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Temporary absence

I'm in Berlin, on vacation, and I've been off-net for three days. I'm probably going off-net for another three days after I post this update. Weather is hot, bratwurst and weissbier is good, and mail is piling up for me to deal with when I get home on Wednesday. Play nice!

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35 Comments

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1:

Pity, should we tell him the singularity occurred while he was offline, and all the geeks uploaded except him?

Worse yet, Warren Ellis is partially offline for the moment while in Chicago. Who is providing the intertubes with its minimum daily allowance of weirdness.

2:

and there was I thinking your were going to spend the weekend in Pilton, Charlie…

3:

We need to start the singularity without him. C'mon, who's with me?

4:

In BERLIN?! That means, we share reality ;-)

Well, if you like to meet, it would be a very big pleasure to invite you here in Berlin to any place you like. Just give a sign.

For background in short: I'm 56, born in Berlin from a German mother and an Iraqi father, I'm specialist in new energy and translator (German/Arabic). I read SF since 40 years, I'm visiting SL as 'Datasheikh Zamani' and I like your books VERY much...

Whish you a good time in this joyful city!

5:

We need to start the singularity without him. C'mon, who's with me?

I'm up for that. The question is, when Charlie logs back in, will he ask:

1. Why is the internet so much dumber now; have all the interesting people gone somewhere else?
2. Why is the internet so much smarter now; are all the creative nodes are sparking off each other?
3. Why is the internet just the same as when I left it?
4. WTF?
5. All of the above and some other stuff.

6:

@3:

Singularity is next Thursday. Sorry to disappoint you.

7:

Oh, Berlin...Good memories.
Fantastic middle eastern food, nice little cafes.
Cheap, cheap beer on the Pfefferberg in the open air.

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8:

Okay, maybe Charlie can explain the thinking of his publisher. I just did a search to see if my local Borders had the Halting State mass market paperback and Saturn's Children, which they do (didn't the other day when I was there). What was also listed? The Jennifer Morgue trade paperback not coming out until January! Why is a newer book coming out in mass market while a book that came out nearly two years ago has yet to be released as trade paperback?

9:

James, "The Jennifer Morgue" has been out in hardcover for nearly two years ... from a different publisher. Ace's schedule is set for Ace's own purposes, and making sure that the supply of the other edition has dried up before they make a stab at pushing the book out into the mass market is really quite sensible of them. (Although it was originally scheduled for last January ...)

The scheduling of the Laundry books has historically been erratic because the books themselves came out erratically, from a small press. (That's going to change once I get my teeth into "The Fuller Memorandum" late next year -- I hope.)

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10:

Got my copy of "Saturn's Children" from Amazon this morning. Now just need to make the world go away for a couple of days while I read it...

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11:

Is reading and driving unsafe do you think? I mean - the only time I'm not in meetings is whilst I drive...which is free time - right?!

By the way Charlie, first call on random test readers for The Fuller Memorandum! I'd say I'll pay you for the opportunity, but you get enough damn cash out of me as it is :)

12:

Cool, a new laundry book! Hopefully we'll find out more about the odd world they live in. And as importantly, what is it going to riff off this time?

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13:

Charlie @ 9, Thanks for that.

I had looked at the publisher info given by the Borders site, in case I was missing something, and saw them listed as Penguin Group. I'd been wondering when "The Jennifer Morgue" would be out in paperback, since I haven't seen it in stores since it was released. Yes, I know I can always order online, I guess I'm just allergic to paying S&H.

I'll be getting the other books I mentioned this aftenoon. I look forward to reading them.

Meanwhile, ignore us and enjoy your vacation.

14:

I agree wholeheartedly about the weissbier - I've been to Germany frequently in the last few years and the worst thing about leaving is the thought of having to go back to drinking British beer. That said, you can get it over here, but mainly in trendy joints which charge upwards of £4 a pint. And you have to drink it among arseholes.

Hope the Germans weren't too maudlin last night. I was woken at 2.30 by a large group of Spanish celebrating loudly. In Guildford!?

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15:

Guthrie
>>And as importantly, what is it going to riff off this time?

From the title, I'd hazard Len Deighton or Frederick Forsyth. Given that Deighton is the more interesting writer, I'd say Bob Howard will likely be channelling Harry Palmer next time out.

Regards
Luke

16:

Gold stars all round for Saturn's Children. Nothing comprehensible to add at this time, except H. Sap. Sap. are complete idiots as usual.

17:

@15

"The Fuller Memorandum" - just the title and where Charlie is right now would suggest "The Quiller/Berlin Memorandum" (HTML tag head off-line for lunch so no link to wikipedia).

If I remember the film alright it was a sort of cross between Len Deighton and Raymond Chandler.

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18:

Gee, she has legs. Kinda makes sense, don't know why I hadn't thought of that.

The cover's growing on me. I think it has a certain 'funkiness'(?-not quite the word I'm trying to think of). And as Charlie's mentioned previously it's a bit of homage to a certain Heinlein novel (which I haven't read).

Unfortunately, I'm in the middle of another book and am a slow reader, so there'll be some delay before I get to it. Nuts.

