Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Cut speculation. Cut gushing. Added ZCE note. How is it a backlash?
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
Changed line(s) 34 (click to see context) from:
* CreatorBacklash: Has written a small amount of early ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' tie-in fiction, but probably due to his standalone success and disdain for fascism, royalism, and militarism in general, won't write any more, despite his great skill at telling {{Cosmic Horror Stor|y}}ies.
to:
%% How is it a backlash? What has he said? Simply stopping work-for-hire is not the same thing.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* CreatorBacklash: Has written a small amount of early ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' tie-in fiction, but probably due to his standalone success and disdain for fascism, royalism, and militarism in general, won't write any more, despite his great skill at telling {{Cosmic Horror Stor|y}}ies.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 38,40 (click to see context) from:
* MindScrew:
** Did the protagonist of "A Colder War" escape to XK-Masada with Ollie North, Reagan, and other high-ranking US officials, or [[spoiler: is all of this just another iteration of their deaths being played out in the mindscape of Cthulhu, meaning that humanity is well and truly extinct]]?
** Are the characters from "Missile Gap" [[spoiler: from the same snapshot, or separated ones]]? Do they even happen in the same moment, or are separate by centuries? The descriptions make it intentionally vague, so any interpretation works within the context of the story. Add to that [[spoiler: the ants that are present in few various forms, too]], and you start to wonder if they are [[spoiler: alien species or something that evolved from snapshots of Earth where humans went extinct]]. By the final paragraph of the story there are more questions than there were at the beginning.
** Did the protagonist of "A Colder War" escape to XK-Masada with Ollie North, Reagan, and other high-ranking US officials, or [[spoiler: is all of this just another iteration of their deaths being played out in the mindscape of Cthulhu, meaning that humanity is well and truly extinct]]?
** Are the characters from "Missile Gap" [[spoiler: from the same snapshot, or separated ones]]? Do they even happen in the same moment, or are separate by centuries? The descriptions make it intentionally vague, so any interpretation works within the context of the story. Add to that [[spoiler: the ants that are present in few various forms, too]], and you start to wonder if they are [[spoiler: alien species or something that evolved from snapshots of Earth where humans went extinct]]. By the final paragraph of the story there are more questions than there were at the beginning.
to:
* MindScrew:
** Did the protagonist of "A Colder War" escape to XK-Masada with Ollie North, Reagan, and other high-ranking US officials, or [[spoiler: is all of this just another iteration of their deaths being played out in the mindscape of Cthulhu, meaning that humanity is well and truly extinct]]?
**MindScrew: Are the characters from "Missile Gap" [[spoiler: from the same snapshot, or separated ones]]? Do they even happen in the same moment, or are separate by centuries? The descriptions make it intentionally vague, so any interpretation works within the context of the story. Add to that [[spoiler: the ants that are present in few various forms, too]], and you start to wonder if they are [[spoiler: alien species or something that evolved from snapshots of Earth where humans went extinct]]. By the final paragraph of the story there are more questions than there were at the beginning.
** Did the protagonist of "A Colder War" escape to XK-Masada with Ollie North, Reagan, and other high-ranking US officials, or [[spoiler: is all of this just another iteration of their deaths being played out in the mindscape of Cthulhu, meaning that humanity is well and truly extinct]]?
**
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Deleted line(s) 33,35 (click to see context) :
* CapturedSuperEntity:
** In "A Colder War", the Soviet Union does this to ''[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Cthulhu]]''. It doesn't end well. [[spoiler: As in the original "The Call of Cthulhu," the eponymous godlike superentity is not imprisoned by any means—only sleeping. When the Soviets get nervous about US activity and poke him hard enough to wake him up, they hope he'll obliterate NATO. Instead he consumes indiscriminately and walks west, murdering the world and bringing about arguably the darkest ending in the entire Mythos.]]
** Played straight in that the Soviets do have control over at least four shoggoths. Averted in that Saddam Hussein tries to summon and bind Yog-Sothoth to attack Iran. Doesn't end well for him or the Middle East in general.
** In "A Colder War", the Soviet Union does this to ''[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Cthulhu]]''. It doesn't end well. [[spoiler: As in the original "The Call of Cthulhu," the eponymous godlike superentity is not imprisoned by any means—only sleeping. When the Soviets get nervous about US activity and poke him hard enough to wake him up, they hope he'll obliterate NATO. Instead he consumes indiscriminately and walks west, murdering the world and bringing about arguably the darkest ending in the entire Mythos.]]
