Throughout Bias Cut, there are references to the Cold War, all of which would seem to foreshadow the 1984 nuclear attack that turned the world of Lonely Satellite into a post-apocalyptic hellscape:
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A rustle of keys at the front door. Nicola looked up as Donya entered. “Hi. I thought you were going to Arizona?”
“Change of plans.” Donya dropped her oversized satchel with a thud. “The Cold War retrospective got scrapped. So, no Titan Missile Museum.
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“Hey, his mom is Maggie Sparks.”
“Who?”
“Former Senator from Pennsylvania. She was a big deal in the eighties. Sort of a bad-ass. She pushed for unilateral nuclear disarmament, not that it went over very well at that time.”
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“It’s not really fashion so much. See, here’s my idea.” Laurie looked around and lowered his voice. “I haven’t told anyone about this, almost anyone at all, but this is the concept: Let’s say there was a nuclear attack back in 1984. Earth laid to waste, cities destroyed, human existence almost eradicated. Right?”
“Sure.”
“Okay. So time has passed, almost thirty years, and people have started to rebuild. But things are still crappy, obviously, it’s still a struggle to survive. So America has become this totally chaotic post-apocalyptic society.” Laurie smiled in triumph. “And I want to design the clothes for that society. But, you know, make them pretty.”
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Lopsided stacks of newspapers, ratty old paperbacks. DVDs: Nicola glimpsed Road Warrior, Escape From New York, Solarbabies, Night of the Comet, old Max Headroom episodes. All of it meaningful to Laurie, all of it giving him some spark of an idea for his future collection.
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See also: the secret Chapter Thirty-Eight of Bias Cut
