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The Night Mayor

 The Night Mayor
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TVTItem
 The Night Mayor
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The Night Mayor
 The Night Mayor
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TheNightMayor
 The Night Mayor
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The Night Mayor is a 1989 science fiction novel by Kim Newman.In the future, virtual reality has succeeded TV, film, and 3D as the big thing in popular entertainment. Susan Bishopric, a professional author of VR experiences, is conscripted by the Gunmint for a problem that requires her particular set of skills.Truro Daine, the most notorious master criminal of the past century, has escaped from maximum security. There was no way out, so he's gone in — into a virtual world of his own devising. The City is an amalgamation of every Film Noir city ever, where everything is shades of gray and it's always two thirty in the morning and raining. All the NPCs are replicas of 1940s film stars, with personalities based on their screen personas. And Daine, the Night Mayor of the City, has godlike power within his creation, so that anyone who goes in after him will quickly find things becoming, well, nightmarish. Somebody has to go in and catch or kill him before he finishes breaking out through cyberspace into the systems that run the real world. And only an experienced VR designer, used to manipulating virtual worlds from the inside, has a chance of challenging Daine on his own turf.Also, did we mention, Susan wasn't their first choice. Tom Tunney, another VR author who specialises in Film Noir-inspired adventures, plugged into the City a week ago, and there hasn't been a twitch from him since...
 The Night Mayor
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2024-02-08T18:46:11Z
 The Night Mayor
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2024-02-08T18:46:11Z
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 The Night Mayor
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DBTropes
 The Night Mayor / int_1104ca3f
type
Cure for Cancer
 The Night Mayor / int_1104ca3f
comment
Cure for Cancer: It's mentioned in passing that a completely effective treatment for cancer has recently become widely available — incidentally making things difficult for Susan, who's working on a story where the plot depended on a character dying of cancer at the emotionally most affecting moment.
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The Night Mayor / int_1104ca3f
 The Night Mayor / int_16f187bf
type
Virtual-Reality Warper
 The Night Mayor / int_16f187bf
comment
Virtual-Reality Warper: Within the City, Daine is essentially able to write and rewrite the rules as he sees fit: when protagonist Tom Tunney tries to shoot him, Daine just turns his gun into a water pistol, then brainwashes him into becoming part of the narrative. VR designer Susan Bishopric fares a little better by trying to beat Daine at his own game, warping the simulation in increasingly grandiose ways; however, even she ends up getting overwhelmed and transformed into a serial killer in another narrative. It's not until Tunney and Bishopric are freed by Yggdrasil and join forces that they begin to undermine the Night Mayor's control of the City - and they have to, because Daine is out to extend the City over the entire Internet with the aim of taking over the world.
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The Night Mayor / int_16f187bf
 The Night Mayor / int_19851b86
type
The Sociopath
 The Night Mayor / int_19851b86
comment
The Sociopath: The psychological profile of Daine offered to Susan by the prison warden is that he's a sociopath who turned to crime out of a need for stimulation and a deep-seated belief that nobody else is real the way he is.
 The Night Mayor / int_19851b86
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The Night Mayor / int_19851b86
 The Night Mayor / int_1c6ded94
type
Wicked Cultured
 The Night Mayor / int_1c6ded94
comment
Wicked Cultured: Daine's persona in the City is this, the kind of villain who plays Wagner and talks about his collection of modern art while his goons are beating up the hero. It's not clear how much this was true of him in the real world.
 The Night Mayor / int_1c6ded94
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The Night Mayor / int_1c6ded94
 The Night Mayor / int_1e580ede
type
Fan of the Past
 The Night Mayor / int_1e580ede
comment
Fan of the Past: Tom Tunney is a fan of 20th-century hardboiled detective fiction. Susan Bishopric studied 20th-century film at school as part of her preparation for her career. She also has an extensive music collection, songs from which get mentioned throughout the novel at appropriate moments, and they're always songs from the 20th century or earlier.
 The Night Mayor / int_1e580ede
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The Night Mayor / int_1e580ede
 The Night Mayor / int_1f250372
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I Need a Freaking Drink
 The Night Mayor / int_1f250372
comment
I Need a Freaking Drink: Tunney, after being bested by Daine.
 The Night Mayor / int_1f250372
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The Night Mayor / int_1f250372
 The Night Mayor / int_1fdaf8ff
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Ominous Latin Chanting
 The Night Mayor / int_1fdaf8ff
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Ominous Latin Chanting: During the cult's ceremonies.
