Escape Artists
July 31, 2010, 09:14:52 pm *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Latest PodCastle comment thread: PodCastle 107: Behold of the Eye by Hal Duncan
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Check it out for Christmas: "Overtime" by Charles Stross  (Read 1100 times)
Swamp
EP Big Shot
Moderator
*****
Posts: 1703



WWW
« on: December 22, 2009, 08:05:33 pm »

Check out the story at Tor.com.  This is a Christmas story set in Stross' Laundry universe which Tim Pratt describes as a "universe of secret-agents / institutional government bureaucracy / Lovecraftian indifferent cosmic monsters". 

Bob, a security officer serving as night watchmen over Christmas, is all that stands to defend the world against the seven-dimensional being known as the Filler of Stockings.  Oh and it also features a visit from "the ghost of Christmases rendered-fictional-by-temporal-paradox".
Logged

They stabbed a chicken nugget with a Sharpie!  These are bad people!
kibitzer
Purveyor of Unsolicited Opinions
Hipparch
******
Posts: 608


Kibitzer: A meddler who offers unwanted advice


« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2010, 04:18:58 pm »

I listened to that one, not realising it was set in an established universe. I liked it, it's a good story, possibly not best suited to audio format because it cuts back and forth. It's very, very English -- loved it!  Reminded me of the many happy years I lived in England. Interesting universe, too -- might look up his other stuff.
Logged

Black magic. It's all I can think of to explain Shattner's popularity.
Alasdair5000
Moderator
*****
Posts: 678



WWW
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2010, 04:25:27 pm »

I listened to that one, not realising it was set in an established universe. I liked it, it's a good story, possibly not best suited to audio format because it cuts back and forth. It's very, very English -- loved it!  Reminded me of the many happy years I lived in England. Interesting universe, too -- might look up his other stuff.

The Atrocity Archive is excellent, and the first Laundry story.  I'd also recommend Glasshouse which, on the one hand Stross wrote as an elaborate parody but on the other actually works as a singularly smart, nasty novel in it's own right.  I have severe issues with pretty much all his recent pop cultural commentary but as a fiction writer there are few better.
Logged

TV, Cinema, Art, Theatre, Comics, Travel and Al
www.alasdairstuart.com
-------------------------------------------------
Hub Magazine-
www.hubfiction.com
kibitzer
Purveyor of Unsolicited Opinions
Hipparch
******
Posts: 608


Kibitzer: A meddler who offers unwanted advice


« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2010, 07:02:58 pm »

Excellent, thanks Al. Just reserved those at my local library.
Logged

Black magic. It's all I can think of to explain Shattner's popularity.
kibitzer
Purveyor of Unsolicited Opinions
Hipparch
******
Posts: 608


Kibitzer: A meddler who offers unwanted advice


« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2010, 08:02:48 pm »

Just this moment finished read The Atrocity Archives.

Holy. Shit.

What an incredible ride! Best book I've read in a while. Loved it! Next: The Jennifer Morgue and Glasshouse.
Logged

Black magic. It's all I can think of to explain Shattner's popularity.
Scattercat
Hipparch
******
Posts: 1248


Amateur wordsmith


WWW
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2010, 09:54:40 pm »

Jennifer Morgue was pretty fun, but I think I preferred the Atrocity Archives overall; it felt a little more solid and coherent in some ways.  Plus, I'm not as huge a fan of Bond as I am of Lovecraft, and the former is definitely a larger part of that second book.
Logged

---
For I am the Cat Who Walks by Himself, and all places are alike to me.
- Rudyard Kipling

Mirrorshards: Very Short Stories
100 Words.  No more.  No fewer.  Every day.
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.5 | SMF © 2006-2008, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!