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Books!

fuller memorandum cover pic

I have a crate of copies of the US hardback of "The Fuller Memorandum". This means it's on its way out to bookstores around the US even as I type, and should be on sale in a week or two.

(The British paperback was due to be printed last Friday, so it should be on its way too.)

I also have early copies of the American and British paperbacks of my short story collection "Wireless", which (hint) includes the Hugo-shortlisted novella "Palimpsest" and the Locus award-winning novella "Missile Gap". Unusually, the British edition is larger than the regular C-format — but don't worry, it's the same price as a regular paperback.

(No, I don't know about ebook editions. My publishers don't give me that kind of information unless I kick their ankles, although I expect that to change as ebooks grow to be more than, oh, around 1.5% of the market.)

I may be a little quiet over the next week because — see entries passim &mdash I have finished the first draft of "Rule 34", which means it's time to redraft the damn thing and get it into a fit state for sending to my agent. There's a lot of work still to do. It took me just over 15 months to write the first draft of this book — two or three times as long as usual — so there's probably a bundle of work ahead.

56 Comments

1:

Just pre-ordered the Kindle edition (which I read on the phone, I don't have a Kindle) on amazon.com, it's stated it will be available on July 6th.

2:

2 to 3 times as long? Woof. Good luck.

3:

Gah! Canadian bookstores don't have it out until July 6. I hate waiting!

4:

Romeo, that's the official publication date. You won't get it earlier elsewhere except (a) the UK (official pub date is the 1st) and (b) from a bookstore that forgets to check the official date and shoves it out on the shelf as soon as they open the shipping carton. Of which there are many.

5:

I was really lucky when the Jennifer Morgue was released, because for some reason my local borders had a copy on shelves at least a week early.

They've since shaped up, and I've met with nothing but failure trying to get pre-release date books out of them.

Doesn't mean I won't keep trying...

6:

ME _ TENTERHOOK _ _ TENTERHOOK _ _ TENTERHOOK _

7:

Eeeeeeek, I didn't think this was due out until 2011 for some reason. Christmas comes early!

8:

Books! So as soon as I return from 1538, I get to jump into the near future of the laundryverse! Woo hoo.

9:

Woo! Bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy!

Hang on ... is that the sound of a credit card that's already at its limit? Sad, sad, sad. I obviously need more money to pay for this book. I know! I'll rob a bank!

See, kiddies, Charles is such a good writer, his readers will commit crimes to get their hands on his books... they're the legal equivalent of crack cocaine...

(I'll go sit in the corner now and take my medication.)

10:

re: Rule 34. So, character genders aside, does the girl get the guy in the climax, in some suitably bloody fashion?

No, I'm not going back into that summoning grid. You can't make meeeeeee...

11:

Whooot, go go next book purchase! Hopefully an eBook version is available around the US release date. Otherwise I will have to purchase a physical copy, and I've just finally gotten into the habit of carrying only the eBook reader around in my bag.

Thanks for the heads up Charlie!

12:

Charlie: not that this will stop me from falling upon a copy with glee as soon as it's available here, but you'd know since you have it in hand -- does it have the same dimensions as the Golden Gryphon hardcovers? I hate it when books change cover art style in the middle of a series, but I hate it even more when they suddenly change dimensions. Call it a personal tick, but I like series to line up on my shelves.

13:

Stupid question - was there no UK hardcover edition for The Fuller Memorandum?

14:

Andrew: nope, they're going straight into paperback. (If you're in the US, ordering a UK paperback won't save you much money -- it'll retail for £7.99 or thereabouts, or US $12 at current exchange rate, and once you add postage there won't be a whisker between it and the discounted-to-$16 US hardback.)

15:

occasional reader: alas, this edition is published by Ace, and it's (a) a standard Ace hardcover book block (i.e. the same size as my other Ace hardbacks) and (b) same style of cover art as the other Ace Laundry novels.

16:

Verified : available in Kindle books for France. I will also order the HC. I am impatient for the third Laundry book.

Will we seeing the young assistant of the Baen universe novella (Pfimpf?)?

17:

Denis: read it and find out.

(I'm not going to say much, if anything, about this particular book here. However I will note that I'm making plans for #4 in the series ...)

18:

Congratulations! Will be looking forward to reading the new volume soon.

(And in other news, doesn't the Terry Pratchett / Stephen Baxter collaboration announced in the Guardian today look a wee bit like they're doing a Stross pastiche? Worldwalkers with the serial numbers filed off. Looks like you're officially famous.)

