Read This: The Atrocity Archives

“Len Deighton was not an author of spy thrillers but of horror, because all Cold War-era spy thrillers rely on the existential horror of nuclear annihilation to supply a frisson of terror that raises the stakes of the games their otherwise mundane characters play. And in contrast, H.P. Lovecraft was not an author of horror stories—or not entirely—for many of his preoccupations, from the obsessive collection of secret infomration to the infiltration and mapping of territories controlled by the alien, are at heart the obsessions of the thriller writer.”

That’s from Charles Stross’s afterword to The Atrocity Archives, which collects two stories starring Bob Howard, a low-level programmer in a British intelligence agency dedicated to protecting the realm from the Nameless Ones on the other side of the universe. The fact that Bob’s a programmer allows Stross to work in all sorts of great project management humor into the stories along with the occult terrorism: Think The Ipcress File landing in The Dunwich Horror by way of Office Space, and you’ve got an approximation of where the book’s headed. Now, it might just be me, because I love any new twist on the Cthulhu Mythos , but I could barely put this book down over the weekend. (Although, strictly speaking, it’s not really Mythos, just trading on the milieu.) One caveat: If stories about the Nazi’s occult activities squick you out, you’re not going to like “The Atrocity Archive” at all, as its secret history goes into great (and explicit) detail about the Third Reich’s plans and activities, and the title is literal. But since you can read “The Concrete Jungle” online, why not give that a try? (And, yes, I’ve recommended that course of action before…)

9 January 2006 | read this |

Brace Yourself, Philadelphia Film Lovers!

On January 26th, I’ll be meeting up with John Scalzi, the author of The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies, at Germ Books + Gallery, which we’re led to believe is in a very hip part of town and is itself a very happening place. For where else would Scalzi join with the author of The Stewardess Is Flying the Plane to discuss great (and not so great) science fiction movies of the ’70s? As he told his fans:

“The plan at the moment is to have the two of us blab at each other for a while and then open up the floor to questions, comments, and spontaneous dance routines from the audience. But you never do know. Hey, it’s a live appearance! Anything could happen. And both Ron and I are smartass know-it-alls, so I expect this to be fun. At the very least we’ll amuse ourselves.”

So come on and help us fill up the bookstore—and if you don’t actually live in Philly, but you have friends who do, well, tell them to come see us!

6 January 2006 | events |