“There is nearly always a chthonic link. The object-imbued-with-numinous-power tends to be of mineral origin: gold, perhaps mined from a special vein, or a jewel of extraordinary rarity, or a sword forged from a shooting star. I am merely describing pulp. But the vast popularity…attests to the power of these motifs to seize the reader’s attention, down at the level of the reptilian brain, even as the cerebrum is getting sick.”

—  Neal Stephenson , book Reamde

Donald Cameron, flashback to development of T'Rain, Day 2
Reamde (2011), Part I: Nine Dragons

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Neal Stephenson 167
American science fiction writer 1959

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