Must be effective writing...

Sorry if this is of little interest to other people, but I was so tickled
I couldn't resist posting. [And it's a bit different from the stuff
that usually gets posted here (]

I've been reading (and enjoying) Anthony Horowitz's "Nightrise". At a
fairly early point in the book, the protagonist (one of twins) has a
'Significant Dream'. Here's an excerpt:

"He glanced round, expecting to see his brother, but instead there was
a man kneeling beside the edge of the sea, holding a large, flat bowl
which he seemed to be filling with water. [....] The man was huge --
and he was completely grey. His face, his hands, his clothes, even
his eyes, were the colour of stone, and if he hadn't been moving, Jamie
would have assumed he was a statue. He was wearing old-fashioned shapeless
trousers tied with a leather belt and an open-necked shirt with rolled-up
sleeves. He also had a hat -- not a cowboy hat but something similar --
and boots that came up to his calves."

Wait a minute...! I know that...! That's...

And of course I was right. The dream is a foreshadowing of dramatic
events toward the end of the book, in the place where that... person... is.
(The 'sea' bit is misdirection...)

It's kind of fun when one has this sort of private recognition of an
author's image. He can't really have expected many people to recognize
it, and if you don't have some familiarity with this part of the world
(specifically Highway 80 in California) it wouldn't mean anything.

If you want to be spoiled, I even once took a picture:

http:jwgibbs.cchem.berkeley.edu/pete/Nightrise.jpg

-- Pete --

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Pete <neverland.DeleteThis@jwgibbs.cchem.berkeley.edu> wrote:

> Sorry if this is of little interest to other people, but I was so tickled
> I couldn't resist posting. [And it's a bit different from the stuff
> that usually gets posted here (]
>
> I've been reading (and enjoying) Anthony Horowitz's "Nightrise". At a
> fairly early point in the book, the protagonist (one of twins) has a
> 'Significant Dream'. Here's an excerpt:
>
> "He glanced round, expecting to see his brother, but instead there was
> a man kneeling beside the edge of the sea, holding a large, flat bowl
> which he seemed to be filling with water. [....] The man was huge --
> and he was completely grey. His face, his hands, his clothes, even
> his eyes, were the colour of stone, and if he hadn't been moving,
> Jamie would have assumed he was a statue. He was wearing
> old-fashioned shapeless trousers tied with a leather belt and an
> open-necked shirt with rolled-up sleeves. He also had a hat -- not a
> cowboy hat but something similar -- and boots that came up to his
> calves."
>
> Wait a minute...! I know that...! That's...
>
> And of course I was right. The dream is a foreshadowing of dramatic
> events toward the end of the book, in the place where that... person... is.
> (The 'sea' bit is misdirection...)
>
> It's kind of fun when one has this sort of private recognition of an
> author's image. He can't really have expected many people to recognize
> it, and if you don't have some familiarity with this part of the world
> (specifically Highway 80 in California) it wouldn't mean anything.
>
> If you want to be spoiled, I even once took a picture:
>
> http:jwgibbs.cchem.berkeley.edu/pete/Nightrise.jpg
>
> -- Pete --

Hmmm.. thanks for that.