What do you think?
Rate this book
Freyaverse #1.5
Bit Rot
A short story set in the "Freyaverse", between "Saturn's Children" and "Neptune's Brood".
22 pages, ebook
First published December 1, 2010
1 person is currently reading
460 people want to read
About the author
Charles Stross
157 books5,810 followersCharles David George "Charlie" Stross is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. His works range from science fiction and Lovecraftian horror to fantasy.
Stross is sometimes regarded as being part of a new generation of British science fiction writers who specialise in hard science fiction and space opera. His contemporaries include Alastair Reynolds, Ken MacLeod, Liz Williams and Richard Morgan.
SF Encyclopedia: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_...
Tor: http://us.macmillan.com/author/charle...
Stross is sometimes regarded as being part of a new generation of British science fiction writers who specialise in hard science fiction and space opera. His contemporaries include Alastair Reynolds, Ken MacLeod, Liz Williams and Richard Morgan.
SF Encyclopedia: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_...
Tor: http://us.macmillan.com/author/charle...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 26, 2018
Generally I don't like short stories. If they are good, they should be a novel, because a short story is not enough to expand on an idea. If the idea only fills a short story, it's generally not interesting to me, it's usually cheesy or not working if you think about it long enough.
I think this is how you should write short stories, auxiliary material for an already existing world.
And it is a good short story, self contained, scientifically more or less correct, but still rides the zombie fad (which is a bit tired, to be fair). Gamma rays are scary.
I think this is how you should write short stories, auxiliary material for an already existing world.
And it is a good short story, self contained, scientifically more or less correct, but still rides the zombie fad (which is a bit tired, to be fair). Gamma rays are scary.
March 23, 2017
Read this last night, as I was in need of a quick read. I've read Neptune's Brood more than a week ago, and it was my first Stross story. You can find my review here.
Bit Rot is a short story (which you can read and download for free at AntiPope.org, in html-, epub- or mobi-format, which you can convert, if needed, to pdf via one of the various on-line services, for example), set between Saturn's Children and Neptune's Brood. I do think it's best to have read either one of these before tackling this short story. Bit Rot also features meta-humans, the soul chips, two sisters, ... on a space ship. Both have wonderful jobs there... in maintenance and cleaning (also the exterior of the ship).
But then evil strikes ferociously: gamma rays and what not. While their suits skins were made to resist such impact, the severity of that one event caused a lot more damage, in a lot of cases irreparable. These meta-humans have special food needs to regenerate and maintain their powers. When stock runs dry, the disease cannot be stopped. As a result, the meta-humans, including the doctors, turn into zombies, preying on every potential source of food. Which means the normal humans, who make sure everything in the ship works as it should, are a priority to serve as such a source.
One sister is still among the normally thinking ones, one of the few, perhaps the last one. She locked her badly injured/damaged sister up to protect her from the bit rot that infected the others - and so be given the chance to have her chip repair what was damaged -, with the clear message to not let anyone enter, except her sister and only when she's sure it's her (the normal one). Meanwhile, the normal sister would try to seek food supplies to help improve the regeneration process.
All in all, an entertaining, quick read (12 pages). It contains some typos and the formatting is a bit off, although this last aspect doesn't really disturb. It is said that Stross didn't have much time to completely review and correct the text. And as one reader wrote: it's free, so no need to complain. ;-)
Bit Rot is a short story (which you can read and download for free at AntiPope.org, in html-, epub- or mobi-format, which you can convert, if needed, to pdf via one of the various on-line services, for example), set between Saturn's Children and Neptune's Brood. I do think it's best to have read either one of these before tackling this short story. Bit Rot also features meta-humans, the soul chips, two sisters, ... on a space ship. Both have wonderful jobs there... in maintenance and cleaning (also the exterior of the ship).
But then evil strikes ferociously: gamma rays and what not. While their suits skins were made to resist such impact, the severity of that one event caused a lot more damage, in a lot of cases irreparable. These meta-humans have special food needs to regenerate and maintain their powers. When stock runs dry, the disease cannot be stopped. As a result, the meta-humans, including the doctors, turn into zombies, preying on every potential source of food. Which means the normal humans, who make sure everything in the ship works as it should, are a priority to serve as such a source.
