4 ms·

'It’s spring of 1241, and the West is shitting its pants' Considering how much I have been looking forward to this, that is a terrible, teenage opening line for

'It’s spring of 1241, and the West is shitting its pants' Considering how much I have been looking forward to this, that is a terrible, teenage opening line for the website. And from Stephenson! Gah. I would have expected better.

krig 16y ago
Somehow I get the feeling he didn't write that blurb himself. Which makes me wonder just how involved he actually is. Although I guess I shouldn't complain that he is spending all his energy on the actual story and not on the web-stuff.
- j-g-faustus 16y ago
  From their FAQ: We are a bunch of friends... some of us are writers, programmers, artists, .... Among our writers are two guys whom you may have heard of: Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear. http://www.mongoliad.com/faq http://www.mongoliad.com/faq So it sounds like they are a whole bunch of people and Neil Stephenson is just one of many contributors. Not sure whether there is a market for "buy one chapter per week for a year" books - Stephen King tried that a few years back, but gave it up due to lack of interest. Still, it's an interesting (and natural) experiment. I don't think this particular implementation has much chance for success, but if they keep it up they may find some variation that does.
  - Symmetry 16y ago
    It might work better than King's experiment, I would guess that Stephenson's natural audience is more willing to read things online.
Estragon 16y ago
I read the preview chapter, and wasn't excited by it. But it's always taken me a while to get into Stephenson's novels.
ZeroGravitas 16y ago
The "Getting medieval on your apps!" line didn't really seem his style either. Not the reference to Pulp Fiction, not the apps/ass pun, nor the exclamation mark. I don't really like the font either. Maybe that's not an official image, if it is it's very off-putting.

4 ms·

'It’s spring of 1241, and the West is shitting its pants' Considering how much I have been looking forward to this, that is a terrible, teenage opening line for

by microcentury 16y ago

krig 16y ago
Somehow I get the feeling he didn't write that blurb himself. Which makes me wonder just how involved he actually is. Although I guess I shouldn't complain that he is spending all his energy on the actual story and not on the web-stuff.
- j-g-faustus 16y ago
  From their FAQ: We are a bunch of friends... some of us are writers, programmers, artists, .... Among our writers are two guys whom you may have heard of: Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear. http://www.mongoliad.com/faq http://www.mongoliad.com/faq So it sounds like they are a whole bunch of people and Neil Stephenson is just one of many contributors. Not sure whether there is a market for "buy one chapter per week for a year" books - Stephen King tried that a few years back, but gave it up due to lack of interest. Still, it's an interesting (and natural) experiment. I don't think this particular implementation has much chance for success, but if they keep it up they may find some variation that does.
  - Symmetry 16y ago
    It might work better than King's experiment, I would guess that Stephenson's natural audience is more willing to read things online.
Estragon 16y ago
I read the preview chapter, and wasn't excited by it. But it's always taken me a while to get into Stephenson's novels.
ZeroGravitas 16y ago
The "Getting medieval on your apps!" line didn't really seem his style either. Not the reference to Pulp Fiction, not the apps/ass pun, nor the exclamation mark. I don't really like the font either. Maybe that's not an official image, if it is it's very off-putting.