Nerds on Tour: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Ana Lily Amirpour, dir. (2014, film)

Dossier: A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT

Location: Iran (Persia)

Package Type: Film

Itinerary: Here in Bad City, there's a ditch where the town dumps its dead. That should tell you a lot about Bad City. Arash lives in Bad City, but he's a good dude. In a city full of drug dealers and worse, Arash works hard, and has worked for years to save up in order to buy a classic car. His pride and joy.

Arash also takes care of his widower father, who is addicted to heroin. It feels like a pain-pills-gave-way-to-worse situation. But Arash's father, Hossein, is nevertheless in deep to a drug dealer, who takes Arash's car as partial payment. This dealer guy sucks a lot. So none of us feel too bad when he picks up an innocent-looking Girl, tries to convince her to become a prostitute, but instead she grows fangs and murders the dealer for his blood. Not a huge loss, and when Arash comes by to try to get his car back and finds the dealer dead and mutilated, it's the easiest thing in the world to take his money, and his unsold drugs, and dump his body in the ditch where these things go.

Turns out, Arash isn't a great drug dealer! He tries to offload some of his stuff at the club, but a pretty girl instead convinces him to ingest some of it himself. So Arash gets blitzed. Stumbling around, lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood, dressed in a Dracula costume, Arash comes upon The Girl. An actual vampire. He assures her that he is not to be feared. It's only a costume. He is harmless and charming, so she takes him home.

That's where things get more complicated, and where they begin to unravel.

Travel Log: Let the Right One In is the character-driven, off-the-beaten-path vampire movie par excellence, and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night owes a lot to that earlier, Swedish film. While the plot points and age-ranges differ, the vibe is decidedly similar. 

 

And in a low-budget film with only a small number of characters, it must be said, it's pretty easy to predict the ways in which these few characters might intersect. That doesn't take away, however, from the charm of this film. 

 

For a movie where people have their limbs bitten off, bodies are routinely dumped in ravines, and drug addicts are used as prey, it's a super-charming adventure! Throughout, the audience knows more than the characters, so one of the most interesting balancing acts the movie pulls off is the shifting of perspective between Arash and The Girl. The ways in which they come to see each other, and to interpret one another, are the areas in which this movie really shines.

 

It was a little disappointing to learn that, though the film was written and directed by Iranian-American filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour and billed as "the first Iranian vampire movie," it was actually shot in California. It's set in a fictitious Iranian city, though, and the actors all speak Persian. The Iranian life it depicts is one of nightclubs, music, drugs, prostitution, and wealth disparity. It's probably a vision of Iran that many Westerners wouldn't expect, and a depiction that would make it dangerous, if not impossible, to actually shoot the movie in Iran. Hence, the California stand-in. Walking into this sphere of decadent nightlife, wearing a traditional chador covering, The Girl presents as something very different from what she really is. She looks like a modest, possibly devout individual, when in fact she is the most powerful — and depending on your definition, unholy — being in the film. It's a clever redirect that plays on cultural codes and expectations. 

 

Also, it must be noted that the movie has an all-time great movie cat, and the black-and-white cinematography is gorgeous.  

Analytics

The Adventure: 4/5
The Scenery: 4/5.
NerdTrip 8/10

Posted by Vance K — cult film reviewer and co-editor of nerds of a feather since 2012, fan of vampire movies since the local channel showed that blue-tinted print of Dracula one Halloween, lo these many years ago.

Microreview [book]: Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

The author’s talents for complicated space opera with interesting characters translates wonderfully into secondary world fantasy beyond the Great Wall of Europe.

Gyen Jebi has a problem. In their occupied homeland, an artist like themselves has a hard time finding a job or steady work and not being dependent on his sister. Dire circumstances causes them to go to the conquerors, the Razanei, for potential employment. Jebi (or Tsennan, as they also have obtained a Razanei name). A series of events lands them in the Ministry of Armor, painting symbols on that control and animate an automata dragon. As they work at his new job, Jebi finds themselves in conflict with his sister, his heart, his conquerors, and his desires to try and free Arazi, the aforementioned  dragon.

These complicated threads of character and story are central to Yoon Ha Lee’s Phoenix Extravagant.

