It can be dangerous to read publishers' blurbs while fatigued. A glance through heavy-lidded eyes at the promos for Wil McCarthy's latest (out in April) in the window of Pandemonium yesterday yielded roughly the following:

Lost in Translation, by Wil McCarthy

In a novel that challenges our expectations at every turn, acclaimed author Wil McCarthy sweeps us into the future as only he can imagine it. Here is a thrilling odyssey of discovery and adventure in a city of exiled rebels coming of age...

Brash and idealistic, he was a rebel without a cause in a world governed by science, reason... and immortality. Banished for his troubles to Tokyo, he now faces a stark future, condemned to make commercials for Suntory Whiskey while being battered with stage directions in incomprehensible Japanese. The ad shoot will last a century, but with Queendom technology it's no problem to step into a fax machine and "print" a fresh, youthful version of yourself. But the outré Japanese nightlife this hard-charging rebel will find is far from the paradise he would seek. Aided only by the neglected wife of an American photographer, he must struggle against loneliness, jet lag, and death itself, which has returned with a vengeance!

You know, I'm not sure I'm going to buy it...