New Releases by Charles Stross

Tales of tentacles, terror, and madness from the publisher who brought you Wastelands, The Living Dead, and Brave New Worlds First described by visionary author H. P. Lovecraft, the Cthulhu mythos encompass a pantheon of truly existential cosmic horror: Eldritch, uncaring, alien god-things, beyond mankind’s deepest imaginings, drawing ever nearer, insatiably hungry, until one day, when the stars are right.… As that dread day, hinted at within the moldering pages of the fabled Necronomicon, draws nigh, tales of the Great Old Ones—Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Hastur, Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, and the weird cults that worship them—have cross-pollinated, drawing authors and other dreamers to imagine the strange dark aeons ahead, when the dead-but-dreaming gods return. Now, intrepid anthologist Ross E. Lockhart has delved deep into the Cthulhu canon, selecting from myriad mind-wracking tomes twenty-seven sanity-shattering stories of cosmic terror. Featuring fiction by many of today’s masters of the menacing, macabre, and monstrous, including Laird Barron, Caitlín R. Kiernan, and Thomas Ligotti, The Book of Cthulhu goes where no collection of Cthulhu mythos tales has gone before: to the very edge of madness... and beyond! Do you dare open The Book of Cthulhu? Do you dare heed the call?

A unique blend of espionage thrills and Lovecraftian horror, Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross''s Laundry Files continues with Quantum of Nightmares. It’s a brave new Britain under the New Management. The avuncular Prime Minister is an ancient eldritch god of unimaginable power. Crime is plummeting as almost every offense is punishable by death. And everywhere you look, there are people with strange powers, some of which they can control, and some, not so much. Hyperorganized and formidable, Eve Starkey defeated her boss, the louche magical adept and billionaire Rupert de Montfort Bigge, in a supernatural duel to the death. Now she’s in charge of the Bigge Corporation—just in time to discover the lethal trap Rupert set for her long ago. Wendy Deere’s transhuman abilities have gotten her through many a scrape. Now she’s gainfully employed investigating unauthorized supernatural shenanigans. She swore to herself she wouldn’t again get entangled with Eve Starkey’s bohemian brother Imp and his crew of transhuman misfits. Yeah, right. Mary Macandless has powers of her own. Right now she’s pretending to be a nanny in order to kidnap the children of a pair of famous, Government-authorized superheroes. These children have powers of their own, and Mary Macandless is in way over her head. Amanda Sullivan is the HR manager of a minor grocery chain, much oppressed by her glossy blonde boss—who is cooking up an appalling, extralegal scheme literally involving human flesh. All of these stories will come together, with world-bending results... "For all of Stross''s genuine ability to spook and dismay, The Laundry Files are some of the most tremendously humane books I''ve ever read." —Tamsyn Muir, author of Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

John M. Ford''s The Scholars of Night is an extraordinary novel of technological espionage and human betrayal, weaving past and present into a web of unbearable suspense. Nicholas Hansard is a brilliant historian at a small New England college. He specializes in Christopher Marlowe. But Hansard has a second, secret, career with The White Group, a "consulting agency" with shadowy government connections. There, he is a genius at teasing secrets out of documents old and new—to call him a code-breaker is an understatement. When Hansard''s work exposes one of his closest friends as a Russian agent, and the friend then dies mysteriously, the connections seem all too clear. Shaken, Hansard turns away from his secret work to lose himself in an ancient Marlowe manuscript. Surely, a lost 400 year old play is different enough from modern murder. He is very, very wrong. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

LA STIRPE DI NETTUNO Krina Alizond-114 è un metaumano che vive in un universo in cui gli ultimi esseri umani naturali si sono estinti da cinquemila anni. Quando sua sorella scompare, si imbarca in un audace viaggio attraverso i sistemi stellari per ritrovarla, dirigendosi verso l''ultimo luogo in cui è stata vista: il misterioso mondo acquatico di Shin-Teti. In un universo in cui è impossibile viaggiare a una velocità superiore a quella della luce, diventa un''impresa pericolosa, resa ancora più difficile dalla comparsa di un assassino, dei corsari a caccia dell''assicurazione sulla vita di sua sorella e di numerosi indizi che la sparizione sia legata a una delle più grandi truffe finanziarie nella storia dell''universo conosciuto.

