Neal Stephenson
Stephenson is a geek. And he writes about geeks. His books often take
wild turns, and he sometimes loses control of his story. You won't find
a cardboard 19th century hero swashbuckling his way across the galaxy to
save the day and win the girl, but rather smart, curious people
fascinated by the world around them as the universe throws them a
curveball.
Snow Crash, probably his best known book, is a dystopian satire
of 1990's America that coined the term metaverse. My personal
favorites are Cryptonomicon, with it's parallel World War II
and present-day storylines, and the three volume / eight book
Baroque Cycle, an historical novel set in the Enlightenment
that's still somehow science fiction.
The Baroque Cycle
Originally published as three hardcover volumes each around 900 pages
long and later as eight paperbacks, The Baroque Cycle is one
very long novel set in the late 1600s to early 1700s, centered in Europe
but spanning the world. It's an historical novel about the
Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution, but, somehow, it's
also a science fiction novel about a society in transition, economics
and the nature of knowledge. I eagerly dove into each volume as it was
published. It's a very long story, and after spending so many
delightful hours in this strange and wonderful world, I felt sad when I
turned the last page and there was no more. I don't often re-read
novels, but this one I will pick up again sometime.