Fuller Memorandum (Laundry Files #3) & Down on the Farm (Laundry Files #2.5)[March 8, 2023]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for The Fuller Memorandum &
Down on the Farm by Charles Stross starting March 8, 2023.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Every SF/Fantasy series needs an asylum episode/story, and Down on the (Funny) Farm is that, for the Laundry Files…

Some technical jargon and ridiculousness ensue… it’s alright…

[Choko]

I will be ready!!!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I read the short story today… I try to do them halfway in between the start times for the full length novels…

[Choko]

Where can I find Down on the Farm, do you know? Is it on Audible?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

To find it on audio, you’d need to but Tor.com: Selected Original Fiction: 2008-2012… it includes Down on the Farm, Overtime, and a bunch of other short stories from SF authors… the ebook of just a single short story is probably $2

[Tonari no Emily]

Almost done with Fuller Memorandum.. got an hour left now.. I'm not enjoying it as much as the last book with all the Bond tropes, but it's still pretty good. These are just kind of wild though, and it somewhat hard to try to follow what's going on.(view spoiler)[Glad to see Bob and Mo really did get married! The prologue has me anxious for Mo though...

I totally thought Mo came back and killed the violin appraiser guy... I'm so glad it wasn't her with the worms in her eyes!

Poor Bob can't catch a break though. He really did need that vacation time. I was suuuppper sad to realize it was his new manager that actually seemed decent that ended up being the baddie! So disappointing cuz she seemed to have her shit together!

But Bob possessing his own body made me laugh (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

This one sets the series up to have stakes and an overarching plot, instead of just standalone adventures… released 5 years after 2nd book…

[Tonari no Emily]

Ah okay makes sense (view spoiler)[ It seems like they're setting up an Armageddon? (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started... opening paragraphs set the stage that the stakes have been raised, and these aren't standalone (exactly) anymore... "This is the beginning of the end of the world"...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Ah okay makes sense [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[they're setting up a half dozen... CASE NIGHTMARE RAINBOW... the question is which one?... Eldritch Horrors /Old Gods from another dimension? (Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, etc)... breaching the magic threshold where people start gaining superpowers?... magically enhanced Skynet takes over the world?... etc... Green & Red come up the most often in the series... eldritch horrors or people gaining superpowers/magic... cults, etc... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Never really commented before on the Jesus Phone, and how that's what Stross/Bob insists on calling iPhones... wonder if it's to avoid directly referencing it...

Also, Benthic Fields... another of those made up terms (I think)... the Benthic region is the deepest parts of the ocean...

[Nirkatze]

Started this last night... finding it a *little* bit easier to focus so far...hoping that keeps up.

Through Chapter 3--and OMG JESUS PHONE! LOL! I pretty much agree with everything he said about phones... which is why I still don't have one. :)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

You don't have a phone?... or an iPhone?...

[Nirkatze]

Through Chapter 6, and now I'm wondering if the whole bit about "losing my religion (Atheism)" at the beginning might have to do with the Jesus phone... and if (view spoiler)[the "F" who was part of founding the Laundry was Fuller in the title?

Enjoyed the Matrix callout--"we need guns"--and the bureaucratic tape that Bob has to jump through... (hide spoiler)]

Still don't really know what is going on, but enjoying anyway...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Cult Stuff... it's almost always Cult Stuff ;)

Whether it's secret Eldritch cults, or the US underwater controlled agency (Blue Hades)

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "You don't have a phone?... or an iPhone?..."

Nope! House phone and an ipod. ^^ And computers. And an ereader.

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Cult Stuff... it's almost always Cult Stuff ;)

Whether it's secret Eldritch cults, or the US underwater controlled agency (Blue Hades)"

LOL I did love the little bit about how if Lovecraft hadn't died he'd be on their watchlist... and the bit about Alan Turing in the lunch hall...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

wow... I have a mobile phone and an ipod... and computers... haven't really used my ereader since transitioning to audiobooks... I use the PC kindle app or similar apps on ipod at work...

I have a mobile phone, but I don't like my current model, so i mostly leave it at home, unless going to the doctor or expecting a very important call (and while I was living out of a hotel, I kept it with me more)...

So I'm similar to you... but honestly, an ipod can do most of the same stuff a phone can, with wifi connection... except calls (altho that too with voip / skype / etc)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

It's wild, re-reading this series, and doublechecking which minor characters come back to bite the Laundry in the butt, later on in the series...

