I suggest not reading any further if you are worried about SPOILERS, but this thread only covers part 1.

Part 1 - IRGB

Dec 06 - I have now reached the end of part one, which SURPRISE doesn't take place in the Dream Archipelago at all, but rather in Britain, and more specifically in the IRGB. Now, the meaning of IRGB is not so far spelled out to us in this book, but it is quite obviously not the Britain we know and love. Having read an earlier book by Priest called A Dream of Wessex, I believe we are now in the Britain of that book - which is to say, the Islamic Republic of Great Britain. This theory is borne out as we progress through the chapter - the Minister of Defense is an Arab prince. English women wear hijabs and burkas. Alcohol is somewhat verboten.

Our main character in this section is named Tibor Tarent - a British citizen of mixed east European and American descent. An ARTIST. He's a photographer - of what? Anything, it seems. He's recently returned from Turkey where his wife was KILLED in some kind of unusual bombing incident. We follow him from the time he lands to just before his scheduled de-briefing. We seem to be in a near future - there are smart phones, some kind of Hummer-like military transport vehicle known as a 'Mebsher' is common. Tibor has three high tech cameras - they don't have optical lenses, but quantum ones. As we progress into the story, we learn that quantum lenses have 'Adjacency' issues, which makes them now illegal in the IRGB. And somehow, the attack that killed his wife, as well as a larger one in London, and more around the world - are also somehow linked to the concept of 'ADJACENCY'. All we know is that the attack leaves a blackened triangular blast area that's perfectly EQUILATERAL, and seems to erase everything inside. Is this the effect of Adjacency - to move things into parallel worlds? Like from the IRGB to our world to the DREAM archipelago?

We're only introduced to the concept here. Answers will have to wait. We might (HORROR!) have to provide our own!

We read:
The Islanders (a sort of travelogue with inserted short stories)
The Dream Archipelago (a collection of previously published short stories)
The Gradual (a novel)

Other novels set in this setting include The Affirmation (often declared to be Priest's best novel), The Adjacent, and The Evidence (Priest's most recent novel).

@RichardAbbott and I have already spoken of reading The Adjacent together. I've already read the other two (of which I find The Affirmation to be the more successful). The Evidence is a mystery novel, in which the narrator is himself a writer of mystery novels. The narrator tells us all the things a writer of mystery novels should never do (and yet Priest himself is doing all these things! So it's rather meta.)

Does anyone have any further thoughts on this series or setting to share? Reception was rather mixed, but does anyone other than Richard and I feel compelled to read more books set here?

Any thoughts on a slow read for next year? Since @NeilNjae and I have both done one recently, I would fall on @RichardAbbott , @clash_bowley , or @BarnerCobblewood to lead one. Personally, I'm still liking the idea of doing The Silmarillion + Book of Lost Tales or Titus Groan/Gormenghast, but I know not eveyone is keen on those. Another possibility might by the Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, though I gather the books rather lose steam after the first two.

71. Sandro accompanies the adepts to Yenna, where Renettia breaks his practice stave - he no longer needs it. There he helps a woman with a baby. Renettia says he appears to be a natural at this. Then they go to Cheoner where his next 'fare' is an older couple. Renettia sells the husband a new stave, and then they use a car to erase seven days from them. On Cheoner, there's a car for adepts to use, but on other islands they need to rent or use other, unspecified, means to get cars. Renettia drives the couple around while Sandro makes calculations. Eventually, he's no longer sure what to do, so Renettia examines his work and pronounces it to be correct, and the deficit erased. The couple are next heading to Nelquay and will need Sandro's help when they get there. Renettia will accompany him for moral support. They leave later, but arrive earlier, than the couple.
72. Nelquay is in the far north, close to Faiandland. It's a cold place, and neither Sandro nor Renettia are used to it. They help the couple when they arrive on this island, but the couple seems dissatisfied - too expensive for what they did. Sandro and Renettia decide to head south, somewhere warmer - to Paneron, near Winho. Being near Winho, it has an emotional attachment to his brother.
73. Paneron is a lushly beautiful island, part of The Swirl chain. It's a popular tourist destination and a transportation hub of The Swirl, so there are many adepts there - the usual crowd plus fifty more. After a few days on the island of easy detriment fixing, Renettia tells Sandro it's time for him to head off on his own. There's no more she can teach him. He plans to leave the next day. That night, at the request of the adepts, he puts on a solo violin concert in the square. The next day he goes to Dianme, the island that first stirred his heart.
74. Dianme is "the cultivation of a lifetime of hopes". When he arrives, he corrects the increment, and this moves him into the warmer daylight of the day before, which makes the trip effectively instantaneous. "I had become an adept of time. I travelled free of time. I arrived at the same subjective moment as I left." However, Sandro finds Dianme bereft, with no natural music. It's not what he thought it was - not the place that stirred his early work of music, anyhow. He leaves shortly after - his journey will take him home.
75. Sandro arrives at the port of Questiur in Glaund. With a plan in mind, he goes to the archive of the newspaper library in town and searches for something. Armed with this, he sets off again on a tour of several islands, arriving back in Questiur on a specific day, just in time for a specific event.
76. Back in Questiur, Sandro goes to greet an arriving troop ship. Many soldiers are coming off - it's the de-mob of the 289th Battalion. Eventually, Sandro sees a small man with a violin slung over his shoulder - it's his brother Jacj. They greet in a long embrace, standing on the landing until all the remaining soldiers have passed.
77. They go to a restaurant in Glaund City. Jacj explains that the last few days have been odd - that they had been dressed up for an official inspection by the Junta, but he had no idea why. Sandro, for his part, explains he's been travelling, but doesn't elaborate on any details. He does mention he's become a composer, and this doesn't surprise his brother.
78. It turns out Jacj has been away for 4 rather boring years, which is why he still looks young. For Sandro, more than 40 have passed. Brothers being brothers, they find they don't have much to say. A crowd bursts in to the restaurant and the place gets loud with excitement. The Generalissima has been killed in a coup, and a general election is planned. Someone is playing rock music, a thing not normally heard. Jacj asks Sandro if he knew this was going to happen, but despite all his planning for this day, Sandro did not expect this. They decide to go somewhere quieter.
79. They head back home to Errest on the train. Both wonder what awaits them? Will their parents be there? Jacj's cat? Sandro hopes to start composing again - music from his own inspiration, and not the music of the Gradual. He'll even make good on his promise to compose a triumphal march for the new government, complete with folk dance interludes and sea shanties.
    THE END

Discussion

• So, there it is - the end of the novel. Satisfying?
• What is your final take on this story - what Priest is trying to achieve? Is it about life and music, and how a record of life is like a sheet of music? It it more about time travel, about how travelling to the islands can be rejuvenating (despite the trials and tribulations along the way)? Is it about siezing second chances?
• Should we think about this book, or just 'feel' it?
• Just before the end, Priest spends a little more time with the adepts and we learn more details of adeptry, though it's barely anything. Why take us through this just before the close, do you think? Is it to generate a contrast at the end? The life the adept that he leaves behind could not be more different that the one that lies ahead.
• It seems he's not just going back in time (afterall, the events are already different - his brother has de-mobbed and the Generalissima is dead) so it seems likely we're talking about diverging spheres, here. Is this why (this time) he doesn't seem concerned about meeting himself at home?

65. As the effects of the volcano subside, Sandro can still not reach Cea by phone. He settles into transcribing his inspirational pieces and working out details. Four days pass before Cea calls him. She's fine and similarly holed up at home with her parents. She invites him over to meet her father, who's a fan of his. Sandro heads over and discovers her father's name is Ormand.
66. Ormand seems much younger than Cea's mother, who is an infirm 80-year-old. He even seems younger than Cea. Sandro remarks on this and Ormand tells him that he, Sandro, also looks younger than his age. Ormand explains that the two men have shared a common existence travelling among the isles, and this has kept them young. Ormand claims to be an old admirer of Sandro's work - in fact, he's And Ante. He suggests that the islands can speak to he and Sandro, and that Temmil did exactly that during the eruption. This is because they are both adept. As Adept Musicians, they are atuned to the gradual and can hear the music of the islands. In fact, they hear the same music. And Ante wasn't copying Sandro, he was playing the music of the gradual. He tells Sandro to surrender to this - it's his lot. He then picks up his guitar and starts playing the same melody that had inspired Sandro a few days ago.
67. Sandro leaves And Ante to his strummings and exits the house. On the way home he meets Cea in the street. She seems aloof, and when he asks why she explains that she can't deal with another adept like her father. She's afraid of what Sandro will become. She wants to leave the island to be away from her father and Sandro. They part - seeming having ended their relationship. He returns home and has a shower.
68. Alone at home, Sandro ponders a future where he travels the islands. He's no longer satisfied with Temmil. He strolls about town, then goes to a night club hoping to find Cea. When he doesn't, he returns home again. The volcano erupts again. He opens his mind to the music and decides that Temmil's real charm lies beneath the surface, not on it. "He alone heard the music that night. He alone responded."
69. In the morning Sandro packs a few belongings including his violin and locks up the house. He heads down to the harbour, and Renettia the Adept finds him. She's unsurprised to see him and is prepared to guide him down the path to being an adept. He spends the next few hours in her company, making markings on a practice stave. He's dubbed with the name 'Violin' and told never to tell anyone his name, nor to look directly at the people arriving on the boats.
70. The next day, a tour boat arrives and Sandro is moved to find his first customer (or mark?), a man named Taner Couter. He examines his stave and from this knows from whence he came, where he's going, and to charge him 40 Simoleons. Renettia stays at his side through this for support.