19:

Believe it or not the ide aof looking for XXXX memorandum had crossed my mind, but I couldn't think of one.
Bu tthe "Quiller memorandum" looks to be the one, thanks.

20:

Luke, "The Atrocity Archives" was the Deighton pastiche. "The Jennifer Morgue" was Bond. "The Fuller Memorandum" was originally going to be Quiller (written by "Adam Hall" aka Elleston Trevor), but I've decided to do Anthony Price instead, this time round. If and when I get to sell it, "The Apocalypse Papers" (or whatever it's called) is going to be Modesty Blaise ...

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21:

The Modesty Blaise idea has just caused me to snort coke through my nose. Thank you.

I'm more familiar with ye old comics than the books (and to be honest not all of them), but I can already see the characters dropping into the roles.

I can even see now, the search for unusual and strange weaponry: "Wait now; you use a deadly monkey paw, and she's got a sonic/magic violin...and you want something from the armoury that's exotic?"

22:

It strikes me that Bob Howard is already a little-bit Quiller-ish. Didn't Quiller refuse to carry a gun (because it would make him overconfident) and go in for long stream-of-consciousness internal monologues?

23:

When you get back, can you have a quick word with your friend and fellow writer Cory Doctorow & ask him why he seems to have turned into Mr Delete The Past. Is this a new direction for you CC aware; Linux loving; Anti-Censorship types?

24:

I hope you are having a wonderful time in Berlin. Funny though, I always associate Russia with coldness. Saying something like 'I'm sunbathing in Berlin seems as incongrous as 'I'm relaxing in Baghdad'. Thanks Western stereotypes consistently portrayed in the media for warping my fragile little mind.

Sorry, now I have to do this:

'From Russia with Love'. Hehehehe :D

Not even a little Bond rp while you are there? Did you perchance order a vodka martini? Were you tempted!?

p.s - Just finished 'The Jennifer Morgue' which I found absolutely amazing. Hence the one track mind into secret agent territory. I think you are a fantastic author; probably the best science fiction author writing and publishing at the moment. Thanks for writing such a brilliant book for me to enjoy!

25:

Berlin... in Russia? You wouldn't be American would you David@24?

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26:

Unnecessary continuation of my previous comment @ 18.

I think what I meant to say about the "Saturn's Children" cover is that I appreciate that it's so not subtle. I've always had a thing for old pulp cover art, some of it was really dreadful, but there was a lot of nice work. The new cover sort of reminds me of that.

Totally Unrelated: Rudy Rucker's blog has some nice pics of Devil's Tower up today.

gjm @ 25: Some of us Americans do know where Berlin is. Perhaps he's a Republican? (no offense intended --but just noticed his domain is .uk).

In other news, California and Washington state just made talking on a cell illegal while driving, no word about texting though.

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27:

Feel I need to correct myself; earpeices are still legal to use while driving. I was not quite awake (here in Colorado), and was thinking of texting/driving in reference to Serraphin @ 11's comment.

28:

Geez, seany, that's a stupid thing to ask for. If Charlie thinks Cory is wrong, he'll talk to him on his own.

29:

Re #23:

Oh ghods, it's spreading!

30:

Berlin... Moscow... Germany... Russia...

Honestly, it's a dyslexia thing, just with countries. Just imagine writing in a 3 hour Literature exam and looking back in the last thirty seconds to realise you've written the antonyms of important adjectives in all your arguments. Not exactly a cause for celebration ... or should I say a cause for despair?

['Weigh the meaning and look not at the words' - Ben Jonson, author of 'Volpone', a largely unstudied contempory of Shakespeare. Mmmm, Renaissance drama.]

Re #25 - London, England.
Re #26 - Was treasurer for the Liberal Democrat Society at my Uni, but then got dissilutioned with politics. After all, if a politician could do anything useful they'd be doing it instead of running for office, which nowdays is a question of tiresome rhetoric. Still vote Lib Dem, though.

If you're not from the UK, I'm referring to these guys:
http://www.libdems.org.uk/

31:

In fact, Berlin has continental climate, that's more or less the same as anything farther east ...

32:

I must apologise for casting aspersions on the geographical knowledge of our friends across the pond - I'm sure most Americans have a decent knowledge of where places are but I catalogue & profile academic books for a large US distributor whose dogma describes Ireland as part of the UK, Turkey as a Middle Eastern country and various other abominations. When we point this out to the powers-that-be they say they are reflecting the expectations of our customers - Harvard, Princeton, Yale, UCLA, Irvine and other university libraries.
I despair...

33:

Seany: you appear to be trolling. This is your first and final warning. Continue, and I'll start deleting your posts on sight.

34:

Deleting the future is far more fun anyway. This morning I totally obliterated 5 world changing concepts before breakfast.

I would gloat more, but it is pointless as you will never know what you are missing.

Evil laughter etc.

35:

I have no idea what the hell "seany" is gibbering about -- whether it's some new internet storm in a teacup or some half-imagined grudge ("you're famous and I'm not! Boo hoo!") -- and I don't really care, but I'm not tolerating trolls around these parts any longer.