AtD 607 (spoilers): gas

[Monte Davis]

"Gripping a knife and fork expressively in either fist…"

Inspector Aychrome's briefing on Lamont Replevin and the Coalgasnet is *such* a happy tip o' the hat in multiple directions. 

The White-Visitation-like setting at Chunxton Cxrescent… the sketched sinister German archaeology a la Raiders of the Lost Ark (and that's the *upside*, assuming we don't get even more Lovecraftian finds, like the Statue That Burned, or Wren Provenance's rock drawings)

Alternate communications: the Trystero, and the messages half-heard in dynamite blasts and inm static on the Tesla communicator....and of course Pirate's special delivery near the beginning of GR (“It came over in a rather delightful way,” the voice high­pitched and sullen, “none of my friends are that clever. All my mail arrives by post. Do come collect it, won’t you, Prentice.”) 
The Internet's successive Latest Things, email and IM and encryption controversies… with hints of Al Qaeda and pedophiles and all the other Unwelcome Users of today
And the wonderful  "…they might have been out seeking to chuck bombs into post-boxes, were it not for the many Suffragettes queued up ahead of them." Just imagine how that throwaway could have been worked up into a few pages, if Pynchon weren't so damn stingy with his subplots... 

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