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Quick Questions with Charles Stross (The Fuller Memorandum)

Aug 7th, 2010
by gav.
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If you didn’t already know I’m a big fan of Charlie Stross’s Laundry Stories ( see The Atrocity Archives, The Jennifer Morgue and The Fuller Memorandum) so I was really chuffed to get to ask the very very busy man a few quick questions. And here they are:

Gav: Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer a few questions on Bob and The Laundry. How much, if anything, of yourself is in Bob Howard?

Charlie: Nope, I am not Bob. Frankly, if you offered me Bob’s job I’d run a mile.

Gav: He gets a bit of harder time in The Fuller Memorandum, is it important that he’s a human hero?

Charlie: Bob is basically your everyman geek, who’s fallen into a work/life environment that really doesn’t work that way. Part of what makes the Laundry stories work is that Bob *isn’t* a traditional spook, and indeed is a poor fit for his workplace and his co-workers expectations. (Never heard *that* one before, right?)

Gav: Some of my best moments of The Laundry comes from the shorter stories, I know you’re not keen on mentioning work until it’s signed and sealed but is there any chance of some more mini-adventures for Bob and crew in a file somewhere?

Charlie: I’ve got plans for a couple of novellas. (There’s one in which Bob meets a unicorn — which is a lot nastier than you might think — and which also explains where H. P. Lovecraft himself fits in the Laundry mythos. And there’s another about… no, no spoilers.)

Gav: Bob has moved on since we last caught up with him – how important is it to you to have a ‘realistic’ timeframe or was it something that was needed to move everyone on in the story? Bob has come a long professional way from his appearance in The Atrocity Archive.

Charlie: Partly it’s because there was a gap of five years between each of the first three books. To avoid ending up with Bob receding into the past, I decided to reposition them so that he’s ageing, roughly in step with wall-clock time (at least for now). In “The Atrocity Archives” he was in his early-to-mid-twenties. By The Jennifer Morgue, he was late twenties. In The Fuller Memorandum he’s early thirties.

I’m aiming to get the fourth book out a lot faster (hopefully within just two years of the previous). Events are, of course, accelerating …

Gav: So do you think that there are nameless horrors coming into the world? Was Lovecraft on to something?

Charlie: Seriously? Nameless horrors lurking in the walls of the universe? Nope.

But Lovecraft was onto something different: namely, the numinous sense of dread that is the flip side of the sense of wonder that good SF aspires to create in the mind of the reader.

Gav: You’ve explored more traditional fantasy, science fiction and horror. If you could hit reset would you want to have less toys in your sandbox?

Charlie: I get bored easily; in fact, if I could hit reset, I’d have *ALL* the toys in my sandbox!

(Also: “fantasy” and “SF” are just labels to help the bookstore employees figure out where to file the produce, and to guide the customers to the right bit of the shop floor. I don’t see a firm dividing line between the two labels, or between them and “mainstream literature” for that matter.)

Gav: Your next scheduled novel in the UK is Rule 34 (though not until July 2011 ed.), again there has been a bit of a gap from Halting State, can you say a little bit about it and how they link together?

Charlie: It’s set five years later, and one of the minor characters from Halting State — detective inspector Liz Kavanaugh — plays a central role in Rule 34. Other than that, and being written in multi-viewpoint second person? They’re completely different books, about completely different subjects.

Thanks Charlie! Now I’m wondering what’s bad about unicorns…

Look for more quick questions soon!

Posted in: Feature, Interview.
Tagged: · · · ·

Now it get serious, Amazon’s Kindle is Officially Arriving in the UK

Aug 5th, 2010
by gav.
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Kindle with books - graphite

Beginning on the 27th August Amazon are going to release a UK-centric Kindle e-ink e-reader to a book-loving British public and with it they are finally bringing us a UK-priced UK-focused ebook store on Amazon.co.uk. The reason I’m mentioning it now is that the Kindle UK store went live today, which is good news for people that I’ve been using Kindle of iPad, iPhone, Android, PC or Mac already.

The press release has some interesting stuff:

Kindle lets you buy your books once and read them everywhere—on Kindle, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, and Android-based devices. Amazon’s Whispersync technology syncs your place across all devices, so you can pick up where you left off. With Kindle Worry-Free Archive, books you purchase from the Kindle Store, and any notes or annotations you create, are automatically backed up online in your Kindle library on Amazon.co.uk where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly for free, anytime.

