Charles Stross
The Atrocity Archives (2004)
Author: Charles Stross
Genre: Science Fiction (cyberpunk)/Horror
Plot Summary:
Bob Howard works for Capital Laundry Services, but these laundry services aren't what you think. They're part of a super-secret agency within the British government in charge of handling occult intrusions and paranormal problems with as little fanfare as possible. Bob is promoted field ops after a long stint as a systems administrator, and, on his first job, he happens into a bizarre conspiracy involving Nazis who are using suppressed mathematics and technology based thereupon to open up a portal from their refuge in an alternate universe to Earth in hopes of a triumphant return. Bob, working with a damsel-in-distress from his first assignment named Mo, tracks the clues while dispensing witty comments on the nature of the universe. SPOIILER: Bob travels through a portal with a team of commandos to the Nazis dying world in an alternate universe where they discover a far greater evil that has already wiped out the Nazis and is hell-bent on making contact with our Universe. Of course Bob, the lowly systems analysist, saves the day with some high-tech, McGuyver-esque reverse engineering and gets the girl.
Geographical Setting: London, Amsterdam, a world in an alternate universe that serves as a base for a group of exiled Nazi occultists
Time Period: near future
Appeal Elements:
Stross' humorous, tongue-in-cheek attitude and story works well in the context of a story that lacks real horror (i.e. it'd be a flat story if not for Stross' skill in interweaving pseudo-science and his character's witty banter); very cyberpunk, mentions of mathematics should not turn off the non-mathematical; quick-paced page-turner that contains suspense elements; the world Bob inhabits seems littered with discarded Chinese take-out containers and I don't remember the sun every shining; the tone stays light when characters get involved in banter but tenses up when danger is near. Stross does a good job of setting up his universe and creating a believable secret agency by dropping scientific theories that may or may not be based on actual theories, but the names he drops sound convincing enough to this fan of saucer-based conspiracy literature. What drew me into this story was a mention of Stross' assimilation of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos into the story, and, sure enough, it's in there. In fact, a lot of this story reminds me of an updated Lovecraft tale with a generous dose of slacker and cyberpunk mentality thrown in for good measure. I wouldn't call it horror, but there are horror moments and it is similar to the otherworldly tales of Lovecraft.
Red Flags: violence, occult references, some foul language, sexual desire expressed but not graphic sexuality
Iron Sunrise (2004)
Author: Charles Stross
Genre (and subgenre): Hard SF/Thriller
Plot Summary:
An unidentified person/organization destroys a star system by detonating its sun, triggering an automatic counterattack that will destroy a rival star system (that it turns out didn’t order the attack) unless the surviving ambassadors from the destroyed system issue a recall order. However, someone is assassinating the ambassadors at the same time various factions are attempting to gain access to the recall codes for various reasons, some altruistic, some nefarious. These factions include an intergalactic United Nations nuclear non-proliferation task force and an evil cult called the ReMastered who are trying to build an empire while simultaneously dealing with murderous infighting within their ranks. Somehow in that description I managed to leave out the novel’s ostensible heroine Wednesday, a teenage refugee from the destroyed star system who saw something she shouldn’t have and is in danger because of it, a journalist named Frank who is a survivor of the ReMastered concentration camps, and the Eschaton, an omniscient computer-god that occasionally manipulates various human agents for its own self-perpetuation.
Geographical Setting: Various star systems
Time Period: app. 24th century
Series: sequel to Singularity Sky
Appeal Characteristics:
some very hard SF elements (one early chapter describes the physical forces at work in a star going supernova in what some might call excruciating detail), very complicated political intrigue, classic thriller elements (spunky heroine is privy to something important without realizing it and is targeted as a result), action speeds up as the novel progresses
Similar Authors: Iain Banks and Ken MacLeod (according to Publishers Weekly)
Red Flags: Pervasive strong language, at least one very graphic sexual scene and graphic violence scattered throughout. Definitely R-rated
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