Helpful Score: 3
I admit it - I'm a sucker for Stross' books. And I'll also admit that most of the stories here are available online, or in other collections. Still, its worth it to read these all in one spot and in a book. The table of contents is as follows:
Missile Gap
Rogue Farm
A Colder War
Maxos
Down on the Farm
Unwirer
Snowball's Chance
Trunk and Disorderly
Palimpsest
I found I enjoyed all of them, though some more than others. "Missile Gap" is always good, and there is a part of me that wants to see more of this tragedy. It involves the Earth of the Cuban missile crisis suddenly relocated to a huge disk a million years and million light years from their origin.
"Rogue Farm" is about a post-singularity England and the remaining humans and post-humans in conflict.
"A Colder War" is always chilling. And you have to wonder at the end - is Roger in the simulation spaces?
"Maxos" is a nice chuckle worthy bit of small fiction where SETI meets certain internet behaviors.
"Down on the Farm" revisits the Laundry universe and Bob is sent to inspect a very special hospital the Laundry maintains. Humor, snark and other dimensional horrors ensue. And oh yes, Dalek parodies...
"Unwirer" is a collaboration piece with Cory Doctorow (sort of like the Jury Duty series). Anyway, the premise is that the US treats the internet like drugs and puts Jack Valenti in charge of the FCC.
"Snowballs Chance" is a sneaky little favorite of mine. In it, a real shit gets one free wish from the Devil for all the misery he's created. Then it gets interesting ...
"Trunk and Disorderly" is a P.G. Wodehouse tribute, and while I liked it, I thought it suffered from Stross trying too hard with it.
"Palimpsest" is a time patrol and time travel piece. And it really needs to be a novel. It opens with Pierce as an agent candidate being sent back in time to kill his own grandfather (an anti-nepotism measure) to gain admission to the Stasis (the time patrol). The novella follows Pierce through training, trainee mission, and a time travel ambush I'm still trying to figure out. And on and on. Its neat - it has time travel logic twists, a decent character and a mystery. Plus some stellar engineering and a sensawunda. The Stasis doesn't have anything as abstract as a maintaining history in its charter, its is to preserve the human species, no matter what.
It could be better though - some more about Pierce history, the women in his life (as characters in their own right), possibly some of the stellar engineering up close from one of the people involved would be worth it. And, oh yes, some more from the folks in Stasis Internal Affairs, differing versions of the opposition and some more of the Science Empires, Engineering Republics and the reseeded humanity and ecologies that the Stasis plants.
Anyway, worth the money and the time.
Missile Gap
Rogue Farm
A Colder War
Maxos
Down on the Farm
Unwirer
Snowball's Chance
Trunk and Disorderly
Palimpsest
I found I enjoyed all of them, though some more than others. "Missile Gap" is always good, and there is a part of me that wants to see more of this tragedy. It involves the Earth of the Cuban missile crisis suddenly relocated to a huge disk a million years and million light years from their origin.
"Rogue Farm" is about a post-singularity England and the remaining humans and post-humans in conflict.
"A Colder War" is always chilling. And you have to wonder at the end - is Roger in the simulation spaces?
"Maxos" is a nice chuckle worthy bit of small fiction where SETI meets certain internet behaviors.
"Down on the Farm" revisits the Laundry universe and Bob is sent to inspect a very special hospital the Laundry maintains. Humor, snark and other dimensional horrors ensue. And oh yes, Dalek parodies...
"Unwirer" is a collaboration piece with Cory Doctorow (sort of like the Jury Duty series). Anyway, the premise is that the US treats the internet like drugs and puts Jack Valenti in charge of the FCC.
"Snowballs Chance" is a sneaky little favorite of mine. In it, a real shit gets one free wish from the Devil for all the misery he's created. Then it gets interesting ...
"Trunk and Disorderly" is a P.G. Wodehouse tribute, and while I liked it, I thought it suffered from Stross trying too hard with it.
"Palimpsest" is a time patrol and time travel piece. And it really needs to be a novel. It opens with Pierce as an agent candidate being sent back in time to kill his own grandfather (an anti-nepotism measure) to gain admission to the Stasis (the time patrol). The novella follows Pierce through training, trainee mission, and a time travel ambush I'm still trying to figure out. And on and on. Its neat - it has time travel logic twists, a decent character and a mystery. Plus some stellar engineering and a sensawunda. The Stasis doesn't have anything as abstract as a maintaining history in its charter, its is to preserve the human species, no matter what.
It could be better though - some more about Pierce history, the women in his life (as characters in their own right), possibly some of the stellar engineering up close from one of the people involved would be worth it. And, oh yes, some more from the folks in Stasis Internal Affairs, differing versions of the opposition and some more of the Science Empires, Engineering Republics and the reseeded humanity and ecologies that the Stasis plants.