Below are Kindle book prices for a selection of Amazon.co.uk’s current Bestsellers:
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest    Stieg Larsson     £2.70
The Help     Kathryn Stockett    £2.79
One Day     David Nicholls     £2.79
The Lost Symbol     Dan Brown     £3.41
The Legacy     Katherine Webb    £3.35
Eclipse     Stephenie Meyer    £3.14
I Shall Wear Midnight     Terry Pratchett     £8.54
Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex    Eoin Colfer     £5.84
Eat, Pray, Love     Elizabeth Gilbert    £3.58
The Third Man     Peter Mandelson    £11.25

Over 170 top UK and international newspapers and magazines are also available in the UK Kindle store for single purchase or subscription. UK titles in this selection include The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Economist, The Independent, The Financial Times and The Evening Standard. Kindle customers can also subscribe to over 9,000 blogs. All subscriptions are auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle and start with a free 14-day trial.

“The opening of the UK Kindle store allows customers to buy content in pound sterling and offers a great shopping experience including UK customer reviews, recommendations, bestseller lists and customer service.”

So content is definitely king and price is going to be an interesting factor. I’ve not been that excited by the Kindle until now because they hadn’t launched properly in the UK but after seeing the 3rd generation model and it’s improvements:

Kindle front - graphitesmall

All New, High-Contrast E-Ink Screen, Read in Bright Sunlight: The new Kindle uses Amazon’s all-new electronic ink display with 50 percent better contrast for the clearest text and sharpest images. No other e-reader has this screen or this level of contrast. Unlike LCD screens, Kindle’s paper-like display looks and reads like real paper, with no glare, even in bright sunlight.

New Proprietary Screen Technology—Faster Page Turns, New and Improved Fonts: Kindle’s all-new, high-contrast electronic ink display is further optimised with Amazon’s proprietary display, waveform, and font technology to make pages turn faster and fonts sharper. Waveform is a series of electronic pulses that move black and white electronic ink particles to achieve a final gray level for an image or text. Amazon tuned the new Kindle’s waveform and controller mechanism to make page turning 20 percent faster. In addition, this waveform tuning combined with new hand-built, custom fonts and font-hinting make words and letters more crisp, clear, and natural-looking. Font hints are instructions, written as code, that control points on a font character’s line and improve legibility at small font sizes where few pixels are available. Hinting is a mix of aesthetic judgments and complicated technical strategies. Amazon designed its proprietary font-hinting to optimise specifically for the special characteristics of electronic ink.

New Sleek Design, Lighter Than a Paperback: The new Kindle has a 21 percent smaller body while still keeping the same 6-inch-size reading area. At only 8.7 ounces (247 grams), the new Kindle is 15 percent lighter and still 1/3 of an inch thin, making it lighter than a paperback and thinner than a magazine. With Kindle you can read comfortably and naturally with just one hand for hours. The new Kindle Wi-Fi is even lighter at just 8.5 ounces (241 grams).

Double the Storage, Holds 3,500 Books: The new Kindle has double the storage so you can carry up to 3,500 books.

Up To One Month of Battery Life: The new Kindle has up to one month of battery life with wireless off. Keep wireless on and your Kindle will have battery life of up to 10 days.

Free 3G Wireless: Kindle offers free 3G wireless, which means no monthly fees, no annual contracts, and no data plans. Amazon’s Whispernet technology hides the complexity of the typical wireless relationship, so Kindle owners have a seamless and hassle-free experience with no monthly fees, annual contracts, or data plans. Behind the scenes, Amazon Whispernet uses Vodafone, the U.K.’s best network.

Global Wireless Coverage: Kindle is the only e-reader that lets you travel the globe and still get books in under 60 seconds with wireless coverage in over 100 countries and territories.

New Built-In Wi-Fi: In addition to free 3G wireless, Kindle now has built-in Wi-Fi support. Kindle owners will now be able to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots at home or on the road. Readers who don’t need the convenience of free 3G wireless can purchase the new Kindle Wi-Fi for only £109 and download content over Wi-Fi.

Quieter Page Turn Buttons: Quieter page turns means you can read all night without disturbing your partner.

Share Meaningful Passages: Share meaningful passages with friends and family with built-in Twitter and Facebook integration.

Simple to Use: Kindle is ready to use right out of the box – no setup, no software to install, no computer required.

Books in 60 Seconds: With fast, free wireless delivery, you can start reading books on Kindle in less than 60 seconds.

