Neal Stephenson is an American writer known for his speculative fiction works, which have been variously categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, maximalism, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk. Stephenson explores areas such as mathematics, cryptography, philosophy, currency, and the history of science. These fictional works have earned him the Hugo, Locus, Arthur C. Clarke, and Prometheus awards. He also writes nonfiction articles about technology in publications such as Wired magazine. He has worked as a member of the technical staff for Blue Origin, a company developing a manned suborbital launch system; as an inventor at Intellectual Ventures Labs; and as Chief Futurist of Magic Leap. Raised in Iowa, Stephenson now lives in Seattle, Washington.

He is the bestselling author of the novels "Fall; or," "Dodge in Hell," "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," "Zodiac," and the groundbreaking nonfiction work "In the Beginning... Was the Command Line". His latest novel, "Termination Shock," is a technothriller about climate change and geoengineering.