The Fuller Memorandum

A Laundry Files Novel

By: Charles Stross

Narrated by: Gideon Emery

Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross is renowned for his cutting-edge science fiction. This third entry in his “edgy … spoof of Cold War spy thrillers” (Booklist) finds covert agent Bob Howard learning about a top-secret dossier that vanishes with his boss. Determined to discover the contents of this memorandum, Howard runs afoul of Russian spies, ancient demons, and apostles of a hideous cult planning to raise the Eater of Souls from the undead.

©2010 Charles Stross (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Office Drama and Gibbering Horrors

Any additional comments?

A return to fun office workplace Lovecraftian shenanigans!

Yes, you read that right, with The Fuller Memorandum, Stross has once again decided to spoof typical workplace drama with his Lovecraft flavor. I wouldn't say it is a satire anymore, which I am sad about. However, it has become a very competent, creative, and entertaining urban fantasy with a twist. I don't actually know what that twist is, but there is something about this series that defies definition and makes me hesitate to even call it urban fantasy.

To the uninitiated: go buy The Atrocity Archives. Really, do it now. This book is a continuation of what happened previously and follows Bob as he gets into trouble. His mouth gets him into trouble most of all, but his competency and ability to get out of sticky (and sometimes hilarious) situations makes him a prime target for gibbering horrors and those that worship them.

This time Bob has to navigate interoffice politics, a missing boss, a growing disaster, and an iPhone. The bits about the iPhone are worth reading every book up to this one just to fully appreciate those jokes. So. Flipping. Funny.

I continue to recommend this book to anyone who has an office job, especially a governmental one. It is funny, entertaining, and quite good all around with its likable characters, relatable protagonist and fun story.

Another great Laundry book!

Was a really great story! Watching the characters develop between books is great and heartbreaking!

Just another day at the office

Charles Stross’ The Fuller Memorandum is another installment in his Laundry Files series. The ‘Laundry’ is a secret government agency assigned to keep all manner of supernatural beings from wreaking havoc on the world (so named because its first offices were in a former laundry) through mathematical and scientific means. Bob is a field agent whose boss has gone missing and must find the ‘Fuller memorandum’ which describes the ‘Eater of Souls.’ Meanwhile there are Alastair Crowley want-to-bes who are after the same memo in a Satanic cult like manner. Bob is eventually kidnapped as the prospective vessel for the eater of souls, but that job’s been taken, and Bob wakes the dead to save himself. His wife and their Russian counterparts join in the fun as well.

Stross plays this episode as a spy thriller, especially with the Russian counterparts that recapitulates the cold war spy theme of enemies banding together for their own interest. At the same time, he pokes fun at British bureaucracies with Bob undergoing audits and reviews all while people are trying to do him harm and his wife is recovering from a bad violin performance.

The narration is wonderful with excellent character distinction. Pacing is brisk making for a quick listen.

Definitely worth a listen

The story is sort of a Monty Python/BBC version of Men in Black using subtle British humor in the face of scenarios that should be terrifying. The main characters were likable and interesting and the plot was off-beat enough to keep you guessing the whole way. It made my 14 hour drive fly by nicely.

Wow, what a rush.

I'm a big fan of urban fantasy, and listen to Jim Butcher's Dresden series over and over, catching new nuances each time.

But this is to Dresden what Dan Simmons' Hyperion is to "Goodnight Moon." I'm absorbing the Laundry Files ad quickly as my shuddering gray matter can accept it, and must applaud true Bardship when I experience it. Scary, nightmare inducing as it may be, it's something truly amazing to behold, like watching the Hindenburg burn -- from the INSIDE.

Bravo, Mr. Stross, bravo.

Great book.

Very intense and another great Laundry book. Charles Stross' story pulled me in and Gideon Emery did a wonderful job of portraying the different characters. REALLY looking forward to the next Laundry novel.

Combines the best of several genres...

As the title says, I really enjoy the mesh work of history with occult background woven together that wraps me in a happy blanket. A solid listen that is worth the credits for the entire series.

Excellent listen

Great story, great narration, wonderful series. You won't be disappointed. Check out the rest of the series too.

Can't get enough of The Laundry Files

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

I just can’t get enough of THE LAUNDRY FILES. This series has almost everything I want in an urban SFF adventure — an intelligent hero with a wry sense of humor and a great voice; an eclectic supporting cast; a fast pace with lots of action and plot twists; a cool mix of fantasy and science fiction; occasionally odd (and interesting) structural choices; a reverence for geek culture; and a smattering of computer science, mathematics, quantum physics and neuroscience. And Lovecraft. I love it.

In The Fuller Memorandum, the third LAUNDRY FILES novel, things start badly for Bob after he accidentally kills a bystander during a mission. He’s sent home to await an inquiry. That’s pretty bad, but soon things get worse. His enigmatic boss goes missing, there are Russian KGB agents and members of a cannibalistic doomsday cult sneaking around, a secret document called “The Fuller Memorandum” disappears from the laundry archives, and Bob’s wife (Mo) is involved in something that’s got her scared for her life and she can’t talk about it. And what the heck is “Teapot”? And why is paperclip usage being audited? Bob, who’s getting a little paranoid, has to unravel all this mess before…. well, he’s not sure before what, but whatever it is, he knows it’s going to be bad. Like, end-of-the-world kind of bad.

As with the previous LAUNDRY FILES stories, the plot of The Fuller Memorandum is fast-paced, unusually structured (Stross likes to play with the narrative perspective), completely unpredictable, and contains a bizarrely disparate set of elements that somehow works together in a way that’s quirky and juuuusssst manages to not go over the top. Stross has a great sense for when he’s about to cross the line.
In this story we learn about sympathetic magic (this is why paperclips are counted), what Mo’s violin is made of (uh… yikes!), and some of our questions about Bob’s inscrutable boss are answered. None of this disappoints — it’s all wonderfully weird and makes us want to find out more about the Laundry’s history.

Not only is the plot entertaining, but the LAUNDRY FILES novels are also funny. Bob has a great sardonic voice and he loves to take opportunities to spout his cynical opinions on just about any topic. In The Fuller Memorandum, he makes particular fun of our obsession with the iPhone (“Precious!”), which he insists is injected with some sort of glamour. He calls it a “Jesus Phone” and when he buys one (the glamour made him do it), he christens his iPhone with the name “The NecronomiPod.” In one hilarious scene, the bad guys who are torturing Bob discover the phone (“Oooh, shiny!”) and get distracted from their work as they start pressing the icons. And I also gotta love that Bob reads THE DRESDEN FILES on the train and makes allusions to THE LORD OF THE RINGS, Philip K. Dick, and other much-loved speculative fiction.

I can’t wait to see what Bob and The Laundry get up to next in The Apocalypse Codex. I’m listening to the audio versions of THE LAUNDRY FILES which are fabulously narrated by Gideon Emery. He’s captured Bob’s voice and tone perfectly, and his performance adds a lot to my enjoyment of these stories.

enjoyed it so much i listened twice

charles stross does cthulhu with a ton of originality. i love the laundry stories. :)