 The Night Mayor / int_1fdaf8ff
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The Night Mayor / int_1fdaf8ff
 The Night Mayor / int_2a4222ff
type
Benevolent A.I.
 The Night Mayor / int_2a4222ff
comment
Benevolent A.I.: The AI that runs the Yggdrasil system.
 The Night Mayor / int_2a4222ff
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The Night Mayor / int_2a4222ff
 The Night Mayor / int_2d363f63
type
Frame-Up
 The Night Mayor / int_2d363f63
comment
Frame-Up: Tunney inserts himself into the City as a private detective hired to track down Daine. Daine outmaneuvres him by faking his own death in circumstances that point to the detective as the obvious suspect, forcing him to concentrate on dodging the City's police force.
 The Night Mayor / int_2d363f63
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The Night Mayor / int_2d363f63
 The Night Mayor / int_2d50bb66
type
Perp Sweating
 The Night Mayor / int_2d50bb66
comment
Perp Sweating: Tom Tunney's interrogation at the hands of the City police ticks all the traditional boxes, including the bright desk light and the good cop and bad cop.
 The Night Mayor / int_2d50bb66
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The Night Mayor / int_2d50bb66
 The Night Mayor / int_34e05535
type
Rummage Fail
 The Night Mayor / int_34e05535
comment
Rummage Fail: Tom Tunney searches his imaginary pockets and pulls out "several guns, a half-empty bottle, a blackjack tagged Police Evidence — Do Not Remove, a deck of marked cards, several hundred dollars in small bills, a wallet full of ID in a variety of false names, a priceless necklace of grey fei tsui jade, a fistful of loose bullets, a switchblade with a snake on the handle, a bloodstained ice pick, several special editions of the Inquirer" and finally the notebook he's looking for.
 The Night Mayor / int_34e05535
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The Night Mayor / int_34e05535
 The Night Mayor / int_3a2c615c
type
Shark Pool
 The Night Mayor / int_3a2c615c
comment
Shark Pool: At one point, captured by the villains, Tunney is thrown into an alligator pit.
 The Night Mayor / int_3a2c615c
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The Night Mayor / int_3a2c615c
 The Night Mayor / int_3eb0f889
type
Pun-Based Title
 The Night Mayor / int_3eb0f889
comment
Pun-Based Title: Tom Tunney's adventure stories featuring private eye Richie Quick have titles like Get Richie Quick and The Quick and the Dead.
 The Night Mayor / int_3eb0f889
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The Night Mayor / int_3eb0f889
 The Night Mayor / int_4482e1ef
type
Divided States of America
 The Night Mayor / int_4482e1ef
comment
Divided States of America: It's mentioned as a passing detail that there's been another War Between the States and the southern USA is now the CSA.
 The Night Mayor / int_4482e1ef
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The Night Mayor / int_4482e1ef
 The Night Mayor / int_49f6a9e4
type
Most Writers Are Writers
 The Night Mayor / int_49f6a9e4
comment
Most Writers Are Writers: Susan Bishopric and Tom Tunney, the protagonists, are both authors of VR adventures, which is why the Gunmint calls them up to deal with the sitution. The novel includes glimpses of the writer's life, such as dealing with uncreative interviews, and a sequence of Susan preparing a new edition of her most famous work and fixing the bits that no longer work because science and culture have marched on.
 The Night Mayor / int_49f6a9e4
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The Night Mayor / int_49f6a9e4
 The Night Mayor / int_4ab9c868
type
Pretty Little Headshots
 The Night Mayor / int_4ab9c868
comment
Pretty Little Headshots: Any time someone gets shot in the City, because it runs on movie rules.
 The Night Mayor / int_4ab9c868
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The Night Mayor / int_4ab9c868
 The Night Mayor / int_4cecb933
type
Signs of Disrepair
 The Night Mayor / int_4cecb933
comment
Signs of Disrepair: In the City, every neon sign has one letter not working.
 The Night Mayor / int_4cecb933
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The Night Mayor / int_4cecb933
 The Night Mayor / int_504a1991
type
Body Horror
 The Night Mayor / int_504a1991
comment
Body Horror: When Susan tries to challenge Daine directly, he shows off his control by inflicting a series of body horror transformations on her. After the tables turn, she returns the favour.
