I’m a fan of Charles Stross’s series about The Laundry–a super secret British government organization organized to fight occult threats. A Conventional Boy collects three stories of The Laundry. The title story deals with Derek, a young man The Laundry swept up decades ago who was playing Dungeons & Dragons with friends. While Derek’s friends were quickly released, he was sent to Camp Sunshine where he was kept for years. The Laundry is no different than any other bureaucracy: it makes mistakes. Yet, Derek pretended to follow the rules and regulations, but secretly planned to escape Camp Sunshine…to attend a gaming convention in a nearby town. But little did Derek or The Laundry know a cult has infiltrated the convention and plans to summon an evil being from another dimension. Plenty of destruction results!
“Overtime” involves one of Stross’s key characters, Bob Howard, who comes face-to-face with a Mr. Kringle from the Future. Bob must solve the threat from the Future or Christmas is at risk!
Bob Howard returns in “Down on the Farm” when he’s sent to inspect the Funny Farm where The Laundry places its most dangerous threats. Bob discovers the Funny Farm is run by a captured demon channeling a 1960s IBM computer! The demon wants its freedom…which might cost Bob and everyone else at the Funny Farm their lives!
Charles Stross can make occult threats humorous and deadly at the same time. Good trick! GRADE: B (for all three stories)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
A Conventional Boy — 1
Overtime — 135
Down on the Farm — 183
Afterword — 201
Acknowledgements — 215
About the Author –– 217
Obviously, a great imagination.
Patti, I’ve been reading Charles Stross for about 20 years. He’s always full of surprises!
How’s the weather, George?
Jeff, Patrick is flying to NYC from Lisbon today. He was walking around in shorts! Wait until he lands and encounters 15 degrees!
How’s the weather, George?
Jeff, we woke up to -4 degrees (windchill temperature -15). We may inch up into the positive single digits today. Tomorrow, we might hit double-digit temps. Fortunately, warmer weather is supposed to arrive next week.
It was pretty cold for South Florida today – low 50s this morning, windy and chilly with rain. But so much better than 10 inches of snow in New Orleans! Or 12 degrees in Brooklyn. The rain should finally end tomorrow and we should be back to the 70s by Sunday, and for the foreseeable future after that.
Boy, Patrick certainly travels a lot.
Jeff, Patrick has booked a flight to Columbia next.
– 4 Fahrenheit?
That’s – 20 Celsius, brrr
Haven’t experienced that for a long time, the local river was totally frozen and people were ice skating there …
Wolf, Lake Erie is 82% frozen over…but there’s still enough open water to cause Lake Effect snow.