Discussion

• Things take quite a turn for Sandro over these chapters. I didn't foresee him being or becoming an adept, but it seems logical (as logic goes in this novel) that this be the case. Though not explicitly stated, perhaps it's only Adepts themselves who don't know they are adepts that need the service of Adepts? If the general population doesn't need them, they would be seen as scammers, and the real need for their services would not be much talked about. There's a significant amount of hand-wavium here, to nobody's surprise, but it sort of holds up.
• Some loose ends are tied, but there are still nine little chapterlets in which to ties things together. I'm curious to see what happens.
• The quoted text below from Ch66 seems relevant. Any thoughts? Do musicians, composers, experience time differently when they are composing or playing? Does music come from the fundament?

‘I too have heard music all my life,’ said Ormand Weller, Cea’s impossibly young father. ‘Some of it was what I now know to be yours. I heard tides and winds and the sounds of seabirds, the blast of wind on a moor, the suck of a retreating tide. It was beautiful, moving, mysterious, deeply true. I was young, I thought the music was mine. Inspirational, as you say. Later I discovered it was Sussken’s, not mine. Yours, Sandro. The music that speaks to us from the islands is not unique, as we believe or as some of us prefer to believe. It is in fact communal, consensus, shared, part of the gradual. It is present in the fields of time that lie around every island. It is the great hall of music, the fundament, the sky, the world. Some of the other adepts describe a vortex, a gradient, a distortion of time, but to me the gradual is a heart, a living soul, a continuum of musical response, sung to us, played to us, spoken to us by one island, by the next island, by all islands. We alone understand it.’

Also, there's this passage from the end of Ch68:

Music for me was the voice of the human spirit. It existed only in the space between the instruments that produced it and the ear that appreciated it. It was the movement and pressure of molecules of air, dispersed and replaced instantly and unceasingly. It lived nowhere in reality: gramophone records, digital discs, were merely copies of the original. The only real record that existed of music was the original score, the black pen marks on the staves, but they were cryptic, had no sound, were written in code – they had no meaning without the human spirit that could break the code, interpret the symbols. And music survived not only the lives of those who played it, but the life of the man or woman who composed it.

Much the same could be said for stories, could it not? Note here that 'black pen marks on staves' are used in their musical context. It seems to me that as an adept, Sandro's life is literally a musical score - the score of his life is recorded on his stave. The odd back-and-forth movements needed to keep time are rather like following the notes up and down the scale. The time he keeps is different from the non-musicians. He experiences refrains. Does life itself have meaning if we are not equipped with the tools to break the code? How far can the analogy be stretched? This wouldn't be the first time Priest has played with this kind of thing, where he tries to interpret an abstract concept literally. In his first novel, The Inverted World, the main character lives a very different, non-linear physical existence.

58. After Lunch, Kan and Renettia lead Sandro down to the harbour by foot, where they board a small sailboat. The two women sail it awkwardly toward Temmil, but when they reach the half-way point - the point of gradual neutrality - they tell him he must continue alone. Despite his protests, they jump into a dinghy and leave him. He sails the rest of the way alone.
59. He docks awkwardly on Temmil and goes through shelterate procedures. After a bit of a hunt he finds a seaside pension in which to stay.
60. After a few days in town, he comes upon a villa with a piano and decides to rent it. He returns to composing and spends most of the next while (days? weeks?) working on several compositions. At first he's inspired by the islands, then later by the concept of time slippage and The Gradual.
61. One night, while walking in town, he hears music coming from inside a bar. He goes in and finds Cea Weller playing jazz piano with a bassist. She seems happy to see him and tells him that her father mentioned he was coming. Sandro had apparently met him on his previous trip, but had never shared his travel plans.
62. After Cea's set finishes, she joins him at a table for drinks. Sandro tells her all about his travels, including the adepts. She tells him the adepts are a scam for tourists, and that islanders never use their services. They find other ways of dealing with time deficits (something about insurance & exemptions from the shelterate office - very vague). Cea tells Sandro about her life. Later they dance and, after the bar closes, return to his place to spend the night.
63. Sandro wakes in the middle of the night and, as he contemplates Cea's sleeping form beside him, he examines his life. In the morning, she leaves to take care of her mother, but says she'll return that evening. This saddens him. He takes a shower, then is hit by musical inspiration - an entire piece pops into his head at once. He plays it on the piano and records it to transcribe later. Afterward, he's drained and slumps over the piano. He returns to alert when an earthquake shakes the house.
64. Soon after the earthquake, the volcano erupts. Sandro turns on the news and watches for a time - the authorities assure there's no emergency. His thoughts turn again to his new music piece. Then he tries to call Cea, but cannot get through. He decides to walk into town and wanders there for a while before returning home.

Discussion

• An affirmation of @NeilNjae 's scam theory emerges.
• Is there a symbolic reason the adepts leave Sandro halfway to Temmil so he can finish the trip on his own?
• Once Sandro reaches Temmil, he's basically revisiting an old experience, only this time he's older. If the experience of life is a constant progression of time and place, then the revisiting of a previously visited location can take space out of the equation and throw time into stark contrast. It's in these moments we find it easiest to reflect on our past, because we can see the passage of time. In our daily lives at home, the increments of time are gradual. In that sense, the return to Temmil is anti-gradual. Thoughts?
• I guess with the volcano, the story is literally climaxing?

52. Sandro continues his journey south toward Temmil. He's in a mental fog for the first part of it, his mind occupied by thoughts of his brother. He breaks his stay in the Salay group, but when some Glaundians occupy the apartment beneath him, he nervously moves on, concerned about the warrant for his arrest. He stops using the adepts, and his time detriment grows.
53. He arrives at Hakerline Promise, the island opposite Temmil. Kan, the adept, appears at his shoulder and demands 60 thalers. She seems not to know him, but he's glad to see her. Her manner is stiff, but after he pays she examines his stave and relaxes. She tells him he currently has a 12 hour detriment, but if he steps foot on Hakerline, it can get much worse quickly. To prevent this, she would need to be with him at all times. Hakerline lies in a gradual vortex within a gradual vortex. She then describes how her parent met while in town and then settled on the island, This is her home island. There is some mumbo jumbo about tour operators and licenses, but she explains Sandro isn't eligible for a license because he was born on the mainland. Hence the stave. His stave reveals a lot about him to her - not just his travels, but also that he's a musician who plays piano and violin, and a fair bit about his brother.
54. Sandro stays on the boat and observes the shore from the railing. Kan returns and tells him he must remain on the boat tonight, or they will 'lose him'. The gradual is too steep on the island, and besides he doesn't have a license - no entry without a license. If he tries to land tonight, they will take his stave and either inter him or put him back on the boat. Tomorrow he can land - the other adept, Renettia, will fix things.
55. Sandro is left alone on the ship that afternoon. There's nothing to eat or drink, so he braves a short trip to a kiosk on the shore for food and water bottles. Back on the ship, he wanders the deck playing violin, reconnecting with his music. Later, he examines himself in a mirror and is surprised to see how fit he has become. shedding 20 years seemingly. Is this the effect of the gradual, or the change in lifestyle? He tries to sleep, but it's too hot, so he opens the porthole - but then it's too loud. He hears music, dull and repetitive pop music. He recognizes his own melody, made dull.
56. In the morning, Sandro goes on deck early. Kan returns with Renettia - there are complications. He will not only need Kan's service on Hakerline Promise, but also Renettia's for the trip to Temmil. That island also has a strong gradual, but it's the reverse of Hakerline's - the two offset each other. The 'options' that Renettia presents don't really seem like options, so he submits again. They go ashore and he takes more money from his account, then pays Renttia the 100 Hakerline talents she requests.
57. They drive on Hakerline and arrive in a village. Sandro is told not to leave the car, but he's thirsty and crosses the square to get a drink from a fountain. As he does so, things change dramatically - the car disappears and one of the old men in the square has collapsed. Sandro walks back to the car, and things return to normal. Kan reiterates that he shouldn't leave the car without them. However, they've found a safe restaurant for lunch.

Discussion

• Even if you doubt that the adepts can somehow help people negotiate time, there's no doubt they are adept at making things more confusing, amiright?
• Sandro's comment on hearing his own music, distorted, seems key: "Whoever was playing it, whoever was on the record, had turned it into something bland and loud and rhythmic, had made it cheap and repetitive, made it obvious and moronic, but it was still mine. The army had made my brother into a soulless soldier, but he was still mine." What do you think Priest means by this?
• The episode with the mirror reminded me of something Sandro said in the opening chapter: "Time is a gradual process - like ageing, you do not notice it happening."

