(Site manager's note: On December 2, 1997, Michael Hinko wrote the following entry in The Martin Amis Web Guestbook. As Amis writes in Money, "names are awfully important"):

    One of the stops on Martin Amis' London Fields publicity tour was Barbara's Bookstore in Chicago. My wife and I found ourselves fused into the tightly packed gathering and felt happy for the opportunity. The hushed crowd listened intently as Amis read aloud through curled lip. After the reading, we waited in line to have two copies of London Fields signed by the author: one for our bookshelf, one for my sister, Deb. As I stepped to the table, Amis asked to whom the book should be addressed. In a quiet voice I answered, "To Deb." Martin looked up quizzically asking, "Just Dub?" I answered affirmatively, thinking he had simply mispronounced my sister's name. He then said enthusiastically, "Dub! What a marvelous name," and proceeded to sign the book as such. Years later, while reading the newly released The Information, I came upon the chapter in which Richard Tull is the guest on a Chicago radio program hosted by "Dub" Traynor. Of course I'll probably never know whether my miscommunication in a crowded bookstore led to the naming of this character. But I always smile thinking of the possibility.

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