 The Night Mayor / int_504a1991
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The Night Mayor / int_504a1991
 The Night Mayor / int_513f3d12
type
Background Music
 The Night Mayor / int_513f3d12
comment
Background Music: In the City, significant characters have their own background music that follows them around, getting louder as they approach and fading as they move away.
 The Night Mayor / int_513f3d12
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The Night Mayor / int_513f3d12
 The Night Mayor / int_51dc66f6
type
Hardboiled Detective
 The Night Mayor / int_51dc66f6
comment
Hardboiled Detective: Richie Quick, Tom Tunney's main character.
 The Night Mayor / int_51dc66f6
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The Night Mayor / int_51dc66f6
 The Night Mayor / int_54bb502b
type
Nobody Poops
 The Night Mayor / int_54bb502b
comment
Nobody Poops: Tom Tunney observes that while you're in the City you never need to go to the men's room — which is just as well, because there aren't any men's rooms.
 The Night Mayor / int_54bb502b
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The Night Mayor / int_54bb502b
 The Night Mayor / int_60441d9
type
Future Slang
 The Night Mayor / int_60441d9
comment
Future Slang: Scattered throughout, including abbreviations, verbing, and an instance where Susan uses the actual phrase "Expletive deleted!" as an expletive. In one scene, Susan reflects on the ways slang has changed in the past five years — "squitch" has replaced "kink", "bove" has replaced "zooper" — and the reader never finds out what any of those words mean.
 The Night Mayor / int_60441d9
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The Night Mayor / int_60441d9
 The Night Mayor / int_7301ae04
type
Serial Killer
 The Night Mayor / int_7301ae04
comment
Serial Killer: There's one lurking in the part of the City that's based on Sherlock Holmes films and other gaslit melodramas. Susan gets an up-close-and-personal encounter courtesy of Truro Daine, but is rescued by Yggdrasil.
 The Night Mayor / int_7301ae04
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The Night Mayor / int_7301ae04
 The Night Mayor / int_75ae8be8
type
We Will Not Have Pockets in the Future
 The Night Mayor / int_75ae8be8
comment
We Will Not Have Pockets in the Future: The standard form of clothing in Susan's time is a one-piece outfit with no pockets. The get-up she's given when she enters the City is the first time she's ever worn clothes with pockets, and she's struck by how useful they are.
 The Night Mayor / int_75ae8be8
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The Night Mayor / int_75ae8be8
 The Night Mayor / int_771b9373
type
We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future
 The Night Mayor / int_771b9373
comment
We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future: When she's called up, Susan is editing her breakout romantic thriller for a new edition, updated to take into account the social and technological changes of the past five years. The romantic death of the heroine gives her some trouble, because the disease the heroine died of in the original edition has since been eradicated, and so have all the other diseases romantic heroines used to die of. As an alternative, she considers having the heroine inadvertantly exposed to A Poison Unknown To Science.
 The Night Mayor / int_771b9373
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The Night Mayor / int_771b9373
 The Night Mayor / int_780a078e
type
Self-Made Orphan
 The Night Mayor / int_780a078e
comment
Self-Made Orphan: Daine, possibly. While describing one of his early crimes, an official specifies that it was "shortly after he collected the life insurance on his parents". He doesn't elaborate on how the parents died, since it's beside the point he's making, but the implication is there.
 The Night Mayor / int_780a078e
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The Night Mayor / int_780a078e
 The Night Mayor / int_81c8dd41
type
Deus Est Machina
 The Night Mayor / int_81c8dd41
comment
Deus Est Machina: It's gradually revealed that Yggdrasil, the computer system that runs Everything Is Online future Britain, has achieved sapience. After it notices what Daine is up to (it's got a lot on its mind), it steps in to help Susan and Tunney.
 The Night Mayor / int_81c8dd41
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The Night Mayor / int_81c8dd41
 The Night Mayor / int_86b21114
type
Badass Boast
 The Night Mayor / int_86b21114
comment
Badass Boast: Susan to Daine after their first battle. "What do you want to call that, Daine? A draw? Too easy. This is Susan Bishopric here. I've won one Rodney and I'll have a shitload more this autumn. I can Dream rings around you, and you ain't seen nothin' yet!"
 The Night Mayor / int_86b21114
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The Night Mayor / int_86b21114
 The Night Mayor / int_87572663
type
Wrong Side of the Tracks
 The Night Mayor / int_87572663
comment
Wrong Side of the Tracks: The City district called "Poverty Row".