** Played straight in that the Soviets do have control over at least four shoggoths. Averted in that Saddam Hussein tries to summon and bind Yog-Sothoth to attack Iran. Doesn't end well for him or the Middle East in general.
Deleted line(s) 38,41 (click to see context) :
* DomedHometown: In the Franchise/CthulhuMythos AlternateHistory short story, "A Colder War", the last survivors of the human race eke out their existence in XK-Masada, a city on an alien planet built beneath a mile-high dome designed by Buckminster Fuller.
* FateWorseThanDeath: In "A Colder War", [[spoiler:everybody the eater of souls devours is ''still conscious''. In its own words:]]
-->[[spoiler:"There is life eternal within the eater of souls. Nobody is ever forgotten or allowed to rest in peace. They populate the simulation spaces of its mind, exploring all the possible alternative endings to their life. There ''is'' a fate worse than death, you know.'']]
* GhostPlanet: The DownerEnding of "A Colder War" involves the remnants of humanity eking out an existence in the DomedCity XK-Masada, entered through a CoolGate to a planet nearing the end of its tectonic life with the ruins of a long-disappeared civilization. The RuleOfSymbolism is obvious to everyone. EarthThatWas has long since become this trope once the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Eater of Souls]] consumed everyone there.
* FateWorseThanDeath: In "A Colder War", [[spoiler:everybody the eater of souls devours is ''still conscious''. In its own words:]]
-->[[spoiler:"There is life eternal within the eater of souls. Nobody is ever forgotten or allowed to rest in peace. They populate the simulation spaces of its mind, exploring all the possible alternative endings to their life. There ''is'' a fate worse than death, you know.'']]
* GhostPlanet: The DownerEnding of "A Colder War" involves the remnants of humanity eking out an existence in the DomedCity XK-Masada, entered through a CoolGate to a planet nearing the end of its tectonic life with the ruins of a long-disappeared civilization. The RuleOfSymbolism is obvious to everyone. EarthThatWas has long since become this trope once the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Eater of Souls]] consumed everyone there.
Changed line(s) 44 (click to see context) from:
* InsectoidAliens: Some of the alien species present on the disc are insectoid, varying in size and degree of anthropomorphism, and live in hive-based caste systems. The ending states that [[spoiler:these species make up the majority of life there, and that they -- not humanity -- will inherit the future]].
to:
* InsectoidAliens: Some of the alien species present on the disc in "Missile Gap" are insectoid, varying in size and degree of anthropomorphism, and live in hive-based caste systems. The ending states that [[spoiler:these species make up the majority of life there, and that they -- not humanity -- will inherit the future]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 6,7 (click to see context) from:
Charles David George Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British SpeculativeFiction author with a bent for PostCyberpunk work dealing with [[{{Transhuman}} posthumanism]] and TheSingularity, but who also has a vast array of other fiction out there. Early in his career, he invented several iconic ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' monsters, including the Death Knight, githyanki and githzerai, and slaadi. He's also [[http://www.lspace.org/fandom/afp/timelines/afp-timeline.html on record]] as being responsible for bringing FootnoteFever to [[Website/{{Usenet}} alt.fan]].[[Creator/TerryPratchett pratchett]].
to:
Charles David George Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British SpeculativeFiction author with a bent for PostCyberpunk work dealing with [[{{Transhuman}} posthumanism]] and TheSingularity, but who also has a vast array of other fiction out there. Early in his career, he invented several iconic ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' monsters, including the Death Knight, githyanki and githzerai, and slaadi. He's also [[http://www.lspace.org/fandom/afp/timelines/afp-timeline.html on record]] as being responsible for bringing FootnoteFever to [[Website/{{Usenet}} the Creator/TerryPratchett fan group alt.fan]].[[Creator/TerryPratchett pratchett]].
fan.pratchett on UsefulNotes/{{Usenet}}.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 25,26 (click to see context) from:
* "Literature/AColderWar" ([[http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm link]]): A {{novella}} combining the RedScare with the Franchise/CthulhuMythos with terrifying results.
* "Literature/MissileGap" ([[https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/spring_2007/fiction_missile_gap_by_charles_stross link]]): A {{novella}} combining the Cold War and the late Space Age with science and a bit of the fantastic. To say too much about the plot would be to give it away.
