The Sword and Laser discussion

I've been waiting for a while, and it looks like there is still a bit more wait for the iPhone and iPad accompanying apps, but Mongoliad is live. This is the collaborative, serial novel that is intended for interaction and discussion, including Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear.

You can also "like" them in Facebook.

I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more attention here...I will probably give it a try. I still haven't made it through The Baroque Cycle, but I enjoyed most of his other books, including Anathem. The price also seems very reasonable. Tracy Hickman is also doing a serialized novel experiment (see http://www.dragonsbard.com/).

I'm going to wait for the iPad app. It is in the queue for approval from Apple, so it can't be long! I like to try to read books in new ways.

How much is it to subscribe to the stories? And how much is the app?

Edit: They've already made me lose interest by not making it obvious how much things will cost, etc, AND not letting me know when things went live, even though I subscribed for updates ages ago when this news first broke. And, to be honest, Neal Stephenson has dropped a couple pegs in my book after that pile of dreck that was Anathem.

This sounded familiar to The Chain Story that Michael Stackpole is running here! It's a mix of published and unpublished authors.

Hmm, I complain about the lack of email notification, and 5 hours later, I get an email saying they're sorry they were delinquent in sending it out. Will have to into it more later.

Oh I liked Anathem okay, but he still needs to atone for Quicksilver. *grin*

I remember reading about how his writing process is to write all morning and invent all afternoon. I can't wait to see how he takes advantage of a new format!

Jenny wrote: "Oh I liked Anathem okay, but he still needs to atone for Quicksilver. *grin*"

See, I adored The Baroque Cycle books but hated Anathem. Then again, my undergrad degree is in physics, so I'm definitely a nerd.

Interestingly, the project has a job opening for a game programmer!

I still need to dig into the content of the Mongoliad site, I really like the idea.

terpkristin wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Oh I liked Anathem okay, but he still needs to atone for Quicksilver. *grin*"

See, I adored The Baroque Cycle books but hated Anathem. Then again, my undergrad degree is in physics..."

Well this probably means you got all the references that I was missing, but knew I was missing, since he seemed to be writing about them in a self-congratulatory "look at how smart I am" tone. It was the tone that bothered me, not the plot or the characters. Funny how such a little thing can drive a reader crazy!

Jenny wrote: "terpkristin wrote: "Well this probably means you got all the references that I was missing, but knew I was missing, since he seemed to be writing about them in a self-congratulatory "look at how smart I am" tone. It was the tone that bothered me, not the plot or the characters. Funny how such a little thing can drive a reader crazy!"

You know what, I liked Anathem, Snow Crash and plan to read the Baroque Cycle, but I actually did not finish Cryptonomicon, even though I was very close to the end, because the lead character in the present-day plotline was writing this *long* email in a totally grating, self-congratulatory "look how smart I am" tone that drove me crazy enough to close the book. ;) (Actually, I also felt the present-day plotline wasn't achieving the engaging connection between abstract-math and important historical events that the past plotline was, so that was part of it, too.)

I think that's just something you have to accept if you read Neil Stephenson. He always manages to come across as simply filled to bursting with fantastic ideas and arcane information.
Personally, I enjoy it :-)