The story runs and runs cleanly and excellently on the heart and soul of the characters and how they interact and collide with each other. Jebi/Tsennan is our center and our point of view character throughout the novel, giving us a newbie-perspective to the world of the Ministry of Armor as well as being a plot driver when they (Jebi uses they/them pronouns) decide to take drastic action. Jebi’s sister Bongsunga is definitely dreaming of the Hwagugin reasserting their control over their land (which has been named Administrative Territory 14 under the Razanei rule) . Hafanden, deputy minister of Armor, and really the person with the “Boots on the ground” in Hwagugin, has dreams of making the automata dragon, Arazi, work again after the previous person in Jebi’s position failed...although how is not immediately clear to Jebi. There seems to be a mystery about that. And then there is the Prime duelist for Armor, Vei, who winds up having a complicated relationship with Jebi, and has unclear ties to Bongsunga and Hafanden as well. It’s a rich brew for drama and character that the author works masterfully into the narrative, plot, and world.

The world that Lee presents is a secondary fantasy world that is as rich and interesting as the Machineries of Empire. It’s a realm much like our own Korea, with the Razanei standing in for Japan. The worldbuilding notes, contexts and worldbuilding notes, from the use of language, positioning, family structure, art and culture definitely all reinforce that and the novel sits proudly in the tradition of authors like RF Kuang and Fonda Lee in imagining a fantasy world firmly grounded in East Asia as its cultural base in a way that much fantasy has Western assumptions and baselines. Using early modern Korea as the base of their world (in addition to the aforementioned dragon, there are mentions of things like tanks) allows the author to investigate and interrogate a lot of colonial themes and ideas. Not only is the Razanei imperial aggression explored, but in the same vein as the words of Kuang and Lee, it is the “west” that is distant, mysterious, threatening and meddlesome. These three authors now, and other upcoming authors, are using the experience of Western imperialism as an inversion of the “mysterious and inscrutable east” trope that unfortunately ruins a lot of fantasy fiction that has an East at all. It’s more than high time that some of the legacies of 19th and 20th century narratives in terms of the West’s cultural and physical imperium over other parts of the world are addressed and used in fantasy fiction in a nuanced and interesting way, and the author rises to that challenge. 

The other interesting part of the worldbuilding, and it also goes that cultural imperialism, is how the magic works. As Jebi learns when they are put to work in the Ministry of Armor, the painting and delineation of magical symbols for automata requires extremely special inks (the title, Phoenix Extravagant is one such ink). The horror and the for me painful aspect of this is that the magical inks are created by the destruction of works of art. In order to create the controls for these weapons of war, beautiful works of art must be destroyed. This makes a tension throughout the novel, as Jebi is additionally aware of the damage that they do, even as they come to form a bond with Arazi, the Dragon. 

And finally, the writing is just vivid and beautiful. As noted above, this is a novel about art and the uses of art, and the book itself channels the power of that art--but the art of writing and vivid writing that immerses you into the characters and the world. The pain and striving of Jebi to find a place in the world, life under the rule of the Razanei, and finally, the dragon, Arazi, come to extraordinary life. Readers of the Hexarchate novels who want to follow Lee into fantasy are going to find a lot they loved in the sheer writing power there, here in a fantasy format. The plot and situation are more streamlined than the Machineries of Empire. There is plenty of intrigue, revelations, characters set against each other and conflict, but readers who might have thought the Hexarchate a world too baroque for their tastes might find the world here more accessible and relatable.

With these heady themes of art, colonialism, power, subjugation, revolution, family, love and more, Phoenix Extravagant is a strongly depicted and rich novel. It’s not heavy on action, although there are conflicts, it is a novel where the theme comes through the strongest. It's a stunning change of genre for the author, and one that excellently works. Phoenix Extravagant takes its place alongside the works of other authors exploring fantasy in a new and fresh way, and I am very happy to commend it to you.

The Math

Baseline Score: 7/10

Bonuses: +1 for a strong and resonant story and theme for our times. 

+1 for an interesting world using an East Asian template that is refreshing, diverse and enthralling

+1 for vivid and excellent writing.

Penalties: -1 The strong focus on theme might frustrate readers more interested in the other fundamentals of the novel.

