Q: Your next novel Quicksilver, goes further into the history of cryptography and its role. What can readers expect? A: Quicksilver is set 300 years ago, and it’s still a work in progress. Since its not done, I am still pretty reluctant talk about it in specifics. It is a continuing effort to go farther back into the history of these technologies and to think about how they formed the way the technological world is structured today.
Q: Will we see a relationship between the characters in CRYPTONOMICON and Quicksilver?
A: There are familial connections between the 2 books.
Q: This is the book you are writing with a fountain pen.
A: I’ve written every word of it so far with fountain pen on paper. Part of the theory was that it would make me less long-winded, but it hasn’t actually worked. I think it has improved the quality of the actual work somewhat, simply because it is actually easier to edit something on paper than on screen. So usually every page of the original manuscript has been gone over 2 or 3 times before it goes into the computer and then when I type it into the computer that’s another pass again where I can make changes if I want to.
Q: What about the future of Crypto?
A: We’re in a strange moment right now where everyone who uses the internet seems to be cognoscente at some level that it has its weaknesses from a security standpoint. So if you sit down and talk to most peo