grs1961

Comment Threads

• Charlie Stross commented on Crib Sheet: The Atrocity Archive(s)
  Your brain isn't making things up; slashdot was originally flat-only. I suspect the rot was irrevocable around the time they introduced user IDs. (Yes my ID is 1238. But that's an accident; it was originally in the 30,000s. But someone broke the database and they had to force everyone to re-register which is when I grabbed a four-digit number.) The only discussion system I can think of where threading worked was usenet, and then only because the threading was done by the client software: the likes of trn and then strn and slrn rocked at threading (and scoring, and magic...
• trey.palmer commented on Crib Sheet: The Atrocity Archive(s)
  Charlie, Where did you get the idea for the hands of glory? I know they're a myth (way to make house breaker's invisible) but how did you get the idea to make laser guns out of them? And use pigeons and monkeys for part sources?...
• pearson.greer commented on Crib Sheet: The Atrocity Archive(s)
  In your afterwords/acknowledgements, you've mentioned some authors like Len Deighton, Peter O'Donnell, and more recently tossed off a reference on Twitter to Cold Comfort Inn re: the new Laundry story. I would really like to see your recommended non-science fiction list- I checked out Modesty Blaise via the O'Donnell reference and I think it'll be up my alley. IDK if Ian Tregillis is still reading this, but via his blogging here, I ended up tracking down some of the quack Nazi UFO/Gaza Death Ray authors he mentioned and had a great time reading those....
• FatBigot commented on Crib Sheet: The Atrocity Archive(s)
  One question I have is whether there was any influence from Tom Holt's "The Portable Door" (and it's successors) on the Laundry series? They both take "Magic exists" as a starting point and build a world from there. Tom Holt assumes that you'd have private companies doing the work, run very much in the same way as a firm of solicitors. This allows much fun to be had with inter-firm rivalry, clients, office politics, hierarchies and procedures. In contrast, our host assumes it would be run by the civil service, and we see how that works out. My view is...
• paws4thot commented on Crib Sheet: The Atrocity Archive(s)
  The Portable Door - Copyright date 2003 The Atrocity Archives - CD 2004 Since Charlie's blogged many times on the length of the publishing pipe from author typing "The End" to "books on shelves" I feel safe in saying that he'd finished writing TAA before anyone who didn't get a proof copy could have read TPD. TPD is more likely to have influenced Jasper Fforde's Dragonslayer trilogy....