From: Spike Jones (spike66@attglobal.net)
Date: Sun Sep 02 2001 - 18:14:23 MDT
Charlie Stross wrote:
> Neal Stephenson, anybody? (Not overtly ideological in the same
> way as L. Neil Smith, but clearly influenced by the silicon valley
> zeitgeist.)
I dont think Damien will mind if I tell this story. One of Damien's
buddies is a math professor and Sci-Fi writer named Rudy Rucker.
He lives in the neighborhood, so when Damien was here Dr. Rucker
invited us up to dinner at his house. Dr. Rucker blew my mind with
his research into artificial life, and all the other cool stuff he is in to. I
found I had one of Rucker's books in my collection that I really like
and hadn't made the connection that they were the same person.
Then I saw on his shelf a copy of Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, and
started gushing about what a cool book that was. Dr. Rucker took
some offense to this I fear, since he and Stephenson are rivals in a
sense, both writing about computer science and mathematics. (Rucker
is a math/comp sci professor at San Jose State U.) Altho they cover
a lot of the same ground, Stephenson has sold a lot more books.
Fortunately for me, Dr. Rucker is a good sport. Hes a good cook
too. {8^D spike
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