Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross, who was guest of honor at the
70th annual Philcon, told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, The Jennifer Morgue, is a follow-up to The Atrocity Archives, which contains his Hugo Award-winning novella, "The Concrete Jungle." "The Atrocity Archives
introduces 'Bob' Howard—as we discover later, this isn't his real name;
in fact, nobody is using their real name in this series," Stross said
in an interview at the convention in Philadelphia last week. "Bob's
sort of fallen into 'The Laundry': the British secret service that is
protecting us from the scum of the multiverse and is very much a
low-budget British spying agency. ... The Atrocity Archives is, loosely speaking, a Len Deighton pastiche. The Jennifer Morgue
is James Bond. Bob has actually fallen into James Bond's shoes and
isn't filling them terribly well. He's not even filling his tux
terribly well. In fact, he does not know how to do up a bow tie."
The inspiration for the series comes from Stross' fascination
with spy thrillers, he said. "It just seemed logical to me after
thinking about it for a while ... that if you really did have
Lovecraftian horrors around and about the fact that we are not fleeing
and screaming all the time suggests that somebody would be trying to
cover it up," Stross said. "So there would in fact be some sort of
secret government agency dealing with such horrors. That's where the
[idea] came from. Bob has sort of accidentally fallen into 'The
Laundry' ... and can't get out. He is temperamentally not terribly
suited to being a civil servant, or so he thinks. They have other
ideas."
Stross said that much of his work is stylistically different
and that he is effectively working in three different genres. "There is
the relatively hardcore science fiction, such as Iron Sunrise or Accelerando or Glasshouse from Ace," he said. "There is The Merchant Princes
series from Tor, which, contrary to appearances, is actually science
fiction—this should be fairly obvious by the fourth, let alone the
fifth, book. [It's] low-key, relatively soft science fiction more
concerned with social political issues than with techy stuff and has
been marketed as fantasy and indeed [has] had some success in the
crossover market in fantasy. And, finally, the Lovecraftian stuff. I
could argue that this is actually the real hardcore fantasy.
It's got magic: magic as a branch of applied mathematics, but it's
still magic. But it's got horror overtones and is being marketed
somewhat oddly as 'geek horror.'"
The series will conclude with book three, which, due to
Stross' busy writing schedule, is not likely to be written until 2008
or later, he said. "Each of the books will be seriously referential to
a British spy thriller writer," Stross said. "I start with Len Deighton
and then Ian Fleming (to some extent, but the Bond franchise to a
greater extent), and the third one will most certainly be either
Anthony Price or Adam Hall." —John Joseph Adams
A single from Michael Bay's Transformers, "Before It's Too Late (Sam and Mikaela's Theme)" by the Goo Goo Dolls, has been linked on the Web;
the entire soundtrack, featuring cuts by Linkin Park, Smashing
Pumpkins, Disturbed, The Used, HIM and Taking Back Sunday, will hit
stores on July 3, the same day the film hits theaters.
The teaser trailer for Will Smith's upcoming SF movie I Am Legend has gone live and is linked through SCI FI Wire's Trailers page; the movie opens Dec. 14.
Producer-director Uwe Boll has teamed with Freestyle Releasing for the distribution of three films: In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Postal and Seed, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Source: Nielsen Galaxy Report, 5/14/07 -
5/20/07. Fewer than 10 listings appear because fewer than 10 regular
original SF&F shows appeared on broadcast networks during the time
period.
SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel | SCIFI.COM
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RSS is a newsfeed that will let you access Sci Fi Wire
with a newsreader such as Newsgator or Bloglines.
Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross, who was guest of honor at the
70th annual Philcon, told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, The Jennifer Morgue, is a follow-up to The Atrocity Archives, which contains his Hugo Award-winning novella, "The Concrete Jungle." "The Atrocity Archives
introduces 'Bob' Howard—as we discover later, this isn't his real name;
in fact, nobody is using their real name in this series," Stross said
in an interview at the convention in Philadelphia last week. "Bob's
sort of fallen into 'The Laundry': the British secret service that is
protecting us from the scum of the multiverse and is very much a
low-budget British spying agency. ... The Atrocity Archives is, loosely speaking, a Len Deighton pastiche. The Jennifer Morgue
is James Bond. Bob has actually fallen into James Bond's shoes and
isn't filling them terribly well. He's not even filling his tux
terribly well. In fact, he does not know how to do up a bow tie."
The inspiration for the series comes from Stross' fascination
with spy thrillers, he said. "It just seemed logical to me after
thinking about it for a while ... that if you really did have
Lovecraftian horrors around and about the fact that we are not fleeing
and screaming all the time suggests that somebody would be trying to
cover it up," Stross said. "So there would in fact be some sort of
secret government agency dealing with such horrors. That's where the
[idea] came from. Bob has sort of accidentally fallen into 'The
Laundry' ... and can't get out. He is temperamentally not terribly
suited to being a civil servant, or so he thinks. They have other
ideas."
Stross said that much of his work is stylistically different
and that he is effectively working in three different genres. "There is
the relatively hardcore science fiction, such as Iron Sunrise or Accelerando or Glasshouse from Ace," he said. "There is The Merchant Princes
series from Tor, which, contrary to appearances, is actually science
fiction—this should be fairly obvious by the fourth, let alone the
fifth, book. [It's] low-key, relatively soft science fiction more
concerned with social political issues than with techy stuff and has
been marketed as fantasy and indeed [has] had some success in the
crossover market in fantasy. And, finally, the Lovecraftian stuff. I
could argue that this is actually the real hardcore fantasy.
It's got magic: magic as a branch of applied mathematics, but it's
still magic. But it's got horror overtones and is being marketed
somewhat oddly as 'geek horror.'"
The series will conclude with book three, which, due to
Stross' busy writing schedule, is not likely to be written until 2008
or later, he said. "Each of the books will be seriously referential to
a British spy thriller writer," Stross said. "I start with Len Deighton
and then Ian Fleming (to some extent, but the Bond franchise to a
greater extent), and the third one will most certainly be either
Anthony Price or Adam Hall." —John Joseph Adams
A single from Michael Bay's Transformers, "Before It's Too Late (Sam and Mikaela's Theme)" by the Goo Goo Dolls, has been linked on the Web;
the entire soundtrack, featuring cuts by Linkin Park, Smashing
Pumpkins, Disturbed, The Used, HIM and Taking Back Sunday, will hit
stores on July 3, the same day the film hits theaters.
The teaser trailer for Will Smith's upcoming SF movie I Am Legend has gone live and is linked through SCI FI Wire's Trailers page; the movie opens Dec. 14.
Producer-director Uwe Boll has teamed with Freestyle Releasing for the distribution of three films: In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Postal and Seed, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Source: Nielsen Galaxy Report, 5/14/07 -
5/20/07. Fewer than 10 listings appear because fewer than 10 regular
original SF&F shows appeared on broadcast networks during the time
period.
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