Snow Crash

Arthur C. Clarke Award: Best Novel nominee (1994).

In the near future, Americans excel at only two things: writing software and delivering pizza in less than 30 minutes.

Franchises line the Los Angeles freeway as far as the eye can see: Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates, Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong, Uncle Enzo's CosaNostra Pizza, Incorporated. The only relief from the sea of logos is within the well-guarded borders of the autonomous city-states that law-abiding citizens are afraid to leave.

Is it any wonder that most sane folks have chosen to live in a computer-generated universe? Here in virtual reality is a domain of pleasures limited only by imagination, where everyone is safe and free. But now a strange new computer virus called Snow Crash has invaded even this sanctuary, striking down hackers everywhere, leaving young Hiro Protagonist as humankind's last best hope.

In reality, Hiro delivers pizza for the CosaNostra. But in Metaverse, he's a freelance hacker and a warrior prince - the Deliverator, the greatest sword fighter in the world. Now he's racing along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission, looking for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about Infocalypse.