Science-fiction? Ha!

I'm reading The Alchemist, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and a Neal Stephenson Sci-fi book called Snow Crash.

I'm very impressed with Harry Potter, of course: J.K. Rowling is a great author. I forget that until I read her again -- that she's not all hype.

As to the Stephenson book. This is my second attempt at Stephenson, after my first attempt (Cryptonomicon) perished in a mass of twisted metal and burning tires. That being said, I wasn't too thrilled about starting another Stephenson book... but a friend recommended it and Dan lauds Stephenson to no end, so I thought, "What the heck."

What's strange about my liking Snow Crash is that it is very Sci-fi. Past the age of 15* there are very few science-fiction books I've liked -- It's a tough genre to be taken seriously in. The few I have liked tended to either be either a) fantasy-based or b) less focused on the science fiction aspect -- more focused on internal psychology and character development. What's even stranger about my liking Snow Crash is that Stephenson goes way beyond borderline Sci-fi and plunges into the silly stuff. In fact his protagonist's name is Hiro Protagonist and he works as a samurai sword-wielding pizza delivery boy. Ridiculous ... and yet he tells a good story. I'm really into it.

I can't really go anywhere else with this entry, so.


* Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card; Armor, John Steakley; Otherland, Tad Williams; Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, Timothy Zahn; Treason, Orson Scott Card; 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke; and the best Sci-fi book ever written, Dune, Frank Herbert.