
Toast - rfreytag
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/toast/toast-intro.html
======
shoo
Tangentially, if you like Stross you may also like Peter Watts, who also has a
backlist of work available online:
[http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm](http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm)

Watts' "Rifters" trilogy is there in its entirety. Also "Blindsight", which is
fascinating. His latest book is "Echopraxia", a sequel to Blindsight, which
isn't there, but you could always consider buying it if you like his other
stuff!

Amusingly, as vampires are/were in fashion, both Stross and Watts have written
books featuring nonstandard imaginative interpretations of vampires. Strossian
vampires are explainable in the context of Laundry-universe magic, and enjoy
investment banking [1], and Scrum practices. Wattsian vampires are resurrected
from the dead by human genetic engineering, and have an unfortunate flaw
(well, unfortunate for them, fortunate for the humans who enslave them) - "the
Crucifix glitch" \- that cause them to go into seizures when they see right
angles [2][3].

[1] novel: "The Rhesus Chart" ; [2]
[http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts/VampireDomestication.pdf](http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts/VampireDomestication.pdf)
; [3] novel: "Blindsight" .

~~~
david-given
Seconding _Blindsight_, which is a great book (which he describes as 'a
philo­soph­i­cal ru­mi­na­tion on the na­ture of con­scious­ness with an
un­healthy focus on space vam­pires') You won't think about consciousness the
same way again. And it's free!

This book also led me to discover _Portia Labiata_, a bewilderingly
intelligent spider --- and so cute!
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/hirzi/6285232356](https://www.flickr.com/photos/hirzi/6285232356)
There's an accessible paper on what makes it so interesting here:
[http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Duane_Harland/publicatio...](http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Duane_Harland/publication/238671399_%27Eight-
legged_cats%27_and_how_they_see_-
_a_review_of_recent_research_on_jumping_spiders_%28Araneae_Salticidae%29/links/0deec525c9f5e52ae5000000.pdf)
I wonder if Watts' suggestion that it timeshares its brain has any truth to
it?

_Echopraxia_ is also superb, but I thought it was disappointingly similar to
_Blindsight_. That doesn't mean it's not in any way a good book, but it's very
much based on the same themes.

Be aware that the book called _Firefall_ is an omnibus edition of both books.

I haven't read any of the Rifters books. Worth checking out?

~~~
Hortinstein
I have not read Blindsight or Echopraxia, they are on my list, but I did
really enjoy the Rifters series. It is an interesting take on the whole
dystopian genre. Starfish was excellent.

------
IvyMike
The story in this collection "A Colder War" is a fantastic mash-up of
Lovecraft and the US/Soviet Cold War. The combination of science and the
occult in the story reminds me in weird ways of Half-Life/Portal, The
Manhattan Projects (the graphic novels), and even the real-world Jack Parsons.
If you strictly like hard sci fi, it's not for you, but for everyone else, I
recommend it.

The story is available in stand-alone HTML here:
[http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm](http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm)

~~~
gjm11
And if you enjoy that, then you should probably read his "Laundry Files"
series, currently up to book 6 and counting. It's the same mashup of
Lovecraftian horror, Cold War thrillers, and scientific/IT geekery, but on a
larger scale.

------
gshubert17
"Antibodies" is my favorite: a story about what might happen when P = NP, with
a hard AI singularity.

------
Mithaldu
I absolutely adore his writing. It is again and again amazing to me how many
new ideas he manages to implant in my brain with how few words. I am even more
grateful to how easily accessible he makes his writings. :)

------
geuis
I'm curious about something in the license, "no derivative works". How does
this relate to fan fiction? I'm pretty sure using characters by name is
verboten. But what if my fan fic is in the same universe with different
characters, but responds or references main events?

~~~
jsingleton
I would assume he would be pretty relaxed about that as Bob Howard is pretty
much based on the BOFH.

~~~
mrbill
Bob's initials are even B.O.F.H.

~~~
fit2rule
There can't be enough BOFH's in the universe, that is for sure, since they
rule the universe after all ..

------
shoo
There are also a few short stories on tor.com based on Charlie's "Laundry"
series: [http://www.tor.com/2008/07/20/down-on-the-
farm/](http://www.tor.com/2008/07/20/down-on-the-farm/) ;
[http://www.tor.com/2009/12/22/overtime/](http://www.tor.com/2009/12/22/overtime/)
;
[http://www.tor.com/2013/09/24/equoid/](http://www.tor.com/2013/09/24/equoid/)
.

~~~
yk
He also has some other links to his short stories on his blog:

[http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/fiction/online-f...](http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/fiction/online-fiction-by-charles-stro.html)

I believe _A Tall Tail_ could be of interest for the HN crowd:

[http://www.tor.com/2012/07/20/a-tall-
tail/](http://www.tor.com/2012/07/20/a-tall-tail/)

------
esaym
My only run-in with Charlie was at YAPC:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPQLKTcJ26s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPQLKTcJ26s)

------
Procrastes
Just finished (two hours ago) the latest Laundry novel, The Anihilation Score.
Great to read a story from Mo's POV! I'd link to a review, but they are all
spoilerific.

~~~
ceejayoz
Thank you for reminding me that it's out!

------
qnaal
title should be changed to 'toast (not postgres)'

~~~
mrdmnd
I know you're getting downvoted, but to be totally honest, the first thing I
thought of was postgres TOAST tables as well, given the general technical
nature of this site.

~~~
IvyMike
Do we need to address every single possible misunderstanding in every
headline? This wasn't a costly errant click and if you did click, the page
made itself obvious right away, so this feels like nitpicking.

------
ninguem2
[https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=cstross](https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=cstross)