46. Sandro soon decides to abandon his itinerary and go 'off-piste'. He spends the next 56 days travelling on 20 boats to umpteen different islands. He enjoys the freedom, so different from his highly regulated home, where free speech and the internet are not really a thing, and e-mails are monitored. The adepts go wherever he does, always getting there first, but seldom obviously taking the same boat. He uses their services and sees the results in the changing face of his wristwatch. It costs him in thalers each time. Each ship also has the two chronometers - absolute time and ship time.
47. He is slowly making his way toward Temmil, haunted as he is by And Ante. He arrives on Demmer, a large island in the same group where he must change ship. The adept, Kan, approaches him. She asks him if he intends to land - he could go back without disembarking. He asks why she suggests this, but received no answer. She tells him there will be no charge for services on Demmer. She doesn't explain why and he doesn't persist.
48. He disembarks and meets Kan outside the Shelterate building. Kan hands him his stave and tells him there is no detriment, and no charge. The Gradual on Demmer is neutral. Meanwhile, a storm builds quickly and soon opens up. He shelters with Kan under the canopy. Several rounds of hail fall, and there are high, warm, winds. Eventually the hail turns to rain, and Kan steps out into it, allowing herself to get soaked while she looks up at the sky. Sandro sees others doing this, too, including the people from the shelterate building. When the rain stops, Kan departs without a word, and the officials re-enter the Shelterate building. Sandro follows them in.
49. Sandro re-emerges an hour later, angry and humiliated at what seems to be rough or invasive treatment by the customs people. In a foul mood, he goes to his hotel and turns in early. The next day is pleasant, though, and his mood seems to be back to normal at the end of it.
50. The second morning, he strikes off to go on a walk in a direction he hasn't explored yet. There remains something about the island he doesn't quite like, but he can't quite say what. On his walk, he comes to a barrier across the road, and is uncertain he should cross it. Two young black caps emerge from nearby and question him loosely. He has no papers but offers his stave - which they have no interest in. He asks if he can keep going, or must turn back. They let him through. He descends into a village - it seems somewhat abandoned. He hears gunfire nearby and shouting. He crouches beside a wall in fear. Soon, a door is kicked open and four black-caps emerge, roughly escorting another man. They put him on a truck. The officer returns to the house and closes the door, picking up some caps that fell off. He approaches Sandro and tells him he's in a closed military zone, and that he's authorized to eliminate witnesses. Sandro tells him who he is, and begins to think this is his brother Jacj, by the sound of his voice (he can't see his face). He has the number 289 on his clothing. The soldier tells him that he's read a report that Alesandro Sussken has absconded from Glaund with 30,000 gulden of state money, and that he has downloaded a warrant for his arrest.
51. Sandro appeal to Jacj, asking him to acknowledge their connection. He tells him their parents are dead. Reminds him of when they played music together after bombings. Then he mentions Jacj's cat, Djahann, and that seems to do the trick. Jacj removes his glasses and scarf and Sandro can see it's him. Jacj acknowledges the cat, and even calls him Sandro. He tells him to leave - if he leaves now, he need not arrest him. Sandro is reluctant, but when the other soldiers arrive and Jacj tells him to leave a second and third time, he does - and runs back to town.

Discussion

• This passage from Ch. 46 seems to strike at the heart of one of the themes: "When we travel, we take our expectations with us, our prejudices, our sense of normality. We see what we see through eyes trained by home." Does this only relate to Sandro's travels, or to all physical travel? To what degree does it apply to the whole novel, or to novels in general?
• What do you make of the people standing in the rain? A symbolic cleansing? An actual cleansing? Of what? Is this the author's way of signaling a change in the story? Or is other symbolism at work?
• I'm currently reading Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands by Michael Chabon, a collection of essays about, mostly, genre fiction. In the essay, Dark Adventure Along Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Chabon has something to say about the genre. Relevant?:

"But it's not the goal of the journey, the movement toward healing, however illusory, that marks The Road as epic adventure. It's the passage of it's heroes through Hell. In Walter M. Miller Jr.'s introduction to Beyond Armageddon, an anthology of post-apocalypse short stories, the late author... suggests that what most characterizes the form is not the setting or action - the scarred landscape, the savage contending tribes, the mutations, the deprivations, the desolation and death - but rather the epic persistence with which its protagonists are haunted by the ghosts of the dead, by the vanished. The world post-apocalypse is not Waterworld; it's the Underworld. In his stories, his memories, and above all in his dreams, the father in The Road is visited as poignantly and dreadfully as Odysseus or Aeneas by ghosts, by the gibbering shades of the former world that populate the grey, sunless hell he and his son are daily obliged to harrow."

42. Sandro settles into his cabin aboard the Serquian and shelters there for the first day, feeling unsettled by his recent experience with the adept. The next morning he walks the deck and, after looking out at the various islands for a time, the sea and the sky, he feels invigorated again.
43. The third morning, now feeling himself again, he again walks the deck. He plans to get some composing work done this day, but before that happens a woman with a silver mane appears at his side at the ship's rail. It's Renettia, the woman adept he first met on Ristor. She tells him that she will assist him upon arrival in Quy. She demands his stave and 40 thaler - no other currency will do. Sandro has to change money and retrieve his stave from the cabin, but he gives both to her and she leaves him for a time. She returns later that day to hand his stave back, and says there was 'nothing to be done'. Pheelp, the male adept who refused to give his name, had apparently done a good job. Where does she stay on the ship, Sandro wonders?
    They arrive at Quy, a steep, wooded island. Renettia appears at his side again before they dock. There's some confusion over whether he's been to Quy before. First he insists not, but maybe he has. She concludes that both she and Pheelp have made a mistake - that Sandro has been to Manlayl instead. Sandro agrees. Renettia tells him that it's an honest mistake - Manlayl is 'gradually cognate' with Quy, meaning it has a similarly sized and shaped gradual profile. Because of this mistake, an adjustment must be made and it must be done ASAP - assuming he agrees. After he checks in at the shelterate building, she takes is stave and leads him off, insisting he bring all his luggage with him if he doesn't wish to lose it.
44. They embark on a small boat and motor out into the sea, where they circle around some small islands. The sun seems to rise and fall in the sky, setting in reverse. She quizzes him on his planned itinerary, and they speak a little about the smells on Temmil, his final destination. He recalls his last trip there. When they finally return to Quy, there's no sign of the Serqian, and she tells him he was here before afterall: "Your earlier visit to Quy. I should have realized. You were here before. Before is the same as now. Sorry.' Sandro replies: 'But I did come through Quy before. I have remembered.' She says, cryptically: 'Then is twice the same as now.' He heads to the Shelterate building to report for the first time. He has gained just over 5 hours.
45. At the Shelterate Building, he sees Renettia again, but she has changed her clothes. He ignores her and enters, where he is grilled by the customs officers - especially about whether he will be working on the island. Working without a permit is a serious offense. They search his luggage and question him on his notes and violin. Afterward, he heads to the harbour but the Serqian is nowhere in sight. A schedule informs him it will arrive later in the day. He decides he doesn't want to be there when it arrives - he's afraid to see who might bet off the ship! So he heads to the hotel he booked.

Discussion

• Renettia reappears in the story. She has an accent, as if to explain away the poor communication between Sandro and her. Proper understanding seems to be impossible between Sandro and the adepts. Is this a reflection of how Sandro interacts with the World? The Archipelago? Is it a metaphor for all of our existences? Do we barely hang on to understanding in this world by the seat of our pants?
• If the whole Adept thing seemed like a shakedown before, Renettia's cornering him on the ship seems even doubly so. And yet, the results of these excursions do have obvious results. Has the world changed while Sandro was in the boat, or has Sandro?
• Was it your reading that Renettia made a mistake in thinking Pheelp made a mistake earlier? And that maybe she's overcorrected, and returned Sandro to his very first visit to the island?

36. Sandro is on Muriseay, having escaped Glaund. We learn a little about the island. He's settled in knows he will soon leave, as this isn't where he wants to say. But he's happy for now, and won't rush to leave. The rigmarole of island travel daunts him.
37. Sandro describes his departure from Glaund. On Ristor, the first island after leaving Glaund, one of the young people approaches him and offers to sell him a stave. He already has one, so she tells him it will soon be expired and offers to renew it. He declines. A port official tells him it will not soon expire.
38. Sandro arrives on Muriseay and is met by his friend Denn Mytrie, who drives him to a small town on the coast. They see a ship off shore - a Glaundian troop ship - and Sandro is reminded of his brother. Mytrie tells him something about the R&R camps on the islands, and about deserters. The conversation then turns to And Ante; Mytrie doesn't remember working with him - doesn't know him. He's surprised to hear about the plagiarism, says it's typical behavior for people on the island of Temmil.
39. In the city, Sandro vainly searches the database of known deserters/refugees for a sign of his brother. Later, he explores options for exploring the islands and books himself a 5-island excursion on the Serquian.
40. Sandro heads to the harbour in the morning, where he one again sees the same young woman (among others) outside the shelterate building. He rushes past and enters. At the customs desk, he's told he needs a visa to leave Muriseay, which he doesn't have. And his stave is almost expired. The agent tops up the stave for free, but is told that it's 'blank, and he shouldn't risk anymore travel until the gradual has been marked'. He'll need this if he's going to travel about the islands without a visa. He's told to talk to the 'adepts' to learn more. Outside, he speaks to one of the young people - a man, an 'adept'. The adept seems to know a lot about him, including his past itinerary and his name. He warns not to travel east due to the 'steep gradual'. He examines Sandro's stave, says there's a 17-day detriment since Riston. He scores the stave with his chisel to record the detriment, then asks for 50 thalers to remove it. He says it will prevent the big loss of time he experienced after his island tour. Sandro reluctantly hands over the money.
41. The adept leads Sandro to a small boat and they zoom out of the harbour and over to a shoreline. They move back and forth, then land. On land, they move back a forth again, then hail a taxi which winds its way about. The adept refuses to explain things to Sandro, who is not happy about it. Eventually they return to the harbour, and Sandro seems to have regained some of the lost time. The Serquian, which he thought had left, is still there. He enters the building again and the agent tells him the boat already left. He presents his staff, and the machine beeps - a new itinerary is printed, and he's told his boat will leave in a few minutes.

Discussion

• The book has certainly taken another turn this section. We are learning much more about the time differences, the young people, and the stave. But many more questions are raised than answered. No doubt as a reader, you are feeling some emotions at this point. What are they?
• What was all that business in the boat and taxi with the adept?
• Is this the book's scherzo movement?

30. One day Sandro notices a small announcement that the 286th Battalion will be returning home, triumphant. He's never seen such a notice before, but it catches his eye because it's only 3 number away from his brother's Battalion, the 289th. A library search reveals that other such notices have been posted in the past, but none for the 289th. This sets Sandro to wondering if maybe the 289th had been reorganized. He sends an e-mail to an advertised agency to help families track down soldiers, but gets no reply.

