"Noise"

Darin Bradley holds an M.A. in Literature and Literary Criticism and a Ph.D. in Literature and Theory. He has taught courses on writing and literature at the University of North Texas, Furman University, and East Tennessee State University. His short fiction, poetry, and critical nonfiction have appeared in a variety of journals, and he served as founding fiction editor of the experimental e-zine, Farrago's Wainscot.

He applied the Page 69 Test to Noise, his first novel, and reported the following:

Page 69 of my novel, Noise, is both representative and not. See, what occurs on page 69 is a segment of "The Book"--a fictional manifesto that appears in the larger novel. This manifesto was penned piecemeal by the various members of an international counter-culture movement that calls itself Salvage. Salvagers are convinced that the collapse of society is coming, long before it does, so they broadcast, email, vandalize, hack, and otherwise do whatever they have to in order to communicate bits of advice to themselves about how best to build a new nation-state after a collapse. The resulting document, which prioritizes the survival of the reader's "Group" at the expense of others, is a horrifying, somewhat-fascist guide to civilization. Page 69 is Part Two, Section I, Sub-section "c," "Event Exit Strategy" of this manifesto: "The Book."

While the majority of the novel deals with the plotline of how the main characters survive the collapse and make use of The Book, the tone of delivery (and the ideas motivating the characters' actions) of the material on page 69 is very representative, while not being part of the story at all.

The entire "Book," for those who are curious, appears at the promotional companion site to Noise.

Read an excerpt from Noise, and learn more about the book and author at Darin Bradley's website.

Visit the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue