One of the things I’ve been asked a few times about Desolation is if the ‘tricks’ Will used to solve the problems in the book are real. My answer is always ‘Yes!’

One of the things I like most is when I’m reading a novel and learning actual facts at the same time. It’s the only reason I read historical fiction, if I’m honest, and one of the major reasons I love Neal Stephenson and Chuck Palahniuk. Since I spent over twenty years of my life writing instructional materials, it’s also kind of second nature for me to write educational content (it’s the fiction part that takes work, lol). 

In Desolation, everything is real, even the ‘hacking’. So yes, those really are the top ten passwords, and there really is a ‘Vault Ultra’ device for storing car keys at dealerships (though it isn’t named that). Further, the Vault folks really do try and hide the manual from you, because it really does state in the Vault’s manual what the default admin credentials are, and it really doesn’t force you to change the default password. 

In addition, ‘ninja rocks’ and the little ‘use your skull as an antenna’ tricks both work. You can try the second one easily yourself, but here’s a video demonstrating ninja rocks.