I was in the 7-11 on the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders the other night. I remember when it first opened, a shock flourescent explosion in a dark and dingy corner of Melbourne's streetscape. I frequent it for weekly tram tickets. A drunk enters, taking exaggerated steps toward the back of the shop, paper bagged bottle clutched tight. Speaking in some personal language, and throwing too casual looks over his shoulder at the counter staff (almost overbalancing each time he turns) he stands just behind the corner of the shelf. As I keep my eye on him I realise that there's one of those convex mirrors, and no matter how stealthy he thinks he's being every move is visible to every occupant of the shop.

I'm later struck by the similarity between this 7-11 and the Lucky Dragon convenience stores in William Gibson's latest release "All Tomorrow's Parties". The incongruity between the location and the store itself, the kinds of people who frequent the store, the kinds of goods sold, all are incredibly familiar.

This familiarity helps the reader connect with the story. Other aspects of the story may be, if taken by themselves, strange and unbelievable. The working in of logical extrapolations of current popular culture would have themselves seemed an interesting theory a couple of years back, however now we have experienced a proliferation of "reality" cop shows, documentary shows and the increasing uptake of cable television

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