I’ve been blogging a lot about [EGBT] lately, and there’s something else I and at least a few readers of this blog owe them: a love for Neal Stephenson, an author who I would not have discovered without several [EGBT] members saying, “Hey, bitch, read his books!”

Snow Crash is, of course, great. So are most of Stephenson’s other works, but lately, I find myself more and more enamored with what seems to be one of his most overlooked books: Zodiac.

I happened to come across a blog called “So Quoted”, and an entry on this book today, and that inspired me to write this post, particularly as the author of that blog is much better at expressing what I feel about this novel.

One, it gets off to the typical Neal Stephenson quick start. He throws a lot of stuff out there and expects you to hang on while he fills in the blanks. Two, he quickly sets up the main character and his personality. Three, great first sentence. Four, it is just filled with Stephensonisms–the bon mots you either love or hate. Such as:

* Tess emerged from the part of the house where women lived and bathrooms were clean

* Sangamon’s Principle,” I said. “The simpler the molecule, the better the drug. So the best drug is oxygen. Only two atoms. The second-best, nitrous oxide-a mere three atoms. The third-best, ethanol-nine. Past that, you’re talking lots of atoms.

* GEE International. They employ me as a professional asshole, an innate talent I’ve enjoyed ever since second grade, when I learned how to give my teacher migraine headaches with a penlight. I could cite other examples, give you a tour down the gallery of the broken and infuriated authority figures who have tried to teach, steer, counsel, reform, or suppress me over the years, but that would sound like boasting. I’m not that proud of being a congenital pain in the ass. But I will take money for it.

* I’ve lost two girlfriends and a job by reading an ingredients label out loud, with annotations, at the wrong time.

Good … nay, great … stuff.