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_Snow Crash_ is one of Neal Stephenson's best, including the cinematic ending. The novel's depiction of different tribes and factions is done with care and res

_Snow Crash_ is one of Neal Stephenson's best, including the cinematic ending. The novel's depiction of different tribes and factions is done with care and respect, so that the cultural melange of ethnicities, customs, and technologies is convincing and compelling. Given Stephenson's sensibilities in _Snow Crash_, I wonder if Amazon will have the forthrightness and integrity to cast Hiro Protagonist as mixed-race black and Korean. [0] > His father was a sergeant major, his mother was a Korean > woman whose people had been mine slaves in Nippon, and Hiro > didn't know whether he was black or Asian or just plain > Army, whether he was rich or poor, educated or ignorant, > talented or lucky. [0] https://books.google.com/books?id=RMd3GpIFxcUC&pg=PA61#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=RMd3GpIFxcUC&pg=PA61#v=one...

DavidHm 9y ago
Which leads to an interesting question: how many mixed race talented black & korean actors are there of the right gender and age?
- caycep 9y ago
  In LA? probably at least a few...
freehunter 9y ago
Everyone fawns about it and it sounds like an awesome novel, but I've tried reading it three times and every time I can't get past the fact that the hero (the protagonist, if you will) is literally named Hiro Protagonist. I know it's supposed to be funny, but after my eyes see those words five or six times, I can't do it anymore. Maybe Neal was the first, maybe he does it best, but I've read too much shitty sci-fi where heavy-handed slaps to the face like that are far too common, and it really ruins any plot the book gets going for me. I have a hard time reading the book when I'm imagining the author's shit-eating grin as he wrote it. I'm sure it's an awesome book, but I really need a copy where someone did a find-and-replace and changed the hero's name to something other than Hiro.
- csours 9y ago
  Would it help if you thought of it as a pseudonym?
- acheron 9y ago
  YT: "Stupid name." Hiro: "But you'll never forget it."
- amcca029 9y ago
  Try listening to the audiobook instead.
- roryisok 9y ago
  1. Buy the book 2. Download an epub from somewhere 3. Open it up in an epub editor 4. Find / replace!
- a_c_s 9y ago
  I was excited by Snowcrash (the first chapter is awesome) but the plot kind of dissolves into a lukewarm mush by the end. AFAIK, people tend to love Snowcrash for the ideas and the world building rather than the plot.
  - ethbro 9y ago
    Granted. And I certainly think Stephenson is the weaker of the names I'm about to mention. But I don't exactly remember stellar plots from Gibson (earlier works) or Ridley Scott either. The cyberpunk-influenced genre is essentially defined by everyday troubles, draped with techno-decoration. Personally, that's one of the reasons I like it. The fusion of slice-of-life pedestrianism w/ in medias res pacing always came across as more believable than any grand opera. Statistically, significantly rare interesting events are far more likely to happen to a janitor than the King / Queen of the Universe.
  - jldugger 9y ago
    IIRC, the reason the first chapter is so much better is that it started out as a comic book. After that peters out, he sorta falls back into long exposition with librarian AIs. Perhaps some day, story boarding will be a required part of Stephensen's novel writing process.
kemayo 9y ago
I do agree it's good, though I personally prefer Diamond Age, but I also think it has the Standard Stephenson Ending Problem. The ending really is a great action sequence, and resolves the immediate problem that the action sequence was about -- Snow Crash is disarmed -- but it's also more a stopping-point than an actual ending to the plot. There's a lot of "what happened next?" both with the overarching stuff and with the specifics of what happened to all the major characters, so there's not much closure. There's a certain amount of circumstantial evidence that Diamond Age is set in the same universe decades later, which probably answers at least a bit of that, particularly if you assume a certain character is Y.T. based on one reference. But still, that's not much of a save for Snow Crash viewed as a complete story in itself.
- ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
  Spoiler....
  - kemayo 9y ago
    Eh, it's a 25 year old well-known book, and the spoiler was "the good guys win".
    - unethical_ban 9y ago
      Is your pride regarding your correct opinion worth typing replies instead of just editing "spoilers ahead" into the parent?
- alekratz 9y ago
  Please tag your spoilers!
  - hinkley 9y ago
    You know, people who are a season behind on TV shows have sense enough to stay away from threads about the show. I think we can expect the same for a book that's celebrating its 25th anniversary.
CWuestefeld 9y ago
I find it really sad that the first question is about what races are the characters, and what races might the actors be. I think there's a lot more to literature and cinema than a matrix for the demonstration of ethnicities. (Sure, ask these questions if they're important to you. But don't make them be your chief criteria in judging the work.)
- pavel_lishin 9y ago
  The ethnicity of Hiro and Raven are rather relevant to the plot (as well as other considerations within the novel - many Burbclaves are ethnically-divided), and given the amount of whitewashing Hollywood is prone to, it's a legitimate concern. If Hiro ends up being played by a blonde Norwegian, it wouldn't be the end of the world, but it also wouldn't be Snow Crash. At that point, why make him a swordsman? Does YT have to be so much younger than him that the possibility of a romance is excluded? Can we tighten up the plot by ditching all the boring religious stuff? Is there any way we can work in a Transformer? etc., etc.
- mikeash 9y ago
  I don't see anything which indicates this would be the commenter's chief criterion in judging the work.... Of course there's a lot more to literature and cinema than just racial questions. There's so much that you can't possibly cover everything. Why is it that only racial questions get these "you should consider other things too" responses?
brennankreiman 9y ago
Would love to see a Seveneves cinematic production! A trilogy or three-part series could do well.
- empyrical 9y ago
  Ron Howard was working on one, but put it on hold to work on the Star Wars Han Solo movie

