This week, Tom tries to get Mike to enjoy some science fiction, thinking he might dig Neal Stephenson’s early-90s vibe (and frequent use of early-90s slang; apparently in the future people start saying the word “tubular” again). People love the book Snow Crash, so it seemed like a good test to determine, once and for all, whether Mike just hates sci fi as a genre. The novel follows the adventures of a hacker/pizza deliveryman named Hiro Protagonist, as well as a skater/messenger who goes by Y.T. The plot–as is the case with most sci fi novels–is complicated, and kind of difficult to unpack, so let’s just say it involves the internet (or “the ‘net,” as the kids call it) and an online world that’s basically Second Life. Also some stuff about Sumeria?
Also this week: another segment of Fan Fiction Corner, this time featuring some very sexy sex action in the Nintendo universe. You can read the story in question, “A Nintendo Fan’s Lust,” if you dare.
As always, we’re happy to hear what you think about the stuff we talked about this week. Like maybe you think Mike is an idiot for not totally loving Snow Crash, or maybe you’d like to recommend some science fiction you think he might actually enjoy. You can email us directly, hit us up on Twitter, or just leave a comment here on the site. Also: we’re on Facebook, and gradually getting better about posting studio pics and links and such. So come visit us over there, like our page, etc. etc.
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Book Fight! 
September 5, 2015 at 12:27 am
I’m caught up on episodes over a trip and now I’m catching up on comments:
This one was kind of weird to listen to, both because this book is kind of in the background noise of the particular cultural circles I run in but I have never actually read and because I’m listening to two guys completely out of touch with said circles discuss it. Neuromancer by William Gibson and it’s, uh, child, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson have just such a powerful formative influence over early internet culture. While a lot of that has come to an end now that internet and computers aren’t just for weird loser geeks, for better and worse, a lot of people that bought into the mystique these books and their cyberpunk brethren presented still work in tech today, shaping how we interact with and utilize the internet, even the bizarre japanophilia.
So, at least within the confines of a very particular subculture these are historically important books, seeing as, you know, they helped to create said subculture.
As to the actually quality of the books themselves…? Eeeeeeeh….
What I’m saying is I can totally see why so many people, particularly computer people, and internet people, would so strongly recommend this book for you guys. Sometimes the power a book has on people doesn’t reflect on the actual quality of the writing.
I’ve read Neuromancer, and that wasn’t so bad, but again, like most Sci-fi, for many in the genre the most important things are the ideas and the concepts being explored, moreso then the characters or plot that are simply the vehicles with which to explore them.
If there’s a crime to be leveled here, and I think you guys touch on it, is that too oft is said exploration is shallow, surface-level stuff, and often muddled and caught up in meaningless and extraneous details. I think this is further exasperated by how it attracts a certain kind of fan all too eager to get caught up in said details, seeking and demanding more such information without care to whether it’s in service of the greater goal of the work. Said people often become the genre’s next generation of writers being it’s ‘truest fans’, and well, you know how it goes from there.
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