Anyway, the moon dramatically bursts into several pieces. Had I acted less hastily and read the blurb first, I never would have requested Seveneves. What I wouldn’t give for the vampires I used to bemoan to make a comeback. Enough with the alien invasions, zombie viruses, and totalitarian regimes gone mad already. The prevailing trend in my usual go-to reading area–young adult speculative fiction–has been apocalypse fiction for some time now, and I’m saturated. I complain about the end of the world constantly and, in my opinion, fairly. Finally, I think, “Do I really want to do this?” and listen to the deluded inner voice that replies, “Sure! You want to read more hard scifi, and anyway, it’s only 880 pages. Also, I realize it’s 880 pages long and that I have 20 other books to read for May…literally. I realize I didn’t even check to see what it’s about. Then I think it says Seven Eyes, possibly because of the giant eyeball. First I think the title is Seven Eleven, which is a chain of convenience stores and purveyors of fine slushy beverages. At that point, I take a longer look at the cover image. I’ve only read Anathem, after all.” I have a friend who loves most of Stephenson’s books like crazy, and I think I momentarily got his enthusiasm confused for my own enthusiasm. Boom! I hit Request! Only after I hit the button do I think, “Oh, but I’m not even a big fan.

Here’s how it went down: I’m scanning through review copies on Edelweiss as is my wont, looking for the next great read, and I see the new Neal Stephenson book listed.

Neal stephenson 7 eves