One sister is still among the normally thinking ones, one of the few, perhaps the last one. She locked her badly injured/damaged sister up to protect her from the bit rot that infected the others - and so be given the chance to have her chip repair what was damaged -, with the clear message to not let anyone enter, except her sister and only when she's sure it's her (the normal one). Meanwhile, the normal sister would try to seek food supplies to help improve the regeneration process.
All in all, an entertaining, quick read (12 pages). It contains some typos and the formatting is a bit off, although this last aspect doesn't really disturb. It is said that Stross didn't have much time to completely review and correct the text. And as one reader wrote: it's free, so no need to complain. ;-)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2022
This is a short story set in the Freyaverse between to two main novels. It involves two of Freya’s “offspring” who are on a relativistic starship which is impacted by a cosmic event. This causes most of its post human crew to revert to a sub-sentient state. It then becomes a horrifying tale of survival that has no clear ending. While this story doesn’t tell us much about the outcome, it does inform the reader about certain aspects of the Freyaverse, and its post human inhabitants.
April 6, 2023
I was finally able to find this short story, and thus complete the Freyaverse. This one was between the other two books, but there is very little connection, they're all stand-alone. It's a very good story, but alas too short. I really want to read more of the Freyaverse, they're Charles Stross best works, according to me, I wish he'd do some more.
December 28, 2019
Robots traveling out among the stars, centuries after Saturn's Children, when disaster strikes. I really liked this one, despite not really liking the novel it followed. Maybe because it was short it kept it focused.
June 6, 2022
Lots of good stuff in here for such a short story.
What kind of non-terminal disasters could a generation ship carrying robot face on an in interstellar voyage?
What is medical care for robots like?
What happened to Freya's decedents?
What kind of non-terminal disasters could a generation ship carrying robot face on an in interstellar voyage?
What is medical care for robots like?
What happened to Freya's decedents?
June 20, 2019
Nice little filler. Scary as hell: zombies - robot zombies. Run. Lock up behind you. Read this. Save this. Tell others where to get this. (And I don't even do horror!)
August 25, 2019
Started out slow. The writing style took a bit before it sort of grew on me. But the premise is interesting and the writing is ok.
June 15, 2024
A brisk, depressing tale of harrowing journey becoming a permanent but questionably sentient misery.
It has zombies in space. Now you have been warned.
It has zombies in space. Now you have been warned.
November 14, 2024
Great short story freely available on the authors website.
September 2, 2013
Nice little horror story for fans of the Freyaverse. It's got all the standard high-tech, yet still human pathos of the novels and is written with Stross' usual flair for detail and nuance. Fun stuff.
September 17, 2015
Run little short from Stross that sits between Saturn's Children and Neptune's Brood. (Free to download from http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-...). I read it primarily to decide whether I wanted to get Neptune's Brood which I probably will sometime.
June 20, 2013
Entertaining, with what might be an ominous ending.
July 2, 2013
A horror story for the robotic "humans" of Stross's Saturn's Children.
Excellent.
Excellent.
August 26, 2013
Between Saturn's Children and Neptune's Brood. Answers the question: what kind of zombie legend would post-humans be afraid of?
September 11, 2013
A short story, released online, set in the "Saturn's Children" universe, that's basically a zombie story for the post-computer singularity age. A good quick read.
September 22, 2013
Fun story. Note that there are typos and wordos (which Stross said he doesn't have time to fix). Hey, it's free, so just don't go in expecting professional proofreading and e-book formatting.
January 14, 2014
I love the technology setting for this story (ant the associated Freya-verse novels).
March 9, 2015
Short story set in the Freyaverse. Cannibalistic Robot Zombies in Spaaaace!
October 28, 2015
This is a little short to read stand-alone. Maybe it is enough after reading Neptune's Brood, but before it maybe not.
January 31, 2021
Hungry space robots
appreciate a fine rump
but they're not picky.
appreciate a fine rump
but they're not picky.
December 20, 2013
Neatly filled in some of the missing pieces.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews