I don't much care for Stephenson. Admittedly, I've only read "Snow Crash" but I thought that the first chapter was a hilarious short story that got expanded into a terrible book. It was enough to send me away up to the present.
DeLilo's okay, but he doesn't really excite me much. Ever read anything by Richard Powers? I haven't kept up with him lately, but I like everything before Galatea 2.0 a whole lot.
All my fight strategy is based on deliberately injuring my opponents. -
Crippled Avenger
"It is the same in all wars; the soldiers do the fighting, the journalists do the shouting, and no true patriot ever get near a front-line trench, except on the briefest of propoganda visits...Perhaps when the next great war comes we may see that sight unprecendented in all history, a jingo with a bullet-hole in him."
First you get good, then you get fast, then you get good and fast.