DavidHm 9y ago

Which leads to an interesting question: how many mixed race talented black & korean actors are there of the right gender and age?

caycep 9y ago
In LA? probably at least a few...

freehunter 9y ago

Everyone fawns about it and it sounds like an awesome novel, but I've tried reading it three times and every time I can't get past the fact that the hero (the protagonist, if you will) is literally named Hiro Protagonist. I know it's supposed to be funny, but after my eyes see those words five or six times, I can't do it anymore. Maybe Neal was the first, maybe he does it best, but I've read too much shitty sci-fi where heavy-handed slaps to the face like that are far too common, and it really ruins any plot the book gets going for me. I have a hard time reading the book when I'm imagining the author's shit-eating grin as he wrote it. I'm sure it's an awesome book, but I really need a copy where someone did a find-and-replace and changed the hero's name to something other than Hiro.

csours 9y ago
Would it help if you thought of it as a pseudonym?
acheron 9y ago
YT: "Stupid name." Hiro: "But you'll never forget it."
amcca029 9y ago
Try listening to the audiobook instead.
roryisok 9y ago
1. Buy the book 2. Download an epub from somewhere 3. Open it up in an epub editor 4. Find / replace!
a_c_s 9y ago
I was excited by Snowcrash (the first chapter is awesome) but the plot kind of dissolves into a lukewarm mush by the end. AFAIK, people tend to love Snowcrash for the ideas and the world building rather than the plot.
- ethbro 9y ago
  Granted. And I certainly think Stephenson is the weaker of the names I'm about to mention. But I don't exactly remember stellar plots from Gibson (earlier works) or Ridley Scott either. The cyberpunk-influenced genre is essentially defined by everyday troubles, draped with techno-decoration. Personally, that's one of the reasons I like it. The fusion of slice-of-life pedestrianism w/ in medias res pacing always came across as more believable than any grand opera. Statistically, significantly rare interesting events are far more likely to happen to a janitor than the King / Queen of the Universe.
- jldugger 9y ago
  IIRC, the reason the first chapter is so much better is that it started out as a comic book. After that peters out, he sorta falls back into long exposition with librarian AIs. Perhaps some day, story boarding will be a required part of Stephensen's novel writing process.

kemayo 9y ago

I do agree it's good, though I personally prefer Diamond Age, but I also think it has the Standard Stephenson Ending Problem. The ending really is a great action sequence, and resolves the immediate problem that the action sequence was about -- Snow Crash is disarmed -- but it's also more a stopping-point than an actual ending to the plot. There's a lot of "what happened next?" both with the overarching stuff and with the specifics of what happened to all the major characters, so there's not much closure. There's a certain amount of circumstantial evidence that Diamond Age is set in the same universe decades later, which probably answers at least a bit of that, particularly if you assume a certain character is Y.T. based on one reference. But still, that's not much of a save for Snow Crash viewed as a complete story in itself.

ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
Spoiler....
- kemayo 9y ago
  Eh, it's a 25 year old well-known book, and the spoiler was "the good guys win".
  - unethical_ban 9y ago
    Is your pride regarding your correct opinion worth typing replies instead of just editing "spoilers ahead" into the parent?
alekratz 9y ago
Please tag your spoilers!
- hinkley 9y ago
  You know, people who are a season behind on TV shows have sense enough to stay away from threads about the show. I think we can expect the same for a book that's celebrating its 25th anniversary.

CWuestefeld 9y ago

I find it really sad that the first question is about what races are the characters, and what races might the actors be. I think there's a lot more to literature and cinema than a matrix for the demonstration of ethnicities. (Sure, ask these questions if they're important to you. But don't make them be your chief criteria in judging the work.)

pavel_lishin 9y ago
The ethnicity of Hiro and Raven are rather relevant to the plot (as well as other considerations within the novel - many Burbclaves are ethnically-divided), and given the amount of whitewashing Hollywood is prone to, it's a legitimate concern. If Hiro ends up being played by a blonde Norwegian, it wouldn't be the end of the world, but it also wouldn't be Snow Crash. At that point, why make him a swordsman? Does YT have to be so much younger than him that the possibility of a romance is excluded? Can we tighten up the plot by ditching all the boring religious stuff? Is there any way we can work in a Transformer? etc., etc.
mikeash 9y ago
I don't see anything which indicates this would be the commenter's chief criterion in judging the work.... Of course there's a lot more to literature and cinema than just racial questions. There's so much that you can't possibly cover everything. Why is it that only racial questions get these "you should consider other things too" responses?

brennankreiman 9y ago

Would love to see a Seveneves cinematic production! A trilogy or three-part series could do well.

empyrical 9y ago
Ron Howard was working on one, but put it on hold to work on the Star Wars Han Solo movie