 The Night Mayor / int_87572663
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 The Night Mayor / int_87572663
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The Night Mayor / int_87572663
 The Night Mayor / int_906365a2
type
Demonic Possession
 The Night Mayor / int_906365a2
comment
Demonic Possession: The technological equivalent, where the designer of a virtual world takes direct control of an existing character, is referred to as "dybbuking". Daine does it several times over the course of the novel.
 The Night Mayor / int_906365a2
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The Night Mayor / int_906365a2
 The Night Mayor / int_9080e641
type
Diabolical Mastermind
 The Night Mayor / int_9080e641
comment
Diabolical Mastermind: Truro Daine's extensive career is such that the only equivalent comparisons people can find are fictional supervillains like Fu Manchu and Lex Luthor. When he was finally caught, the charges started with 8921 counts of first-degree murder, and continued through arson, blackmail, drug-running, pornography, and other trespasses too numerous to mention. The jail time due for all his crimes is enough that if he lived that long he'd come out to find the human race had evolved into something else.
 The Night Mayor / int_9080e641
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The Night Mayor / int_9080e641
 The Night Mayor / int_90839b9d
type
Ripping Off the String of Pearls
 The Night Mayor / int_90839b9d
comment
Ripping Off the String of Pearls: Happens during one of the incidental dramas that make up life in the City.
 The Night Mayor / int_90839b9d
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The Night Mayor / int_90839b9d
 The Night Mayor / int_9b4c842e
type
Longer-Than-Life Sentence
 The Night Mayor / int_9b4c842e
comment
Longer-Than-Life Sentence: The prison governor, recapping Daine's career:
 The Night Mayor / int_9b4c842e
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The Night Mayor / int_9b4c842e
 The Night Mayor / int_9cce9385
type
Future Spandex
 The Night Mayor / int_9cce9385
comment
Future Spandex: The usual outfit in Susan's time is "a clothe", some kind of one-piece thing that isn't described in detail.
 The Night Mayor / int_9cce9385
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 The Night Mayor / int_9cce9385
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The Night Mayor / int_9cce9385
 The Night Mayor / int_9eca61c8
type
Production Foreshadowing
 The Night Mayor / int_9eca61c8
comment
Production Foreshadowing: Susan's most famous work is an adventure story starring an implausibly glamorous red-headed secret agent named Vanessa Vail. Newman's later Diogenes Club series stars an implausibly glamorous red-headed secret agent named Vanessa (who uses the alias "Vanessa Vail" in one of the first published stories of the series as a callback).
 The Night Mayor / int_9eca61c8
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The Night Mayor / int_9eca61c8
 The Night Mayor / int_9fbf8969
type
Cut Lex Luthor a Check
 The Night Mayor / int_9fbf8969
comment
Cut Lex Luthor a Check: It's acknowledged that a man of Daine's intellect could have been more wealthy and at least as influential by legitimate means, but that would have "bored him zoidal".
 The Night Mayor / int_9fbf8969
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The Night Mayor / int_9fbf8969
 The Night Mayor / int_a431b0e6
type
The Butler Did It
 The Night Mayor / int_a431b0e6
comment
The Butler Did It: Mentioned as a possible mystery solution that doesn't turn up in the kind of movies the City is built around.
 The Night Mayor / int_a431b0e6
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The Night Mayor / int_a431b0e6
 The Night Mayor / int_a698ad42
type
City with No Name
 The Night Mayor / int_a698ad42
comment
City with No Name: The City.
 The Night Mayor / int_a698ad42
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The Night Mayor / int_a698ad42
 The Night Mayor / int_a6c69bd
type
MacGuffin
 The Night Mayor / int_a6c69bd
comment
A priceless fei tsui jade necklace is mentioned in passing during one of Rich Quick's scenes; such a necklace was a MacGuffin in Farewell, My Lovely.
 The Night Mayor / int_a6c69bd
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The Night Mayor / int_a6c69bd
 The Night Mayor / int_a8a04f6f
type
And I Must Scream
 The Night Mayor / int_a8a04f6f
comment
And I Must Scream: In the end, Truro Daine succeeds in uploading his mind into the Yggdrasil network, planning to take it over from within — only to learn that Yggdrasil already has a mind of its own, compared to which he is a "harmless parasite", no more powerful or significant than a single microbe in a human body. "Truro Daine ... screamed. And screamed. Yggdrasil ignored the meaningless squeak and reapplied itself to its many businesses."
