Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Author:Robin Sloan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9781921961380
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2012-09-26T04:00:00+00:00

When we flee the Reading Room, Deckle asks again about coffee.

“We will need something stronger than that, my boy,” Penumbra says, attempting a smile, and almost—but not quite—succeeding. “I would very much like to speak with you tonight … Where?” Penumbra turns to me and makes it a question.

“The Northbridge,” Neel cuts in. “West Twenty-ninth and Broadway.” That’s where we’re staying, because that’s where Neel knows the owner.

We leave our robes and take our phones and wade back out through the gray-green shallows of the Festina Lente Company. As my sneakers scuff the brindled corporate floor-covering material, it occurs to me that we must be directly above the Reading Room—basically walking on its ceiling. I can’t decide how far down it is. Twenty feet? Forty?

Penumbra’s own codex vitae is down there. I didn’t see it—it was somewhere on those shelves, one spine among many—but it looms larger in my mind than the black-bound MANVTIVS. We’re scurrying away under the shadow of an ultimatum, and it seems to me that Penumbra might be leaving something precious behind.

One of the offices along the wall is larger than the others, its frosted-glass door set apart from the rest. I can see the nameplate clearly now:

MARCUS CORVINA / EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

So Corvina has a first name, too.

A shadow moves against the frosted glass, and I realize he’s in there. What’s he doing? Negotiating with a publisher on the phone, demanding exorbitant sums for the use of grand old Gerritszoon? Offering up the names and addresses of some pesky e-book pirates? Closing down another wonderful bookstore? Talking to his bank, canceling a certain recurring payment?

This isn’t just a cult. It’s also a corporation, and Corvina is in charge, above and below.

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