Nerd Coefficient: 9/10 Very High Quality/Standout in its Category

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.

Reference: Lee, Yoon Ha. Phoenix Extravagant [Rebellion Publishing, 2020] 

Microreview [book]: Empire of Gold by, S.A. Chakraborty

Plots, plans, secrets and lies brings the story of Nahri, Ali, Dara and the entire city of Daevabad  to a conclusion.

By the end of Kingdom of Copper, second in the Daevabad Trilogy, the protagonists of the series are definitely in a “end of the Empire Strikes Back” sort of position. Nahri, the center of our story, the half-human (Shafit) healer, has been transported out of the city along with Ali, son of the now fallen Ghassan. Now that she is back in Cairo, thousands of miles away from Daevabad--now what? Meanwhile, Banu Manizheh now rules Daevabad, her lightning strike against the city absolutely successful. Even worse, Dara, who had incited the entire trilogy by coming at Nahri’s call and bringing her to Daevabad, is under Manizheh’s orders. Even as he disagrees with Manizheh’s tightening fist over the city, he finds himself less and less able to resist her commands and her excesses.

Thus the story of S.A. Chakraborty’s Empire of Gold brings these stories to a climax, with the future of not only characters, or a city, but entire peoples hang in the balance.

Years have passed since the start of the first book in the series (City of Brass) and the passage of time, and how it has affected the characters, as long lived as some of them might be, is a theme that weighs upon the novel. Time, and the past, and history are both illuminating, and also shackles and restrictions on them, past being prologue, and trying to transcend their pasts, to live up to their potentials, or, sometimes, not to live down the darkness of their pasts. This theme runs through all of the three major characters. Nahri’s story is of finding the true nature of her heritage and integrating that with what she wants to do with her life--to escape Daevabad, or to return and save it? Ali’s own heritage and past, and a hard set of choices as to who he really is, and what that can make him be now, is explored. And then there is Dara, once a weapon, trying to find freedom, and then caught again in the role of the past. The author works these themes hard on the characters and it is the playing of these threads that drive the decisions of the plot.

Once again, though, the author prefers to have the really powerful characters not to be our viewpoints, being forces that the characters must deal with, bargain with, or overcome. The book provides us with a wealth of this, from Manizheh, now empowered and in control of Daevabad, to new characters like Sobek and Tiamat. The theme of pasts and living up to the deeds of the past and finding a way to the future , or living it down. This is a quasi historical fantasy novel that is heavy on character history as motivation and legacy. And we do get some revelations, and reactions to those revelations about that history, throughout the narrative. For the most part, it helps fill in the gaps of motivations and desires of the characters.

But the strongest thing in the book and the series as a whole is the immersive, lush, and evocative language that the author brings to the fray. From the destruction of neighborhoods in Daevabad as Manizheh holds onto power, to Nahri’s joyful return to Cairo, to Ali’s dread bargain and meeting with a primal power, the description brings the reader into the action, into the characters, into the story in a deep and abiding way. The author uses sense, and description, evocation of emotion to really give us a feel of what the characters are feeling and the environments they are in. I never have a problem with “heads in white rooms” in the author’s writing, be it strong and pointed conversations, or action set pieces. I fell in love with Daevabad again, even as it suffers terribly. Ta Ntry, which gets visited in the book, is a wondrous place brought to vivid life. And so much more.

The main issue I have with the series conclusion is one that I see in some series that unfortunately this book falls prey to and it involves the page creep and a misalignment in the series structure as a whole. If a book spends its forematter in posing questions and a scenario and laying the pieces for its answer in the back portion, so does a series. This last volume, instead of “answering questions” spends a lot of effort on lovely worldbuilding and recomplication and new plot elements that in some ways feel a book too late and in some cases fizzle out and feel like a false flag. Subverting reader expectations on plot elements that take up a good chunk of the final volume and wind up being not significant in the end feels like a cheat to the reader and to the series. A lot of what the author brings here is fascinating and I lapped it up on a worldbuilding level, but on a plotting level, it works far less well.

Empire of Gold is definitely worthwhile to read as a series finale, but it didn’t quite reach for the titular gold of a series finale that brings the entire series together in a near perfect say. It is just a solid work of silver, instead.

The Math

Baseline Assessment: 7/10

Bonuses: +1 for excellent use of language and description to provide an immersive experience

Penalties -1 for not quite sticking the series landing in terms of plotting and answered questions

Nerd Coefficient: 7/10 

Reference: Chakraborty, S.A. The Empire of Gold [Harper Collins, 2020]. 

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.

6 Books with Stina Leicht

Stina Leicht writes science fiction, horror, and fantasy. Her next novel, Persephone Station is a Feminist Space Opera scheduled to debut 5 January 2021 via Saga Press. She was a finalist for the Crawford Award in 2011 and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer in 2011 and 2012. She has also written four Fantasy novels: Cold Iron, Blackthorne, Of Blood and Honey, And Blue Skies from Pain. Currently, she is working on another SF novel titled Loki’s Ring due to be published in 2022.

Today, she shares her 6 books with us:

1. What book are you currently reading? 

How Long ’til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin. It’s a masterful short story collection that ranges from Steampunk to hard SF. Great stuff. Read it!!!









2. What upcoming book are you really excited about? 

Maria Dahvana-Headley’s Beowulf translation. No woman has ever had their translation of Beowulf published before. Translations are very much affected by the person that translates them. I understand this really affected the interpretation of the story. I’m so very looking forward to it.







3. Is there a book you’re currently itching to read again? 

Terry Pratchett is my go-to when I’m stressed. Needless to say, I’ve been re-reading a lot of Discworld lately. (Oh, Covid-19. When will you finally go away? Heh.)








4. How about a book you’ve changed your mind about—either positively or negatively? 

When I was a kid I read John Christopher’s Tripod series. The whole thing about kids being the only ones free to think for themselves really appealed to little mousy me. Sometimes I pick up books I loved and re-read them. I did and holy shirtballs, that one absolutely did not hold up at all. It’s so sexist for a start. It’s also badly written in general. I couldn’t even get through it. Just wow.






5. What’s the one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing? 

I’m going with Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. Bradbury’s prose was the first to blow my mind. The story was amazing and his command of his craft top notch. The older and more experienced I become as a writer the more impressed I am. I don’t believe I’ll ever be as good as he was. But you know what? One can always try anyway. It’s good to have goals.






6. And speaking of that, what’s your latest book, and why is it awesome?

My next novel, Persephone Station, is scheduled to debut in January of 2021. That seems forever away, really. Soooo… this whole thing starts with sexism in the movie industry and Geena Davis. During the 1970s a great deal of progress was made in getting more roles for women. Sadly, in more recent history to number of women’s roles in cinema have been shrinking. (There’s a regular report on the statistics at https://seejane.org.) The problems with sexism don’t end at the Bechdel Test—particularly if there are no women in the film at all. Anyway, I’m an Akira Kurosawa fan. One of my favorite things to do is pair up one of his movies with the American/Italian remake. For example: The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven. So, when the 2016 version came out I was extra sensitive to the fact that the only woman in it is the romantic interest/helpless waif. Hey, if you’re going to remake a movie—remake it. So, I thought I’d write a gender-flipped version with women of color and zero romance. Look there’s nothing wrong with Romance. However, media about women almost always contains a relationship. The number of stories where the Win-scenario for a female character is not a romance is almost zilch. It’s so bad that any series with a woman on the team inevitably winds up with the woman sleeping with her coworkers. Every. Time. That just doesn’t happen all that often in real life—not compared to the number of times women DON’T sleep with coworkers.

You know what? Women need adventure stories too, damn it. Particularly older women.

Persephone Station is the book I wished I’d read in my twenties or thirties or forties. If I need stories of women doing things while not giving a shit about whether a man loves them, other women must need this too. So, I did. And I had so much fun writing this book. I really did. It’s a military action adventure in space. Women working together, being competent, and being good friends.

And no one sleeps with their coworkers.

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.

Microreview [Book]: The Seventh Perfection by Daniel Polansky

The Seventh Perfection is a fantasy story that tries something uniquely demanding. To some, it will look like a gem, while others will see it as rot.

