"Come sit here by me, Copernicus." Following in his late father's footsteps, Copernicus Brown is a bounty hunter and captain of the Jitterbug. Ever since something unknown took apart the outer planets - Jupiter, Saturn et al - and used the material to build giant, habitable 'platforms', there's been work to support the official security … Continue reading Jitterbug – Gareth L Powell
"Things are getting better: It's been ten months, and I only wake up screaming about once a week now." And so we continue the adventures of one Bob Howard, computational demonologist for the secret government department nicknamed The Laundry (because it was originally housed above a laundry, of course) which deals with the ... weirder … Continue reading The Apocalypse Codex – Charles Stross
"This is the story of how I die." Well, that's a cheery start. And perhaps I shouldn't be surprised, as it's not been a cheery kind of series overall, although I have found this trilogy of novellas to be less dark and much easier to read than the book that started it all, Who Fears Death. … Continue reading The Daughter Who Remains – Nnedi Okorafor
"Sometimes, it is NOT a teacher that you need." One Way Witch follows directly on not from the previous novella in the series, She Who Knows, but rather from the earlier novel, Who Fears Death, while at the same time continuing with Najeeba's story from the novella. Confused yet?! I read the first novella in … Continue reading One Way Witch – Nnedi Okorafor
"There can be only One True Religion. Are you feeling lucky, believer?" Each book in the Laundry Files so far jumps forward about 3 years, and Bob Howard is progressing quickly in his career. At the moment he's in that awkward phase of being seen as capable and reliable by his bosses, while still being … Continue reading The Fuller Memorandum – Charles Stross
"The guys from the 'A' and 'B' crews have been sitting on their collective ass for five weeks, out in the middle of nowhere." When we were introduced to Bob Howard, Computational Demonologist for the secret government department set up to deal with otherworldly horrors, aka the Laundry, in The Atrocity Archives, many people used a description … Continue reading The Jennifer Morgue – Charles Stross
"Green sky at night; hacker's delight." Imagine the IT department of the X-Files, but in a very bureaucratic, very British civil service department. Here you will find Bob, who was not given much of a choice about working for the 'Laundry' (as it has been dubbed) after his geeky mind delved a little too deep … Continue reading The Atrocity Archives – Charles Stross
"People went missing on Giant." Seventeen seemingly unrelated missing persons cases have piqued Investigator Mossa's attention, and she once again asks for help from friend - more than friend? - Pleiti. Can a scholarly background provide more insights into the cases and uncover any links at all? Does missing mean dead - murdered or otherwise … Continue reading The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles – Malka Older
"Staybehind's body was moving before he woke up, driven by fear and algorithms." After the civil war, the newly seceded California declared that sentient robots had full citizen rights - well, at least the not-inconvenient ones...! They are pretty much indentured slaves, sellable to new 'owners' while they pay off their contracts. So when the … Continue reading Automatic Noodle – Annalee Newitz
"The neon signs glowed sullenly, sending sickly tendrils of light slithering down the rain-soaked streets like so many diseased serpents." Synthetics: vat-grown to perform all of the menial and unpleasant jobs that humans don't want, they look human - but are treated as objects. Killing a synth isn't murder, it's property destruction. But for Detective … Continue reading SINthetic – JT Nicholas
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