IL MEMORANDUM FULLER Gli anni passano ma non le kafkiane assurdità della buracrazia governativa con cui ha a che fare Bob Howard. Esperto informatico e brillante agente della Lavanderia, sezione minacce occulte dei servizi segreti di Sua Maestà, durante un esorcismo di routine uccide per errore un civile. E le cose precipitano quando il suo enigmatico capo Angleton, all''improvviso, svanisce. A quel punto Bob dovrà cercare di evitare la fine del mondo.

Dark State is the second book in a thrilling series - set in the same world as Charles Stross'' Merchant Princes series. This book follows Empire Games.In the near future, one America is experiencing its first technological revolution - whilst in a parallel world, the United States is a hi-tech police state. But both timelines are poised for conflict. Miriam Burgeson''s America is heading for civil war. However, a high profile defection might avert this crisis, if only Miriam and her agents can arrange it in time. And Rita Douglas, rival US spy, arrives during this turmoil. Rita''s world is rocked when she realizes Miriam is her birth mother, changing her own mission irrevocably. Then her United States discovers yet another parallel earth, and the remains of an advanced society. Something destroyed that civilization, Rita''s people are about to rouse it - and two worlds will face the consequences.

Eighteen stories from some of the biggest names in genre fiction, written in honour of Arthur C. Clarke. The Fountain, a traditional London pub where a group of friends - scientists, writers and SF fans - meet to swap anecdotes, reveal secrets from their past, tell tall tales, and maybe, just maybe, save the world...

Fantascienza - racconto lungo (48 pagine) - C''è solo una cosa capace di terrorizzare gli agenti della Lavanderia, abituati a orrori e mostri di ogni genere: la Fattoria, l''ospizio degli agenti che hanno perso la ragione La serie della Lavanderia, arrivata per la prima volta in Italia con Giungla di cemento pubblicato da Delos Books e Rapporto sulle atrocità uscito su Urania, è forse la serie più famosa e più brillante di Charles Stross. La “Lavanderia” è un''agenzia segreta britannica che si occupa di combattere (e tenere segrete) minacce provenienti da entità interdimensionali che mettono in pericolo il nostro universo e l''umanità stessa. Tra un combattimento e l''altro gli agenti della Lavanderia devono fronteggiare il vero inferno: le pratiche burocratiche tipiche di ogni ufficio governativo. Ma c''è qualcosa che li terrorizza ancora di più. In Giù alla Fattoria il veterano Bob Howard deve investigare strani fenomeni in un edificio governativo adattato a ospizio per ex agenti della Lavanderia che hanno perduto la ragione. Charles Stross, nato a Leeds nel 1964 ma da tempo residente in Scozia, si è laureato in farmacia, poi ha preso una specializzazione in informatica e ha lavorato come consulente e sviluppatore, per dedicarsi a tempo pieno alla scrittura dal 2000. Tra le sue opere più famose Accelerando (premio Locus), una delle opere più interessanti sul tema della Singolarità tecnologica; Palinsesto, vincitore del Premio Hugo nel 2012; e la serie della «Lavanderia», un''organizzazione segreta che si occupa di occulto, alla quale ha dedicato diversi romanzi e numerose novelle, tra le quali Rapporto sulle atrocità (Urania), Giungla di cemento (Premio Hugo 2005, Delos Books) e Equinoide (Premio Hugo 2014, Delos Digital e Elara).

A time of ambition, treachery and dangerous secrets . . . Rita Douglas is plucked from her dead-end job and trained as a reluctant US spy. All because she has the latent genetic talent to hop between alternate timelines - and infiltrate them. The United States is waging a high-tech war, targeting assassins who can move between worlds to deliver death on a mass scale. And Rita will be their secret weapon. Miriam Beckstein has her own mission, as a politician in an industrial revolution US. She must accelerate her world''s technology before their paranoid American twin finds them. It would blow them to hell. After all, they''ve done it before. Each timeline also battles internal conspiracies, as a cold war threatens to turn white hot. But which world is the aggressor - and will Rita have to choose a side? This new series is set in the same world as Charles Stross'' ''Merchant Princes'' series.