 The Night Mayor / int_a8a04f6f
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The Night Mayor / int_a8a04f6f
 The Night Mayor / int_ac0827be
type
Private Eye Monologue
 The Night Mayor / int_ac0827be
comment
Private Eye Monologue: Tom Tunney's sections as viewpoint character are narrated in the first-person voice he uses for Richie Quick.
 The Night Mayor / int_ac0827be
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The Night Mayor / int_ac0827be
 The Night Mayor / int_ae0bbe52
type
Living Statue
 The Night Mayor / int_ae0bbe52
comment
Living Statue: At one point, Daine animates a statue of himself that stands outside City Hall.
 The Night Mayor / int_ae0bbe52
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The Night Mayor / int_ae0bbe52
 The Night Mayor / int_b034d333
type
Film Noir
 The Night Mayor / int_b034d333
comment
The City contains too many Film Noir shout-outs to list, as well as a few to 1940s movies of other genres, such as The Wolf Man, Casablanca, and The Baker Street Dozen.
 The Night Mayor / int_b034d333
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The Night Mayor / int_b034d333
 The Night Mayor / int_b2cdd776
type
Bottomless Magazines
 The Night Mayor / int_b2cdd776
comment
Bottomless Magazines: Guns in the City never run out of bullets unless that would be more dramatically interesting.
 The Night Mayor / int_b2cdd776
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The Night Mayor / int_b2cdd776
 The Night Mayor / int_b434558
type
Video Phone
 The Night Mayor / int_b434558
comment
Video Phone: When Susan's agent calls her at the beginning of the book, his face appears in a window on her computer screen.
 The Night Mayor / int_b434558
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The Night Mayor / int_b434558
 The Night Mayor / int_b5914444
type
Noodle Implements
 The Night Mayor / int_b5914444
comment
Noodle Implements: At one point during her sojourn in the City, Susan passes the famous detective Basil Rathbone, expounding to his loyal sidekick Nigel Bruce about a case involving gorilla footprints, Ecuadorian pygmy poison, and an alabaster hand with six fingers.
 The Night Mayor / int_b5914444
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The Night Mayor / int_b5914444
 The Night Mayor / int_bbb3a5a0
type
Splash of Color
 The Night Mayor / int_bbb3a5a0
comment
Splash of Color: When Carradine is murdered, his blood is red, the first colored thing seen in the City.
 The Night Mayor / int_bbb3a5a0
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_bbb3a5a0
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_bbb3a5a0
 The Night Mayor / int_be81113b
type
Lost in Character
 The Night Mayor / int_be81113b
comment
Lost in Character: Tom Tunney goes into the City in character as Richie Quick, figuring it will help him blend in, but as the world gets its claws into him he forgets his real self and starts thinking he actually is Richie Quick.
 The Night Mayor / int_be81113b
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_be81113b
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_be81113b
 The Night Mayor / int_c322a093
type
A Bloody Mess
 The Night Mayor / int_c322a093
comment
A Bloody Mess: After a shootout in a diner in the City, a character comes to in a pool of something dark and sticky that turns out, fortunately, to just be ketchup.
 The Night Mayor / int_c322a093
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_c322a093
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_c322a093
 The Night Mayor / int_c36365af
type
Rent-a-Zilla
 The Night Mayor / int_c36365af
comment
Rent-a-Zilla: Susan announces her arrival in Daine's virtual world by summoning a kaiju out of the bay and sending it rampaging across the City.
 The Night Mayor / int_c36365af
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_c36365af
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_c36365af
 The Night Mayor / int_c6339c44
type
Famous, Famous, Fictional
 The Night Mayor / int_c6339c44
comment
Famous, Famous, Fictional: Susan notes that the VR medium is still waiting for a pioneer to really showcase its potential as an artform the way D. W. Griffith and Sergei Eisenstein did for film in the 20th century, or Chillmeister Freaze did for ice sculpture in the 21st.
 The Night Mayor / int_c6339c44
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_c6339c44
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_c6339c44
 The Night Mayor / int_c66cb5a9
type
Human Sacrifice
 The Night Mayor / int_c66cb5a9
comment
Human Sacrifice: Among the denizens of the City is an evil cult that nearly sacrifices Susan to its god.