19:

First-time poster... Re: The Fuller Memorandum Looking forward to a signed copy at Cambridge (Mass., USA) in about a month. Hoping for an e-book before then...

As for the fourth Laundry-verse book, have you decided who gets the stylistic nod yet?

BTW-write faster.

20:

I've somehow managed to never hear of "Pimpf." How'd that happen?

21:

Do you own a copy of The Jennifer Morgue? If you do, it's in there after the novel.

22:

Countdown to delivery of pre-ordered package from Barnes and Noble begun ... tick ... tick ... oh, damn, the waiting is driving me crazy! Oh, wait, I already am.

23:

(I'm not going to say much, if anything, about this particular book here. However I will note that I'm making plans for #4 in the series ...)

Which, given the milieu, is a spoiler in itself - the world didn't end.

Will bring it to the attention of the local sf geek speciality store ASAP.

24:

"Which, given the milieu, is a spoiler in itself - the world didn't end."

Or it could be after the world ends, and every living thing in the universe is crowding into the afterlife, trying to sort out the mess. Settling scores, demanding to see the manager, planning coups to overthrow the existing Overlords, shanty-towns around the pearly gates, that sort of thing. Though that starts sounding more like Pratchetts or Rankins beat rather than our esteemed host.

25:

As you have physical instances of TFM to hand, perhaps you would care to tell us whether it continues an informal series tradition:  Does the artwork of Mark Frederickson grace the cover of your third Laundry novel, as I suspect? [1]

Someday I hope to learn whether the artist created the image of Bob Howard entirely from your description, or modelled him on some person – and if the latter, whom.

 1.  Dirty secret: the cover art on a Charlie Stross novel doesn't have be so stunning that it will induce me (hah!) to purchase the latter — but it's so f‑‑‑ing cool when the artwork rocks as well.

26:

Things that a Charlie Stross novel needs on the cover to get me to buy it, in order of importance:- 0) The name "Charles Stross". 1) A title I don't already have a copy of.

27:

Laundry #4 will riff on the works of a best-selling British thriller writer, recently deceased. Here's a hint: movie rights to his most famous property are currently owned by Quentin Tarantino (although he hasn't done much with them so far).

There is a tentative Laundry series plan and story arc at this time which calls for nine books in all, plus possibly some novellas on the side. The stylistic homage stuff is going to fade into the background after #4 (or indeed during #4), although there's the possibility of me doing one more -- to a best-selling American thriller writer, not-so-recently deceased. And if you're looking for a spoiler for the series arc? I'm happy to give it away: it's an exploration of the Lovecraftian singularity.

I cannot and will not "write faster"; I've been averaging two books a year for the past decade, which is about double the rate of most of my peers. If I were to write faster, you wouldn't like the results: I'd have to cut my travel time (that signed copy you're looking forward to, in other words) and I'd have to produce material that was increasingly formulaic.

28:

Well Charlie, the single biggest complaint I've ever heard about your output is that you're so prolific that the complainant has difficulty keeping up with your output!

29:

"Lovecraftian singularity."

Sold.

30:

Yay! Any chance that Forbidden Planet in London (or any other bookstore there) will have signed copies? Or even better, a signing between 8th and 12th of July?

31:

Jan: the answer to both your questions is "definitely not."

Firstly, I live 400 miles from London and sign books in FP maybe once a year -- usually in December. (Visiting London is a process that involves airliners and hotel stays; it takes longer and costs more than visiting Amsterdam.)

Secondly, from the 8th to the 12th of July I'm guest of honour at Readercon in Burlington, Massachusetts.

32:

exploration of the Lovecraftian singularity

For some reason, when I read that this morning, I had this weird thought about Bob getting all set for the invasion of tentacled horrors from beyond space, and ending up with the Eschaton.

I don't think I was fully awake at the time.

33:

Pratchett already wrote most of that novel in 1986. He stopped when Discworld sold so well.

34:

Or it could be after the world ends, and every living thing in the universe is crowding into the afterlife, trying to sort out the mess.

Er, no.

While the existence of the afterlife in the Laundry world might be a matter for debate as it is in ours (only with a bit more practical eschatology than we're used to), the existence of soul-sucking abominations from beyond the stars is pretty much established.

I'm pretty sure Charlie's end-of-the-world scenario involves the souls of most of every living thing in the universe ending up as a psychic belch somewhere. No afterlife save a squamous and rugose breathmint.

35:

I had this weird thought about Bob getting all set for the invasion of tentacled horrors from beyond space,

And not in the jolly and romantic Japanese sense either, we presume?

36:

Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter? That's kind of an odd match. I guess I know who'll be bringing the sense of humour to that collaboration...

