The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross

On August 15, 2006 the FACT reading group discussed The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross, which consists of novels The Atrocity Archive and The Concrete Jungle. Everybody but one person in the group finished the book, and the one person who had not was planning to finish it. Everybody has read Charles Stross before. Most people in the group loved The Atrocity Archives. Like “Family Trade”, and unlike some of Charles Stross’ Singularity-themed science fiction, this book is a crowd pleaser. People described it as clever, loads of fun, and (to borrow a word occasionally used to characterize good space opera), rollicking. (The Atrocity Archives is not space opera, but it’s rollicking nonetheless.)

Somebody took an informal survey on which genre did people think this book

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Dinner with Julie E. Czerneda and James P. Hogan

Since two authors our group had read and enjoyed were in Austin to be major guests at ArmadilloCon, the Reading Group took them out to dinner. There were seventeen of us at Kerbey Lane North. Dinner topics included spicy food, Texas history, international politics, and artificial intelligence. Our guests, Julie and James, wandered up and down the table and made sure they talked to everyone. The food was good, service was fine, and everyone had a good time.

— A. T. Campbell, III

Stables Strategies and Others by Eileen Gunn

This meeting at Charles and Willie’s home drew an attendance of nine. Our subject was a collection of Eileen Gunn’s entire body of fiction published over the course of a 20 year career. Ms. Gunn is not a prolific writer, and this book contains barely 200 pages. All of us started the book, with five finishing it.

This volume contains several noteworthy tales. The title story, “Stable Strategies for Middle Management,” is a cautionary tale about working for a large corporation. “Fellow Americans,” an alternative history that deviated from our

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