Sometimes it feels like society moves in zigzags, and we’re following its path under the false belief that we’re going straight. The world is fueled by greed, power, and misinformation to dictate and change how people think. Many people are empty vessels whose opinions and alliances can alter instantaneously with just a little push. And our biggest burden is our own mind, with its faulty memory. At our worst, we become porous vessels that those in power can fill with love or hate, until it all leaks out from forgetfulness, and the powerful fills us with a new thing to be preoccupied and driven by. The Seventh Perfection tackles those flaws in an experimental way—an inventive writing style that is incorporated to support its themes but might be a bit too experimental for its own good.

The novella follows Manet, an Amanuensis (a person who dictates a manuscript) for the God-King, the supreme leader of the land. What makes Manet special is that she has a fantastic memory and dictates conversations mentally, rather than dictating it with ink. One day, she receives a locket from a mysterious force. The locket contains a picture of a woman who looks suspiciously like her yet isn’t. This propels her on a quest to investigate who exactly the woman in the locket is, while in the background, an increasingly illuminating light is shed on the world around her, as the reader gets a better and better glimpse of its dark underbelly.

That sounds simple enough. But there’s one thing I didn’t mention: the protagonist’s dialogue and thoughts are not included in the novella (with the exception of one chapter). We hear the person she’s talking to, and it's implied what she says through how the characters respond to her, but it’s never written out. To say that there’s a learning curve to the writing style is an understatement. Not only is the character initially portrayed in the story as a cipher whose background is explored by other characters' responses to her - many of whom she has just met – but the history of the fantastical world is unraveled in this fashion, too. Thus, the first half of the novella feels like solving an unsatisfying puzzle. But in the second half, things come together at the same time the story becomes propulsive and is an improvement of a read.

Thematically, this style works because the novella is about how the people who don’t have their guard up are the sum of what those in power instill into them. It proffers that we’re not the sum of our individuality, but instead a stew of ideas that come from forces outside of us. Which is why its clever for a character’s story to center around not what she says, but what those around her tell her. However, in terms of craft, it’s a little less satisfying. Reading one half of a conversation is bound to be confusing if the dialogue was written organically, and Polansky understands that, modifying his style accordingly. Thus, characters speak a little more artificially to get their message across, by sometimes repeating what the protagonist said but as a question, or overexplaining things more so than seems human, to cover for the gap in dialogue. It works the best for the novella’s idea, but I can’t deny that it’s clunky at times.

Despite the dialogical limitations, it’s amazing how much character development Manet is given, despite the book barely containing a word she says or thinks. Manet lives in a world of porous humans, but she’s able to act more like a sponge than most, thanks to her memory. While most of the story's cast would’ve been swayed or even forgotten what they were fighting for halfway through their journey, Manet plows through her investigation with tenacity. But with society largely opposed against her lifestyle, her grasp of individuality is flimsy. In Spider-Man, Uncle Ben said, “With great power comes great responsibility,” – but The Seventh Perfection showcases great power struggling to shift the status quo that can move you into a place worse than where you started. Great power is a burden when a massive collective is tricked into thinking you’re using it for evil. Sometimes a fight against the societal current seems so bleak, that the most responsible thing is to submit and not use your power at all.

The Seventh Perfection is an exhausting read, both in terms of its themes and the level of work it demands to fully understand it. But by exerting yourself through a vigorous read, the benefits of absorbing the story feels so much more satisfying and potent. It might even be potent enough to chew on and savor the themes, rather than throw them away if they took the form of a trite, mediocre story. Reading the book is like a one-way conversation, in which you, the reader, are silent while the book is speaking to you. And hopefully, just like Manet, you will absorb important information without having to write down any notes.

 The Math

Baseline Score: 7/10

Bonuses: +2 For being wholly original.

Negatives: -1 For having a writing style that, while unique, often necessitates clunky dialogue.
-1 For a confusing, slow start that throws you a little too deep into the deep end.

Nerd Coefficient: 7/10

POSTED BY: Sean Dowie - Screenwriter, stand-up comedian, lover of all books that make him nod his head and say, "Neat!

Polansky, Daniel. The Seventh Perfection [Tordotcom, 2020]

Introducing: Nerds on Tour!

