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Neal Stephenson's "Anathem" Due In September

Alexander Rose writes "Neal Stephenson's new novel, ANATHEM, germinated in 01999 when Danny Hillis asked him and several other contributors to sketch out their ideas of what the Millennium Clock might look like. Stephenson tossed off a quick sketch and promptly forgot about it. Five years later however, when he was between projects, the idea came back to him, and he began to explore the possibility of building a novel around it. ANATHEM is the result, and will be released on September 9th, 02008." Read Rose's complete posting for more information about the release of the book, which he describes as set "in a genre bending alt-future-retro world where mechani-punk technology meets space opera in a blend of the best of Snow Crash and the Baroque Cycle."

6 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. Urgh... by TechnoBunny · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "a genre bending alt-future-retro world where mechani-punk technology meets space opera in a blend of the best of Snow Crash and the Baroque Cycle." Sounds horrific.

  2. Waiting for a review of the ending by tb()ne · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I read Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash and thought both were great, except for the endings. I thought the endings were rushed, as if he spent a years carefully writing each novel until his publisher suddenly showed up at his door and said "Dude, you've got 24 hours to finish this novel." I'm waiting for a specific review of the ending of this one before I decide whether to buy.

  3. Re:Temporal sickness? by 4D6963 · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, it makes perfect sense, the guy is just a visionary.

    Currently we only think of 4 digit years, but the guy thinks out the box and has foreseen that one day, sooner or later, probably in a few millenniums, we will have 5 digit years, and that then just like we already put a bunch of zeros for years before the year 1000 we will one day put zeros for years before the year 10000!

    And allow me to blow your mind by predicting that one day we will reach 100000 and that therefore we might as well start right now writing it 002008!

    --
    You just got troll'd!
  4. Re:Temporal sickness? by maniac/dev/null · · Score: 5, Funny

    For that matter, shouldn't it be September 09, 02008? I mean, there will come a time when we need to use days higher than 9, people!

  5. Re:Temporal sickness? by dryueh · · Score: 5, Funny

    WHOOOOOSH! Oh shit, and there we go again! Now I'm going to have to explain a dozen times again how I was being sarcastic.

    000012 times??!

  6. Climax without denouement by Lilith's+Heart-shape · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Stephenson's detractors are just pissy because Stephenson stops right after the climax and doesn't bother with a denouement. They're like women who complain that the guy just leaves them after he's gotten his rocks off, and doesn't stick around to cuddle so they can pick the pimples on his ass while he's dozing.