Quicksilver!

[elfs]

So, after I got off work yesterday I hurtled over to Patrick Bear for a haircut I desperately need. My hairstylist, Qing, is out, so I'm handed over to Rusty, who's about as queer as one can be without getting his own show on Bravo. He's sitting with a woman who's giving off resentful waves of the kind that can only come from intimacy. "That's my daughter," he tells me. "We were having a family fight."

He tries to convince me that I really should wear my hair short. But omahas and shemayazi would both mourn such a decision, so we split the difference, doing it short up top and long in the back. He tells me his life story and we go back and forth on topics like The Wetspot, Seattle Men in Leather, the Gypsy Arms, and the rest of the scene I'm no longer so deeply involved in. I have young kids these days.

Afterwards, I grab a bus to the University District, where I meet up with fallenpegasus and pick up my reserved copy of Quicksilver, then run over to Kane Hall to attend the reading. As we walked along the long queue waiting to enter the hall, I was struck by the surprising uniformity of Stephenson's fans. It's still hard to put my finger on what, exactly, constitutes that uniformity, but it was there: a penumbra of geekiness about each person, about the line in general. The discussion in front of us is some high school kids enjoying their new cell phones with cameras; behind us, someone who has barely an idea what he's talking about is going on about space elevators. I wonder if he has even the slightest clue what a "kilopascal" is. There was this girl across from us, lounging against the railing in a "nymph with the broken back" pose that, combined with her green turtleneck sweater and long hair in dark brown curls, who knew exactly how hot she was.

I know people in this audience. It's strange how many-- almost a dozen people, including some I haven't seen since Yamaarashi-chan was born. "You have a six-year-old," Galen muttered, shocked. "It can't have been that long." Sure it can.

Neal wasn't a great reader. He obviously hadn't rehearsed his work, although some of his elisions of the text were deft and made the audience laugh. The Q&A afterwards was more interesting, and he promised the audience (at my prompting) to put up a bibliography. I stood in line and had my book signed. I flirted with another pretty girl in a blue sweater while we waited.

Fallenpegasus was kind to drive me home, and when I got in Kouryou-chan said, "Daddy, you look weird." It took her a minute to figure out the haircut, but Omaha thought it looked good. Now I have to read this Massive Tome. I liked Cryptonomicon, but I don't look forward to lugging this monster about.

Comments

[rapier.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I haven't read Cryptonomicon mainly because its thickness intimidated me. Size does matter, you know. I imagine I'll have to read it now that this new one is out. Does Quicksilver stand alone, or should I definitely read Cryptonomicon first?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Arguably, you should read Quicksilver first, since Cryptonomicon starts more or less where System of the World (the third book in The Baroque Cycle trilogy) leaves off.

But most of the audience had read Cryptonomicon and looked forward to seeing how the characters in that book related to the new trilogy.

[rapier.livejournal.com]

I may have to give it a shot, but will have to wait a bit. I have this financial allergy to hardcover books, you know. There may be a little something-something at a library though.