31. He decides to go and greet the incoming ship with the returning 286th Battalion all the same. He takes the train to the port, but after leaving it he is intercepted by some soldiers, who bundle him brusquely into a heavy black car. The car beetles down the road and into an alley, where he is ushered through the side door of a building. They tell him he hasn't been arrested and give him a chance to fix his (now mussed) appearance, without explaining why he should. Soon his is thrust through a door into a sort of military wine and cheese party, where he finds himself introduced to a crowd by none other than the Generalissima Flauuran - chief of the ruling military junta. The generalissima calls him Glaund's greatest living composer, and offers him a commission to write a patriotic symphony for the nation. Too nonplussed to refuse, Sandro says 'yes' in spite of a number of questionable conditions. He is given a large sum in the way of a banker's draft and told that a private audience will follow.

32. In private audience with the generalissima, she informs him of the rules of his contract. Sandro reflects on her absolute power, and for a brief moment entertains the notion of killing her on the spot, which surprises him as a non-violent person. He hates her. His anxiety rises and he expresses a need to escape. He learns that his brother, Jacj, is now a captain in the army and is alive and well - but no more information is offered, and he is discouraged from making further inquiry. He is presented with a contract, upon which his signature in not required. He is told that his wife must appear always at his side in public. Eventually, he asks to leave.

33. Back in the streets, Sandro wanders for a time in the rain and snow until he finds a familiar cafe in which to compose himself. He descends into the metro system, thinking to go home, but at the last minute changes his mind and heads for the harbour.

34. At the wharf, a black ship is disgorging soldiers in civilian clothes. He follows them for a time before asking if they're from the 286th. The answer is yes, but he's told not to speak to the soldiers and told where family can wait for them.

35. Sandro returns home. He resolves to leave Glaund for good, and spends the winter putting his affairs in order. With Denn Mytrie's help, he hides his money (including the substantial amount paid to him by the government) in an anonymous offshore account on Muriseay.

Discussion

• A sudden twist sees Sandro in the crosshairs of his (potentially hostile) home government. Were you surprised by this, or did you expect it?
• Does the Generalissima remind you of anyone?
• Surely, his preparations are foolproof and couldn't possibly go wrong.

Summary

23. The tour group returns to Glaund. Sandro finds the return trip tiresome and is anxious to get home, but upon arriving finds it drab. Their arrival is greeted by a squad of nervous soldiers leading a different kind of bureaucratic investigation.

24. Sandra passes a gloomy trainride home. It's late fall weather, which he finds odd. Impressions of smog, delays, and crowds are conveyed - basically some of the worst aspects of northern urban life. Sandro finally arrives home to find Alynna missing. Both locks are locked, and there's a pile of mail behind the door. In the pile are letters threatening eviction and other unpaid bills going back 6 months. Sandro is surprised because he left things in good order and there's plenty in his bank account. However, there's something odd about the dates on the letters and account transcript.

25. The letters reveal his parents are dead. Father died of a stroke shortly after he left. Mother died 8 months later. Alynna left the apartment a year later. All of which is odd because he's only been travelling for 9 weeks - yet 23 months of life has happened here in the meantime.

26. Soon after his return, Alynna contacts him and comes over. She blames him for his extended absence, and explains how she waited. But she's move on now, and is living with someone else, and romantically involved. She has moved on, and says her goodbyes. His rambling, repetitive blather does nothing to move her. The very next day, the first postcard he sent arrives in the mail.

27. All the other members of the tour have similar problems, and they form a support group. Time passes, and Sandro and the others gradually learn to deal with this time slip. During that time, Sandro becomes aware of a second And Ante album, which also plagiarizes him. Ganner, the cellist, brings this to his attention, but Sandro seems unphased. Soon their conversation drifts to the staves, and Sandro points out that the text written on them means 'Unlimited use of one person - ninety days'. They seem to have been made by an instrument maker.

28. Soon after, another tour is proposed. Neither Sandro nor any of the other members of the original tour have an interest. But Sandro does agree to give a commencement speech at the dock before they leave. He concludes the speech by warning the tour group to use the staves exactly as instructed. Which is odd considering he doesn't really understand their use, or the consequences of of mis-using them. Ultimately, Sandro does long to be on the second tour - to see the islands again. This second tour returns on schedule after 14 weeks away.

29. Sandro is initially unsettled by the timely return of the second tour, but eventually finds himself at peace. Eventually, he find himself at peace and these are productive times for him. He writes several new pieces which are well received, both in live an recroded versions. Yet he feels vaguely dissatisfied. And Ante is also productive, and three new albums arrive, none of which plagiarize Sandro's music. Has And Ante finally moved on? One albutm lists Ante's inspirations, and Sandro is miffed no to see his name among them. One of these albums is a film soundtrack, and Sandro is surprised to see his old friend Denn Mytrie credited as the piano player on the album.

Discussion

• The plot seems to be thickening, and we're clearly not done with And Ante. Any speculations as to who And Ante might be? Why did he stop copying Sandro's music?
• How significant is this temporal anomaly? It seems to have affected everyone on a personal level, but officially there's no discussion that we known of.
• Are we getting any sense of 'The Gradual' through these chapters? Either in the musical or the sense of change Priest described in the first chapter?

• Lenden and Bella meet Father Confessor Henner in the Seminary, and he shows them to her dead uncle's house. Lenden finds the place uncomfortable and wishes not to stay, but seems duty bound to see this through.
• The Seminary seems to care little for them. They deny them special accommodation which was supposedly arranged in advance, and force Lenden to sleep either on the floor or in her sickly, long-dead aunt's bed with unwashed sheets.
• Lenden is also forced to deal with her uncle's affairs quickly. The best stuff has seemingly already been taken by the Seminary itself. Those things that can't be carried away or incinerated are to be shipped away at Lenden's expense.

• In the evening, Bella once again tries to draw close to Lenden, but Lenden remains emotionally aloof, and cannot explain why.

• The action shifts again to the past. Lenden is in the tower, while Seri has gone outside to be with the priest.

• Lenden feels a presence in the tower, something bestial. She is drawn to a hole in the wall, and it seems maybe the beast is within. She put her arm in and the beast grabs it and starts eating it.
• Lenden undergoes an episode of panic and tries to withdraw her arm. The creature gnaws on it and wont let go.
• Then suddenly, the beast opens its mouth and she withdraws her arm. She finds it whole and unharmed, though her clothing is shredded.
• She leaves the tower in a hurry. Outside, Seri is nowhere to be seen. But she does see the priest suddenly stand up, then flee.
• Lenden runs to the spot the priest was and finds Seri on the ground, naked with clothes scattered about. Seri laughts hysterically and asks "Do you still want to touch me?"

• Lended runs from her, back to the house where Aunt Alvie is being held by her parents over a chamber pot. The scene devolves into shouting, screaming, and a quick exit by Lenden and her parents. Lenden never sees Seri again.

• Back in the present, Lenden tries to find this tower again, if only to satisfy her that it still existed. She cannot.

• Bella continues to try to break Lenden's shell. Lenden mistrusts her. They express, on the surface, an interest in one another and promise to visit each other, but after this trip ends. neither ever follows through on this.

DISCUSSION/QUESTIONS

• There's a lot of symbology here, and Neil pointed out last time. It seems obvious that what happens to Lenden inside the tower is mirroring what happens to Seri outside the tower. What's the significance of the tower, the beast, or the hole, if any?
• Of what significance, if any, is Father Confessor Henner's behaviour?
• What of Bella's? Why try so hard to break in, but then never follow through?
• Lastly, please share any thoughts on the story as a whole.

7. Tidal Symbols is selling well, especially in the islands. Sandro is enjoying being married. And old letter - seemingly sent ten years ago - arrives from Jacj. The letter is strange and impersonal, informing Jacj's familay that he's about to embark on the grand campaign to end the war, and encouraging them to buy war bonds. The letter is postmarked from Winho, and Sandro is curious about the place.
8. Sandro writes new pieces: the Seasonal Gods oratorio, in which the passage of time is depicted by the antiphonal gradual, and Detriment in the Calm to complete the trilogy that he had started with Dianme. His career is progressing nicely until things start to go wrong.
9. A fan letter arrives and reveals that a person named And Ante on the island of Temmil has plagiarized a number of his pieces on a new rock album called Pilota Marret (The Lost Aviator). Sandro is unsettled but doesn't think he can do much about it.
10. Sandro is invited on a tour of the islands as composer emeritus. His wife helped arrange his place on the tour for his benefit. The tour will include the island of Temmil - home of And Ante. Sandro expresses some foreboding and drops hints that bad days are a-coming.
11. Sandro prepares for his trip. In preparation, he's given a hold-all containing a tour jacket and hat, some cash, and a mysterious stave which seems something like a conductor's baton.
12. A brief visit with his parents reminds Sandro of his lost brother and saddens him. Again, some foreboding of the future.
13. The opening concert of the tour takes place in Glaund City and goes well.
14. The tour begins in earnest as Sandro boards the boat and it leaves port. Sandro remarks on the view and how it is already different. He also remarks upon two chronometers in his room labelled Mutlaq Vaqt and Kema Vaqt, names he doesn't understand. He drinks himself to sleep that night, and wakes up late the next morning. His personal watch seems to be 4 hours out, so he assumes they crossed some time zones. He's informed by a cellist names Ganner that he slept through the morning briefing which announced the itinerary - and he wasn't the only one.

Discussion

• Priest basically tells us that things are going to go wrong, then let our imaginations do the heaving lifting. Effective?
• Any predictions with respect to this And Ante character - I mean, apart from the fact things will go poorly? (And is Priest an Adam Ant fan?)
• It seems like temporal anomalies will be a thing. I wonder what kind of havoc that might wreak on the reading and playing of music!
• We are given the word 'gradual' again, this time in the musical context that @RichardAbbott so kindly pointed out.

