To be fair, Neal wrote "The Baroque Cycle" longhand after a computer backup disaster ate the first five hundred pages or so.

Then he transcribed it himself in EMACS and formatted it for submission using a homebrew set of Elisp macros he wrote—

Yeah nope, that's just deranged.

If you’re looking for your Explosive Space Modulator, that’s earthshatteringkaboom scrolling.

None of this "lingering over prose as the story unfolds" business, we're putting the reader in a trebuchet and launching them at the ending

Croal: now every year, the curator sails into this town
Croal: with his boat full of gadgets and gizmos a plenty
Croal: he's got whosits and whatsits galore
Croal: want thingamabobs? he's got twenty
Croal: but who cares? no big deal
Croal: he wants more

Croal: ok so imagine that there's a harbor town
Croal: where evie works
Croal: laying deliveries down
Croal: They say evie fetch another round
Croal: She serves them oatcakes and bread

Those are lovely! How do you like to eat giant radishes? My go-to recipe for them is www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roas...

I mentioned earlier that they chew on Nile Crocodiles - I wasn't kidding, baby Hippos use them as teething rings since the texture of their scales is satisfying to gum.

Just this 12' long razor-toothed archosaur, sitting there going "stay calm, Clarence, you survived the asteroid, you can do this."