 The Night Mayor / int_c66cb5a9
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_c66cb5a9
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_c66cb5a9
 The Night Mayor / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 The Night Mayor / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: The City contains too many Film Noir shout-outs to list, as well as a few to 1940s movies of other genres, such as The Wolf Man, Casablanca, and The Baker Street Dozen. There's a nightclub in the City called the Kit Kat Klub. In the opening chapter, Richie Quick is wearing the same outfit Marlowe wears in the opening chapter of The Big Sleep — except that, in deference to the setting, it's all in shades of gray. Susan is a fan of the work of Frank Tashlin, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Richard Attenborough. The City includes a version of John Carradine who drops Shakespeare quotations at the drop of a hat. At one point he refers to the Night Mayor as "the damned Daine". The dismissive comment that Susan makes about Tom Tunney's detective stories, that they're no good as whodunits because it's always a monstrous woman behind everything, has also been said about Raymond Chandler. A priceless fei tsui jade necklace is mentioned in passing during one of Rich Quick's scenes; such a necklace was a MacGuffin in Farewell, My Lovely. One of the aircraft that attacks Susan's kaiju is a Sopwith Camel piloted by an anthropomorphic beagle.
 The Night Mayor / int_c75df49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_c75df49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_c75df49a
 The Night Mayor / int_d010df5
type
Domain Holder
 The Night Mayor / int_d010df5
comment
Domain Holder: Within the confines of the City, Daine can do anything — turn a gun into a water pistol in the time it takes to draw and fire it, animate statues, and inflict body horror transformations, among other more or less dramatic effects. Susan and Tunney increasingly acquire similar powers as they wrest control from him.
 The Night Mayor / int_d010df5
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_d010df5
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_d010df5
 The Night Mayor / int_d028ca10
type
Deliberately Monochrome
 The Night Mayor / int_d028ca10
comment
Deliberately Monochrome: Everything in the City is in shades of grey, to match the movies it's modeled on. The narration occasionally underlines this by describing the color of something only the color isn't, such a woman's glossy black lipstick or a priceless grey jade necklace. After he's been in the City a while, Tunney finds he's having trouble remembering what "blue" or "red" look like.
 The Night Mayor / int_d028ca10
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_d028ca10
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_d028ca10
 The Night Mayor / int_d0b60f23
type
GoshDangItToHeck
 The Night Mayor / int_d0b60f23
comment
Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Within the City, people can only speak the kind of language that wouldn't get a filmmaker in trouble with the Hays Code. "Darn!" and "Heck!" qualify as "the vilest abuse imaginable".
 The Night Mayor / int_d0b60f23
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_d0b60f23
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_d0b60f23
 The Night Mayor / int_d1d670cc
type
Cut the Juice
 The Night Mayor / int_d1d670cc
comment
Cut the Juice: Discussed and averted. Switching off the City simulation while Daine is still inside would fry his brain and effectively kill him, which the prison governor won't do until the lawyers have finished arguing out the legal ramifications. And then after a while Daine has hacked the controls, and they can't switch it off.
 The Night Mayor / int_d1d670cc
featureApplicability
-1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_d1d670cc
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_d1d670cc
 The Night Mayor / int_d63f8a53
type
The Alternet
 The Night Mayor / int_d63f8a53
comment
The Alternet: Everything Is Online in a massive computer network called Yggdrasil, named for the World Tree in Norse Mythology that holds the worlds together. It's used for communication, for research, and other internet-like purposes. It's a significant plot point that, unlike the internet we got in the real world, there's a central computer system overseeing the whole thing and keeping it running.
 The Night Mayor / int_d63f8a53
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_d63f8a53
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_d63f8a53
 The Night Mayor / int_da4300b9
type
Mayor Pain
 The Night Mayor / int_da4300b9
comment
Mayor Pain: The mayor of the City is corrupt and incompetent, "the best politician money could buy". It's said he once had a children's hospital torn down to make room for a miniature golf course.
 The Night Mayor / int_da4300b9
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_da4300b9
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_da4300b9
 The Night Mayor / int_dae5c997
type
Action Girl
 The Night Mayor / int_dae5c997
comment
Action Girl: Vanessa Vail, Susan's most famous fictional creation.
 The Night Mayor / int_dae5c997
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_dae5c997
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_dae5c997
 The Night Mayor / int_e07d3d72
type
Uncle Tomfoolery
 The Night Mayor / int_e07d3d72
comment
Uncle Tomfoolery: Susan and Tunney encounter a doorman modeled on one of the stereotypical African American comedians of the period (it doesn't specify which, but perhaps Willie Best).
