"On Her Majesty's Occult Service," new novel by Charles Stross

[Moebius Tripper]

The "Science Fiction Book Club," in the U.S. has just showcased a new novel by the sci-fi writer, Charles Stross: "On Her Majesty's Occult Service," which they highly recommend...Has anyone read any books by this author? And what do you think of his books?

 

[j d worthington]

Not really read anything by that I can recall, but have heard some interesting things about. Here's some information on:

Charles Stross - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As for a discussion of his work, you'd have to do a search on that, as there are several threads which have brought him up....

 

[chrispenycate]

We did a book club read of his "Accelerando" in http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/8632-accelerando-dec-scifi-discussion.html , and I read it in Ebook form (which I consider very brave of me) and commented upon in some depth.
The only other place I've seen any of his works is in the Aeroport, in that ridiculous "put all the bad things together" aeroport format (too big to go into a pocket, too floppy to read one handed, not tough enough to survive serious browsing, too expensive, won't fit onto bookshelves) and I wasn't quite fond enough of him to buy these.

 

[Rane Longfox]

I quite enjoyed Iron Sunrise, but thats the only book of his which I've read. Not really up with my favorite SF authors, but he wouldn't be after just one book, would he Definately some potential there though.

 

[Ian Whates]

Charlie tends to write 'hard' science fiction, full of technical wizardry, nanotechnology etc. -- his two Hugo shortlisted novels Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise being prime examples.

However, On Her Majesty's Occult Service is something else althogether. It's not a new novel, incidentally, but is an omnibus edition of his two 'Laundry' novels -- The Atrocity Archives (2001) and The Jennifer Morgue (2006). The Laundry is an ultra-ultra secret British government agency, and the books are a mixture of James Bond-style spy thriller blended with occult horror, with a dash of humour thrown in for good measure.

Charlie Stross is nothing if not versatile!

Hope that helps.

(His wife Feorag is also a talented lady -- she did the layout and setting for Time Pieces, the signed, limited edition anthology I edited and published last year).

 

[Bikewer]

I read The Atrocity Archives, and it was quite clever. Lots of in-joke references to standards of horror/occult writing thrown in.

 

[vurtomatic]

I've read The Atrocity Archives and immensely enjoyable. The pace is fast, the writing is tight and witty/funny. Didn't know about The Jennifer Morgue, will definitely look out for that now, thanks!

 

[Blue Tyson]

Omnibus? Good idea. Guess that is why I hadn't heard of it.

I have read the Atrocity Archives. That was fun.

 

[mogora]

I enjoyed The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue and hope Stross writes more in the series. His mixture of Lovecraftian horrors, spy fiction, and Dilbertian office politics is very amusing.

However, his earlier short story "A Colder War" is a more faithful Lovecraftian story that's rightfully disturbing and gloomy. It's an alternate history in which there are far, far worse things than nuclear weapons. I can't post a link yet, but if you google on "colder war" and "infinityplus" you'll find the site that hosts the story.

 

[Gav]

I'd recommend Stross - though I think that Mcleod is better.

Of his books I would recommend Iron Sunrise and Singularity Sky. Accelerando is just too... incoherent. Acc' is full of good ideas but it's too full. I also thought it didn't end well... However Iron Sunrise and Singularity Sky are excellent novels - gave me a lot to think about. The Eschaton (I am not giving anything away) is an excellent concept.

 

[williamjm]

"The Atrocity Archives" was a very entertaining read. I've not read "The Jennifer Morgue" yet, but I'm hoping it is as much fun.

I've had varied reactions to his more serious works. I liked his first Fantasy book, "The Family Trade" (again not read the sequels yet) but I didn't particularly like either "Singularity Sky" or "Accelerando" which both had some very interesting ideas, but I didn't think either of them was particularly good as a story. He has written some good short stories as well, although again the quality is a bit variable.

 

[Jason_Taverner]

Singularity Sky was ok I enjoyed it but thats all I can really say about the guy, I did like the sub machine gun weilding bunny rabbit

 

[Danny McG]

I did like the sub machine gun weilding bunny rabbit

Isn't that everything we're all looking for in a good story?