In June 2019 his novel ''

Fall; or, Dodge in Hell ''Fall; or, Dodge in Hell'' is a 2019 speculative fiction novel by American author Neal Stephenson. The book explores mind-uploading to the Cloud, from the perspective of Richard "Dodge" Forthrast, a character introduced in Stephenson's 2011 ...

'' was published. It is a near-future novel that explores mind uploading into the cloud, and contains characters from 2011's ''

Reamde ''Reamde'' is a technothriller novel by Neal Stephenson, published in 2011. The story, set in the present day, centers on the plight of a hostage and the ensuing efforts of family and new acquaintances, many of them associated with a fictional M ...

'', 1999's ''

'', and other books. ''

Termination Shock The heliosphere is the magnetosphere, astrosphere and outermost atmospheric layer of the Sun. It takes the shape of a vast, bubble-like region of space. In plasma physics terms, it is the cavity formed by the Sun in the surrounding interst ...

'', published in November 2021, is a

climate fiction Climate fiction (sometimes shortened as cli-fi) is literature that deals with climate change.Glass, Rodge (31 May 2013).Global Warning: The Rise of 'Cli-fi' retrieved 3 March 2016 Generally speculative in nature but scientifically-grounded, wor ...

novel about

solar geoengineering Solar geoengineering, or solar radiation modification (SRM), is a type of climate engineering in which sunlight (solar radiation) would be reflected back to outer space to limit or reverse human-caused climate change. It is not a substitute for ...

Writing style

Stephenson's books tend to have elaborate plots drawing on numerous technological and sociological ideas at the same time. The discursive nature of his writing, together with significant plot and character complexity and an abundance of detail suggests a

writing style, which Stephenson brought fully to bear in the three-volume ''Baroque Cycle''.

Outside of writing

Stephenson worked at

—

' spaceflight company—for seven years in the early 2000s when its focus was on "novel alternate approaches to

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

, alternate propulsion systems, and business models", but left after Blue became a more standard aerospace company. In 2012, Stephenson launched a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign for CLANG, a realistic sword-fighting fantasy game. The concept was to use motion control to provide an immersive experience. The campaign's funding goal of $500,000 was reached by the target date of July 9, 2012, on Kickstarter, but funding options remained open and the project continued to accept contributions on its official site. The project ran out of money in September 2013. This, and the circumstances around it, angered some backers with some threatening a

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

lawsuit. The CLANG project ended in September 2014 without being completed. Stephenson took part of the responsibility for the project's failure, stating, "I probably focused too much on historical accuracy and not enough on making it sufficiently fun to attract additional investment". In 2014, Stephenson was hired as Chief Futurist by the Florida-based

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...

company

. Stephenson left the company in April 2020 as part of a layoff. In June 2021, Stephenson and colleagues

Sean Stewart Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angliciz ...

and

Austin Grossman Austin Seth Grossman (born June 26, 1969) is an American author and video game designer. He has contributed to '' The New York Times'' and has written for a number of video games, most notably '' Deus Ex'' and '' Dishonored''. Life Grossman w ...

released ''New Found Land: The Long Haul'', an

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or rush ...

audio drama based on the intellectual property they developed at Magic Leap. In 2022, Stephenson launched Lamina1 to build an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

metaverse that would utilize

smart contract A smart contract is a computer program or a transaction protocol that is intended to automatically execute, control or document events and actions according to the terms of a contract or an agreement. The objectives of smart contracts are the re ...

s on a

blockchain A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a ...

Influence

Stephenson's writing is influential in technology circles.

Sergey Brin Sergey Mikhailovich Brin (russian: link=no, Сергей Михайлович Брин; born August 21, 1973) is an American business magnate, computer scientist, and internet entrepreneur, who co-founded Google with Larry Page. Brin was the ...

John Carmack John D. Carmack II (born August 20, 1970) is an American computer programmer and video game developer. He co-founded the video game company id Software and was the lead programmer of its 1990s games ''Commander Keen'', ''Wolfenstein 3D'', ''Doo ...

, and

Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in Fac ...

are all fans of his work. In ''Snow Crash'' Stephenson coined the term

Metaverse In science fiction, the "metaverse" is a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal, and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. In colloquial usage, ...

and popularized the term

avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

in a computing context. The Metaverse inspired the inventors of

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

and ''Snow Crash'' was required reading on the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

development team under Microsoft executive

J Allard J Allard (born James Allard, on January 12, 1969 in Glens Falls, New York) is the chief executive officer of Project 529, a company that builds software for cyclists and law enforcement. Prior to starting Project 529, Allard was chief technology ...

. According to academic Paul Youngquist, ''Snow Crash'' also dealt the

genre a "killer blow". According to ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'', ''Cryptonomicon'' is "often credited with sketching the basis for

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It i ...

Bibliography

Novels

* '' The Big U'' (1984) * ''

'' (1988) * ''

'' (1992) –

British Science Fiction Association Award The BSFA Awards are literary awards presented annually since 1970 by the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) to honour works in the genre of science fiction. Nominees and winners are chosen based on a vote of BSFA members. More recently, m ...

nominee, 1993; Clarke Award nominee, 1994 * ''

'' (1994) with J. Frederick George, as "Stephen Bury" * '' The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer'' (1995) –

Hugo Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on ...

and Locus SF Awards winner, 1996;

Nebula A nebula ('cloud' or 'fog' in Latin; pl. nebulae, nebulæ or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regio ...