Having finished my re-read of the Fuller Memorandum, I can semi-safely share one of my favorite fan theories of the series (pretty sure it's been debunked or outright denied by Stross, tho):

The Eater of Souls: (view spoiler)[the theory, is that Angleton is actually Bob Howard, somehow stranded back in time... it would mean the events of this book weren't as big a surprise to Angleton as he implies... it would explain, in a different way, why the binding partially worked on Bob at the end of the book, and put a new spin on the backstory given about the original binding/summoning of Angleton, asking what year it was and passing out...

I might have forgotten some details, but in general I'm a sucker for time travel and surprise Cthulhu, as I call it when Eldritch horrors creep into a series unexpectedly... and this series has it all... or it would if the theory was correct... the perils of time travel have been mentioned a number of times by Bob already, in the series... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "wow... I have a mobile phone and an ipod... and computers... haven't really used my ereader since transitioning to audiobooks... I use the PC kindle app or similar apps on ipod at work...

I have a..."

Yeah, I use my ipod for audiobooks and dictionaries, sometimes to take a picture. But I like not being tied to worry if I lose it... I lose everything...

I like how Bob has now (due to Mo) started calling his Jesus Phone the Necronomicon....

And the quote "just lie back and think of the Library"--LOL

And paperclips...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "wow... I have a mobile phone and an ipod... and computers... haven't really used my ereader since transitioning to audiobooks... I use the PC kindle app or similar apps on ipo..."

not the Necronomicon... the NecronomiPod :D

[Tonari no Emily]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Never really commented before on the Jesus Phone, and how that's what Stross/Bob insists on calling iPhones... wonder if it's to avoid directly referencing it...

Also, Benthic Fields... another of..."

Oh yeah I forgot to comment on that. Kind of funny.. This was released in 2010? So that's about when smart phones/iPhones were really taking off... I think that's the year I got my first one? But I think I remember lots of people annoyed with all the hype. But just found this article from a quick search of "Jesus Phone" xD
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118308...

[Tonari no Emily]

I have an Android now... The fancy Z-Flip :D https://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy...

I'm trying to not be so addicted to it though... I've deleted most social apps, and I've really never been a texter... But I read a lot from the Kindle app and have all my audiobook and library apps on it.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm resistant to abandoning headphone jacks... they're so much cheaper and harder to lose than bluetooth wireless earbuds...

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "not the Necronomicon... the NecronomiPod :D.."

OOOoooh!! That makes sense!!

2010 sounds right... I was in China at the time, and I remember my roommate showing me her iPod Touch... convincing me to get one...

I have a shokz bone induction headset and rather like it... I hate having things in my ears or over my ears or pressing on my head in general, and it works quite nice... also not as tiny as earbuds, and so no losing.

[Nirkatze]

Finished! (view spoiler)[I was sad that Iris was evil! I rather enjoyed the competent manager angle.

And even though the epilogue seemed to clean everything up, I have to wonder if there won't be any lingering effects from this whole self-summon/binding/maybe dead soul-eater thingy?

or owning an iPhone? (hide spoiler)]

I think this one was my favorite so far--but also because it was the one I could pay attention to the most! Maybe I'm finally getting used to the narrator!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

ReadOvertime today, which is a nice short twist on a Christmas story...

Now reading Equoid from Tor.com... this one sounds like tentacle horses, from the title, and has strong HP Lovecraft ties (love letters are transcribed early in the story, presumably ones made up by Stross, I dunno Lovecraft lore very well)... this one's surprisingly long... over 100 pages, based on the subterranean press edition, and how many times I had to hit page down to reach the bottom of the web page... not sure I'll manage to read it all today... I don't think I've read this one before, because no audio...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

By the 3rd Lovecraft Letter, I'm getting tired of the sporadic purple prose:

Dear Robert,

Many thanks for your kind enquiry after my health. I am, as is usually the case, in somewhat precarious straits but no better or worse than is to be expected of a gentleman of refined & delicate breeding in this coarsened & debased age. My digestion is troubling me greatly, but I fear there is nothing to be done about that. I have the comfort of my memories, & that is both necessary & sufficient to the day, however questionable such comfort might be. I am in any event weighed down by an apprehension of my own mortality. The sands of my hourglass are running fast & I have no great expectation of a lengthy future stretching before me; so I hope you will indulge this old raconteur’s discursive perambulations & allow me to tell you what I know of unicorns.

