Tag Archives: Boss Vindal

I Dare – Chapter 22

Day 309
Standard Year 1392

Blair Road
Surebleak

In which the new boss gets to know the territory.

One of the many victims of the epidemic Pat Rin is told about in this chapter was Miri’s grandmother; she mentions it to Val Con back in Agent of Change.

Ms Audrey thinks she’s joking about Pat Rin deciding it’s too cold and installing central heating in the streets, but he’ll be making plans to very similar effect by the end of the book.

I Dare – Chapter 20

Day 308
Standard Year 1392

Blair Road
Surebleak

In which the people meet the new boss.

Following on from what I said last time, I note that when telling Ms Audrey about the Sinner’s Carpet Pat Rin is again selective with the details, and selects a different set than when talking to Jim Snyder.

On a subject I’ve been keeping track of: Ms Audrey’s guess is that Pat Rin’s preferred game is dice, rather than cards, but his reply is exquisitely uninformative.

I Dare – Chapter 18

Day 307
Standard Year 1392

Blair Road
Surebleak

In which the new boss is not the same as the old boss.

One hazard of reading a series like this in chronological order like this is that one occasionally encounters two stories that are set within a few days of each other but written years apart, and then it can be difficult to avoid noticing discrepancies.

The difference between the implication here about the carpet’s creator and the explicit description in “Persistence” is, I think, clearly a deliberate creative decision by the authors, and can be easily explained in-universe as a deliberate creative decision by Pat Rin, who would not misinform a potential buyer as to the value of a carpet but also knows the value of tuning the details to fit the audience. I can’t see any such clear-cut explanation for the fairly large difference between the price Pat Rin paid for the carpet in “Persistence” and the price he remembers paying here.

On the other hand, there are good juxtapositions, too. Snyder taking Cheever at face value is extra amusing coming so soon after Beba seeing right through him.