* "Literature/MissileGap" ([[https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/spring_2007/fiction_missile_gap_by_charles_stross link]]): A {{novella}} combining the Cold War and the late Space Age with science and a bit of the fantastic. To say too much about the plot would be to give it away.
to:
* "Literature/AColderWar" ''Literature/AColderWar'' ([[http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm link]]): A {{novella}} combining the RedScare with the Franchise/CthulhuMythos with terrifying results.
*"Literature/MissileGap" ''Literature/MissileGap'' ([[https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/spring_2007/fiction_missile_gap_by_charles_stross link]]): A {{novella}} combining the Cold War and the late Space Age with science and a bit of the fantastic. To say too much about the plot would be to give it away.
*
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 6,7 (click to see context) from:
Charles David George Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British SpeculativeFiction author with a bent for PostCyberpunk work dealing with [[{{Transhuman}} posthumanism]] and TheSingularity, but who also has a vast array of other fiction out there. Early in his career, he invented several iconic TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons monsters, including the Death Knight, githyanki and githzerai, and slaadi. He's also [[http://www.lspace.org/fandom/afp/timelines/afp-timeline.html on record]] as being responsible for bringing FootnoteFever to [[Website/{{Usenet}} alt.fan]].[[Creator/TerryPratchett pratchett]].
to:
Charles David George Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British SpeculativeFiction author with a bent for PostCyberpunk work dealing with [[{{Transhuman}} posthumanism]] and TheSingularity, but who also has a vast array of other fiction out there. Early in his career, he invented several iconic TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' monsters, including the Death Knight, githyanki and githzerai, and slaadi. He's also [[http://www.lspace.org/fandom/afp/timelines/afp-timeline.html on record]] as being responsible for bringing FootnoteFever to [[Website/{{Usenet}} alt.fan]].[[Creator/TerryPratchett pratchett]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 41 (click to see context) from:
* GhostWorld: The DownerEnding of "A Colder War" involves the remnants of humanity eking out an existence in the DomedCity XK-Masada, entered through a CoolGate to a planet nearing the end of its tectonic life with the ruins of a long-disappeared civilization. The RuleOfSymbolism is obvious to everyone. EarthThatWas has long since become this trope once the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Eater of Souls]] consumed everyone there.
to:
* GhostWorld: GhostPlanet: The DownerEnding of "A Colder War" involves the remnants of humanity eking out an existence in the DomedCity XK-Masada, entered through a CoolGate to a planet nearing the end of its tectonic life with the ruins of a long-disappeared civilization. The RuleOfSymbolism is obvious to everyone. EarthThatWas has long since become this trope once the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Eater of Souls]] consumed everyone there.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 3 (click to see context) from:
->''"Manfred's on the road again, making strangers rich."''\\
to:
->''"Manfred's on the road again, making strangers rich."''\\"''
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 3,5 (click to see context) from:
-->''"Manfred's on the road again, making strangers rich."''\\
-- ''[[http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelerando/accelerando-intro.html Accelerando]]''
-- ''[[http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelerando/accelerando-intro.html Accelerando]]''
to:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Literature/TheNewManagement'' series: Set in the same world as ''The Laundry Files'', but a year or so after the last of those stories. Two siblings with a complicated past and a motley crew of transhumans band together to survive in a [[TheUnmasquedWorld radically changed]] England.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 31 (click to see context) from:
* BigDumbObject: "Missile Gap" takes place on an artificial disc with a radius two and half times greater than the distance between the Earth and the Sun, large enough to contain scale copies of every habitable world in the Milky Way, which the Earth and its inhabitants were mysteriously transported to. The immensity of this new world, the time needed to explore even a tiny fraction of it, and the looming eventuality of encountering other stranded civilizations or, worse, the aliens who built it, are major themes in the first part of the story.
to:
* BigDumbObject: "Missile Gap" takes place on an artificial disc with a radius two and half times greater than the distance between the Earth and the Sun, large enough to contain scale copies of every habitable world in the Milky Way, which the Earth and its inhabitants were mysteriously transported to. The immensity of this new world, the time needed to explore even a tiny fraction of it, and the looming eventuality of encountering other stranded civilizations or, worse, the aliens who built it, are major themes in the first part of the story.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 48 (click to see context) from:
* SufficentlyAdvancedAliens: The civilization that built the disc in "Missile Gap" was capable of, as several characters put it, peel the Earth like a grape, take its surface and denizens outside the galaxy, and plate them on the surface of a construct that modern physics says cannot physically exist without anybody noticing. Whatever these entities may be, they operate entirely outside of human comprehension, and probably have as much in common with humanity as humanity does with termites.
