The Laundry Files

Started by Ryobi, February 18, 2013, 04:33:07 AM

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So recently I've been reading the Laundry Files by Charles Stross. It's classed as sci-fi due to the scientific method applied to occult practices in the books. Saying this the books, of which there are 4; The Atrocity Archives, Jennifer Morgue, The Fuller Memorandum and The Apocalypse Codex, focus heavily on the rituals surrounding summoning, confusion, binding and warding magicks. The books also go into great depth on a subset of Chaos Magick that I would class as within Quantum Magick (in this case generally referred to as Computational Demonology) and takes place within a Lovecraftian universe.

Those versed in the occult can create summoning grids and enhance the accuracy and flexibility of these grids through the use of everyday technology. Programming also plays a massive part as power-laden languages, generally Enochian, can be used to write advanced programs stored within mobile devices for activation in the field.

The style of the series itself is described by Stross as horror, in the sense that everything is blanketed in a general feeling of doom. The main characters are bitter and depressed over being chained to a national occult defence network (due to having stumbled upon some form of the Occult - which is hidden, at all costs, from the public). It is fast paced and has the feel of a Cold War spy thriller replete with cannibalistic cultists, fundies from hell, megalomaniac billionaires and hitlerist branch units summoning otherworldy horrors by systematically murdering millions of innocents.

Would fully recommend. 

Here's a video if you don't mind spoilers:

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/blogs/latest/entry/wra-laundryfiles-ctm
When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard," I am always tempted to ask, "Compared to what?"

That's alright, I haven't been able to stop reading them and after the first few paragraphs it became pretty obvious that a whole bunch of people on this board would enjoy them immensely. There was no choice but to share the obsession.
When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard," I am always tempted to ask, "Compared to what?"