Massive Selection: The U.K. Kindle Store will offer more than 400,000 books, including New Releases and 85 of 100 Nielsen UK Bestsellers—the biggest selection and the most bestsellers of any e-bookstore in t
he U.K. The U.K. Kindle Store will also offer newspapers, magazines and blogs.

Free Books: Over 1 million free books are available to read on Kindle.

Low Book Prices: The U.K. Kindle Store will offer the lowest book prices of any e-bookstore in the U.K.

Free Book Samples: First chapters of Kindle books are available to download and read for free before you decide to buy.

Read Everywhere with Whispersync: Kindle books can be read on your Kindle, iPhone, iPad, PC, Mac, and Android-based devices. Amazon’s Whispersync technology syncs your place across devices, so you can pick up where you left off.

Worry-Free Archive: Books purchased from the Kindle Store are automatically backed up online in your Kindle library on Amazon where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly for free, anytime.

Improved PDF Reader: The new Kindle uses an improved built-in PDF reader with new dictionary lookup, notes and highlights, and support for password protected PDFs.

I’ve had a good chance to try out Sony’s Readers, and Apple’s iPad so why do I want (and I have I ordered) an Amazon Kindle? Because it combines the best bits of the other two. An e-ink screen with a wireless way of adding books. Don’t get me wrong I love my iPad but it’s not that best outside and not that portable and Sony’s e-readers just aren’t that easy to use when it comes to getting books on and off them. I’d rather have the convenience of a Kindle in all it’s forms.

This might not be very popular but I’m a time-poor consumer. I want to read the book not spend 10 plus minutes moving wires around. Now if I but a book I can read it on my iPhone, iPad, soon to-have-Kindle. Does it this mean I won’t buy from the iBook Store? It depends probably not but I do like that they have a 2-page view when it’s in landscape.

I think that Waterstones and a partner (Sony?) need to come up with at least a wireless ereader with a store that supports instant downloads if they are going to compete for sales with Amazon – B&N seem to be on the right track with their Nook (I managed to see one in D.C.).

So there we have it – the ebook market is getting hotter.

Anyone else ordered a Kindle?

Posted in: news.
Tagged: · · · · ·

Shhh, I’m reading

Aug 3rd, 2010
by gav.
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Sorry for the non-blogging. You see I’ve been reading. In fact I’ve been reading the 1100+ page monster that is Pandora’s Star. And very good it was too. The downside is that I’ve not had much mental space for much else and if I’m being honest I’m still in holiday mode.

Plus this weekend was taken up with a bit of a rejig in the Reading Rooms. I had to take all the books off the floor in my office and find them a home so I’ve managed to squeeze in my last bookcase. I’ve been told no more! But I’ve got a little bit more space now luckily and it’s nice to have see the books where they belong.

Lots of great stuff doing on around the blog-o-sphere:

Dave has a Review of I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
James has a Review of King Squid, Jeff VanderMeer
Euro Crime reports on the International Dagger 2010 – winner – it’s The Darkest Room by Johan Theorin
Al has a review of Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard. I’m interested to see what changed as I hated the first one – lots of love for it so far…
It’s a Crime also has the short list for CWA Daggers 2010
Liz is having her ownShort Story Month starting with one of my favourite shorts ever – Chivalry – Smoke & Mirrors by Neil Gaiman (SSM)
Neth has a Review of The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
The SFFMasterworks Blog has rocketed!
Simon has a post on A New Book Award for 2010… The Green Carnation Prize – A prize gay men’s books in the UK – I want to talk more about this one at some point soon.
Mark has the great Cover Art | The Age of Odin by James Lovegrove (Solaris)
Niall reports on the 2009 Shirley Jackson Award Winners
Great little internet spat is described by James Quote of the day + assorted Viriconium commentary
Another great thing. This time Petrona has a summer book project by country like this one: Book reviews by country: Norway
Paul Magrs has more on The Green Carnation
Mark Charan Newton is in the SFX Book Club Feature this month talking about the wonderful Mythago Wood
See even Graeme like it – ‘Johannes Cabal the Detective’ – Jonathan L. Howard (Doubleday/Headline)
Civilian Reader is trying to record incoming books in posts called -Incoming! (#1 of 2) – Empire of Light!!!! And Death More Definite!!!
Oh and The Kindle is Coming to Blighty! I’ve ordered one – I know I know…
Marcus gives an early review of The Quantum Thief, by Hannu Rajaniemi
Sacred Treason, by James Forrester gets the BookGeek treatment.
Ooo nice cover of Eric Brown’s Engineman by Solaris Books
And a couple of early reviews of The Silent Land by Graham Joyce. This one is by Niall Alexander. Seems it’s made of win.
TLR has [Review] The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan (Traitor Spy Trilogy 1)
Speculative Fiction Junkie is on indefinite Hiatus but as a Further Explanation

Well that’ll keep you going for now I think.

