Laundry Files Series
Written by Charles Stross
Narrated by Gideon Emery, Elle Newlands and Bianca Amato
4/5
()
About this series
Lovecraftian Laundry Files series.
Welcome to the sunlit uplands of the 21st century! Britain's 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. At least, she has reason to hope he's dead. But though she's now in
charge of the Bigge Corporation, she's not free of him yet. Through the
fecklessness of her brother Imp, combined with the intricate feudal law of a tiny
Channel Island, it would appear that unbeknownst to her, she was married to
Bigge—and that proving his death and releasing herself from his arcane bindings
will take years and cost millions.
Then an emissary of the Prime Minister arrives with an offer that she absolutely
can't … well, you know.
Titles in the series (12)
- The Atrocity Archives
1
A Hugo Award winner and best-selling author, Charles Stross combines the best elements of science fiction and fantasy. In The Atrocity Archives, a lowly computer geek working for a secret British intelligence agency gets promoted to field service after accidentally saving lives in a disaster. Now he's faced with saving the universe using only his smarts and a disembodied hand that renders him invisible. Stross' award-winning novella, The Concrete Jungle, is also included.
- Apocalypse Codex
4
The winner of multiple Hugo Awards, Charles Stross is one of the most highly regarded science fiction writers of his time. In The Apocalypse Codex, occasionally hapless British agent Bob Howard tackles a case involving an American televangelist and a supernatural threat of global proportions. "Stross gives readers a British superspy with a long-term girlfriend, no fashion sense, and an aversion to martinis."-San Francisco Chronicle
- The Jennifer Morgue
2
Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross continues to make a name for himself in the sci-fi genre. The Jennifer Morgue is an extension of Stross' award-winning novella The Concrete Jungle. Bob Howard is a special operative for the British agency called The Laundry, and his task is to stop a rogue billionaire from using an artifact, known as Gravedust, with the power to reanimate the dead. The U.S. Black Agency sends the lethal Ramona Random to aid Bob's mission, but she seems to have a different agenda.
- The Fuller Memorandum
3
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.
- The Rhesus Chart
5
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 things 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 superstrength 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 bloodcurdling conspiracy between men and monsters....
- The Delirium Brief
8
The eighth case in Charles Stross' Laundry Files, the Hugo Award-winning series described by Kirkus Reviews as "a weirdly alluring blend of super-spy thriller, deadpan comic fantasy, and Lovecraftian horror." Bob Howard's career in the Laundry, the secret British government agency dedicated to protecting the world from unspeakable horrors from beyond spacetime, has entailed high combat, brilliant hacking, ancient magic, and combat with indescribably repellent creatures of pure evil. It has also involved a wearying amount of paperwork and office politics, and his expense reports are still a mess. Now, following the invasion of Yorkshire by the Host of Air and Darkness, the Laundry's existence has become public, and Bob is being trotted out on TV to answer pointed questions about elven asylum seekers. What neither Bob nor his managers have foreseen is that their organization has earned the attention of a horror far more terrifying than any demon: a British government looking for public services to privatize. There's a lot of potential shareholder value in the Laundry's "knowledge assets." Inch by inch, Bob Howard and his managers are forced to consider the truly unthinkable: a coup against the British government itself.
- The Annihilation Score
6
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 Labyrinth Index
9
The ninth case in Stross' Hugo-winning Laundry Files, described by Kirkus as "a weirdly alluring blend of super-spy thriller, deadpan comic fantasy, and Lovecraftian horror." The Lovecraftian Singularity has descended on the world, beginning an exciting new story arc in the Laundry Files series! The arrival of vast, alien, inhuman intelligences reshaped the landscape for human affairs across the world, and the United Kingdom is no exception. Things have changed in Britain since the dread elder god Nyarlathotep ascended to the rank of Prime Minister. Mhari Murphy, recently elevated to the House of Lords and head of the Lords Select Committee on Sanguinary Affairs (think vampires), finds herself in direct consultation with the creeping chaos, who directs her to lead a team of disgraced Laundry personnel into the dark heart of America. It seems the Creeping Chaos is concerned about foreign relations. A thousand-mile-wild storm system has blanketed the midwest, and the President is nowhere to be found. In fact, for reasons unknown the people of America are forgetting that the executive branch ever existed. The government has been infiltrated by the shadowy Black Chamber, and the Pentagon and NASA have been refocused on the problem of summoning Cthulhu. Somewhere, the Secret Service battle to stay awake, to remind the President who he is, and to stay one step ahead of the vampiric dragnet that's searching for him.