Anyway, worth the money and the time.
Charles Stross has never given me anything that i wished i hadn't read. All the stories in one book. I loved this read. There are so many good stories here i can't even pick my favorite, but if you like Stross, grab this book and just open to one, start reading and you will be entertained for the rest of the day because you will just keep reading from one to the next, saying to yourself "just one more" Promise.
Wireless is a quality short-story collection by Stross. Quick reviews:
Missile Gap: This is the story of a late 1950s earth whose crust has been peeled off our globe and stuck on an even larger flat plate, what that means to the people who live there, and how that influences the tensions of the Cold War. It was fascinating, weird, and fun. The concept was oddly original. 4 of 5 stars.
Rogue Farm: A weird concept of extreme body modification (to the extent of creating communes-in-a-body), and the back-to-nature crowd. I know I read (or heard) this one before, but Im not sure where. 4 of 5 stars.
A Colder War: Late Cold-War meddling with Cthulhu-esque powers. Interesting, but ultimately just a Lovecraft tribute. 3 of 5 stars.
MAXOS: Flash fiction in the form of a letter to Nature. This was cool. I cant really say much without spoiling it (it *is* flash after all), but its about the first messages received from space, and what theyre *really* going to be about. 5 of 5 stars.
Down on the Farm: Its a Laundry story! For those not familiar, Stross has a series of novels starring Bob Howard, an agent for a British spy organization called The Laundry whose area of expertise is mathematical thaumaturgy. (Or, in other words, dealing with critters from beyond reality.) This ones good, but not great. Cool steampunk-like robots, though. 4 of 5 stars.
Unwirer: Written with Cory Doctorow, this one is the story of those who make networks, in an alternate history where the Internet was effectively made illegal in the 1990s. It *feels* like a Doctorow story, with his counter-culture sensitivities. 4 of 5 stars.
Snowballs Chance: A deal-with-the-devil story, where our protagonist is actually more evil than the demonic representative hes meeting with. Fun, but the logic is twisted, and Im still not sure I followed it right. 3 of 5 stars.
Trunk and Disorderly: An attempt at high-British upper-class humor that mostly falls flat. Ultimately, its an experiment in preparation for Stross later novel Saturns Children. 3 of 5 stars.
Palimpsest: Time travel done *right*. This story was awesome. I keep comparing all time travel stories to Leibers, The Big Time, which won a Hugo back in the 1950s (and which I hated)... This story has a lot of the same themes (plus a more up-to-date grasp of technology), done in a fashion that really made me sit up and take notice. 5 of 5 stars.
Missile Gap: This is the story of a late 1950s earth whose crust has been peeled off our globe and stuck on an even larger flat plate, what that means to the people who live there, and how that influences the tensions of the Cold War. It was fascinating, weird, and fun. The concept was oddly original. 4 of 5 stars.
Rogue Farm: A weird concept of extreme body modification (to the extent of creating communes-in-a-body), and the back-to-nature crowd. I know I read (or heard) this one before, but Im not sure where. 4 of 5 stars.
A Colder War: Late Cold-War meddling with Cthulhu-esque powers. Interesting, but ultimately just a Lovecraft tribute. 3 of 5 stars.
MAXOS: Flash fiction in the form of a letter to Nature. This was cool. I cant really say much without spoiling it (it *is* flash after all), but its about the first messages received from space, and what theyre *really* going to be about. 5 of 5 stars.
Down on the Farm: Its a Laundry story! For those not familiar, Stross has a series of novels starring Bob Howard, an agent for a British spy organization called The Laundry whose area of expertise is mathematical thaumaturgy. (Or, in other words, dealing with critters from beyond reality.) This ones good, but not great. Cool steampunk-like robots, though. 4 of 5 stars.
Unwirer: Written with Cory Doctorow, this one is the story of those who make networks, in an alternate history where the Internet was effectively made illegal in the 1990s. It *feels* like a Doctorow story, with his counter-culture sensitivities. 4 of 5 stars.
Snowballs Chance: A deal-with-the-devil story, where our protagonist is actually more evil than the demonic representative hes meeting with. Fun, but the logic is twisted, and Im still not sure I followed it right. 3 of 5 stars.
Trunk and Disorderly: An attempt at high-British upper-class humor that mostly falls flat. Ultimately, its an experiment in preparation for Stross later novel Saturns Children. 3 of 5 stars.
Palimpsest: Time travel done *right*. This story was awesome. I keep comparing all time travel stories to Leibers, The Big Time, which won a Hugo back in the 1950s (and which I hated)... This story has a lot of the same themes (plus a more up-to-date grasp of technology), done in a fashion that really made me sit up and take notice. 5 of 5 stars.
