Neil Ferguson (1)

This is a novel where the central character only appears in other people's experiences of him: in their letters, diaries, interviews or other narratives of their memories of the time they came into contact with him. Alongside this, we go backwards in time, from the end to the start, as it were. Each of the different point of view characters were very compelling, and it was always interesting to see Greg's story unfold from their own experiences.

Droll tale of the inventor a device that decodes the 'real' meanings of conversations and his estranged wife, who is helping the President and his team force more American entertainment on the rest of the world at a summit meeting at Bikini Atoll.

President Monroe (the blonde, not the other one) personally flies to Prague to meet Gorbachov and stop the Russian tanks invading. Lots of amusement is wrung from English/Russian mis-translations.

In what what might be an impoverished near future, Roger Morse, an etymologist, discovers that his precious reprint copy of "Skeat's dictionary of etymology" has been stolen. His work searching out meanings from the second third of C - CAT to COZ - has taken him out into the slums, where he has struck up a relationship with Sharon, a prostitute with a taste for good books. He is summoned to the Library to explain his actions...