Only once in a great while does  a writer come along who defies comparison -- a  writer so original he redefines the way we look at  the world. Neal Stephenson is such a writer and  Snow Crash is such a novel, weaving  virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about  everything in between with a cool, hip  cyber-sensibility to bring us the gigantic thriller of the  information age. In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers  pizza for Uncle Enzo's Cosa Nostra Inc., but it  the Metaverse he's a warrior prince. Plunging  headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's  striking down hackers everywhere, he races along  the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy  mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to  bring about infocalypse. Snow Crash  is a mind-altering romp through a future America  so bizarre, so outrageous... you'll recognize it  immediately.