More Soon! And I’m sorry for not replying to comments yet. I will. I promise.


Posted in: Uncategorized.

Summer Reading?

Jul 23rd, 2010
by gav.
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IMG_1103

I picked up the sign in Washington’s National Archive. I think it suits me. And I’ve just been called an addict by a certain young novelist (whose book is here somewhere) but I think that’s a little strong don’t you?

With the pom-pon thing in mind and it being the start-ish of the second part of the year I thought I might look at some of the books from the year so far (mostly) that you could soon be loosing yourself in.

Left’s start with the active books I’m properly reading.

IMG_0787IMG_0771IMG_1145

I decided to take Pandora’s Star on holiday and I’m immersed in it and at 1152 pages it’s sink or swim. Luckily is swim. I have no idea how he keeps everything balanced and tracked but so far so fun. I picked up a copy of Sherlock Holmes in the states as I love the hand small size. Not that you can tell from the pic. It’ve got some digital copies and the audiobooks but it’s still nice to have a copy around. And Spellwright is the books I was reading before I left.

The three below are books I promised I’d try  to read before I left but my analyse paralyse sort of put paid to that.

IMG_0840IMG_0830IMG_0884

And that leaves these. I challenge you to find them samey, well apart from the Holmes ones. They might share genre or themes but I think you’d be hard pressed to say there isn’t a diverse and vibrant well to draw on when it comes to reading. And this is only a small but invidually selected slice of what’s available.

IMG_0647 IMG_0995 IMG_0997IMG_0953 IMG_0999 IMG_1011 IMG_1023 IMG_1030 IMG_1040 IMG_1111 IMG_1112 IMG_1117 IMG_1126 IMG_1131 IMG_1142 IMG_1149 IMG_0885 IMG_0902 IMG_0918 IMG_0919 IMG_0924 IMG_0930 IMG_0932 IMG_0945 IMG_0949 IMG_0952 IMG_0955 IMG_0957 IMG_0976 IMG_0988
IMG_0783 IMG_0814 IMG_0817 IMG_0821 IMG_0825 IMG_0832 IMG_0853 IMG_0856 IMG_0868 IMG_0869 IMG_0877 IMG_0665 IMG_0669 IMG_0713 IMG_0716 IMG_0721 IMG_0567 IMG_0779 IMG_0782IMG_0775

I’d happily read any of them or they wouldn’t be up there but I am very excited by Changes, The Midnight Mayor, City of Ruin, The Desert Spear, Engaging the Enemy, New Model Army, Empire of Light, The Restoration Game, and A Star Shall Fall for no more complicated reason that earlier books have all appeared on the blog and I’m keen to reacquaint with them . I’ve been hearing great things about the rest too.

Any thoughts? Any you want to read or have read? Any I should burn? Or read NOW? Is this  a diverse selection or am I just deluding myself?

Posted in: Lists, Uncategorized.

What came first the book or the author?

Jul 21st, 2010
by gav.
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I’m making my way through a couple of books at the minute but hopefully some reviews are going to pop out the other end at some point soon. I really did only take one book on holiday with me and I only got halfway – it is 800-odd pages so I didn’t do too bad.

Jeff Vandermeer has a very interesting GUEST post BY Angela Slatter about celebrity culture trying to spread to writers:

You need to have a product. You need to build a reputation based on your writing. If you’re a Mafia-hitman-in-training, then surely your resume should have some instances of actually putting horse heads in beds, rather than simply saying “I totally want to be a Mafia hitman and put horse heads in people’s beds, Mr Gotti.” Surely one must show a record of achievement.

Otherwise, where’s the substance of you as a writer? You’re just Paris Hilton, all surface, all self-pimping, no depth, no achievement. Why bother?

link: Ecstatic Days » Blog Archive » Pondering Author Platform

There really is no end of quality product around, which is probably why people that want to join in the melee and have taken on the message of self-promotion that you hear. You need to get up that slush pile it seems and showing that you are active online or at least can be when the need arises i.e. when you have a book coming out into actual print from an actual publisher. But trying to make a name for yourself without anything to back it up really isn’t going to get you anywhere. The world is full of people that want to write a novel (including me).

