Snow crash

Snow crash / Neal Stephenson. – New York ; Bantam Books, 2003, ©1992

470 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.

ISBN: 0-533-38095-8

1. Science fiction. 2.Virtual reality – Fiction.
3. Franchises (Retail trade) – Fiction.
4. Psycholinguistics – Fiction.

813.54

In the virtual online world of the metaverse Hiro Protagonist is a very important hacker. As one of architects of Black Sun, his avatar has ready access to one of the most prestigious pieces of unreal estate in virtual reality. In the real world he freelances for a spy franchise; he advertises himself as the greatest swordsman in the world, and he delivers pizza for the mob. A demanding task because Uncle Enzo expects his drivers to deliver on time – or else. So Hiro, late with a delivery is very annoyed when courier on a skateboard latches onto his car. She’s determined to stick with him by any means necessary, including harpoon and cable.

The wild pizza delivery ride is just the start. Snow Crash is a nearly non-stop chase scene, punctuated only by visits to Hiro’s virtual office where the librarian helps him figure out what on earth (or metaverse) is going on. It’s an adventure ride through both worlds. Worlds in which governments have been replaced by franchises like Mr. Lee’s Greater Hong Kong, and churches by franchises like Reverend Wayne’s Pearly Gates. Threatening the foundations of both worlds is a powerful new drug: Snow Crash. Snow Crash can wipe the human brain as clean as a computer drive that’s been reformatted, and it works on both. Who’s pushing this stuff? Is it the giant Eskimo from the Aleutian Islands cruising around Los Angeles on a motorcycle with a nuclear device in his sidecar, or is it the cable network monopolist from Houston, Texas drifting around the Pacific in his surplus aircraft carrier? Is all this yet another scheme for world domination by some self-aggrandizing megalomaniac, or a religious plot designed to erect another tower of Babble, or could it possibly be both?