A Conventional Boy, Charles Stross
A Conventional Boy, Charles Stross
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A Conventional Boy

Author: Charles Stross

Series: Laundry Files

Narrator: Gideon Emery

Unabridged: 7 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 01/07/2025

Synopsis

In this new Laundry Files adventure the fate of the world will literally depend on the roll of dice ... twenty-sided dice, that is. In 1984, Derek Reilly was just another spotty teenage dungeon master growing up in middle England. But then a secret government agency tasked with suppressing magical intrusions received a tip-off—and one midnight raid later, his life was turned upside down by the Satanic D&D Panic. Decades later Derek, now middle-aged and institutionalized, is a long-term inmate at Camp Sunshine, a center for deprogramming captured Elder God cultists. He’s considered safe enough to edit the camp newsletter, and he even has postal privileges—which he uses to run a play-by-mail game. After 25 years, Derek finally has reason to escape: a nearby D&D convention. While Derek’s D&D games were full of fictional elder gods and world-ending threats, a LARP game at the con is a dread ritual designed to summon a great evil into our world, and it’s up to Derek and his players to stop them. The fate of the world may depend on the contents of Derek’s magic dice bag.

About 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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Trish on January 24, 2025

We're back! Well, partially at least. Ever since the Black Pharaoh has taken over, I miss the actual Laundry (and Bob). Sadly, this was another book telling the story of some other character (like the last two installments did). Fortunately, it was still loads of fun. Meet Derek. He was taken to a fa......more

Goodreads review by Brok3n on January 13, 2025

A story for Laundry insiders A Conventional Boy is a novella set in Charles Stross's LaundryVerse. The Laundry Files is my all-time favorite Science Fiction series. My opinion of the Laundry Files is not universally shared. They're targeted at a particular subculture, a subculture of which I am a cha......more

Goodreads review by Beth on January 12, 2025

I received a gratis copy from the publisher via NetGalley. To my chagrin, I haven't read any of the previous Laundry Files books. As a testament to Stross's writing, I was able to immerse myself in the world right away and greatly enjoyed the ride. This book consists of a novella, "A Conventional Boy......more

Goodreads review by Janelle on January 17, 2025

I haven’t read any of the other Laundry Files books that are about a top secret British spy network fighting supernatural threats. This book contains the title novella and two short stories. It’s a lot of fun. The novella is about Derek who was locked up as teenage D&D player during the satanic pani......more

Goodreads review by Ann on March 03, 2025

Consisting of a novella, two novelettes, and a concluding Afterword,A Conventional Boy is a somewhat brief ( 211 pp. in my hardback) but highly entertaining series of sidetracks through the Laundry Files universe. The novella which gives the book its title details the adventures of Derek Reilly, a......more

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