Type of bind: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: January 03, 2006
Sale Popularity Level: 709304
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The national bestselling author takes a departure from his epic science fiction to craft this cross between Len Deighton-style espionage and H.P. Lovecraftian horror.
Bob Howard is a computer-hacker desk jockey, who has more than enough trouble keeping up with the endless paperwork he has to do on a daily basis. He should never be called on to do anything remotely heroic.
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Rated by buyers 
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This book would make perfect reading for the unsung system administrator in your life. What if the intricacies of taking care of data could accidentally call evil from another dimension? What if your high level work mentor could not only cow your immediate (and irritating) boss, but could actually send her screaming into a hell dimension? This and other fun questions are answered in The Atrocity Archives. Stross introduces Bob Howard, a quiet unassuming tech in a very secret place who finds himself mixing in with the big boys. He thought that he wanted more field experience-- at least until he actually gets it.
The book is actually a short novel ("The Atrocity Archives") combined with a short story "("The Concrete Jungle"-- which won a Hugo in 2005 for the best novella). I liked both, but I also wanted both to be longer.
Think a spy thriller mixed with Lovecraft mixed with a horror satire and you've kind of got the feel of the book. There's more humour than Serious Drama, but it works very well in the combination. I'm looking forward to reading The Jennifer Morgue.
Rated by buyers 
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I usually dislike the horror genre in any of its forms, and have no liking for Lovecraftian fantasy. Though _The Atrocity Archives_ could be said to belong to this genre, I found it by turns hilarious, creepy, and tense. In short, I enjoyed it immensely. There's a lot to like about this book, and if you don't like some of the things you encounter in its pages...well, there is still a lot to like. There's the Cthulhu mythos, evil Nazi necromancy, office politics, computer in-jokes, spy novel tropes, all leavened by a refreshing dry wit that is subtle enough to leave you wondering why you are laughing at this stuff.
I particularly like Stross' penchant for strewing about historical and technical allusions so that his narratives are a minefield for the curious. I would have sworn there was never an "Ahnenerbe" SS, dedicated to strengthening the Third Reich by ferreting out ancient Aryan and Teutonic mysteries. I really didn't know that the Nazi party was descended from an organization created by the mystical Thule Society, but apparently it was so. (At least Wikipedia tells me that both are true.)
Of course, Stross cleverly mixes the truth with the not-quite-true and the outright nutty (otherwise this wouldn't be fiction, but a classified government document, and one would have to be shot after reading it). One example of how Stross shades reality is one character's idiosyncratic use of a "Memex" machine (allegedly because it is more secure than a mere electronic computer). The Memex was a proposal made in the 1950s by Vannevar Bush for we would yesterday call an implementation of "hypertext". It was based on the technology of the day--data was to be stored on microfiche, and its operation was entirely mechanical. As I said, this was merely a theoretical proposal--no such machine was ever built. Or so they tell us...
Rated by buyers -
My very first exposure to Charles Stross was his short story "A Colder War" ... which he generously makes available for free, on his website. I emailed the author and asked for more of the same, and he took the time to recommend his "Laundry" series, "The Atrocity Archives" and "Jennifer Morgue." I've recently finished reading both, and eagerly await the third which is promised some time in 2010.
The only down side to his books are the inclusion of a lot of geek-speak, especially computerese that only an IT guy would appreciate. As it happens, I am an IT guy, so I caught most of his references! Still, I can see as how they may put off more 'normal' folk. [One mustn't annoy the muggles!]
After that, the books are a treasure trove of originality! His characters are interesting and complex, his plots are unique, the milieu they operate within is dark, in that government bureaucracy/operations group type of way. The main character, Bob Howard, isn't an 'everyman', he's an 'every-geek' and you root for him because he's so out of his element in the world of spies and assassins and action hero's. Yet, in a world in which "math IS magic" and "computational demonology" is a job title, the guy in the know is exactly the kind of hero you want on your side!
Also, the short story after the novel, "Concrete Jungle" is excellent and demonstrates just how twisted intraoffice politics can be, when everyone involved is 'used to' dealing with mind & reality warping technologies.
Finally, the essay at the end really opened my eyes to the reason WHY a horror / spy story cross over is so easy. Charles makes a convincing argument that Lovecraftian horror really is spy fiction - because it's more concerned with uncovering secrets then fighting monsters. And, why cold war era spy stories really are horror fiction - because they have total nuclear annihilation as their backdrop. I appreciated this essay and considered it an 'extra' in the sense that modern DVD's have extra's and interviews with the director's, etc.
Anyway, more then worth the time to read. I highly recommend this book and it's sequel, "Jennifer Morgue."
Rated by buyers -
What makes this book particularly delightful is all the accounting and bureaucracy the poor protagonist must deal with before he's allowed to save reality as we know it. Stross makes clear that there are a handful of people in the Laundry who are really good at solving the supernatural problems threatening to destroy the world, a lot of people who are really good at making the very first group fill out time cards, and a much-too-large group that really doesn't seem to understand anything that's going on around them, and that should definitely not be allowed to take continuing education credits in demon summoning....
Rated by buyers -
For those of us who can understand the depth and layers of writing here, it doesn't get much better than this. One need only be steeped in Lovecraft, Howard, Mythos Lore, Newton's Telecom Dictionary, video gaming, techno gadgets and James Bond to begin to scratch the surface of the little gems found in this collection and The Jennifer Morgue. Truly unique, kind of like reading a Brian Lumley / Ian Flemming / Neil Stephenson novel?!
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