Mr. Fish. Even if he is not named, Bigend fills the page. I am sure Gibson really likes him, even if we will never see the inside of his head.

A quick google only offers (unsubstantiated) that Mr. Fish (Michael Fisher) was in the states in 2006 working in furniture rather than clothes. The samples of his work I have seen are certainly noticeable.

Of course now I have a weird craving now for an IKB suit. I will probably settle for a close analogue color in a shirt.

As for the dating, the crisis nowadays is not even worthy of a remark, and I consider the dates when it actually was remarkable, rather than prophetic or self-evident are the six first months of 2008.

I'm curious if Mr. Fish is actually dead. There is no information to be found.

Nutters and cutters on the golden mile.
Bigend is still dressing himself anyway but with a hint of outside influence.

Started thinking after I reread the "air kiss" that WG's title is a reference to Bigend being a "cold fish" emotionally; what attracts, confuses and repells, at the same time, the women in his life.

Bohemian. Reusing some of his favorite words. Hook, line and sinker. I do not see anything more intimate than what we had in Spook Country, but Bigend thinks that seduction and aversion are tools to be used to get people do what he wants. As for the air kiss, I think it shows that Bigend is aware that Hollis is looking for excuses to hate him, and prefers to avoid provoking her too much, so no unrequired physical contact.

WG is a Bohemian too, at least with Bigend's definition, as I suspect are many of his friends. That old age comment makes me wonder if he worries, as would be only natural.

Then we have Hollis' book. Maybe it has nothing to do with SC, it is a bio of the Curfew, brought on by the partial reunion, but we cannot help but wonder.

This phrase gave me pause, but I will leave it to others with a better grasp of Expatriate American English:

“And one of the thing’s it’s a by-product of is my fundamental disinterest in wealth.”

Last time he played the fragment game differently. We are seeing a narrow set, and I wonder if he is not asking us if there is a good continuity in the characters.

Such as Garreth and Hollis. We know Hollis liked Garreth. 90% of the women I know would have liked Garreth, anyway. But I just cannot see them together, not two years later. So they had their moment, she started writing the book and to be mad at Bigend for lying, he went on a new adventure, and after all this time Garreth is long gone (though he is a great character for a cameo) and she is frightened to discover she understands Bigend's point of view.

When I started this thread it was mainly for my own peace of mind, fulfilling my part in the unspoken contract with the author, after what he said about "the obsessives" and why he posted the fragments the last time. I did not want it to be in the limelight, just to throw my first impressions out, rather than any elaborate response. But others have taken my ball and run with it, so this is their work even more than mine, and I will keep fielding balls as long as he keeps throwing them.

CABINET
HOLD THE COPROPHAGIA
CRICKET
THE GABRIEL HOUNDS
FIFTEEN
SPECIES
MR. FISH
BOHEMIAN


i think in some ways BOHEMIAN addresses my thoughts on hollis, who she is, what she is doing with her life. these pieces are out of context, so her thinking/situation may have changed since then, but i have this sense of her as a lost girl, trying to find a way forward. though as bigend suggests, perhaps not trying too hard, waiting for projects to fall in to her lap to some extent.

as for her book, that was mentioned in spook country, the one about the bands that in some tangential way influenced the curfew, and ended up being serialised in the record store magazine? can't remember precise details off the top of my head (i am bad person...)

trying to check spook country for book reference and i came across this:

quote:

Chapter 19 Fish

He entered Fish's number from memory, closed his eyes, and thumbed send.

Fish, short for Fisher, his surname, answered before a third ring. "Hello?"

"Fish. Hi."

"Who's this?"

"Milgrim."

"Hey." Fish sounded surprised to hear from him, but then Milgrim
supposed he would be.

the book mentioned might not have any connection to this, but it is possible:

quote:

She had, during the Curfew days, written a few pieces for Rolling
Stone, a few more for Spin. With Inchmale, she'd written the first
in-depth history of the Mopars, their mutual favorite sixties garage
band, though they hadn't been able to find anyone willing to pay them
to publish it. In the end, though, it had run in Jardine's record
store's in-house magazine, its publication one of the few things she'd
gotten out of that particular investment.

quote:

Originally posted by Ghost from the Past:
... that Hollis is looking for excuses to hate him ...