Friends, I had this year's Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together project all planned out. Using the considerable wealth we have amassed from running a nerd culture fanzine, I was going to hire a slightly terrifying but capable inventor-genius, ply them with baked goods and book reviews until they came up with an energy efficient global teleportation system, round up the nerd flock from our respective homes and spend three months touring the world, hitting up all the nerdiest, weirdest and most awe inspiring parts of the world, visiting all our fandom buddies, and most importantly eating a lot of very good food. Sure, there would be problems with this plan: I might have to hire a second inventor-genius to build robotic facsimiles that could fool our respective families, pets and day jobs, and the jetlag involved in instantaneous teleportation might be hard to deal with. But overall, I thought we had a plan to make 2020 the best year yet for our flock and for our content. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, unfortunately, none of us are living in the reality we expected right now. 2020 has laughed in the face of our ridiculous plans, and it has also laughed in the face of many of our real ones, both big and small. For those of us who had planned to travel - including the members of our flock who cancelled trips to New Zealand to hang out at Worldcon - the possibility of any physical trip has become as near-impossible as my group teleportation scheme. And for many of us, living through months of global crisis without an end in sight has changed our relationship to media and to what we're able to critically engage with and how. Perhaps the stories that sustain us have changed, or perhaps we're not able to read or watch as much as we used to. 

In true speculative fiction style, though, we're going to be imagining our way out, armed with our Netflix subscriptions and bookshelves and a sense of armchair adventure. Welcome to Nerds on Tour!

From the comfort of our own homes, we're going to be striking out into the world of international genre fiction: for our team of Europeans and North Americans, this means anything not from our own countries (the UK and the USA are right out), and we're going to be doing our best to seek out work from countries and regions that are underrepresented in English speaking science fiction and fantasy markets. We'll be checking out some classics (both old and new), diving into gems from smaller presses, and seeking to broaden our own horizons with the wealth of . For the first time, we're also offering a bingo challenge for this year's project, with 20 prompts for you to read or watch along to! Anything goes, from TV to books to short fiction to musical concept albums; the only catch is that each square has to be filled with media from a different country. The card is below, and if you do play along, be sure to keep us updated on Twitter using #NerdsOnTour so we can check out what you're up to!

Speculative fiction is, by definition, a global phenomenon, but the Anglophone science fiction and fantasy community has often sought to define its boundaries in ways that exclude much of the work being created in the rest of the world, even as it adds the "World" label into its own events and awards. At a time when it can feel like our own worlds are narrowing, we think its more important than ever to push back, to remind ourselves why we love genre in all its forms and to go beyond the narrow window of culture, language and geography that shapes most of the media we get to watch. Nerds on Tour will be running on Mondays from now until December, and we hope you enjoy everything we have in store.

- Adri and the Nerds of a Feather Team

 

Microreview [book]: Dead Lies Dreaming by Charles Stross

Charles Stross’ Dead Lies Dreaming introduces us to new characters and a new look at his Laundry Files universe--showing us how supervillains, corporate types and others are living under the New Management.

How do you hook new readers into a long running series? And how do you keep things fresh for readers of that series, so you aren’t repeating yourself. And, if it is set in a version of our modern world, how do you continue what is by now an alternate history and make sense of things, and yet not seem completely divorced from where our world is, even if our world does not have magicians, supervillains, and Cosmic Horror entities. And how do you keep it fresh for yourself as a writer?

All of these issues come to the fore in Charles Stross’ Laundry Files universe. In his universe, Cosmic Entities do exist, higher maths can open up portals and contacts with them, and the world, by the increasing population and technology have been moving toward a Cosmic Horror singularity for quite some time. The Laundry Files main line of novels has followed a few characters, particularly Bob Howard, as events, and his own power, have progressed. Even within that line, Stross has introduced new POV characters, and new tweaks to the timeline (including a Fae invasion and vampires ) to provide new chances at entry points with new characters and places to catch up.

Now, with Dead Lies Dreaming, Stross goes further afield still, with a novel that breaks free of the Laundry espionage agency entirely, and providing us with a new set of characters trying to make their way in a Britain where the Black Pharaoh has been installed as the ruler (trust me, the alternatives were WORSE). We get to see a new view on Brtain from the perspective from other than the Laundry--from the perspective of people on the street, or at least not within the walls of a quasi spy agency. Not that our protagonists are ordinary, but they are much closer to average people than our previous characters. 