37:

Congrats on your new novel coming out. I'm just wondering who comes up with the titles for your books, and why most of them are so cryptic. Compare The Fuller Memorandum or The Jennifer Morgue with some of the less imposing titles on the NYTImes Fiction list: Little Bee, Savor the Moment, The Spy.

38:

Charlie, Have you had much involvement with the Laundry RPG? I haven't done any RPGing in many, many years and a friend has been wanting to start a Call of Cthulhu game... I've already got him reading Accelerando so this would be a good push to get him into the Laundry series.

39:

Charlie @ 27

"Laundry #4 will riff on the works of a best-selling British thriller writer, recently deceased. Here's a hint: movie rights to his most famous property are currently owned by Quentin Tarantino (although he hasn't done much with them so far)."

Does this mean we'll see Bob in a leather teddy?

40:

Not exactly, but I see you're on the right course.

(Bob is being promoted; he gets to manage people in book #4. Some of whom are quite possibly unmanageable ...)

41:

I'd a feeling that Bob was being groomed for greater things, given that someone "very senior" was clearly taking a personal interest in his career.

42:

Hopefully if something really bit starts in the 'Stans it'll be timely enough for you to capture it!

43:

Inappropriate reaction to the BP Deepwater Horizon spill: "Well, that's what happens if you breach the provisions of the Benthic Treaty..."

44:

Now I think I know where No4 is taking it's cue from, but it's also put wierd images in my head.

The leather cat suit being one. The trusted but purely platonic friend of another sex/race/non-euclidean dimension being the other, who may or may not feed on brains.

Because you know - eveyone feeds on brains, right?

I am hugely looking forward to TFM, and managed to get my girlfriend hooked a few months ago, she's now eagerly devouring the Jennifer Morgue so she can steal the Fuller off me.

I'd fight her for it, but seriously - you ever want a story of a scarily proficent other half - you buy me a beer some time!

45:

Data point: a small pile of review copies from Orbit arrived here this morning, including The Fuller Memorandum and Ken MacLeod's The Restoration Game. But I promise not to gloat. At least not out loud.

46:

Dave, I don't have my first author copy from Orbit yet!

(But I read The Restoration Game in manuscript about nine months ago :)

47:

So, have you read TFM yet?

(Or have you not yet got flunkies to do the actual writing?)

48:

A la the advice you got involving "Declare" by Tim Powers, let me suggest you avoid reading (or rereading) "The Honourable Schoolboy" until you're finished with the next book.

49:

I'm so paying the extra cost to have a copy shipped to NZ :D

50:

Also eagerly looking forward to the audiobook production of this book, hopefully to be read by Gideon Emery who did such a great job with Jennifer Morgue (my review is pending on Audible.com). Despite having read both these previous two, now paying to have them read to me too ;-)

51:

Ah well, one can only hope... But if you're ever in Amsterdam, I'll stand you a couple of beers at Brouwerij 't IJ or de Wildemann in return for a signing of my soon-to-be-completed collection of your works, that's closer for me as well - the GF lives a ten minute walk from the windmill!

52:

Jan, I am familiar with both of those fine drinking establishments! Alas, I won't be over for the bokbierfest this year (got a clashing appointment in Bruges) but I intend to visit Amsterdam again -- ideally sooner rather than later, and probably in the next 12-15 months.

53:

Hooray for TFM! I wonder how long it will take to make its way over to the Netherlands.
Speaking of which, there've been US paperbacks of Wireless in my local bookshop in Groningen for a week or two already. Do export editions habitually come out before local-market ones? (Fair trade for the higher overseas prices, I'd say...)

54:

I am not certain that seeing both the name "Quentin Tarantino" and the phrase "movie rights" in a discussion relating to the latest Laundry novel has been good for my sanity. I confess I'm having a hard time ejecting the notion from my noggin.

55:

Congrats on the impending release. I have a (hopefully) quick question - do you have any idea when the trade paperback version might be released? My copies of The Atrocity Archive and The Jennifer Morgue were purchased in that format, and I'd rather keep along the same route with The Fuller Memorandum. Now if Tuesday would get here so I can go buy a copy of Wireless...

56:

The implausibly prolific Robert Reed already wrote the novel Pratchett and Baxter seem to be thinking of writing: Down the Bright Way.

This being Reed you get impressive ideas, ludicrously immortal characters and a really nasty ethical dilemma with no good solution. (This could describe pretty much all Reed's novels and most of his short stories.)

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This page contains a single entry by Charlie Stross published on June 16, 2010 3:44 PM.

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