4, WG4, M2, E4 / NG0, F2, MF0, B0, D0, Frz0, C0, NA0

Jasper Fforde, The Woman who Died a Lot, Thursday Next series, Book VII

Wenn ich einen Thursday Next-Band lese, bleibt es selten dabei - vielleicht fange ich die ganze Serie nochmal von vorne an. Mein Bankkonto wird es mir zumindest danken :-/ Auch in diesem Band sind so viele Passagen, die ich immer wieder lesen kann, wie Thursdays Erfahrungen als Chief Librarian, als "Day Player" in einem synthetischen Körper, und wie sie mit Jack Schitt und Aornis zwei ihrer Erzfeinde endlich zur Strecke bringt. Immer wieder so klasse.
Und je länger ich über die Sache mit der Dark Reading Matter nachdenke, desto mehr hoffe ich, dass Fforde doch irgendwann mal einen siebten Band zustande bringt. Auch wenn keine Erzfeinde mehr übrig sind.
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The Wingco's research work involved finding some evidence of the disputed Dark Reading Matter. Theoretical storyologists had calculated that the readable BookWorld makes up only 22 per cent of visible reading matter - the remainder is thought to be the unobservable remnants of long-lost books, forgotten oral tradition and ideas locked in writer's heads when they died. A way to enter the Dark Reading Matter was keenly sought as it might offer a vast number of new ideas, plots and characters as well as a better understanding of the very nature of human imagination, and why STORY exists at all.
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The libraries were a treasured institution and so central to everyday life that government and commerce rarely did anything that might upset them. Some say they were more powerful than the military, or if not, then certainly quieter. As they say: don't mess with librarians. Only they use a stronger word than 'mess'.
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'Okay, let me get this straight in my mind. Imaginary Childhood Friends go to the DRM because they're like living fiction?'
'That's about it,' said the Wingco, 'but we think that everything that has been unrecorded within a deceased person's mind also transfers to the Dark Reading Matter. I think that's why the Dark Reading Matter is so big. It's not just books that have been destroyed, but is packed with memories. In fact, with seventy or so billion people having already died, the fabric of the DRM might be composed entirely of lost moments.'
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Mycroft had often theorised that the whole of existence was so large and hideously complex that it must be sentient. And if this was so, then it must have a truly warped sense of humour and have an abiding love of maths and hydrogen - and a deep loathing for order.
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(Jasper Fforde, The Woman who Died a Lot, 2012)