1. We are given a brief intro to our character. He is a musician, composer, sometimes criminal and fugitive, and later 'an inadvertent traveller in time'. We are introduced to the concept of 'the gradual' - at least empirically speaking. The gradual is a process that, like ageing, unfolds too slowly to notice most of the time. Music and Warfare are to be constant themes of his life.
2. Our character is introduced as Alessandro Susskin. He tells us of his childhood in costal Errest, a provincial industrial city in Glaund with what was once a significant arts scene. His father was a first violinist with the philharmonic, and his mother a touring opera singer. Both put their careers on hold when the war closed the scene. They took to teaching. Sandro is a violinist and pianist, but also plays guitar and recorder and composes. His brother Jacj is also a violinist, but hopes to become a lawyer if he can avoid the draft. Sandro tells us about how one day he climbed into the attic and from there spotted his first islands. These made an indelible impression on his life, and he began to dream.
3. And agreement is made between Glaund and Faiandland to move the theatre of war to the south continent. That means that local bombing will cease, but warfare will continue. When Jacj turns 18, he is drafted into service. His parents try to convince him to hide in the mountains to the north, but he declines. His plan is to observe and document the war, which he considers illegal, and to make a legal case against it on his return. Shortly after he receives the letter, he boards a grey bus and departs.
4. Sandro takes a job with a munitions manufacturer at the age of 16. This work allows him to avoid the draft. He spends the next 11 years gets his first recital, a landscape inspired peace called Breath which he performs with his friend, Alynna Rosson, on violin. He himself plays piano. After the recital, both are moved to tears, but for very different reasons. He is pleased, but she is very upset by the pauses in the music, which were marked red in the score and left her feeling alone. She leaves abruptly, declining to perform it again.
5. Now in his thirties, Sandro has a chance to offer a piece to a record company for a compilation album. They agree to take a chamber piece called Dianme, which is inspired by a local offshore island and it's mythology. The piece is published to little local acclaim.
6. Sandro sends another piece, Tidal Symbols, to the record company and they agree to record it. He travels to Glaund City for the recording and once again meets Alynna. Many years have passed and this time they hit it off. He also meets a composer named Denn Mytrie from the island of Muriseay, here on cultural exchange. Denn's piece will be on the other side of the album. Denn seems to be an admirer of Sandro's piece, Dianme, and tells him it has been receiving radio play in the islands. Not only will Denn and Sandro become friends, but four months later Sandro marries Alynna.

Discussion

• Based on the first few sections, are you feeling a warming trend or a cold front toward the novel?
• There are some familiar setting elements. The nature of this war seems to have varied a bit from story to story, but Priest sets up this specific variation up front. The artists don't seem to be the destructive individuals they are in The Islanders, but time will tell, I assume.
• Why do you think Alynna was moved so by the performance of Breath?
• In the opening section, Sandro tells us about the ultimate fate of many people. Why? Does it bother you?
• The marriage - why has Priest chosen to write about it this way, do you think?

Please feel to express your thoughts on the series.

Personally, I always have (and still do) prefer The Islanders, which to me remains one of the most remarkable books I've read. I fine it a little more thematically coherent. I love the mix of 'travel guide' (such as it is), shorty story, and overarching theme that almost makes it a novel. The Dream Archipelago has some interesting (and generally very well written) stories, but doesn't quite hold together as well as a 'book' in my opinion.

I'm looking forward to The Gradual as well. I think Priest is quite good at the long form, and I've enjoyed his other novels. The Gradual is the only book of the series that I've never read, so this one will be a new to me as it is to you.

@clash_bowley is quite right that Priest seems more interested in the metaphorical than the actual. I certainly don't mind that, as I quite like the metaphorical. Do we call this 'speculative' fiction rather than Science Fiction? Or maybe Pure SF as apposed to Applied SF? Priest is almost like and anti-Kim-Stanley-Robinson.

There were some strong thematic lines in these two books. Pacifism, perhaps, is one. The complexity of art, maybe another. A love of geography seems to be a third. Certainly the awkwardness of close relationships is there, too. Unlike Clash, I'm not convinced we can divine the ego/id of the author from these, but it is tempting to try and draw a picture of Priest, however inaccurate. I'm curious to see how much The Gradual will follow along these same lines.

• Our protagonist completes his journey southward. Along the way, his belongings are searched and his map of the islands is confiscated and destroyed. He's docked some pay and his name is given over to the Black Caps (presumably as a warning). They don't find his diary, however, and anyway the names of the islands are the map are ingrained in his memory.
• He arrives on the southern continent, trains for a bit, then embarks on a train to travel to his new unit.
• After a lonely journey (despite there being other people) he eventually joins his unit - a grenade launcher unit.
• There is some faffing about with new equipment... new training... and purposeless and constant movement.
• Eventually it seems like the big push is imminent, and he decides that this is the time he must discharge himself if he ever will. He flees cross country and shelters in a brothel, where they feed and dress him rakishly in civilian clothing.
• After a time, he's taken out to a dark motor launch on the sea, along with other escapees (also in rakish clothing). The launch heads north.
• He jumps off the boat at the first inhabited island, named Keeilin. Someone calls him a 'Steffer' - which seems to mean 'deserter'.
• Gradually, he makes his way north: Fellenstel, Manlayl, Meequa, Emmeret, Sentier. He learns how to cope, to be self sufficient and travel slow.
• After another year he reaches Mesterline and stays for a while, but when some black-caps arrive he once again moves on.
• Another year, travelling, living off his wits, assisted by a network of well-meaning whores. He practices drawing, painting.
• Eventually, he gets to Muriseay and settles down. He makes a living selling pictures of sea-scapes and harbour scenes to the tourists on the street. He spends his spare time in the studio and at the museum, experimenting and learning about tactilism. Eventually, he purchases a space where he can make a private gallery of his work.... and five years pass.
• Then one day, while he's alone in his gallery, the black-caps arrive. They tell him he's been discharged and zap him with synaptic batons. But one of the black-caps gets stuck to a tactilist painting after he zaps it. And he can't free himself.
• Though he is injured by one of the batons, he manages to get downstairs in the confusion and lose himself in the maze or rooms. The other black-caps chase him, but they also get stuck to paintings, like flies to fly paper.
• Smoke rises from the interaction between the batons and the paintings. The place catches fire. Our soldier flees into the night streets.
• The next morning, he was aboard the first ferry of the day, heading for other islands. Their names chimed in his mind, urging him on.

Discussion

So, what do you make of it? Lots of innuendo - as an ex soldier, he's a discharge. He discharged himself. The black-caps use synaptic batons, that cause them to stick to... artwork? Tactilist paintings? The painting are art - expressive, interactive art.

One of them shouted at me to help them.
'What is this stuff? What's holding him against the board?'
The man started screaming as the smouldering pigments reached his hands, but still he could not release himself. His pain, my agonies, contorted his boy.
'His dreams!' I cried boldly. 'He is a captive of his own vile dreams!'

He discharges twice in the story (in two different contexts), and both times he flees immediately afterward.

Again, does the litany of islands suggest a conclusion to the work? What about the last line - 'their names chimed in his mind, urging him on'. This reminds me again of the notion that islands are people - like characters in a novel, whose names chime in the mind of the author (or the reader). Can we, I wonder, read the 'discharging' as being akin to an author completing a novel? He puts it out there - by himself. Sometimes he's embarrassed by it. sometimes it's an escape. When done, he has to move on, looking for new places, new characters.

• We meet an un-named soldier, fresh from boot camp and in his 20's, marching to a ship. He's a conscript, and heading to the south continent to fight.
• The war is now 3000 years old! Common knowledge holds that it was the Islanders that started it.
• As he travels south, the recites the names of several islands. He says: "Each of these names was evocative to me. Reading the names off the map, identifying the exotic coastlines from fragments of clues - a sudden rise of sheer cliffs, a distinctive headland, a particular bay - made me think that everywhere in the Dream Archipelago was already embedded in my consciousness, that somehow the islands were where my roots were found, that I belonged in them, had dreamed of them all my life. In short, while I stared at the islands from the ship I felt my artistic sensibilities reviving." I picked this about because I feel the same way.
• There is to be only one island stop - on Muriseay, the largest island - where the soldiers soon learn they can take a brief leave for R&R.
• We learn of Rascar Acizzone, a painter and the inventor (or pioneer) of tactilism, who lived in an artists colony on Muriseay. We learned briefly about him in The Islanders.
• The soldiers are granted shore leave. Most opt to visit the whores. Our viewpoint character, though, seeks only to find the trace of Acizzone. Instead he finds whores, and ends up in gogo bar.
• Our soldier is uncomfortable in the gogo bar and wants to leave, but just then black-caps with batons enter and block the exits. Meanwhile, women seem to sense him and harass him with their come-ons. A younger woman catches his eye and he goes with her into the back.
• He enters one of the private rooms and soon finds himself alone with a woman on a bed in a scene that seems like a re-enaction of Ste Augustinea Abandonai, one of Accizone's most famous tactilist works. He realizes he's been searching for this. The woman tells him he must either engage and ravage her, or he must leave. Lamely, he leaves.
• He blunders through the corridors, interrupts a couple, then enters and empty room. Three women quickly join him and before he knows it, he's The Swain of Lethen in Godley Pleasures, another of Acizzone's works. Finally he's aroused.
• But its over almost before it begins, and he's left to climax on his own. Dissatisfied and embarrassed, he leaves and returns to the ship - which sets sail the next day.

Discussion

• Are the women in Priest's books more comfortable with sex than the men?
• Who is taking advantage of whom in this scenario?
• What's the connection between art, sex, and war? Why do both feature so much in The Dream Archipelago?

