When we first meet him, Clay is an affable and unemployed art-school graduate. As a designer, his specific interest in typography makes him an appropriate candidate to solve the mystery left by Aldus Manutius and Griffo Gerritszoon. While he is comfortable with modern technology, as demonstrated by his ability to construct a 3-D model of the bookstore, he is not at the forefront of technological innovation: his kindle is one of the earliest models and has an unreliable battery. In fact, it is his habit of reading printed out copies of help-wanted ads while walking in San Francisco that brings him to Penumbra’s bookstore in the first place. That is, Clay is positioned somewhere between Kat’s complete immersion in the digital age and Corvina’s complete rejection of it, making him the perfect character to negotiate the tension between old and new technologies.

While Clay mostly reads social media and online articles rather than fiction, he has an enduring love for The Dragon-Song Chronicles by Clark Moffat. His interest in fantasy fiction shapes his reaction to the increasingly mysterious circumstances at the bookstore. While he is initially reluctant to investigate the books of the Waybacklist for fear of losing his job, once he has seen the encoded books all he can think about is solving the puzzle; it becomes his own personal quest.