Around here, the initials S.F. stand for science fiction and San Francisco. And when it comes to San Futuro, I root for the home team every time. That’s why my favorite Trek movie is Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and my favorite Philip K. Dick novel is The Man in the High Castle.
Because I live in the Bay bubble, I always perk up when San Francisco is mentioned in the books I read. And when it pops up in a science fiction novel, I stand at attention like a tap on the shoulder from the Full Metal Bitch.
Back in 2006, Dennis O’Neil wrote a novel about The Question, a minor league superhero with a major league pedigree (the character was created by comic book artist Steve Ditko). O’Neil’s novel sailed under my radar until earlier this year when I spotted it on the shelves of a used bookstore in Berkeley. In case you’d like to order it, the book is called DC Universe: Helltown.
Anyhoo, I’m not saying the novel was good or bad, but it did provide one LOL moment. Vic Sage (aka The Question) finds himself in San Francisco on Christmas day. Alone and bored, he decides to see a movie on Market Street. If you know San Francisco at all, you know the only movie theaters on Market Street three years ago were adult theaters. Ah yes, the perfect way for a superhero to celebrate Christmas—watching porn in San Francisco. I wonder what The Question’s pals in the JLA would think if they found out?
Tags: Philip K. Dick, San Francisco, SF in SF
Isn’t there a classic William Gibson scene where has characters have a meeting on the middle of the Bay Bridge, but having never been to SF he has no idea that Yerba Buena Island exists?
Virtual Light perhaps? Significant chunks of that book take place on the BB.
Nothing wrong with a little hardcore porno to get you through a lonely Christmas afternoon.