• It is five days since Ordier last say the Qataari. He awakes early in the morning, having decided that the woman is indeed an offering.
• Jenessa wakes after him, but leaves early to take Parren to the ferry for Muriseay. Apparently his plane is ready.
• After she leaves, Ordier prances about his room, speaking to the Qataari via their imagined scintilla. His statements contradict themselves. He embarks on a pantomime dance, but is interrupted by Luovi Parren, who catches him unaware.
• Luovi seems to be flirting. She asks where Jenessa is, and points out that she can't be with Jacj, because Jacj left for Muriseay two days prior. She also tells Ordier that the scintilla have already been seeded. She says she knows that Ordier has been spying on the Qataari, and threatens to reveal this to Jenessa.
• Ordier tells Luovi to leave, but when he sees she's going to wrong way, he offers to drive her into town. She refuses, and treats the offer like a threat. He lets her go.
• Ordier then goes down to the folly to once again spy on the Qataari. As he guessed, the ritual resumes exactly where it last left off - the lies in the middle of the circle amid the rose petals. There are also petals in the folly. Ordier watches as the woman is tied, stripped, and covered in rose petals.
• He's convinced she's an offering and decides to go down to her. He makes his way to the bottom and explores the area of the ritual, even looking inside the statues. He's convinced he's being watched. He follows the rope to the centre, but finds the woman is gone. He lies down with the knot of ropes between his shoulders.
• He lays back amid the rose petals and stares up at the planes diverging from the vortex.

Discussion

• What did you think of the ending? Was it satisfying? Typical for Priest? What meaning did it hold?
• Free will vs determination are discussed in this section. What do these have to do with being watched?
• What do you make of the the difference between Jenessa's timeline of Jacj's activities, and Luovi's version?
• What's behind Luovi's threat to expose Ordier, and why should he care if his activities are revealed?
• What's the significance of the vortex at the end?

• After dinner, Ordier returns to his folly to seek the woman. As he hopes, she starts to participate in a ritual.
• While Ordier watches, the Qataari woman stands in the middle of a circle. Her clothes are partially torn off. Ordier pleasures himself to this spectacle until he thinks he is spotted, then the scene breaks off.
• Later, the anthropologist Parren and Ordier are climbing the ridge to observe the Qataari. Parren asks about the folly, but Ordier discourages him by saying it is unsafe.
• Parren has difficulty with the climb, and makes noise while exerting himself. When they reach the top, they are immediately spotted by the Qataari, who either turn away or freeze.
• Parren and Ordier's conversation then turns to scintilla. Parren seems to know a lot about Ordier's previous involvement with scintilla. He would like to use them to spy on the Qataari, and use Ordier as a consultant.
• Parren tells Ordier that someone else is already using the un-marked scintillas to spy on the Qataari, but he doesn't know who. But Parren has his own source for the little spycams. The ones he can get are smaller and more advanced. But before he commits funds to this inquiry, he wants to know if the Qataari can block their use. He asks Ordier, but Ordier doesn't seem to know.
• They return to the house and Ordier is annoyed to learn that Jenessa and Luavi have been up to the folly. He tells them it's too dangerous.
• That evening, when Jenessa drives the Parren's back to town, Ordier goes up to the folly himself, and is relieved to find that all is quiet in Qataari-land. He makes sure to lock the gate this time.
• When Jenessa returns from driving the Parren's home, she tells Ordier that Parren wants to hire her for his team. He objects, but seems to have no real reason for her to refuse. She tells him Parren also wants to hire him.
• Ordier avoids the folly for the next four days., but thinks about the Qataari and the woman. It occurs to him that the un-marked scintilla he's been finding might be deployed by the Qataari, and that maybe the Qataari woman is being offered to him.

Discussion

• Priest is using the word 'race' in an odd way, and even goes so far as to suggest that different races have different technologies. Is this just an artifact of the story being from 1978, or is there more to this?
• The Qataari seem to have been able to mix with northerners in the past without issue, and to have even excelled in many aspects of norther culture. Why shouldn't they be able to create scintilla, or detect them?
• Is the Qataari woman an offering... or is this just rose petal-induced male fantasy at work?

• We meet Yvann Ordier and his girlfriend, Jenessa. Yvann is a wealthy but retired entrepreneur, and Jenessa is an anthropologist.
• They are on the island of Tumo. Yvann settled here because he wanted to get away from it all.
• Jenessa is her to study a people called The Qataari, who were originally indigenous to the Qataari peninsula, but have been forced to relocate to a secluded valley on this island because of the war being fought in the south.
• We are also introduced to 'scintillas', nano-bot spying machines that seem to be everywhere. They keep appearing in Yvann's home, though he tries to detect them and remove them. Yvann made his fortune in the scintilla business, but now wants nothing to do with them. Yvann thinks that the latest sctintillas invading his home are part of an organized deployment.
• Jenessa and Yvann spend the morning together, but Yvann is anxious for Jenessa to leave, because he'd like to do something surreptitious - spy on the Qataari, and in particular one Qataari woman. He has become obsessed with her and unspecified Qataari 'rituals'.
• Finally, after some sunbathing and routine chat, Jenessa leaves for work. Yvann heads out to an old stone folly on his property that overlooks Qataari territory and brings his binoculars. He begins to spy, but we do not learn what he sees.
• When Yvann stands in his folly, observing the Qataari, fragrant Qataari Rose petals waft up to him on the wind.

.

• That evening, Yvann drives to Jenessa's apartment in Tumo Town. She has invited him to dinner so he can meet another anthropologist. Yvann doesn't seem much interested, but this seems important to her.
• The anthropologist is Jaqj Parren, and his wife is Luovi. Parren seems to have a cunning/questionable plan to watch the Qataari by plane. Jenessa seems sceptical, even scandalized.
• We learn that the Qataari are a people that refuse to be watched. When they know they are being watched, they freeze in place and refuse to act.
• The Qataari are described as a 'race' - one of the better known races in this world. Though they are insular by nature and keep others out, they do at times travel abroad and, when they do, it is to achieve great things. There are many stories of accomplished Qataari warriors, doctors, architects, builders, playwrights, artists, athletes, mathematicians, and disaster relief workers.
• A Qataari woman once explained that the Qataari are but actors, playing roles that are predetermined during a ritual that somehow resembles improv theatre. However, no outsider has been able to observe the Qataari doing this - or anything, really.
• In the valley on Tumo where the Qataari have settled, they have cleared farmland in which to raise the Qataari Rose - a fragrant rose with narcotic properties.

DISCUSSION

• Some familiar themes emerge - our characters are outsiders who came to the Archipelago. Yvann goes do far was to say that once people come here, they can't easily return home to the north. So it seems to be a one-way trip for most.
• Watching and spying is a major theme, and there are many layers. Yvann made the scintillas, tools for watching. He also made the scintilla detectors, tools for observing and locating the scintillas. He himself doesn't like to be watched. But he does like to discretely watch the Qataari, who themselves don't like to be watched.
• Do the Qataari live in a quantum world, where the act of watching changes that which is being observed?
• The role of Qataari as itinerant master craftspeople seems at odds with their other qualities. Why do you suppose Priest introduced this?
• More themes - old stoneworks with odd, forbidding, holes in them. These are places where one can hide and watch.
• More themes - narcotic effects in the air, which call into question the things the main character experiences. This hasn't happened yet in this novel, but Priest seems to be setting it up. We also encountered this in story called The Negation, in this book.

• Graian Sheeld has just had a discussion with Alanya Mercier at the cliff house and he decided to head back on his own.
• He finds a path - not the one he had arrived by, but seemingly going in the right direction. However, after a time he finds the way blocked by exposed tree roots and disturbed soil - signs of thrymes. so he heads back.
• When he returns to the house, Alanya is locking up. She accuses him of wanting to have sex and then blackmail her for the family money.
• She claims that every person leaves a trace, and that the Merciers are proficient at following these traces.
• Sheeld denies this version of events, and (on the surface at least) they seem to reconcile their differences. She agrees to lead him back to the house.
• On the way back, however, she keeps insisting she has been wronged and spurned by him.
• At one point, she claims to see a thryme by his feet. He feels panic, but it turns out to be a fruit, not a thryme.
• Alanya tries to get him to eat the fruit with her, saying it's a method of expressing reconciliation in local custom. He refuses.
• Back at the house, a servant tells them that Fertin Mericer wants to see them. Alanya tells the servant 'not now'.
• Sheeld tries to leave, but again the fruit is pushed upon him. He takes it in his hand but refuses to eat.
• He tries to leave again, but the servants block him. He is told to wait in the garden.
• While he is waiting, he gets thirsty and decides to eat the fruit to quench his thirst.
• Just then the family enters, led by Fertin Mercier - Alanya's husband.
• Fertin accuses Sheeld of indiscretion with his wife, and when this is refuted, with insult at the rejection. Fertin tells him the only way out for hi is to eat the fruit.
• Sheeld says he already did. The family gasp, and then it's revealed that the black pips in the fruit are juvenile thrymes. Sheeld is already dead and is told he will be cremated. As he dies, Sheeld witnesses the spiral of planes caught in the vortex above.

DISCUSSION

• There seems to be plenty of foreshadowing in this story. Did it hold any surprise for you? Did he bite it just when you had thought he escaped?
• What role does the Trace play in this story?
• Is this a version of The Garden of Eden turned on it's head?
• What's the significance of the last sentence, in which Sheeld sees the planes converging in the vortex?

