@futurebird I know a lot of people dislike Neal Stephenson's endings as they tend to be rather abrupt. He was asked about this a long time ago in a Slashdot interview, and basically said he ended his books exactly as intended and liked it that way.

@jenesuispasgoth

With Stephenson I always feel like he's trying to get me to join a church or donate to his Kickstarter for some dubious self improvement method about 1/2 through all of his books... which is why I've not finished reading any of them.

He can write a good hook, though. He gets me invested, then starts getting on my nerves more and more until I just put the book down.

@futurebird I've mostly read his earlier books (Snow Crash, Diamond Age, etc.). I did not get the feeling you got at all, that's very interesting.

@jenesuispasgoth

Snow Crash almost feels like a different author I keep forgetting he wrote it because I LIKE that one.

I'm being very fair to the poor guy aren't I?

@jenesuispasgoth

With Stephenson I always feel like he's trying to get me to join a church or donate to his Kickstarter for some dubious self improvement method about 1/2 through all of his books... which is why I've not finished reading any of them.

He can write a good hook, though. He gets me invested, then starts getting on my nerves more and more until I just put the book down.

@jenesuispasgoth @futurebird I remember like Snow Crash … the next time he passed my awareness was … Diamond Age which I disliked intensely and after that I don’t touch his books with a ten foot pole.

@GoblinQuester I need to re-read Diamond Age, but I really liked it at the time. I know at the time my grasp of English was not as good as now, so there was definitely some misinterpretations on my part.

I re-read the beginning a few years ago, and still liked it, but got distracted and never finished again.

I understand his books are not for everyone though, but as @futurebird said, the style has changed a lot since, so maybe you'll like his other books better.

@futurebird @jenesuispasgoth I remember I found the beginning interesting but the story disjointed and then an completely unnecessary rape scene (that felt tucked on just to be edgy) completely dissociated me from the book.

@GoblinQuester @jenesuispasgoth

There was a scene in Seveneves where he was describing how this sexy Russian engineer lady was sleeping in a transparent bubble mostly naked, and on the surface it was supposed to be something about "how fragile is humankind in the cold of space?" but it felt more like soft core porn... like leering... but in a way that was trying to excuse itself and pretend not to be... leering.

Like I don't have a problem? just leer and be honest about it. Creeped me out.

@jenesuispasgoth

With Stephenson I always feel like he's trying to get me to join a church or donate to his Kickstarter for some dubious self improvement method about 1/2 through all of his books... which is why I've not finished reading any of them.

He can write a good hook, though. He gets me invested, then starts getting on my nerves more and more until I just put the book down.

@jenesuispasgoth

With Stephenson I always feel like he's trying to get me to join a church or donate to his Kickstarter for some dubious self improvement method about 1/2 through all of his books... which is why I've not finished reading any of them.

He can write a good hook, though. He gets me invested, then starts getting on my nerves more and more until I just put the book down.

@futurebird
That's spot on!
I never made that connection.
And I think it's fair to say now he was doing that in every book.

@jenesuispasgoth @futurebird Yeah, there is so many authors out there that I could throw my money at, instead of another creepy dude. There is a reason my preference these days is for woman authors.

@GoblinQuester @jenesuispasgoth

I could have tolerated it from Niven since I don't really expect him to have any self control that way. But also Niven would have never made it so pretentious when it was just ... some guys sexy notion.

@futurebird @jenesuispasgoth I only remember reading one book of Niven - Footfall - found it having interesting ideas but not a fantastic execution. But it was translated and that can always be an issue. Anyway, the only sex related thing I recall from that one is when the aliens try to understand a pornography … which back then I thought was funny, but now dismiss as crude and a stupid joke.

@futurebird hehehe. I read SC twice, and did the same for Cryptonomicon. In both cases, the ending left me saying "That's it?!" aloud, even the second time.

@jenesuispasgoth @futurebird he wasted all his ending skills on his first, pretty terrible, book, and hasn't ever recovered. Good midgame though.

@GoblinQuester @jenesuispasgoth

He could be very crude, but also funny. And now a lot of if it just very dated.

@jenesuispasgoth

With Stephenson I always feel like he's trying to get me to join a church or donate to his Kickstarter for some dubious self improvement method about 1/2 through all of his books... which is why I've not finished reading any of them.

He can write a good hook, though. He gets me invested, then starts getting on my nerves more and more until I just put the book down.

@futurebird @jenesuispasgoth oh no, now I'm going to dig up the Stephenson Thread from my old account. I hope you're happy