Half the fun is figuring them out yourself, but some parts of the story don't make sense unless you get the joke.

For starters:

Near the end of Chapter 8: A Shot In The Darkness, a couple references are made to a game called "Shadowrun".

If you don't know what this is, I feel sorry for you.

Shadowrun was an old pen-and-paper role-playing game--like Dungeons and Dragons. Only this game was set in a dark, cyberpunk future where corporations ruled the world and elves and mages sold their services for industrial espionage.

Basically it was like Johnny Mnemonic--but with dragons.

I could literally go on forever, but you wouldn't read it--so just google around for info on the subject. That should clear up what Orrin means when her refers to "A Decker, a Shaman, and a Street Samurai."