• It is Graian Sheeld's first time attending a private cremation, and now happens to be attending one on the island of Trellin.
• Graian is a visitor from Glaund, attending Corrin Mercier's funeral seemingly as a stand-in for his uncle, who was unable to attend.
• We don't learn much about Graian, but like so many Priest characters, he finds himself in a situation he's not altogether comfortable with. Even when not attending strange funeral rituals on Trellin, he is for some reason hounded by lawyers.
• While at the funeral, a woman attracts his attention - or rather, he spots her attention being attracted to him. Her name is Alanya Mercier, and we later learn she is a cousin of the deceased, though she is described at one point as 'one Mercier among many'.
• Graian spends some uncomfortable time at the party and keeps thinking he hears his name uttered in conversation - patois conversation that he cannot understand. He assumes there must be a patois phrase that sounds like Graian Sheeld.
• Just as Graian is about to leave, he is approached by Alanya Mercier who invites him to go for a walk to a nearby cliffside house. Graian is curious, and seems to assume something of a sexual encounter may be in the offing, though he remains on his guard.
• As the two talk on the path, we learn that Corrin Mercier was killed by a thryme, which seems to have snuck into the house and hidden behind a cushion on the couch. Graian Sheeld is creeped out by the event, and by thrymes in general.
• The arrive at the guest house, and Sheeld stares off over the ocean at other islands. He gets lost in his own thoughts.
• These thoughts lead us into a discussion of geography, and we learn Trellin is in the Greater Aubracs, a tropical chain.
• Also, the lack of up-to-date maps is here blamed on the war, rather than technical issues.
• Sheeld also reminisces inwardly about an old flame, Barbellia (strange name?) and some affairs he has had, of which he feels ashamed.
• Alanya brings him out of it and they engage in some verbal fencing. She tries to seduce him on the porch, and even goes so far as to suggest this is another part of the local funerary custom he doesn't know about. Sheeld resists temptation, though, reflecting on his past indiscretions and the pain they brought him.
• Abruptly, he decides to leave and head back to the main house. She warns him he will get lost, and within minutes this comes true.

DISCUSSION

• Here's another story featuring a visitor to the islands.
• Did anyone wonder at Graian's gender?
• Priest seems to write an awful lot about the awkwardness of intimate relationships.
• Is Alanya's interest in Graian purely sexual?

SUMMARY:

• Dik returns to Moylita Kaine, and passes Burgher Tradayn along the way, an unpleasant and authoritative man.
• Upon arrival, Kaine herself seems to have been upset by the man.
• Dik gives Kaine a carving of a hand with pen as a gift, and she in turn gifts him a short story that she worked on through the night. However, she asks him not to read it until she has left the island. She says it is written just for him, and suggests it's a story about Dik.
• Kaine explains that he might get in trouble if he is caught with it. It reveals facts about the war that might be sensitive to those in charge - that the military is using gases, and that the war is being perpetuated for the economic benefit of a few. And that there seems to be underground opposition.
• The southern continent has not yet been adopted as the theatre of battle, but this is in the works.
• They are interrupted by the return of Burgher Tradayn, who takes the manuscript and sends Dik back to the barracks. Kaine is escorted to a council chamber for questioning.
• Dik in unable to remain still, and tries to find Kaine. He ends up spying on her discussion with the burghers for a few minutes, before he's caught by his superiors and beaten. He once again returns to his chamber, and eventually returns to duty with no further word on Kaine or his encounters with her.
• As Dik patrols the wall, he contemplates the meaning of walls in Kaine's texts. He concludes that in Kaine's novel, The Affirmation, the characters build walls and find themselves trapped by them. The short story she gives him, titled The Negation, must therefor have been about overcoming walls, and particularly about Dik overcoming the walls that hem him in. Dik concludes this is unrealistic - that it's one thing for an author to suggest such a thing can be done, but it's quite another reality for the person who walks the wall.
• Just then, an enemy combatant appears and surrenders himself to Dik. Dik escorts him to a guard room in admiration and envy.

DISCUSSION/QUESTIONS

• Here we meet an old SF trope in the form of perpetual warfare inflicted on society to the benefit of a few. Is this a convincing explanation for the war? Where else have you read this idea? Do you buy it?
• Here we have an Author in conflict with a Figure of Authorty. Is there a difference between them in how they treat Dik? Dik seems to choose the latter over the former at the end, but admires his alter-ego from the other side for siding with the other.
• Do you draw any conclusions about walls and authors from the text?

What's missing is a reason to care.

This one came up a lot, readers commenting that Priest hadn't given them a reason to care. If you felt that way, did you ever find a reason to care as the book went on? Why or why not? What could Priest have provided that would have changed things? I personally always cared, but I'm someone who is very curious about places and histories. I was intrigued from the beginning - probably because the nature of the book itself intrigued me - and I always cared to keep reading and to learn more. At first it was about islands (and winds, and thrymes, and vortices, and tunnels), then later it was about the characters themselves, and how they related. But this obviously wasn't true for everyone.

The delivery is a kind of deadpan monologue of the fantastic. Somehow it also reminded me of the book-that-shall-not-be-named. In that book (which happens to be about whaling), every other chapter is a kind of treatise. This feels like a treatises delivered in a travelogue style framework. (Ironically, traveling without traveling, right?) In this case it's about the nature of wind, and perhaps even more about the things that are changed by wind and how - all the evidence of wind's (or I should say winds') effects.

This book definitely bears some resemblance to the book-that-shall-not-be-named in this sense. In that book, which happens to be about whaling, those treatises can be read as distractions to the narrative, or they can be read as hints to the deeper meaning of the book. Without them, you might never come to the conclusion that the book is about god, as well as about whaling.

What's the point of this book? It's not to tell a gripping story. It's not a puzzle for us to solve. It's not an insight into the human condition (none of the characters has any depth). Is it meant to be an allegory of our world? If so, what point is it trying to make? Or is this about us basking in the reflected glory of Priest's masterful worldbuilding? (Ahem.)

Any further reflections on these things at the end? Are there no stories (gripping being subjective)? No puzzles? No insights? Or was it all just a vanity project?

Perhaps if I had started at the beginning it would make more sense. Did we leave the first couple of books aside on purpose? I think there must be something interesting to say here about sequencing, but I don't yet know what it is.

I think that quite probably this book would have been easier for people to digest if we had started with The Affirmation, then read The Dream Archipelago, and finally this one. Lesson Learned. My own experience was to enter the setting with this book, which I found a useful and enticing introduction, then read The Dream Archipelago. I hadn't read The Affirmation before we started this. I never had a problem getting into this book, but obviously that hasn't been true for everyone. I still don't really think there's any 'informational' order to the books (i.e. you need to read one to get the information needed to understand the other) but reading the novel first would have helped those who wanted 'story' to ease into the setting better, and answered a lot of the 'why is this in this book' questions.

If a life is a narrative, it needs an end. Many continental philosophers, influenced by literary theory, contend that life can have meaning only if and when it ends. Yet I have a subjective sense that my life has meaning in the here and now, not merely when I contemplate its end. Can this part of my life have meaning without the overarching meaning of the whole? I think so. Perhaps this part will be brought into greater highlight after I die and given a greater richness (or perhaps even highlight the paucity of meaning of this particular part), but that would necessarily be done by someone else not experiencing my subjective meaning in this moment.

This setting has meaning both in the here and now (for most of you, it's the only book you've read in the setting) but it also has ongoing meaning, because it's just one book in this setting and other books explore more and different aspects of it, or explore some of the ideas in this book in more depth. Do you feel this book should have been more self-contained? Has it succeeded or failed as an introuction?

I thought about this last week but didn’t have time / energy to write about it. I come to the notion of trace through hermeneutical phenomenology. The literary turn within phenomenology is indebted to both structuralism and deconstruction. I’ll just speak about Derrida here, the father of deconstruction, although there is a lot of ink spilt about the trace by others.

Derrida’s deconstruction takes binary opposites that conventionally are perceived in a society to be natural constructs and attempts to show that they are artificial. Binary opposites need each other, each depending on the other for meaning. One component of the binary is usually privileged over the other, for example good/evil, light/dark, male/female. Derrida says there is always the trace of one in the other, but even more than that he says there is always the trace of absence in anything present to us.

It is this move that explodes structuralism and drives his critiques crazy. His entire philosophy is one of absence. The linguistic firm of structuralism, semiotics, has its specific binary opposite, the sign. Every sign is the amalgam of a signifier (which, in the case of language, includes words) and the signified (that to which the signifier refers). Semiotics says the signifier brings the signified into our presence. Derrida says it does the opposite. He says there is no signified and every signifier contains the trace of its absence. Language, he says, can never brings objects into our presence, that all they do is continually refer to another signifier and another and another. This chain of signifiers is a sleight of hand that make us think that words brings objects into our presence, but it’s smoke and mirrors.

The islands don’t represent (make present again) anything but just refer to the next island and the next and the next until we realize we’ve circumnavigated the novel and found that meaning is absent.

This has been nagging me since it was posted. We've struggled to fine clear meaning, but engaged in a lot of speculation - is that because there are none? Did we just get a lot of red herrings? Is it worth trying to figure it out? I found a review of THE ADJACENT which echoes this statement above:

https://jackdeighton.co.uk/2014/03/24/the-adjacent-by-christopher-priest/

Everything here is all very accomplished and worked out. Priest undeniably writes like a dream. But.

Is it all just smoke and mirrors?

There are two ways of looking at this. One is to say that this is a writer at the height of his powers demonstrating the arbitrariness and unknowability of the world. Another is to question if this is the spectacle of an author writing his cake and eating it. In particular, the drawing in of the Dream Archipelago to The Adjacent, as if in an attempt to bring all of Priest’s recent fiction into a linked whole, may have been a misstep. The Archipelago is certainly a reflection of our world and therefore illuminates it, but it is also distanced from it. The connection with it that Priest establishes here renders it somehow more prosaic.

Priest is, though, an author of considerable gifts and insight, not to mention a searching intelligence. He is entitled to the benefit of any doubt.

All writing is the creation of illusions. As readers we like to think we can penetrate the mist in which they are wrapped. The Adjacent suggests that mist might be all there is.