, Campbell and Clarke Awards nominee, 1996 * '' The Cobweb'' (1996) with J. Frederick George, as "Stephen Bury" * ''

'' (1999) – Locus SF Award winner, 2000; Hugo and Clarke Awards nominee, 2000; 2013 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award * '' Quicksilver'' (2003), volume I of ''

'' – Clarke Award winner, 2004; Locus SF Award nominee, 2004 * '' The Confusion'' (2004), volume II of ''The Baroque Cycle'' – Locus SF Award winner, 2005 * ''

'' (2004), volume III of ''The Baroque Cycle'' – Locus SF Award winner, 2005;

winner, 2005; Clarke Award nominee, 2005 * ''

'' (2008) – Locus SF Award winner, 2009;

nominee, 2008; Hugo and Clarke Awards nominee, 2009 * ''

'' (2010–2012) * ''

'' (2011) * ''

'' (2015)

Hugo Award for Best Novel The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is available for works of fiction of 40,00 ...

nominee * ''

'' (2017) with

* ''

'' (2019) * ''New Found Land: The Long Haul'' (2021) with

and

. Audible Original audiobook. * ''

'' (2021)

Short fiction

* " Spew" (1994), in

Hackers A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

(1996) * "

The Great Simoleon Caper "The Great Simoleon Caper" is a short story by Neal Stephenson that appeared in ''TIME'' on March 1, 1995. It deals with concepts familiar to Stephenson's readers: encryption, digital currency, and distributed republics. It appears to be set in a ...

" (1995), ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' * "Excerpt from the Third and Last Volume of ''Tribes of the Pacific Coast''" in ''Full Spectrum 5'' (1995) * " Jipi and the Paranoid Chip" (1997), ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' * "Crunch" (1997), in '' Disco 2000'' (edited by

Sarah Champion Sarah Deborah Champion (born 10 July 1969) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rotherham since 2012. Champion studied Psychology at Sheffield University. Before entering Parliament, she ran ...

, 1998) ("Crunch" is a chapter from ''Cryptonomicon'') * "Atmosphæra Incognita" (2013), in ''Starship Century: Toward the Grandest Horizon'' (edited by

Gregory Benford Gregory Benford (born January 30, 1941) is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is professor emeritus at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He is a contributing editor of ''Reason ...

and

James Benford James Nelson Benford is an American physicist, High-Power Microwave (HPM) scientist, book author, science-fiction writer, and entrepreneur, best known for introducing novel technological concepts and conjectures related to the exploration of oute ...

)

Other fiction projects

* Project Hieroglyph, founded in 2011, administered by Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination since 2012. ''Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future'', ed. Ed Finn and

Kathryn Cramer Kathryn Elizabeth Cramer (born April 16, 1962) is an American science fiction writer, editor, and literary critic. Early years Kathryn Cramer is the daughter of physicist John G. Cramer. She grew up in Seattle and graduated from Columbia Univ ...

, which includes contributions by Stephenson (preface and chapter "Atmosphæra Incognita"), was published by William Morrow in September, 2014.

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
. ''Wired''. 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 "Global Neighborhood Watch" is an article by Neal Stephenson that appeared in ''Wired Magazine'' in 1998. In it he proposes a specific plan for using information technology to fight crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punis ...

". ''Wired''. 1998. Stopping street crime in the global village. * '' In the Beginning... Was the Command Line''. HarperPerennial. 1999. . *
Communication Prosthetics: Threat, or Menace?
''

Whole Earth Review ''Whole Earth Review'' (''Whole Earth'' after 1997) was a magazine which was founded in January 1985 after the merger of the '' Whole Earth Software Review'' (a supplement to the ''Whole Earth Software Catalog'') and the ''CoEvolution Quarterly ...

'', Summer 2001. *
Turn On, Tune In, Veg Out
. Op-ed piece on ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'', in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', June 17, 2005. *
It's All Geek To Me
. Op-ed piece on the film '' 300'' and geek culture, ''The New York Times'', March 18, 2007. * "Atoms of Cognition:

Metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

in the Royal Society 1715–2010", chapter in ''Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

'', edited by

Bill Bryson William McGuire Bryson (; born 8 December 1951) is an American–British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has b ...

. Stephenson discusses the legacy of the rivalry between

Sir Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the great ...

and

Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathem ...

, November 2, 2010. *
Space Stasis
. ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

''. February 2, 2011. "What the strange persistence of rockets can teach us about innovation." *
Innovation Starvation
. ''

World Policy Journal ''World Policy Journal'' was the flagship publication of the World Policy Institute, published by Duke University Press. Focusing on international relations, the publication provided left-wing, non-United States-centric perspectives to world issue ...

'', 2011. * '' Some Remarks: Essays and Other Writing''. William Morrow. 2012. .

Critical studies, reviews and biography

* * *

References

External links

* *
Neal Stephenson
at the ''

Science Fiction Encyclopedia ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo, Locus and British SF Awards. Two print editions appeared in 1979 and 1993. A third, continuou ...

'' *
"Science Fiction as a Literary Genre"
– lecture by Stephenson at

Gresham College Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England. It does not enroll students or award degrees. It was founded in 1596 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, and hosts ove ...

, London in May 2008
Neal Stephenson
at authors@Google, September 12, 2008.
Stephen Bury
at LC Authorities, two records {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Neal 1959 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American novelists American futurologists American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American science fiction writers American technology writers Ames High School alumni Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Cyberpunk writers Environmental fiction writers Hugo Award-winning writers Living people Novelists from Iowa Novelists from Maryland Novelists from Washington (state) People from Ames, Iowa Postmodern writers The Baroque Cycle Wired (magazine) people Writers from Seattle