Yeah, but is Patrick Nielsen Hayden real?

I am completely unsurprised that when Peter Maas first meets Pax, Salam is sitting in a hotel lobby reading Dick's _The Man in the High Castle_. That just fits, somehow.

-David

Indeed, in the better nation in whose early days we currently work, the museum diorama "Peter Maass Comes Across Salam Pax Sitting In a Baghdad Hotel Lobby Reading The Man In the High Castle" will be one of the most popular exhibits in the National Museum.

Along with, of course, "Bill O'Reilly Is Pursued Through the Streets By Wild Dogs." But that would be violating the Time Patrol Code.

Thumbs up to Salam for being real. The PKD reference just made it for me.

The Wild Dogs persuit diorama is overrated. The looping video of the tux-clad elephant sitting on Cheney during the 2004 GOP convention . . . now that's entertainment!

Had just read Peter Maass's article and clicked over to see if Patrick had heard about it yet, especially given the PKD reference. I wasn't disappointed.

I'm sure most of you already know, but just in case: Salam Pax will be writing a bi-weekly column for The Guardian. The first instance should appear in, oh, 12 hours or so.

I've met Patrick.

Patrick has met Peter Maass

Peter Maass has met Salam Pax

Small world, isn't it.

I thought Walter Jon Williams’ City on Fire was the ultimate SF book for postwar Iraq, but Mr. Pax obviously is more clever than I am. Man in the High Castle! Brilliant.

I’d also like to call attention to Mr. Maass’ clever new use for the word “weaponized” — worthy of Gibson or Sterling.