Some of the ideas mentioned in the Moab section of the book, under the heading of the Ethical Network Sabotage Undertaking, have been floating around for decades; Matt Blaze first mentioned them in my hearing under the name of the Encyclopedia Disinformatica, during the mid-1990s, at the Hackers Conference.

The term “Meatspace,” frequently used in this novel, appears to have been coined by Doug Barnes in 1993.

Finally, there have been various big-picture conversations over the years with George Dyson and Jaron Lanier that undoubtedly influenced this book.

About The Author

About The Author

NEAL STEPHENSON is the bestselling author of the novels The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (with Nicole Galland), Seveneves, Reamde, Anathem, The System of the World, The Confusion, Quicksilver, Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodiac, and the groundbreaking nonfiction work In the Beginning . . . Was the Command Line.

Also By Neal Stephenson

Also by Neal Stephenson

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (with Nicole Galland)

Seveneves

Some Remarks

Reamde

Anathem

The System of the World

The Confusion

Quicksilver

Cryptonomicon

The Diamond Age

Snow Crash

Zodiac

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

FALL; OR, DODGE IN HELL.

Copyright © 2019 by Neal Stephenson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

Cover design by Owen Corrigan

Cover photograph © plainpicture/Design Pics/Philippe Henry

Maps by Nick Springer/Springer Cartographics LLC

Title page and section opening art from Now Night Her Course Began by Gustave Doré (1832–33)/Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design/Bridgeman Images

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Stephenson, Neal, author.

Title: Fall; or, Dodge in hell: a novel / Neal Stephenson.

Description: First edition. | New York, NY : William Morrow, [2019]

Identifiers: LCCN 201900947| ISBN 9780062458711 (hardback) | ISBN 9780062458728 (paperback) | ISBN 9780062887467 (large print) | ISBN 9780062458735 (ebook)

Subjects: | BISAC: FICTION / Technological. | FICTION / Action & Adventure. | GSAFD: Science fiction.

Digital Edition JUNE 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-245873-5

Version 05212019

Print ISBN: 978-0-06-245871-1