When going back to the introduction, Kammeston concludes: "None of it is real, though, because reality lies in a different, more evanescent realm. These are only the names of some of the places in the archipelago of dreams. The true reality is the one you perceive around you, or that which you are fortunate enough to imagine for yourself."

The only meaning, then, is that which we as a reader assigns. This brings us back again to that question of who is more important? In this sense, every reader is an island, no? Afterall, we all read a different book!

• While visiting with sick aunt Alvie, young Lenden is put through a course of shaming by the adults in the room, then made to kiss the sickly old Aunt for whom Lenden had no real feelings, it seems.
• After this, Lenden and cousin Seri are encouraged to go outside together, and Seri shows Lenden her 'hideout.'
• Before Lenden knows it, Seri is lifting her skirt and revealing herself, then proposes a round of exploratory touching. Lenden is uncertain, but interested, and touches Seri's private parts.
• They are interrupted by one of the priests of the Seminary, who seems to be spying on them. So Seri leads Lenden away to somewhere more quiet - outside of the Seminary grounds to one of the dread towers of Seevl.
• The priest seems to follow them up the path, but Seri says he won't follow them into the tower.
• Lenden is worried the tower isn't safe, but Seri says it's fine. They close the door behind them and re-engage in touching. Seri is the more bold and willing to strip; Lenden needs more time and remains clothed.
• Again, they are interrupted by the priest who calls from outside and tells Seri to come out because 'it is forbidden'.
• Seri goes out alone to talk to him while Lenden watches. Lenden soon concludes that there is something more to Seri's relationship with the priest than first seemed. Are they flirting?
• Meanwhile, back in the present, older Lenden and Bella drive through the countryside and discuss the island a little.
• They have a short 'morning after' conversation in which both seem apologetic for the encounter the night before, but both also declare a willingness to pick up again where they left off and see where it goes.

Discussion/Questions

• The current encounter with Bella puts Lenden in mind of a previous encounter with Seri, and the narration passes back and forth between the past and the present. Many years have passed between the two events - why is Lenden still so tentative? Could the earlier encounter responsible for Lenden's reticence, or is there something else?
• Did Lenden's visit with the aunt ring true for you? Evoke any feelings? Remind you of your youth?
• Having read the other book first, we probably assume we know something about the tower, but I wonder if we can rely on that assumption.

• We meet Lenden Cross, a native of Jethra who has been away a long time teaching, now returned. Lenden is intending to visit Seevl. We later learn that this is to put the affairs of an Uncle Tom in order.
• Because Faiandland is at war, Lenden must obtain permission to travel and is told to report to the police station. There Lenden is met by a female constable named Sarjeant Bella Reeth, a young and attractive woman. She tells Lenden that she is to be the escort on the trip to Seevl. Lenden doesn't think one is needed, but the decision has already been made.
• They drive through Seevl, a place largely cleared out of people (the government has been relocated) due to the war and a bombing.
• Reeth takes them to the Grand Shore Hotel, where rooms have been booked - presumably at the government's expense. The hotel is also empty. They are the only guests.
• Having nothing to do, Lenden invites Reeth head to the bar for a drink, and exchange a little information.
• Meanwhile, we learn of Lenden's previous relationship with the island. Aunt Alvie and Uncle Tom lived here, and when Alvie turned sick, the whole family visited regularly. These were boring trips for Lenden, who really had nothing to do but be around old and sick people. There was a cousin, Seraphina, who spent time with her, but Lenden didn't seem to be able to make any connection with her.
• After drinks and dinner, they return to their rooms. A little while later, Reeth (now to be called Bella) knocks on the door and asks if she can use a plug in the room for the hairdryer. There is some sensual tension between the two, what with the crawling on the carpet for the plug and nothing but a towel between the two.
• In the end, Bella propositions Lenden, who declines and isn't sure why. Bella returns to her room.
• Lenden reveals a personal conflict between sexual attraction and repulsion ever since those times spent with cousin Seri.

Discussion

• You may recall that Seevl is the island of vampiric towers. The towers and the mood of the place are mentioned only so far in passing here.
• There is some similarity between the circumstances of this story and the other set on Seevl - both feature characters who have travelled from abroad in order to put a relative's affairs in order. Do you think there's a reason this is used twice in a story about Seevl?
• No word of a cairn of any kind yet in the story, one notes...

Here's a familiar story, very similar (but not the same as) a story called The Trace from The Islanders.
The summary is simple: A woman (who is given no identity) travels to Piqay to attend the funeral of an old lover. She is an outsider, and treated as such by her friend's family, though they recognize her as important. She visits the room of her old friend, and finds there a trace of him. She leaves shortly thereafter.

What was different about this version? Does it achieve a different mood?

• A Glaundian officer is recovering from mental disorders caused by the lingering effects of synaesthetic gasses. He is well enough to be discharged from the hospital, but still has 60 days leave and he wants to recuperate by travelling.
• Several islands are suggested to him, but he settles on going to Winho - the home island of a nurse that had cared for him, named Slenje. Before becoming a nurse, she had been a prostitute on Winho.
• He travels to Winho, a place we first encountered in The Islanders, where we were told it was known as 'the island of whores'.
• He makes some inquiries into his friend and learns from the locals that she is dead. This seems to be corroborated by everyone.
• Some other facts about the island are revealed: It had been occupied by Faiand, but 'liberated' by Glaund. The Faiandlanders had performed some kind of experimentation here.
• Our lead character is warned that if he is looking for paid sex, he should stick to the garrison women, and avoid the locals, for they have been 'infiltrated' and are 'off limits'.
• Nevertheless, his search for Slenje leads him to some other local sex workers, one of whom offer him a night for 'fifty'. Her name is Elva.
• He follows Elva with trepidation. She takes him to an apartment. She has clearly been abused - her legs don't function well, and her teeth have been filed to sharp points. He feels he has made a mistake.
• In the apartment, she attends to a restless baby in another room for a time. He notes her tenderness, then tells her she can keep the money and he will leave. She convinces him to stay, though, explaining that she needs to work for her keep, and that of the baby. They have sex.
• The baby stirs again, and she checks on him, but he's fine. As the officer once again makes to leave, she again asks him to stay, saying that this time it is for her benefit. She kisses him over his body and performs oral sex.
• Once again, he offers her more money, and she refuses. She seems to like him, and asks him to stay, but when he refuses, her manner turns business-like again.
• He asks her about the boy, and she tells him the boy's father is her husband. Her husband is missing, however - having been taken as a male prostitute for a Faiand all-female regiment.
• The next morning he decides to leave. He experiences synaesthetic effects, but they seem to pass. Sores start to develop on his body, and blood weeps from these, and from his mouth and genitals - everywhere she kissed him. As he reaches into his shirt pocket for coins, a baby's hand grips his. He struggles to get it off, then throws it on the ground. It continues to come after him like a spider, so he stomps on it repeatedly.
• He travels on the boat to Salay, sometimes in agony. He dreams of Elva and her sharp-toothed mouth, but wakes with the sheets covered in blood from his weeping sores.

DISCUSSON/COMMENTS

• I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say that this story made you feel uncomfortable. Was the experience positive, negative? Why?
• Some 'facts' of this island seem different than what we had previously learned, but did anything actually contradict what we learned during our previous encounter with this island?
• Has Faiand turned the local sex workers into biological weapons, or is it all in his head?
• If you had the job of compiling a collection of tales from The Dream Archipelago, would you include this one?

The Equatorial Moment

• This short piece of fiction puts us briefly up into the vortex and describes what it's like to fly through one.
• It reveals a bit about the history of their exploration, that they continue to defy explanation, and tell us how time is shortened as one falls through them, which makes them very useful for shortening long haul flights.
• The centre of the vortex is neutral and a place of safety. This seems to be both a practical reality and a metaphor.

The Negation part 1

• We are introduced to Dik, a young conscript in what seems to be a branch of the army performing border patrol of Faiand.
• Dik is stationed somewhere northerly - perhaps on Faiand itself, which is described as being surrounded by a security wall.
• The author Moylita Kaine is currently in the same town, having been commissioned to write a play about the place.
• Dik has read Kaine's book, The Affirmation, several times, and was moved enough by it that he seeks to meet her. This takes some work, since his time is mostly filled with the duties of a soldier.
• Eventually, he books a time to meet the author at her rental. She is initially stand-offish, thinking he represents the Burghers, but she opens to him once she discovers his true motives.
• They have a pleasant enough discussion about The Affirmation in general, but also about the nature of novels, though Dik suspects much of it is above him.
• Both agree to a second meeting again soon, but it doesn't happen right away, and he has time to reflect on what Kaine said and some literary criticism he read while at college.
• Dik wonders: "In explaining her novel to him, had Moylita Kaine been trying to tell him something?"

Questions/Discussion

• Priest wastes no time in establishing some themes, and they are familiar to us already.
• The Equatorial Moment seems to exist only to create a mood and establish a theme. What did you get from this chapter? I was immediately put once again in mind of a Yin-Yang symbol, which the vortex seems to be at the centre of. The writing is of the lyrical type @RichardAbbott was hoping to see more of.
• The Negation brings to life a character we encountered at some distance in The Islanders - Moylita Kaine. You may remember her as an author who exchanged letters with Chaster Kammeston - or seemed to. Priest may have been suggesting that Kammeston invented the entire exchange in a fit of Erotomania. In another entry, Kaine made a long and difficult journey to recover the body of a conscript who had died in a plane accident. Might that have been Dik?
• Kaine is the author of a book called The Affirmation, which was also the name of Priest's first novel set in the Dream Archipelago setting. These books have the same name, but are otherwise quite different. Dik seems to be obsessed with the book as a reader. The title of this chapter is The Negation - the opposite of an Affirmation? What themes are being suggested so far in this story?