Synopses & Reviews
Bantam is proud to reissue--in stunning new packages--two remarkably prescient political thrillers coauthored by one of the biggest names in cutting-edge fiction. A decade ago Neal Stephenson, the acclaimed author of Quicksilver and Cryptonomicon, teamed up with J. Frederick George to write a pair of gripping science-based political thrillers under the pseudonym Stephen Bury. Each book remains conspicuously relevant, and each has a biotech twist that now seems eerily plausible. Seattle Weekly called Interface a Manchurian Candidate for the computer age. William Cozzano is a likable presidential candidate who had the election in his hand--until a debilitating stroke. When a shadowy group of backers implants a biochip in his head that not only restores his functionality but also wires him into a computerized polling system, how can he possibly lose? Whatever the electorate wants, Cozzano offers--instantly. He's more than the perfect candidate: he's a political peripheral. In The Cobweb we shift our focus to the first Gulf War, with truly chilling results. During the lead-up to Desert Storm, the murder of an Arab exchange student at a local university puts Iowa deputy sheriff Clyde Banks on a collision course with both the CIA and Saddam Hussein. With Banks' wife's Army Reserve unit off in the Middle East, it seems those students are Iraqis sent to conduct agricultural research on biological weapons, right here in his midwestern town.
Synopsis
Bantam is proud to reissue in stunning new packages two remarkably prescient political thrillers coauthored by one of the biggest names in cutting-edge fiction. A decade ago Neal Stephenson, the acclaimed author of
Quicksilver and
Cryptonomicon, teamed up with J. Frederick George to write a pair of gripping science-based political thrillers under the pseudonym Stephen Bury. Each book remains conspicuously relevant, and each has a biotech twist that now seems eerily plausible
Interface and
The Cobweb
The Cobweb focuses on the first Gulf War. During the lead-up to Desert Storm, the murder of an Arab exchange student at a local university puts Iowa deputy sheriff Clyde Banks on a collision course with both the CIA and Saddam Hussein. With Banks' wife's Army Reserve unit off in the Middle East, it seems those students are Iraqis sent to conduct agricultural research on biological weapons, right here in his midwestern town.
Synopsis
From his triumphant debut with Snow Crash to the stunning success of his latest novel, Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson has quickly become the voice of a generation. In this now-classic political thriller, he and fellow author J. Frederick George tell a savagely witty, chillingly topical tale set in the tense moments of the Gulf War.When a foreign exchange student is found murdered at an Iowa University, Deputy Sheriff Clyde Banks finds that his investigation extends far beyond the small college town—all the way to the Middle East. Shady events at the school reveal that a powerful department is using federal grant money for highly dubious research. And what its producing is a very nasty bug.
Navigating a plot that leads from his own backyard to Washington, D.C., to the Gulf, where his Army Reservist wife has been called to duty, Banks realizes he may be the only person who can stop the wholesale slaughtering of thousands of Americans. Its a lesson in foreign policy hell never forget.
About the Author
Neal Stephenson is the author of
The System Of The World, The Confusion, Quicksilver, Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and other books and articles.
J. Frederick George is a historian and writer living in Paris.