- Dead Lies Dreaming
10
When magic and superpowers emerge in the masses, Wendy Deere is contracted by the government to bag and snag supervillains in Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross' Dead Lies Dreaming: A Laundry Files Novel. As Wendy hunts down Imp?the cyberpunk head of a band calling themselves “The Lost Boys”? she is dragged into the schemes of louche billionaire Rupert de Montfort Bigge. Rupert has discovered that the sole surviving copy of the long-lost concordance to the one true Necronomicon is up for underground auction in London. He hires Imp’s sister, Eve, to procure it by any means necessary, and in the process, he encounters Wendy Deere. In a tale of corruption, assassination, thievery, and magic, Wendy Deere must navigate rotting mansions that lead to distant pasts, evil tycoons, corrupt government officials, lethal curses, and her own moral qualms in order to make it out of this chase alive.
- Season of Skulls
12
Season of Skulls continues Hugo Award–winning author Charles Stross's Lovecraftian Laundry Files series. Welcome to the sunlit uplands of the 21st century! Britain's 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. At least, she has reason to hope he's dead. But though she's now in charge of the Bigge Corporation, she's not free of him yet. Through the fecklessness of her brother Imp, combined with the intricate feudal law of a tiny Channel Island, it would appear that unbeknownst to her, she was married to Bigge—and that proving his death and releasing herself from his arcane bindings will take years and cost millions. Then an emissary of the Prime Minister arrives with an offer that she absolutely can't … well, you know.
- Quantum of Nightmares
11
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 …
Charles Stross
CHARLES STROSS (he/him) is a full-time science fiction writer and resident of Edinburgh, Scotland. He has won three Hugo Awards for Best Novella, including for the Laundry Files tale “Equoid.” His work has been translated into over twelve languages. His novels include the bestselling Merchant Princes series, the Laundry series (including Locus Award finalist The Dilirium Brief), and several stand-alones including Glasshouse, Accelerando, and Saturn's Children. Like many writers, Stross has had a variety of careers, occupations, and job-shaped catastrophes, from pharmacist (he quit after the second police stakeout) to first code monkey on the team of a successful dot-com startup (with brilliant timing, he tried to change employers just as the bubble burst) to technical writer and prolific journalist covering the IT industry. Along the way he collected degrees in pharmacy and computer science, making him the world’s first officially qualified cyberpunk writer.
More audiobooks from Charles Stross
Tor.com: Selected Original Fiction, 2008-2012 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wireless Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Escape from Yokai Land Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Glasshouse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Laundry Files
Related audiobooks
Dark State: A Novel of the Merchant Princes Multiverse (Empire Games, Book II) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Empire Games: A Tale of the Merchant Princes Universe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Labyrinth Index Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spaceman Blues: A Love Song Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Neptune's Brood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age Atomic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Family Trade: A Fantasy Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Superhero Shrink: Climate Change Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDead Lies Dreaming Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Glory Lane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Family: Book Two of Merchant Princes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rule 34 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Unholy Mischief: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iron Gate: A Twenty Palaces Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Collapsium Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Terminal Peace [Dramatized Adaptation]: Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse 3 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Philosophical Strangler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Annihilation Score Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Degrees of Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chronicles of Davids Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQuantum of Nightmares Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tanglefoot [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rhesus Chart Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Victory Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Terminal Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Fantasy For You
Fourth Wing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From Blood and Ash Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Iron Flame Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Thorns and Roses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Frost and Starlight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Silver Flames Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Omens Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Mist and Fury Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Wings and Ruin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outlander Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Omens: A Full Cast Production Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hobbit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Farseer: Assassin's Apprentice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Neverwhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Two Towers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wise Man's Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Return of the King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Laundry Files
729 ratings0 reviews