My Interview with Neal Stephenson

.

Neal Stephenson, the writer, is gifted with an extraordinary mind that can parse complex social, historical, and technological currents and fuse them into engaging fiction. His intense intelligence has made him seem prickly in the interviews he seldom gives. But this particular evening at Magoo's in West Allis I met a completely different Neal Stephenson -- the Neal Stephenson I went to grade school with.

LK: Neal, do you realize you have the same name as a famous science-fiction writer?
NS: He doesn't spell it the same.
LK: I think he does.
NS: I never met anyone who spells it like us.
LK: Well...
NS: You want a shot? What shot?
LK: Whatever you're having. Have you ever heard of Second Life, Neal?
NS: Like heaven and hell? What the fuck? And call me Steve. You're the only fucking one that still calls me Neal.

I get the feeling Neal is uncomfortable talking about Second Life, just like the other Neal Stephenson.

LK: What do you think about William Gibson?
NS: Was he in our grade? Or was he in Rudy's class? You and Rudy used to do some fucked up shit, man. Those lights at the high school.
LK: That was Rudy, mostly.
NS and LK: Cheers.
NS: Dead dog in the Witliff's pool. That was you, motherfucker.
LK: Rudy said that? (NOTE: It wasn't a dead dog, it was a pig's head from the sausage factory.) Don't trust that crackhead. What do you think the future holds?
NS: Hey did you ever know Vita Breviscz -- she went to school with your sister? I'm fucking her tonight after she gets off work. She's still pretty hot. (NOTE: Vita was never hot.) Puss-ay!

Neal leans over to whisper something. His manner informs me he is about to say something with serious gravity. This is the moment I have been waiting for in this interview.

...You want some coke?

.