We do worship writers. We have alters dedicated to them (they are called bookshelves). But we do so because we have fallen for them, head over heals in some cases. We don’t do it because they are a writer unless you’re Neil Gaiman or J.K Rowling but even then it’s because what they have written rather than who they are.

The key to the Gatekeepers is always writing that grabs you and won’t let you go, which is a feeling I have at the minute. I can see why Peter F. Hamilton is one of the biggest SF writers around. I’m totally immersed.

A question:

Which writer has grabbed you recently?


Posted in: Discuss, thoughts.

Strapping Back on the Pom-pons

Jul 18th, 2010
by gav.
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I think I’ve been suffering paralyse by analysis.

I’ve been giving the whole book blog thing a bit of a think. It’s heathy to pause for thought every now and again just to assess if you’re going in the right path or not. Books and blogging about books can turn into a time and mind consuming hobby. And as I’ve been reading The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential, in Business and in Life by Leo Babauta I’ve been wondering how essential this blog is and if it is essential what should I be doing with it.

For me it’s always been about sharing but recently I’ve been wondering if I’ve been sharing the right things to the right audience.

On the one side you have those that want a book to be given a weight and gravity by considering it’s worth compared to ‘canon’ and what importance it has in the wider picture and then you have those who are good at showing you the chocolate box and describing something enough so that you want to taste it even if you don’t know quite what you are going to get.

I’m definitely a box of chocolate guy. I want to find out if I like a strawberry centre or a caramel cream or at least find out if a Cadbury Caramel Cream beats a Nestle one.

That isn’t to say there isn’t a middle ground but I think that most people enjoy the stories as they are and just want enough idea to know if a book is going to be for them or not.

I like the whole carnival around books from the covers to the content but not a big fan of academic deconstruction. I don’t really enjoy pulling things apart. I’ve tried it when I was writing my review of The Holy Machine and didn’t like the processes. . I could tell you about some clever moments but taken out of context they just feel sterile and cold.

I like my books still beating. That’s why I read. I want to enjoy the ride. Now enjoyment is a big net that catches a lot of things but I hope I get across what I did and didn’t enjoy when I write my reviews.

So I’m going to strap the Pom-pons back on and get back into the carnival atmosphere that is the enjoyment of reading.


Posted in: Uncategorized.

I'm back! I love that States! I need sleep.

Jul 18th, 2010
by gav.
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Well I’m back in body if not in mind. I’ve been up since 3.30am after a full day plus of traveling. I’m not sure who or where I am right now…

I’ve had a great two weeks seeing two completely different sides to the states. On the one side the Nation’s Capital.

And on the other Vegas, which really is like no where on Earth. It’s my second visit to the USA and I was more than happy to stay and fly on to San Fran. Maybe next year.

I won’t bore you with too many photos or reminiscences thoughI do want to share a couple of things.

The food is stunning. I have dinner plate sized pancakes and some of the best burgers I’ve ever had:

I think I had too much high-calourie and unhealthy food than is good for me but it’s a holiday right? I was doing a lot of walking and to prove it the scales said

I’m 2lbs heavier but 3% less fat than when I left. Not that I wanted to walk. 105F is a bit much and that was DC. Vegas was hitting 115F+ This is nice if you’re lying buy a pool but it makes sight seeing interesting.

I saw lots of sights in DC.

I stayed in Luxor in Vegas. The pyramid is stunning though I didn’t get a shot of it as it’s all blocked in by other hotels except the back and I didn’t realise that until heading back to the airport. I did get to see Camelot every morning so I can’t complain.

I did buy a couple of  books.

It looks like I’ve got lots of catching up to do. Rumour has it there is a 6ft pile of parcels in the Post Office. Monday might see a very unamused post man.

Oh and I’ve found my Vegas song

Posted in: Uncategorized.

Gone Fishing – Back in a bit

Jul 7th, 2010
by gav.
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By the time you read this I’ll be across the Atlantic, with a bit of luck, to the place where they fly this flag:

So this is a quick post to say:

I have feeling that I’m not going to be very connected whilst I’m gone. I’m taking one book for the plane and maybe one more but that’s my lot. It’s not as if they don’t have books where I’m going is it? Along with all the other things I’ve probably forgotten to pack!

