At the start of the novel, Rosemary has only been to a bar once, and that was a virtual visit for her 21st birthday with some friends. When she ordered a drink at the VR bar, a drone delivered the drink to her home in a jar.Â
She’d only been in a bar one time before, for her twenty-first birthday, when her school friends had made her meet them for drinks. Real cocktails, which droned to her doorstep in mason jars nestled in protective packaging. The bar itself had been flat and boring, a generic Irish bar with outdated graphics and a glitchy interface made worse by her Basic Hoodie. She’d never cared to repeat the experience; she preferred chatting with friends in a game or somewhere else where they had something to do while they talked. Her friend Donna had said the bar had history, like history was a selling point. The highlight had been the jar of vodka-spiked basil lemonade.
Pinsker, Sarah. A Song for a New Day (p. 37). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.Â
[Description of one of her first in-person group meetings, which is described in contrast to the VR experiences she is more used to:]
Her training group all eyed each other, assessing, leaving as much space as possible between their bodies in the small classroom. Rosemary had agonized over what to wear to an in-person training, settling on something not too unlike her Superwally uniform. The others were a little more casual, in jeans or tights and unbranded long-sleeved T-shirts. They all looked scruffy in comparison to the avatars she was used to interacting with. Their colors were off, their hair frizzed. A couple had pox scars on their cheeks or arms. She’d been lucky enough to get through the outbreak with scars only on her torso, hidden beneath her clothes.
Pinsker, Sarah. A Song for a New Day (p. 81). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.Â
| Title | Publication Type | Year | Creator |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Song for a New Day | Narrative, Novel | Sarah Pinsker |