The Laundry Files’ “fast-paced blend of espionage thrills, mundane office comedy and Lovecraftian horror” (SFX) continues as Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross assigns a day trader to a permanent position on the night shift... After stumbling upon the algorithm that turned him and his fellow merchant bankers into vampires, Alex Schwartz was drafted by the Laundry, Britain’s secret counter-occult agency that’s humanity’s first line of defense against the forces of darkness. Dependent on his new employers for his continued existence—as Alex has no stomach for predatory blood-sucking—he has little choice but to accept his new role as an operative-in-training. For his first assignment, Alex is dispatched to Leeds to help assess the costs of renovating a 1950s Cold War bunker for use as the Laundry’s new headquarters. Unfortunately, Leeds is Alex’s hometown, and the thought of breaking the news to his parents that he’s left banking for the Civil Service, while hiding his undead condition, is causing him more anxiety than learning how to live as a vampire secret agent preparing to confront multiple apocalypses. Alex’s only saving grace is Cassie Brewer, a drama student appearing in the local goth festival who is inexplicably attracted to him despite his awkward personality and massive amounts of sunblock. But Cassie has secrets of her own—secrets that make Alex’s nightlife behaviors seem positively normal...

Nella gerarchia delle organizzazioni segrete inglesi, The Laundry - la Lavanderia - è l''Agenzia per eccellenza. Controspionaggio, sabotaggio, schedatura: non c''è attività che le sfugga, perché il fine supremo è ripulire la Terra da un nemico pericolosissimo. Artefici del caos, infiltrati che neppure dovrebbero esistere, "agenti" di potenze molto più oscure di quelle che una volta si annidavano oltre cortina. Ma da dove cominciare, e a chi affidare un incarico di tale responsabilità? Nelle due avventure racchiuse in questo volume - la seconda delle quali ha vinto il Premio Hugo 2005 nella categoria "Romanzo breve" - il compito spetta a Bob Oliver Francis Howard, il Bastard Operator from Hell, un uomo talmente ricco di risorse che non è bastato un solo romanzo per descriverne le gesta inenarrabili a difesa del continuum.

Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross presents the next case in The Laundry Files, “a weirdly alluring blend of super-spy thriller, deadpan comic fantasy, and Lovecraftian horror” (Kirkus Reviews). Dominique O’Brien—her friends call her Mo—lives a curious double life with her husband, Bob Howard. To the average civilian, they’re boring middle-aged civil servants. But within the labyrinthian secret circles of Her Majesty’s government, they’re operatives working for the nation’s occult security service known as the Laundry, charged with defending Britain against dark supernatural forces threatening humanity. Mo’s latest assignment is assisting the police in containing an unusual outbreak: ordinary citizens suddenly imbued with extraordinary abilities of the super-powered kind. Unfortunately these people prefer playing super-pranks instead of super-heroics. The Mayor of London being levitated by a dumpy man in Trafalgar Square would normally be a source of shared amusement for Mo and Bob, but they’re currently separated because something’s come between them—something evil. An antique violin, an Erich Zann original, made of human white bone, was designed to produce music capable of slaughtering demons. Mo is the custodian of this unholy instrument. It invades her dreams and yearns for the blood of her colleagues—and her husband. And despite Mo’s proficiency as a world class violinist, it cannot be controlled…

The Hugo Award-winning author of The Delirium Brief reveals the secrets of The Laundry Files in an adventure of Lovecraftian horror and espionage hi-jinks... As a newly appointed junior manager within the Laundry—the clandestine organization responsible for protecting Britain against supernatural threats—Bob Howard is expected to show some initiative to help the agency battle the forces of darkness. But shining a light on what’s best left in the shadows is the last thing Bob wants to do—especially when those shadows hide an occult parasite spreading a deadly virus. Traders employed by a merchant bank in London are showing signs of infection—an array of unusual symptoms such as super-strength and -speed, an uncanny talent for mind control, an extreme allergic reaction to sunlight, and an unquenchable thirst for blood. While his department is tangled up in bureaucratic red tape (and Buffy reruns) debating how to stop the rash of vampirism, Bob digs deeper into the bank’s history—only to uncover a blood-curdling conspiracy between men and monsters...