 The Night Mayor / int_e07d3d72
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_e07d3d72
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_e07d3d72
 The Night Mayor / int_e3c20140
type
As Long as It Sounds Foreign
 The Night Mayor / int_e3c20140
comment
As Long as It Sounds Foreign: As a homage to the use of this trope in old films, the cult's Ominous Latin Chanting is just a string of cliché Latin phrases like "cave canem" and "reduction ad absurdum".
 The Night Mayor / int_e3c20140
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_e3c20140
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_e3c20140
 The Night Mayor / int_e75d1aee
type
Friendly Local Chinatown
 The Night Mayor / int_e75d1aee
comment
Friendly Local Chinatown: The City has a Chinatown, though it's a pretty unfriendly one full of thieves, opium dens and corrupt officials.
 The Night Mayor / int_e75d1aee
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_e75d1aee
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_e75d1aee
 The Night Mayor / int_e9fb50be
type
Redheads Are Ravishing
 The Night Mayor / int_e9fb50be
comment
Redheads Are Ravishing: Vanessa Vail is a red-haired action girl with three men fighting for her.
 The Night Mayor / int_e9fb50be
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_e9fb50be
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_e9fb50be
 The Night Mayor / int_f329f2a2
type
Got Volunteered
 The Night Mayor / int_f329f2a2
comment
Got Volunteered: The Gunmint has the power to Conscript people with useful skills to deal with emergencies, taking them away at a moment's notice from whatever they're doing. Officially, Conscription only involves asking the chosen person to volunteer their services and anybody who doesn't want to can say no, pay a fine, and that will be it. In practice, nobody has ever dared to say no. For a job as difficult as the one Susan is Conscripted for, there is at least the prospect of being well paid for her trouble... if she lives that long.
 The Night Mayor / int_f329f2a2
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_f329f2a2
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_f329f2a2
 The Night Mayor / int_fe614133
type
Beauty Is Never Tarnished
 The Night Mayor / int_fe614133
comment
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: An attribute of Vanessa Vail: when she passes out from her injuries she falls gracefully into a nice-looking sprawl, and when she's dying she's positively angelic.
 The Night Mayor / int_fe614133
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_fe614133
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_fe614133
 The Night Mayor / int_ffa0ee7c
type
Smart House
 The Night Mayor / int_ffa0ee7c
comment
Smart House: It's mentioned in passing that Susan's house is one, capable of doing things like keeping itself tidy and feeding her pet fish while she's away.
 The Night Mayor / int_ffa0ee7c
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_ffa0ee7c
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_ffa0ee7c
 The Night Mayor / int_ffaa675b
type
Asian Speekee Engrish
 The Night Mayor / int_ffaa675b
comment
Asian Speekee Engrish: A Chinese fortuneteller in the City's Chinatown district, who turns out to be a Caucasian pretending to be Chinese.
 The Night Mayor / int_ffaa675b
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_ffaa675b
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_ffaa675b
 The Night Mayor / int_name
type
ItemName
 The Night Mayor / int_name
comment
 The Night Mayor / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Night Mayor / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Night Mayor / int_name
 The Night Mayor / int_name
itemName
The Night Mayor

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
A Bloody Mess / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
As Long as It Sounds Foreign / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Asian Speekee Engrish / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Beauty Is Never Tarnished / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Benevolent A.I. / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Bottomless Magazines / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Cut the Juice / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Deliberately Monochrome / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Diabolical Mastermind / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Divided States of America / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Domain Holder / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
English Literature / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Famous, Famous, Fictional / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Fan of the Past / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Friendly Local Chinatown / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Future Slang / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Got Volunteered / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Hardboiled Detective / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Heroes Want Redheads / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Longer-Than-Life Sentence / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Lost in Character / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Most Writers Are Writers / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Nobody Poops / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Ominous Latin Chanting / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Pretty Little Headshots / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Private Eye Monologue / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Production Foreshadowing / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Reference Overdosed / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Rent-a-Zilla / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Ripping Off the String of Pearls / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Rummage Fail / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Shark Pool / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Signs of Disrepair / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Smart House / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Splash of Color / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Alternet / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
The Butler Did It / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Uncle Tomfoolery / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Video Phone / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
Virtual-Reality Warper / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future / int_55101334
 The Night Mayor
hasFeature
We Will Not Have Pockets in the Future / int_55101334