patternboy is publishing, as part of his Node Magazine project, a daily quotation and comments on each chapter of William Gibson's Spook Country as the official publication date approaches:
With 42 days before the official release and a total of 84 chapters, I will begin posting two short (under 807 characters each in celebration of the official release date) chapter summaries each day. Quotations will be very sparse and all posts will contain my interpretations (and likely significant spoilers) re: the yet-to-be-released work.I hope you enjoy what is to come and look forward to your feedback and comments.
My only quibble is that there does not seem to be a comment facility to comment on each quotation and chapter summary on the node.tumblr.com website.
The first two Chapters seem to be entitled:
'Rausch,' said the voice in Hollis Henry's cell. 'Node,' it said.
The old man reminded Tito of those ghost-signs, fading high on the windowless sides of blackened buildings, spelling out the names of products made meaningless by time.
Chapter summaries (may contain plot and character teaser / "spoiler" information):
Chapter 1. WHITE LEGO
Shortly after 3AM on a Wednesday morning in the Mondrian in LA, Hollis Henry awakes to a call from Philip Rausch, editor of Wired-wannabe Node. 'They're ready to show you his best piece,' Rausch says."Careful to not step on Odile Richard's white lego robot (apparently "collecting data with an onboard GPS unit"), Hollis ventures out to meet Odile ("the least chic Frenchwoman Hollis could recall having met") and Alberto Corrales (a "broad young Latino with shaven head and retro-ethnic burgundy Pendleton") at the Standard.
Presumably a "retro-ethnic burgundy Pendleton" is a plaid woollen shirt made by Pendleton Woolen Mills
Alberto, a historian of internalized space,” hands Hollis a VR visor tethered to a laptop with which she sees a memory from August 1993, released from time but frozen in space, of a dead celebrity outside the Viper Room.
Presumably this dead celebrity was not River Phoenix who died on 31st October 1993 outside of Johnny Depp's Viper Room.
“’Who?’ she asks, finding her breath.” [784 characters]
Chapter 2. ANTS IN THE WATER
In New York’s Washington Square, 22-year old Tito, a Havana-born immigrant fluent in Russian, secretly passes an iPod to an old man in "dead man's" clothing. Tito’s older cousin, Alejandro "has been chosen to apprentice under Juana, their aunt, the family’s master forger."In a Chinese restaurant on Canal Street, Tito and Alejandro discuss their "invisible raft of tradecraft, the protocol," passed down from their grandfather, the craft of a crime family surviving in a dangerous world. [488 characters]
Thanks for your support, M.E.
I love your site and always keep a strong eye on the RSS feed.
- patternboy