|
|
|
|
||
|
HELP | |
|
  $9.50 List price:
Used Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
More copies of this ISBN:The Atrocity Archivesby Charles Stross
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:In the title piece, Alan Turing, the father of modern computer science, completes his theorem on Phase Conjugate Grammars for Extra-dimensional Summoning. Turing's work paves the way for esoteric mathematical computations that, when carried out, have side effects that leak through a channel underlying the structure of the Cosmos. Out there in the multiverse are listeners who can sometimes be coerced into opening gates. In 1945, Nazi Germany's Ahnenerbe-SS, in an attempt to escape the Allied onslaught, performs just such a summoning on the souls of more than six million. A gate opens to an alternate universe through which the SS move people and material — to live to fight another day. But their summoning brings forth more than the SS have bargained for — an evil, patiently waiting all this time while learning the ways of humans, now poises to lunch on Earth. Secret intelligence agencies, esoteric theorems. Lovecraftian horrors, Middle East terrorist connections, a damsel in distress, and a final battle on the surface of a dying planet round out this story. Review:"Lovecraft's Cthulhu meets Len Deighton's spies in Stross's latest, as the Scottish author explains in his afterword to this offbeat book offering two related long novellas, 'The Atrocity Archive' and 'The Concrete Jungle' (the latter previously unpublished). With often hilarious results, the author mixes the occult and the mundane, the truly weird and the petty. In 'Atrocity,' Bob, a low-level computer fix-it guy for the Laundry, a supersecret British agency that defends the world from occult happenings, finds himself promoted to fieldwork after he bravely saves the day during a routine demonstration gone awry. With his Palm, aka his Hand of Glory (a severed hand that, when ignited, renders the holder invisible), and his smarts, he saves the world from a powerful external force seeking to enter our universe to suck it dry. In 'Jungle,' Bob teams up with a cop, Josephine, to save the Laundry from a powermonger who seeks to stage an internal coup by using zombies as her minions. Amid all the bizarre happenings are the everyday trappings of a British bureaucracy. Bob gets called on the carpet by his bosses because he requested backup during an emergency without first getting his supervisor's okay and filling out the requisite forms. Though the characters all tend to sound the same, and Stross resorts to lengthy summary explanations to dispel confusion, the world he creates is wonderful fun." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Stross is the heir of the cyberpunk fascination with the way the world works-or can be made to dance!" Asimov's Science Fiction Review:"Stross has gene-spliced H. P. Lovecraft and Len Deighton to produce a SF thriller that is both witty and unsettling." Andrew Wilson, The Scotsman Review:"[T]his volume highlights Stross's storytelling expertise and vivid imagination." Library Journal About the AuthorCharles Stross is the author of Singularity Sky, Toast and Other Rusted Futures, and The Web Architect's Handbook. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 1 comment: | |||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Don't Miss
