Scotch & Spies (Part II): The Apocalypse Codex
Charles Stross's latest Laundry Files novel, The Apocalypse Codex, was released on Tuesday and arrived in my mailbox - via amazon.ca - on Wednesday afternoon. I'd only barely begun to read it when the subject of spies drinking Scotch whisky came up again (you can see my first post on the subject here). "Bob" is forced to attend a week-long public service management training seminar, and, after one particularly stressful day, he ends up in a bar with someone who turns out to also be from 'The Laundry'. They have a drink together, with Bob ordering a glass of Glengoyne 10 year-old, and the other man, "Gerald", ordering a glass of Talisker 16 year-old (which I'm not sure even exists, unless it is one of the Distiller's Editions). While Gerald seems to follow the rules described in my earlier post - Scotch (check), Talisker (check), older than 12 years (check) - Bob does not, which is strange because in The Fuller Memorandum it is quite clear that Bob does drink Talisker, and quite possibly Lagavulin. At least he is drinking Scotch (as opposed to a martini), and the upside is that some of the reviews I've read of the Glengoyne 10 year-old describe it as a "thinking man's drink", so perhaps there is some method to Stross's madness here.
Regardless, The Apocalypse Codex, like all of the other books, novellas, and short stories, that have come before it in the series, is excellent (so far!), and I must admit that I've drawn heavily on both The Laundry Files novels and the (Chaosium) Call of Cthulhu-based Laundry Files RPG published under licence by Cubicle 7, for the weekly / bi-weekly game that I am currently running (its been going for upwards of seven years now...). My players have seen the agency they work for in-game slowly change from a specialized paranormal investigations unit embedded within a private security corporation, to a slightly disfunctional, yet still specialized investigative unit that is now part of the national security intelligence community (they got nationalized...). Working for government has come complete with Laundry Files-esque paperwork, bizarre reporting requirements, mission budgets, and intra-agency turf battles. And most recently, I opened a Twitter account so that I could distribute in-game messages (from the 24/7 Operations Desk) to my players (@DSIU_OPS_DESK). Some of these messages are related to whatever it is that the players are currently involved in, while other messages are simply background info on what other areas of the agency are doing. If you're interested in checking it out, the link is included in my 'Links' list in the left-hand column.
***** UPDATE - July 6, 2012 @ 09h15 *****
Finished The Apocalypse Codex at around 00h30 this morning. Then I went to sleep, got up at 06h10 and went for a five kilometre run...Overall, I'm impressed, but there are a couple niggling little details that I'm not so sure about (for another opinion, see Graeme's Fantasy Book Reviews). Don't want to provide any details/spoilers until after I've gone over it again, but I can say for certain that what happens in The Apocalypse Codex, like the events of The Fuller Memorandum, are going to find their way into my game...
Regardless, The Apocalypse Codex, like all of the other books, novellas, and short stories, that have come before it in the series, is excellent (so far!), and I must admit that I've drawn heavily on both The Laundry Files novels and the (Chaosium) Call of Cthulhu-based Laundry Files RPG published under licence by Cubicle 7, for the weekly / bi-weekly game that I am currently running (its been going for upwards of seven years now...). My players have seen the agency they work for in-game slowly change from a specialized paranormal investigations unit embedded within a private security corporation, to a slightly disfunctional, yet still specialized investigative unit that is now part of the national security intelligence community (they got nationalized...). Working for government has come complete with Laundry Files-esque paperwork, bizarre reporting requirements, mission budgets, and intra-agency turf battles. And most recently, I opened a Twitter account so that I could distribute in-game messages (from the 24/7 Operations Desk) to my players (@DSIU_OPS_DESK). Some of these messages are related to whatever it is that the players are currently involved in, while other messages are simply background info on what other areas of the agency are doing. If you're interested in checking it out, the link is included in my 'Links' list in the left-hand column.
***** UPDATE - July 6, 2012 @ 09h15 *****
Finished The Apocalypse Codex at around 00h30 this morning. Then I went to sleep, got up at 06h10 and went for a five kilometre run...Overall, I'm impressed, but there are a couple niggling little details that I'm not so sure about (for another opinion, see Graeme's Fantasy Book Reviews). Don't want to provide any details/spoilers until after I've gone over it again, but I can say for certain that what happens in The Apocalypse Codex, like the events of The Fuller Memorandum, are going to find their way into my game...