October novel-reading

[garran]

Stubbornly, there is some.

William Gibson, Spook Country
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
George R. R. Martin, Fevre Dream
Ellen Kushner, Swordspoint
Ellen Kushner, The Privilege of the Sword

This batch highlights what is perhaps an unavoidable flaw in my method with these posts, or at least it will if a particular regular commenter asks about the book that I expect them to, because I read that book way back at the beginning of the month, and now my impressions are much vaguer than they were at the time. I can probably find something to say, though.

Comments

Re: #1

[xorphus.livejournal.com]

And also "spook" as in "shade of a dead person, which is always 'there' in a sense, but can only be seen under special circumstances." And in a fourth way that I got really excited about when I thought of it, reading the book, but can't remember now.

Re: #1

[garran.livejournal.com]

Dude! That explains why that particular new-technology art form! As well, the overlaid VR, which is the 'country' of those particular spooks, functions pretty well as a metaphor for the espionage-world, which also takes up the same space as the world of the commonplace through which most people walk oblivious to the bodies at their feet.


-Andy H.

Reposted with extra rot13 because I noticed there was more spoilery stuff in there than I thought

[garran.livejournal.com]

...cyhf Obool Pubzob naq gur fuvccvat pbagnvare ner urnivyl vaibyirq jvgu obgu nygreangr pbhagevrf.

This isn't exactly an extra meaning, but aside from the ghostly celebrities there were some more traditionally unquiet dead, most especially Hollis' dead bandmate. There was almost something haunted-seeming, or at least indicative of some lingering personal residue, in the way that uvf zbarl sryg fb hapbzsbegnoyr va Ubyyvf' unaqf, naq whzcrq fuvc va n irel hayvxryl pbvapvqrapr sbe gur fgbel'f znva fgvyy rkgnag qlfshapgvbany whaxvr. (Gung qbrfa'g obqr jryy sbe Zvytevz, qbrf vg? Abg gung V purevfurq terng bcgvzvfz sbe uvz ng gur raq bs gur obbx naljnl. Nyfb, guvf frrzf yvxr nf tbbq n cynpr nf nal gb zragvba zl fhfcvpvba gung gung tragyrzna, jub ercrngrqyl engvbanyvmrf uvzfrys vagb fheeraqrevat uvf qrpvfvba-znxvat gb n ohyylvat, zbenyyl-fhfcrpg nhgubevgl svther, vf anzrq sbe gur Zvytenz rkcrevzragf.)

Apparently I remember more about this book than I thought.


-Andy H.

Re: Reposted with extra rot13 because I noticed there was more spoilery stuff in there than I though

[xorphus.livejournal.com]

Yes! That was the other meaning! I like your phrasing of the VR-espionage parallel.

I think you're right about the rot13 stuff, although I'd never heard of that before. What Wikipedia says about it is startling, particularly the fast-food-prank connection (several of which incidents took place right here in Kentucky).