to:
* SufficentlyAdvancedAliens: SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: The civilization that built the disc in "Missile Gap" was capable of, as several characters put it, peel the Earth like a grape, take its surface and denizens outside the galaxy, and plate them on the surface of a construct that modern physics says cannot physically exist without anybody noticing. Whatever these entities may be, they operate entirely outside of human comprehension, and probably have as much in common with humanity as humanity does with termites.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* AlienSky: In "Missile Gap", as the disk is an artificial construct outside of any solar system, it lacks the traditional celestial objects of Earth -- and indeed, the altered sky was the first thing to tip people off to the fact that something was wrong. By day, instead of a sun, the sky is lit by an incandescent jet projected from the star in its center, which some people have taken to calling the axle of heaven. By night, no moon is present, but the nearby star Lucifer shines brightly enough to provide considerable illumination and, since the disc lies within the Greater Magellanic Cloud, the aged, reddened swirl of the Milky Way features prominently in the heavens.
* BigDumbObject: "Missile Gap" takes place on an artificial disc with a radius two and half times greater than the distance between the Earth and the Sun, large enough to contain scale copies of every habitable world in the Milky Way, which the Earth and its inhabitants were mysteriously transported to. The immensity of this new world, the time needed to explore even a tiny fraction of it, and the looming eventuality of encountering other stranded civilizations or, worse, the aliens who built it, are major themes in the first part of the story.
Changed line(s) 31 (click to see context) from:
** In "A Colder War", the Soviet Union does this to friggin' ''[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Cthulhu]]''. It doesn't end well. [[spoiler: As in the original "The Call of Cthulhu," the eponymous godlike superentity is not imprisoned by any means—only sleeping. When the Soviets get nervous about US activity and poke him hard enough to wake him up, they hope he'll obliterate NATO. Instead he consumes indiscriminately and walks west, murdering the world and bringing about arguably the darkest ending in the entire Mythos.]]
to:
** In "A Colder War", the Soviet Union does this to friggin' ''[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Cthulhu]]''. It doesn't end well. [[spoiler: As in the original "The Call of Cthulhu," the eponymous godlike superentity is not imprisoned by any means—only sleeping. When the Soviets get nervous about US activity and poke him hard enough to wake him up, they hope he'll obliterate NATO. Instead he consumes indiscriminately and walks west, murdering the world and bringing about arguably the darkest ending in the entire Mythos.]]
* CosmicHorrorStory: "Missile Gap" begins with humanity findings itself on a colossal, extragalactic construct after being somehow moved there by an unknowable civilization, engendering a good deal of dread about why this happened and what these entities are trying to achieve with it. The ending answers some of these questions, [[spoiler:in ways that mostly just make humanity's place in creation even more unsettling]].
Changed line(s) 37 (click to see context) from:
* GhostWorld: The DownerEnding involves the remnants of humanity eking out an existence in the DomedCity XK-Masada, entered through a CoolGate to a planet nearing the end of its tectonic life with the ruins of a long-disappeared civilization. The RuleOfSymbolism is obvious to everyone. EarthThatWas has long since become this trope once the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Eater of Souls]] consumed everyone there.
to:
* GhostWorld: The DownerEnding of "A Colder War" involves the remnants of humanity eking out an existence in the DomedCity XK-Masada, entered through a CoolGate to a planet nearing the end of its tectonic life with the ruins of a long-disappeared civilization. The RuleOfSymbolism is obvious to everyone. EarthThatWas has long since become this trope once the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Eater of Souls]] consumed everyone there.there.
* HereThereBeDragons: In "Missile Gap", a passage describing a survey expedition still sketching out tentative and mostly empty maps mentions someone having scribbled in a dragon coiling in a particularly empty stretch of void.
* HiveMind: The ending to "Missile Gap" reveals that [[spoiler:hive-minded civilizations are ultimately the more successful ones, outcompeting individualistic species, and that the future while eventually be dominated by a galaxy-spanning collective consciousness descended from such beings]].