"Some stories are more explicitly Lovecraftian than others, but all demonstrate how Lovecraft''s dark mythology continues to inspire outstanding tales of modern horror." - Publisher''s Weekly Many of the best weird fiction writers (and creators in most other media) have been profoundly influenced by the genre and the mythos H.P. Lovecraft created eight decades ago. Lovecraft''s themes of cosmic indifference, minds invaded by the alien, and the horrors of history - written with a pervasive atmosphere of unexplainable dread - are more relevant than ever as we explore the mysteries of a universe in which our planet is infinitesimal and climatic change is overwhelming it. A few years ago, New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird presented some of the best of this new Lovecraftian fiction from the first decade of the twenty-first century. Now, New Cthulhu 2: More Recent Weird brings you more eldritch tales and even fresher fiction inspired by Lovecraft.

Der Verschwörung auf der Spur Nach der Singularität haben sich die Menschen über die Galaxis verstreut – nicht ganz freiwillig, und nicht ohne Konflikte. Als die noch junge Zivilisation auf dem Planeten Moskau von einer Supernova bedroht wird, werden die Bewohner eilig evakuiert, darunter auch die junge Wednesday. Der neugierige Teenager erkundet das Transportschiff, das sie in Sicherheit bringen soll, auf eigene Faust – und entdeckt zuerst geheime Dokumente und dann eine Leiche. Noch ahnt sie nicht, wie brisant ihre Entdeckung ist, doch schon bald wird ihre Familie getötet und sie selbst gnadenlos verfolgt. Zeitgleich nimmt die Agentin Rachel Mansour ihre Ermittlungen auf, denn es scheint, als wäre Moskaus Sonne mittels einer geächteten Waffe zur Explosion gebracht worden. Die Hauptverdächtige ist die Regierung Neu-Dresdens, und nur Wednesdays Dokumente könnten Licht in diesen verworrenen Fall bringen...

Enjoy two short stories and a novella from the Laundry Files. Originally published on Tor.com, these stories by Charles Stross continue the adventures of the Laundry, a secret division of the British government dedicated to tracking down and containing breaches of reality by occult and otherworldly threats. "An entertaining mash-up of Lovecraftian mythology and an extremely twisted take on a fantasy trope."--Publishers Weekly (on Equoid: A Laundry Novella) At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Bloodline Feud: an omnibus edition of the first two novels in Charles Stross''s The Merchant Princes series The six families of the Clan rule the kingdom of Gruinmarkt from behind the scenes. They are a mixture of nobility and criminal conspirators whose power to walk between their world and ours makes them rich in both. Miriam, a hip tech journalist from Boston, discovers her alternate-world relatives with explosive results that shake three worlds. Now, as the prodigal Countess Helge Thorold-Hjorth, she finds herself ensnared in schemes and plots centuries in the making. She is surrounded by unlikely allies, lethal contraband, and—most dangerous of all—her family. To avoid a slippery slope down to an unmarked grave, Miriam must build a power base of her own—with unexpected consequences for three different time lines, including the quasi-Victorian one exploited by the hidden family. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

For outstanding heroism in the field (despite himself), computational demonologist Bob Howard is on the fast track for promotion to management within the Laundry, the supersecret British government agency tasked with defending the realm from occult threats. Assigned to External Assets, Bob discovers the company (unofficially) employs freelance agents to deal with sensitive situations that may embarrass Queen and Country. So when Ray Schiller—an American televangelist with the uncanny ability to miraculously heal the ill—becomes uncomfortably close to the Prime Minister, External Assets dispatches the brilliant, beautiful, and entirely unpredictable Persephone Hazard to infiltrate the Golden Promise Ministries and discover why the preacher is so interested in British politics. And it’s Bob’s job to make sure Persephone doesn’t cause an international incident. But it’s a supernatural incident that Bob needs to worry about—a global threat even the Laundry may be unable to clean up…

After being stalked across the galaxy by an assassin, post-human Krina Alzon-114 journeys to the water-world Shin-Tethys in search of her sister.

