So your first real job of the day is to set p a query agent to look for case files containing Viagra, spammers, homicide, and enemas in close proximity. And your occupation is very atemporal, very post-post-modern. “CopSpace is all-encompassing these days, with gateways into the sprawling Internet and Europol franchises.
You look for a sample of the style, you settle on this from the perspective of our cop, Liz, who is talking to us readers, telling us about her assigned police duties:
(Keep your Wikipedia handy for this if you are not up on this verbiage.) The themes are interesting-computers, porn, sleaze, spam, Internet commerce, drugs, smuggling, nanotechnology, police and government surveillance, privacy, entertainment-and the writing and characters pull you straight along, though you wished you had polished up on your Internet terms like ‘botnet’ and ‘memes’ and the like. Some very funny lines that don’t sound right out of context-they work because they contrast with all the darkness that is going on around. Yes, you had seen the occasional odd poster or image out there on the World Wide Web but you didn’t stop to put two and two together and realize … well, how had you missed this? And, does it matter that you did?įeeling completely out of it now, you dive back in and admire Stross’ colorful style. The whole narration is fantastic, gritty, full of life.)Īfter a bit of reading, you stop to check and realize (feeling like a completely out-of-it idiot) that Rule 34 is real Internet thing. (At this point, you must concede that you read this book on Audio CD and Robert Ian Mackenzie is positively brilliant with the Scottish touches he gives to the voice of The Gnome. You wish you had read Halting State, which preceded this book in theme and characters, but that’s okay-you’re quickly in the middle of some strange doings and some very unusual and colorful characters, including the washed-up detective Liz Kavanagh and The Gnome, a highly amusing player who is certainly a touch of genius. You like the way Rule 34 starts ecause it’s near-future stuff and not much has changed except there’s a heck of a lot more monitoring of everybody’s communications and the police, clearly, have quick access to whole reams of info and data on, well, everyone. You don’t read a lot of sci-fi but this one has a mystery flavor, which appeals. At first the “you” thing seems a bit affected, but you get used to it, even when the point of view shifts.
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