Spanner Chapter 4: Special Delivery Service (Final Revision)

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Chaos Angel Spanner — Book 1: Rock City Blues
Chapter 4: Special Delivery Service (Final Revision)

Now heavily revised for the final version, with many scenes expanded and all-new scenes added!

Table of Contents:

1. Public Service Announcement (June 19, 2011, revised 7/27/12)
2. She’s Trouble (June 20, 2011, revised 7/27/12)
3. Last Day of Freedom July 27, 2012)
4. The Hand-off (June 21, 2011, revised 7/27/12)
5. New Pony Express (June 22, 2011, revised 7/27/12)
6. So Much the Worse (June 23, 2011, revised 7/27/12)
7. Interlude 3: One Nation Under Copyright, All Rights Reserved (August 3, 2012)

The original Chapter 4 introduction, which now may be partly obsolete:

Excuse me while I go all FAWM liner note...

This was originally going to be Chapter 2 when I wrote it during JulNoWriMo, but the original Chapter 1 grew so huge I split it into three separate chapters. So now you’re looking at Chapter 4. The first two parts conclude the extended opening begun in Chapter 1. The third part is a homage partly to William Gibson’s recent novels set in the present day and partly to gangster movies. The final part could be from a spy movie, a gangster movie, a classic film noir, or Pulp Fiction. Finally, Part 1 was written during AugNoWriMo for a Chapter 2 I originally intended to put between the original Chapter 1 and this. I found only two fragments of the AugNo Chapter 2 usable: the first establishes the suicide bomber’s motive, so I put it in Chapter 3 where it belongs; the second, I put here. The last part is a late continuity retrofit [which now incorporates one of the original scenes planned for this early section of the novel].

The two [now three] sections (counting the entire extended opening) are closely connected, but the connection is not yet apparent. However, I’m not yet done introducing characters; I won’t be done with that for another several chapters still...

Note: You’ll find lots of ethnic slurs from this point on. When they’re capitalized and used as if trademarked, they designate the national origins of the Mafias, as here. After all, gangsters are more tribal than most people and far more prone to Fantastic Racism. You've already met the “Honkies” (i.e. Minuteman); here we meet the “Russkies” (Russian Mafiya) and “Wops” (Italian Mafia); soon the “Japs” (Yakuza), “Chinks” (Triad), “Micks” (Irish mob), and other Mafias will invade the story. And yes, they’re all irrationally racist about each other, usually to violent extremes. And wait till you meet the “Freaks”... (However, “mudblood” never designates a Mafia and is always used as a racial slur. Jennifer will explain the full meaning of the word in Chapter 7.)

Update 1/7/2011 — Newly restored to the story: 1) the courier company scene and characters from Project Notebook #13 (2005); 2) the hoverboard delivery sequence from the notes I made in July/August ’10. Also from the Project Notebooks of the early ’00s: Leila’s dream. The sections are now better connected, even if subtly; there’s now a theme of sorts, so I changed the title to match. Several characters important later in the story are introduced in the final here.

Anyway, the pyrotechnics are about to resume. Read on...

Chapter 5 →

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Copyright © 2011, 2012 Dennis Jernberg. Some rights reserved.