Our reality is ruled by monstrous gods, invisible horrors that hunger to consume us. Some deluded bastards worship these gods, trading obeisance for power or magic or the privilege of getting eaten last when the world ends. Cults are like cockroaches, breeding in the shadows, gnawing at the walls of society, fearful of the light... and bloody hard to kill.

From the author of Rule 34 and Halting State, a tale of deception, engineering, and the most unlikely rocket propulsion technology imaginable. "A Tall Tail" by award-winning science fiction author Charles Stross is a Tor.com Original set in a compelling alternative universe. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

An unabridged collection of the “best of the best” science fiction stories written in 2011 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “Dying Young,” by Peter M. Ball, cyborgs, clones and post-humans collide with a dragon bent on revenge in a post-apocalptic space western. “Martian Heart,” by John Barnes, chronicles a teenage couple taken to Mars as indentured servants in a “rags to riches” tale. In “Canterbury Hollow,” by Chris Lawson, two lovers on a planet orbiting a killer sun share their few remaining weeks together before they die. “The Choice,” by Paul McAuley, set in the author’s Jackaroo universe, follows two boys who set sail to investigate a beached alien vessel on the English coast. In “After the Apocalypse,” by Maureen McHugh, a mother and daughter traverse a ravaged U.S. in a tale that takes on McCarthy’s, The Road, from a female viewpoint. “Purple,” by Robert Reed, tells of a blind and maimed young man convalescing in an off-world menagerie of wayward alien species, prior to returning to Earth. In “Laika’s Ghost,” by Karl Schroeder, a Russian and an American search the steppes of the former U.S.S.R. for metastable weapons that terrorists could use to make nuclear bombs. “Bit Rot,” by Charles Stross, follows post-humans struggling to survive after their generation ship is struck by a Magnetar ray in this clever zombies-in-space tale. In “For I Have Laid Me Down on The Stone of Loneliness and I’ll Not Be Back Again,” by Michael Swanwick, Irishmen plot to strike back against alien occupiers by enlisting an Irish American tourist to their cause. Finally, Steve Rasnic Tem, tells of a young man awakened from suspended animation, on a future Earth, with the technological know-how of plant-like aliens in “At Play in the Fields.”

Le Clan subit une double attaque frontale. Sur son propre monde, un univers médiéval, il est en proie à l''hostilité ouverte du roi Egon, successeur de son père, qu''il a tué par traîtrise. Egon veut éliminer les "sorciers" et s''emparer de leurs richesses. Le Clan subit aussi - dans notre monde - l''assaut de services américains très spéciaux à qui son activité a été dévoilée par le transfuge Matthias. Mais celui-ci a aussi révélé, avant de mourir, qu''il avait caché quelque part aux Etats-Unis une bombe nucléaire munie d''un déclencheur à retardement. Est-ce à New York, à Boston ? Matthias a emporté son secret dans la tombe. Miriam, elle, s''est réfugiée dans le troisième monde, celui qui évoque notre époque victorienne. Mais elle y est poursuivie par la police, pour menées révolutionnaires. Parallèlement, un membre du Clan a découvert l''accès à un quatrième monde, et peut-être à une infinité d''autres... Le cycle de Charles Stross mélange avec une remarquable habileté des thèmes empruntés à la science-fiction (les univers parallèles), la fantasy (une profusion d''univers médiévaux), l''uchronie (des mondes où l''histoire a suivi un autre cours que dans le nôtre) et le thriller (des règlements de comptes et des trafics frauduleux en tous genres).