---
title: 'Actual Book News Contained Herein'
date: '2003-06-27T10:47:32-04:00'
permalink: /actual-book-news-contained-herein/
tags:
    - novels
---

Neal Stephenson, author of the riotous [Snow Crash](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553380958/plannedobsole-20), the [envy-inspiring](/po/archive/000039.php) [The Diamond Age](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553380966/plannedobsole-20), and the at times breathtaking [Cryptonomicon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060512806/plannedobsole-20) is returning to the Waterhouse and Shaftoe families for a bit of a prequel. On September 23, 2003, [Quicksilver](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0380977427/plannedobsole-20) hits the bookstores.

A few things to note from that last link: *Quicksilver* will apparently run 944 pages, thus exceeding the heft of *Cryptonomicon* by a full 26 pages. More importantly, however, *Quicksilver* is billed as “volume 1” of [the Baroque Cycle](http://www.baroquecycle.com). Rumor has it said cycle will extend to three volumes.

Which makes it seem possible that, by the time all’s written and printed, the saga of the Waterhouse and Shaftoe clans — and the interconnected history of post-Enlightenment technologies — could run to nearly 4000 pages. Move over, Michener.