Runester

Well, I did get to drive down and meet Charles Stross, in person. The event was hosted by Pandemonium Books in Cambridge, MA. It turns out, my new job is only a fifteen (15) minute drive away! I couldn’t find any city parking (i.e. 2 hr limit, parking meter) so I parked in a nearby private lot for $8. The event started at 6:00 PM, and I got close – arriving at 6:10 PM. The store had set him up in the basement (usually reserved for board / mini’s / RPG’s) and had set out about twenty-five (25) chairs. There were people already there when I arrived, and Charlie was already speaking and answering questions. Some people came and went, but I’m pretty confident that at least twenty-five (25) people were present.

Author Charles Stross at Pandemonium Books on 10-Feb-2009

The only annoyance, was that the mini’s / rpg gamers sitting behind us were loud. No one really told them to keep it down, and there didn’t seem to be anyone from the store willing to keep their sound level down to a reasonable level. At several points during the 70+ minutes that Charlie spoke, it was impossible to hear what he was saying! I think this bothered Charlie as well, but he didn’t say anything.

His stories were funny and he gave a lot of insight into some of the background or history of his writing and various pieces. I got to ask a couple of questions, including one about the relationship of A Colder War and The Laundry series. It turns out that A Colder War was written in around 1998, before the first Laundry book. There are similarities but there was no way for him to keep the same tone up for a whole novel. He was able to adapt his ideas of Lovecraft / Spy Novel in The Laundry series, which has been well received. The other really good news, is that he has a third book in that series coming out, and a fourth book planned!

After the Q&A, we approached his table and had him sign stuff. I had him sign both of my Laundry books, Jennifer Morgue and The Atrocity Archives. I didn’t really have much to say to him, but I did thank him for responding to my email and recommending his Laundry series to me. Then I left, and drove home. Maybe I should have stuck around and talked to him some more … but I really didn’t know what else to ask or discuss. Maybe I’m just a wuss when it comes to ‘celebraties’.

Anyway, overall, it was a positive experience and I’m really glad I had the chance to listen to and meet him in person. Now, I have to seek out some of the other authors I really enjoy like Neil Gaiman and Kaitlin R. Kiernan.

The first thing to say, is that Charles Stross is coming to Boston! He’s going to be appearing at a book signing at Pandemonium Books, in Cambridge.

The second thing to say, is … who is Charles Stross? Well, besides being an author who’s books I enjoy reading, let me quote from the mans own WikiPedia page:

In the 1970s and 1980s, Stross published some role-playing game articles for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the White Dwarf magazine. Some of his creatures, such as the death knight, githyanki (borrowed from George R. R. Martin’s book, Dying of the Light), githzerai, and slaad (a chaotic race notable for their rigid caste system) were later published in the Fiend Folio monster compendium.

His first published short story, “The Boys”, appeared in Interzone in 1987. His first novel, Singularity Sky was published by Ace Books in 2003 and was nominated for the Hugo Award. A collection of his short stories, Toast: And Other Rusted Futures appeared in 2002. Subsequent short stories have been nominated for the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and other awards. His novella “The Concrete Jungle” (available online) won the Hugo award for its category in 2005. His novel Accelerando (also available online) won the 2006 Locus Award for best science fiction novel, was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the year’s best science fiction novel, and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category. Glasshouse won the 2007 Prometheus Award and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category. His novella Missile Gap (likewise available online) won the 2007 Locus Award for best novella and most recently he was awarded the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award or Skylark at Boskone 2008.

In addition to working as a writer of fiction he has worked as a technical author, freelance journalist, programmer, and pharmacist at different times. He holds degrees in Pharmacy and Computer Science.

I guess the third thing to say about Charlie, is here are some links to his work and why you should probably be interested in his fiction. Here’s a link to Amazon’s “Charles Stross Store.” If nothing else, it’s a short-cut to most of his books as carried by Amazon.

Here are a few of my favorite Charles Stross books:

The Jennifer Morgue

The Atrocity Archives

Here’s one of my favorite short stories, and how I was introduced to Charlie Stross in the first place. “A Colder War” – imagine the cold war between the USA & USSR with Lovecraft thrown in for good measure. If you like fiction in the Mythos … you’ll probably love A Colder War.

Here’s Charlie’s personal website – http://www.antipope.org/charlie/

Finally, just for gits-and-shiggles, here’s some Perl Modules written by Charlie, back when he was just a lowly developer!

Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to drive down tomorrow, after work, and get to meet Charlie and ask him to sign some of his books. If so, I’ll write about the experience. If nothing else, it should be interesting!