The center of our narrative are Imp (aka Jerm aka Jeremy Starkey) and his sister Evelyn. Imp wants to make movies, in particular an adaptation of Peter Pan, and he and his cadre act as supervillains to raise funds for that cause. Evelyn works for Rupert, a billionaire magnate with more fingers in pies than the normal person has fingers, and definitely has interest in the occult. In the time of the New Management, it is just prudent for a captain of money and finance to have diversified interests. Rupert directs Evelyn to obtain a Very Important Book by any means, and Evelyn sees a chance to hire her brother to aid in it. For, you see, the Book has more than a small tie to the two of them, and their family history. Does Rupert know that? Perhaps he does, but that just starts a blitz chess match across multiple boards to find the MacGuffin. It’s the Maltese Falcon with heavy doses of supervillains, ritual magic, set in the New Management modern Britain. And does Evelyn have powers or know magic? Well, she IS an accountant...

After the first few novels, which mainly kept Howard as a POV, Stross has really grown his gift of using points of view to illuminate and illustrate his story. The tight focus is a bit diluted by breaking out of the POV of x and y, but it also helps show the breadth and variety of the world. With the complexity of the plot, a jewel gear mechanism that in the end comes together spectacularly, the multiple points of view  help keep the reader appraised of all the moving pieces. On a ground level, few of the characters really are aware of how complicated events are in manipulating them and what they do, but we as a reader can watch the struggle for the MacGuffin unfold.  I particularly liked the point of vew from “The Bond” , another agent of Rupert’s that definitely is modeled on the Fleming character¹. .Focused to the point of inhumanity, he is the ticking clock that, once unleashed, propels the narrative and like any good heist story (and this is most definitely a Heist story, several heists in fact,  including at least one hidden one) , keeps the ticking clock of events rolling. It’s a classic and effective  template--set up the characters with slice of life incidents, put together the center heist story and let the characters and plot run.

There is a heck of a lot of worldbuilding needed for the novel, showing old readers how things have moved along while at at the same time providing new readers enough grounding to get a sense of just what life under the New Management is like. This starts in the very first sentence of the novel, which describes Imp witnessing a Santa being crucified by Elven warriors. This helps reassure previous readers of events of the series, and for new readers, makes it clear right away that this is not the Britain they know and love. The next few sentences and paragraph bolster that first sentence and show that this is what life under the New Management is like, and hooks the reader into the changed world from the get go. We get established how the Supervillain team led by Imp can and does do their thing in that first chapter, and we are off and running. I do think that Stross succeeds here as a new entry point for the series, you don’t have to go all the way back to the Atrocity Archive to get a sense of what life is like, now. For previous readers of the series, who have seen the superhero/villain novels and also the use of magic in other Laundry Files novels, this novel allows Stross to put both of them into the same conflicts, to see just how the various parts of his Singularity we have seen separately before play together.

In short, Dead Lies Dreaming is a very successful branch off of the Laundry Files universe into new characters and perspective, and giving us an update on just what life is like under the New Management. Combine both of those with an excellent heist plot and some very clever plotting and worldbuilding, and this latest in the Laundry Files verse was a treat to read. I fully intend to get the audio of this book upon release, for I find the audio experience of these books to be as rich as reading them. A re-read of this book via audio when long driving trips are practical again sounds like a winning idea to me. And perhaps to you.

¹ Longtime readers of the Laundry Files will note that this is not the first time Stross has engaged in Bond or spy tropes. The Bond doesn’t quite match up with those previous books, this is a new use of the character and archetype.

The Math

Baseline Assessment: 7/10.

Bonuses: +1 for a very successful switch to a new thread in the Laundry Files verse
+1 for excellent heist plotting.

Penalties: -1 A Britain under the New Management may not be the comfort read for 2020 you are looking for.

Nerd Coefficient: 8/10 well worth your time and attention

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know?@princejvstin.

Reference: Stross, Charles. Dead Lies Dreaming [Tor, 2020]