This is probably a discussion for everyone to participate in.

So, first, Jack said:

Mur, I’m curious to hear if you have a rebuttal to our rebuttal.

Mur responded:

Jack, my rebuttal is simple-

the info-dumps are one of the things I hate about Stephenson. I love Diamond Age, but the bits about the Turing machine bores me to tears. While you guys think it’s fascinating, I feel as though Stephenson can’t just do research for his own foundation of the story, he has to tell us EVERYTHING he knows, which I feel is boring and unneccesary. It is possible to build a story without the excruciating detail of everything you research. That’s why it’s called a “foundation” and not “plot”.

You guys said a beginning writer can’t get away with it. I’ll go farther and say that he can’t either, but I know I’m in the minority. It’s OK, I was the only person who didn’t like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell too…

I chipped in with:

There are times when I can appreciate an info dump, and there are times when I wonder why it’s in there.

I didn’t mind the one in Snow Crash as much as you did. Now, don’t tell my friend Sean this, but I’m pretty sure that it may have been the info dump that prevented me from finishing Cryptonomicon, and prevented me from ever wanting to pick up The Baroque Cycle.

Now, if you could skip over the info dump, say flip forward 40 pages and forget Stephenson got away with that, how’d you like Snow Crash, the story?

And Jack followed up with:

Speaking of infodump, I discovered Snow Crash back in 94/95 when I came a cross a semi-enthusiastic review for the Diamond Age, where the reviewer basically said, yeah it’s pretty good, but “Snow Crash! Wow!” So I read SC first, but definitely disagreed with him about DA. Haven’t read that one since, and am long overdue for a reread.

Anyway. I’m a sucker for Stephenson’s style. The Baroque Cycle is three thousand pages, chock full of infodumps, mind-numbing ideas, and cool action sequences, easily the most difficult fiction I’ve ever worked through (and I’m only 2/3 through) – makes James Clavell look like Mercer Mayer. But it has its rewards for the reader. I’m in awe of his skill.

I suppose we ought to be saying this stuff on the KAMN message boards, huh?

Yes, Jack, we probably should be.

So, listeners… what do you think about the info dump in general, and does Neal Stephenson pull it off well, poorly, or somewhere in between depending on which book of his you’re reading?

So, Joe, Dave Moldawer and I were discussing older shows and movies, when the subject of Airwolf vs Blue Thunder came up, and Dave said he’d never even heard of Blue Thunder. The tale of the spiritually tortured pilot of a “black helicopter” and he’s never heard of it? Yes, he has a homework assignment to go rent this movie and watch it.

Anyway, Airwolf vs Blue Thunder. Let’s hear your opinions on the show vs the movie, creatively speaking, and copter abilities, technically speaking. You can also argue for or against on whether these qualify as scifi… I always thought they were, simply because of the technology put into the vehicles at the time (and yes, I consider Knight Rider scifi, too, and Automan).

Feel free to post your comments here, or over at the forums.