[Choko]

Just started.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Choko wrote: "Just started."

Yay... seen you've been quiet, lately...

[Choko]

I was so sick, crazy... I feel much better though:)))

[Choko]

So it's been 6 years since the first book and 3 years Bob and Mo have been married... Interesting. I wonder if he is still dealing with her being the badder agent than him:))) Also, the J-Phone is kind of funny:)

[Tonari no Emily]

So glad you're feeling better Choko! :D

[Nirkatze]

Hear hear! So glad you're on the mend Choko!

Nice note about time--I totally missed that tidbit... I really do like Bob & Mo's relationship, and I do think that he recognizes that Mo is more badass than him, agentwise... but that it's not a problem for him (anymore?)--I like seeing him in support role...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Wasn't too surprised when I had some weird water-based dreams/nightmares last night (I don't know how to swim)... no tentacle horses / unicorns tho :D

[Nirkatze]

Oh yikes! But not from the previous one?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Oh yikes! But not from the previous one?"

I think it's the ebook nature, and how late I was reading, and the parts written in Lovecraftian style...

[Choko]

I am going to skip the shorts, because I am so behind on all my BRs.

I finished this one and really liked it! (view spoiler)[ Just as you guys, I was very disappointed that the cool supervisor turned out to be the bad guy. I hated her daughter!!! He did great describing the pain of the torture. I liked that he went with the realistic reaction instead of the very unlikely macho "ignoring" the pain. The self-summon binding was awesome! I have so many questions about everything around that scene and his recovery from it, but I am sure we'll be getting some more information about it as we go... MO was a badass as always and I need to know more about Teapot ! The approach of the end of the world is scary as hell! (hide spoiler)]

So glad to be back!:)))

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

They're pretty much entirely optional, and kinda dry up after this 3rd book... the only other short is the newest release in the series, #7.5, which went back and explained where Bob was during the events of a book 7/8 (there are 9 books in the series so far, with 2ish left to go)...

I think Bob's first boss was killed off in a short, and his second boss was introduced in a short... otherwise they're relatively standalone, I think... the way short fiction SHOULD be...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Re:Equoid: the acronym EMOCUM seems like a clear Backronym (the meaning came after the acronym was decided on)... in this case, it's Enhanced-Mobility Operational Capability Upgrade Mounts (that the police are calling the unicorns they requisitioned as replacement horses)...

[Tonari no Emily]

Yeah I'll skip the shorts too for now. And I hope we get clarification on those things too Choko!

Hah I really like the term Backronym.. Haven't heard of that before!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Been making more progress on Equoid... it's been a wild ride... it's like a longer form version of Concrete Jungle, only with unicorns instead of gorgon technology...

I'm 67% through, and we seem to have made it past the Lovecraft Letters chunk and deep into crazy ass Ministry of Defense requisition forms from World War II and the Cold War, seeking unicorn-like technology to replace horses and/or act as targeted biological weapons when nukes get decomissioned... (the Auditors didn't like that, lol... since BLUE HADES would likely pre-emptively kill off humanity)

[Choko]

I wish this was on audio! Sounds like something I would love:)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... I feel the same... I finished, and would probably rate it 3 stars, as I rate most short stories... it had it's rough patches, but was obviously full of fun ideas to mention around here... audio would have helped me skim over the rough parts and get to the good stuff... and maybe not focus on the kiddie death count (since unicorns and young girls kinda go hand in hand, in literature)...

[Nirkatze]

Okay, so there are two short stories between here? Down on the Farm and Equoid?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Okay, so there are two short stories between here? Down on the Farm and Equoid?"

Yea... I forgot to include Equoid in the header request, probably because it's not available on audio... it's an ebook and the full text is available on tor.com

https://www.tor.com/2013/09/24/equoid/

Concrete Jungle, Down on the Farm, Equoid, and all the extras included with the audiobook of Jennifer Morgue (Pimft, the inteview with Blofeld, etc), are all the short stories in the series, except for Overtime#3.5 and Escape from Yokai Land: A Laundry Files Novella #7.5, which came out last year...

[Nirkatze]

Good to know...