I hate it when that happens...

quote:

...Maybe it has nothing to do with SC, it is a bio of the Curfew, brought on by the partial reunion, but we cannot help but wonder.

...When I read this observation, I couldn't stop my mind from thinking of SC...not as Spook Country but as South Carolina...

Nice thoughts Ghost.

quote:

Originally posted by King Real:
as for her book, that was mentioned in spook country, the one about the bands that in some tangential way influenced the curfew, and ended up being serialised in the record store magazine? can't remember precise details off the top of my head (i am bad person...)

GThat was an article she wrote about a garage bad (and garage bands in general) that had no publisher except the in-house magazine of the store she invested in on, I think, Market St.

Fish was Dennis Birdwell's stoolie and Milgrim's sometime junkie acquaintance.

quote:

Originally posted by Eric:

quote:

Originally posted by Ghost from the Past:
... that Hollis is looking for excuses to hate him ...

I hate it when that happens...

quote:

...Maybe it has nothing to do with SC, it is a bio of the Curfew, brought on by the partial reunion, but we cannot help but wonder.

...When I read this observation, I couldn't stop my mind from thinking of SC...not as Spook Country but as South Carolina...

Nice thoughts Ghost.

I think it is a bio of The Curfew but may have her adventures in vancouver in there toward the end when the band reunites )or implodes again) for the Chinese car job.

My impression was that the article she had been hired to write for Node, on geolocative art, had somehow flipped inside-out and become the starting point for a new book she had written in the time between SC and the bohemian scene.

I think it's a tell all on Bigend's tinier end.

CABINET
HOLD THE COPROPHAGIA
CRICKET
THE GABRIEL HOUNDS
FIFTEEN
SPECIES
MR. FISH
BOHEMIAN
AMATEUR

i would say we assume the woman here is hollis again, perhaps another slice of the same pie bohemian came from, seems likely. i would suggest that last line about it not being about sex likely relates to any suggestion that they had had a relationship. i think its possible for people to develop that kind of relationship without having ever been physical in between.

its a short piece, frustratingly. but i think its interesting to see an attempt at explaining the need for people like cayce and hollis to be involved in search of the shiny prize. the idea that bigend has all these over eager staff who would wade in and crush the four leaf clover without even realising thats what they are after seems a good summary of what we've seen so far with his assistants.

The unsettling thing about Bigend is that he is always communicating on two levels; there's what he says out loud and there's what he... emanates.

Both Cayce and Hollis are sensitive enough to read him on that second level and that's what creeps them out, isn't it? When you're involved with Bigend it's not casual. Forget about boundaries. He wants everything you've got. And the unhappily intimate 'ex-boyfriend' feeling comes from the way he always knows when you're holding out.

well that and he is always right outside the door of your hotel room. you've changed your flights, you've paid cash, you've dumped the cellphone, you've had extensive plastic surgery, and there it is, the phone in the room, "bigend, lobby, now."

quote:

Originally posted by King Real: i would suggest that last line about it not being about sex likely relates to any suggestion that they had had a relationship. i think its possible for people to develop that kind of relationship without having ever been physical in between.

But Gibson's prose in his POVs is suggestive of the characters thoughts, so Hollis thinking about it NOT being about sex is suggestive, to me, or her wanting it to NOT be about sex.

People rationalize a good deal of their emotions so as to better sublimate them.

I could be wrong, but think it would be more interesting if I was right.

SC is recent enough I remember some of this stuff. Hollis was ever a reliable narrator, and, as a former rock star, the last thing she would misread was whether someone wanted her erotically or not.

The passing Italian glance rather makes that point clear to me.

When Hollis feels unsure, her inner monologue says so. This passage says, "she knew", in simple terms.

I win. I want tidy and receding Italianates, please.

It also makes clear that whatever Bigend emanates (*icky name pun*) is as irrationally entrancing as sexual desire.

If anything, she WANTS it to be about sex. She knows how to deal with that.

That's what I mean: Bigend invades/pervades every area of your personal space with an intensity that generally one only experiences during sex. But it isn't sexual for him at all.