Snow Crash

 

by Pa Rock

Reader

Author Neal Stephenson's science fiction "classic," Snow Crash, was first published just over thirty years ago in 1992, and I bought a copy when the book came out.  My copy, sadly, somehow wound up in a book case instead of in the read pile that I keep next to my bed, and it wasn't until just a few weeks ago that it finally resurfaced.  Over the ensuing three decades since I purchased the volume, I have seen it referenced many times in reviews of works by other authors, and knew that the book had set a standard of sorts among science fiction writers, so when I came across the book while in a frenzy of downsizing, I decided that I should read the novel that had such an impact on the genre of science fiction literature.

It was time well spent.

Snow Crash is a story set in a dystopian present - or the present of thirty years ago - and while many things are readily recognizable - highways and traffic, communities and cities, business organizations and institutions - they have  a noticeably twisted quality that makes them far different in many ways from the way the world actually is - or was.

In Stephenson's world major religions and military organizations are privately owned and operated, businesses are more powerful than governments - and governments are sometimes represented as businesses, and the mafia runs a major pizza chain that guarantees delivery in twenty minutes or less.  The United States pictured by Neal Stephenson has devolved into a few large federal office complexes where most of the work is probably meaningless, and the President of the United States is so insignificant that he has to introduce himself to the other passengers when he boards a corporate jet.

But perhaps the most significant aspect of the dystopian present created by Neal Stephenson is the existence of the Metaverse, a cyberspace community which is accessed with special goggles and computer connections and is populated by the personal avatars of the people who are sitting at computer terminals in reality with their feet up and their goggles on.  The denizens of the Metaverse are the avatars of computer programmers, hackers, and gamers - the people who have built the structures of the Metaverse - like buildings, roads, the monorail - and who live a big portion of their lives operating in that artificial environment.  Many of the issues and problems of the real world also make their way into the Metaverse.

There are several major characters in this novel, with the first and foremost being Hiro Protagonist, whose name obviously indicates the prominent role that he will play in this tale.  Hiro is one of the world's best hackers and he has been personally responsible for many of the major features of the Metaverse.  His avatar is also the best swordsman in the Metaverse.  But on the reality side of the spectrum Hiro is a pizza delivery man for the Mafia's pizza business, and he prides himself on never being late with an order.  

As the story opens Hiro is rushing to deliver a pizza that was given to him late by the local franchise.  All pizza boxes have a timer and if it reaches twenty minutes, the pizza is free.    But as Hiro is literally flying along the streets of Los Angeles in a delivery car owned by the Mafia, his vehicle his suddenly harpooned ("pooned") by a "Kourier," a young person who makes deliveries while riding a skateboard. The pooning device, a cable with a magnet, helps Kouriers make good time on their deliveries, but Kouriers are considered by many drivers to be parasites.  As Hiro maneuvers trying to shake the parasite, he somehow manages to navigate his Mafia car into an empty private swimming pool.

The Kourier, a 15-year-old girl named Y.T., volunteers to finish his delivery and does it barely within the 20-minute standard, thus earning her the friendship of the twenty-something Hiro as well as the admiration of Uncle Enzo, the Mafia chieftain.  Y.T. becomes the second major character in this story.

The third major character is Raven, a brutal and very dangerous Native American of the most remote part of the Aleutian Islands, an island that had been used for an atomic bomb test by the US government  in the early 1970's.  Raven can be exceedingly deadly both in reality as well as in the Metaverse,  but he has a certain charm and develops feelings for Y.T.

And the most villainous character in the novel is L. Bob Rife, an entrepreneurial minister who, through archaeological endeavors in the Middle East, has unearthed clay tablets which explain how to program people using simple syllabic voice commands.  L. Bob runs a major chain of churches where worshipers pay in advance in the lobby before being allowed into the church to worship.  He also purchased the USS Enterprise (the aircraft carrier) as his personal yacht.

It is L. Bob Rife and his team of researchers and hackers who manage to develop "Snow Crash," a virus that, if released in the Metaverse, will have the power to destroy the avatars and the minds of all of the people who are goggled-in and witnessing the release.

Even though I cannot pretend to grasp all of the religious history and computer science presented in Snow Crash, it is all set forth in a way that in generally understandable and totally engrossing.   Stephenson's book shows the contemporary world through a viewfinder that is just a degree or two off-center.  Many things are different, yet eerily recognizable.

If Virtuality Reality (VR) is your thing, you have probably already read Snow Crash, and anyone who has had even an inkling of interest in what life could be like on the other side of the cyber line should read it.  

I am glad that I did.