Spies. I've met people who claimed they once were (usually drunk or, in one case, clearly demented, but in a thoroughly John Le Carre way)or insisted they weren't. Presumably, if they were, you'd never know. Or at least, gossipy gobs-on-sticks like me, with radio programmes,blogs and occasional pieces of published paper, never would.
William Gibson's staggeringly good novel Spook Country combines some of his cyber-thriller trademarks with a cool portrayal of what superannuated spies might get up to (and with whom) in a post-9/11 society; it made me want to go to Vancouver immediately; it made me discuss 'locative art' with a computer-illiterate artist who was immediately transfixed by the possibilities; it made me seriously consider buying a pair of Adidas GSG 9.2 'tactical boots', and discover what on earth 'broasted potatoes' are. Also to revisit Norman Cohn's Pursuit of the Millennium, which is extensively referenced. And to, at last, try and switch on my Nokia N95's GPS.
....and now it's back to Virtual Light and Idoru...
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