So whilst I’m away  a question:

What books you taking aways with you this summer?

Catch you all soon!

Posted in: Uncategorized.

Elsewhere Review: The Holy Machine on SFRevu (Corvus Books)

Jul 1st, 2010
by gav.
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Chris Beckett’s novel The Holy Machine is one of those books. And the skin it gets under is, in some cases, artificial, in others, virtual, as well as our own real skins. Though mainly it’s about the skin of one ‘ASPU’ – Lucy – and a man named George Simling.

Find out more about what I had to say about  The Holy Machine on this month’s edition of SFRevu.com. Hint I loved it!

Posted in: Uncategorized.

Green Review: The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross (Orbit Books)

Jul 1st, 2010
by gav.
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The Fuller Memorandum
Charles Stross
Orbit Books
Out Now

We’re used to series having a regularity and rhythm to them. But The Laundry series is a little more erratic to say the least. Not that it’s anyones fault as such. We’ve had two almost full novels, 4 novella/shorts, this full novel and two more still to come (hopefully).

After finishing The Fuller Memorandum I hope Stross has chance to write both The Armageddon Agedna and The Nightmare Stacks and surprises us with a stack of more short stories.

You can take it from the above that I’m a fan of the series right? Just in case you’re in any doubt I love what

Stross has done with The Laundry. When I grow up I want to tell stories like this.

I’d better explain why it’s hitting my buttons then.

I do have this thing that’s been slow burning for Lovecraftian-esque horrors and it’s slowly creeping into my reading see:

as well as the first two book in this series:

In my review of The Jennifer Morgue I said:

In the next one I’d love to see the horrors a bit more horrific just to see how far Bob can cope and I want to know more about the origins of his boss Angleton. And if I’m being picky I’d like to have the pace toned down a little bit to have more time to digest stuff.

I think Stross must have read my review as he’s done all of that and more.

Time has shifted again. Bob is now married to Mo not surprising after the events of The Jennifer Morgue but their connection is forged by what they’ve seen and can’t share with the outside world more than love. They have a strange but understanding relationship. They both agents for The Laundry, a branch of the British secret service, tasked to prevent hideous alien gods from wiping out all life on Earth.

Stross always seems to come back with something different but retaining all the things you like about Bob and The Laundry. This starts with his unofficial boss giving him a little errand. All he needs to do is check out a disturbance in the Royal Airforce Museum and seeing as he’s all ready going it’s suggested that he checks out a white elephant in Hanger 12B. Unfortunately there is an accident and he doesn’t get chance to investigate the elephant, which is only the start of Bob’s problems.

All The Laundry stories are retold by Bob which gives them an emotional and personal edge that might be lost if they were told in third person. We do occasionally get to see some events retold by Bob from other people’s points of view so we’re not limited to Bob as there a few key moments that we need to see and couldn’t see them any other way.

I really can’t fault Stross for his characterisation. He manages to dish out Chuthu-lian horrors at the same time as making paperclips and the need for an autopsy like inspection of a violin mix in as if it’s normal.

And it is normal to them. Especially having an upgraded Jesus phone with magickal apps plus injecting geek humour by accusing it of a having a strong glamour that just pulls you in. You know what I’m almost convinced they do.

It’s this mix of supernatural and the mundane that makes Stross such a convincing writer. He can pull out the horror and when I said I wanted Bob to suffer I wasn’t sure that Stross could actually do what he did to Bob here. It’s not pleasant and it’s disturbing as it’s not carried out by anything alien but fanatics who believe in something enough that they see what they do as means to an end. And he can also pull out plot twists that have you seeing things completely differently.

You get to see the history of one of the more enigmatic characters in the series so far and what you learn is more ‘oh’ than ‘err’ but only just. I wonder what else Stross is hiding from us?

All the end of the world horror is mixed with Stross personal brand of geek humour and the character could be average-if-he-wasn’t-dealing-with-the-supernatural-Bob, not forgetting the rest of eclectic crew of The Laundry, shows what rich world Stross has created. I’m sad that we’ve only got to see glimpses of it so far. I hope this isn’t the last we see of them.

I’m not sure where we go from here. The Laundry is a hotel corridor of horrors just waiting to be walked down and any door could lead to a nightmare.

Posted in: Green Review.
Tagged: · · · ·

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