* InsectoidAliens: Some of the alien species present on the disc are insectoid, varying in size and degree of anthropomorphism, and live in hive-based caste systems. The ending states that [[spoiler:these species make up the majority of life there, and that they -- not humanity -- will inherit the future]].
* HereThereBeDragons: In "Missile Gap", a passage describing a survey expedition still sketching out tentative and mostly empty maps mentions someone having scribbled in a dragon coiling in a particularly empty stretch of void.
* HiveMind: The ending to "Missile Gap" reveals that [[spoiler:hive-minded civilizations are ultimately the more successful ones, outcompeting individualistic species, and that the future while eventually be dominated by a galaxy-spanning collective consciousness descended from such beings]].
* InsectoidAliens: Some of the alien species present on the disc are insectoid, varying in size and degree of anthropomorphism, and live in hive-based caste systems. The ending states that [[spoiler:these species make up the majority of life there, and that they -- not humanity -- will inherit the future]].
Added DiffLines:
* RuinsOfTheModernAge: In "Missile Gap", one of the first signs that something is terribly wrong is when [[spoiler:a Soviet exploration team, while surveying a continent one hundred and forty thousand miles from Earth, find the thousands-years-old ruins of perfect copies of American cities]].
* SufficentlyAdvancedAliens: The civilization that built the disc in "Missile Gap" was capable of, as several characters put it, peel the Earth like a grape, take its surface and denizens outside the galaxy, and plate them on the surface of a construct that modern physics says cannot physically exist without anybody noticing. Whatever these entities may be, they operate entirely outside of human comprehension, and probably have as much in common with humanity as humanity does with termites.
* WorldShapes: "Missile Gap" is set on an immense flat disc as wide as a solar system, with a hole in the middle like a music record where a star is held to provide illumination through periodic flares. Whole continents and worlds are scattered on its surface like so many archipelagos, divided by immense oceans dotted with cooling fins as tall as Mount Everest.
* SufficentlyAdvancedAliens: The civilization that built the disc in "Missile Gap" was capable of, as several characters put it, peel the Earth like a grape, take its surface and denizens outside the galaxy, and plate them on the surface of a construct that modern physics says cannot physically exist without anybody noticing. Whatever these entities may be, they operate entirely outside of human comprehension, and probably have as much in common with humanity as humanity does with termites.
* WorldShapes: "Missile Gap" is set on an immense flat disc as wide as a solar system, with a hole in the middle like a music record where a star is held to provide illumination through periodic flares. Whole continents and worlds are scattered on its surface like so many archipelagos, divided by immense oceans dotted with cooling fins as tall as Mount Everest.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 11 (click to see context) from:
* ''Literature/TheEschatonSeries'': A far-future series featuring UN weapons inspector Rachel Mansour and Martin Springfield, set in a universe where a [[AGodAmI godlike AI]] called the "Eschaton" has spread humanity across the stars.
to:
* ''Literature/TheEschatonSeries'': A far-future series featuring UN weapons inspector Rachel Mansour and Martin Springfield, set in a universe where a [[AGodAmI [[DeusEstMachina godlike AI]] called the "Eschaton" has spread humanity across the stars.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Changed line(s) 24,25 (click to see context) from:
* "[[http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm A Colder War]]", a novella combining the RedScare with the Franchise/CthulhuMythos with terrifying results.
* "[[https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/spring_2007/fiction_missile_gap_by_charles_stross Missile Gap]]", a novella combining the Cold War and the late Space Age with science and a bit of the fantastic. To say too much about the plot would be to give it away.
* "[[https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/spring_2007/fiction_missile_gap_by_charles_stross Missile Gap]]", a novella combining the Cold War and the late Space Age with science and a bit of the fantastic. To say too much about the plot would be to give it away.
to:
* "[[http://www."Literature/AColderWar" ([[http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm link]]): A Colder War]]", a novella {{novella}} combining the RedScare with the Franchise/CthulhuMythos with terrifying results.
*"[[https://subterraneanpress."Literature/MissileGap" ([[https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/spring_2007/fiction_missile_gap_by_charles_stross Missile Gap]]", a novella link]]): A {{novella}} combining the Cold War and the late Space Age with science and a bit of the fantastic. To say too much about the plot would be to give it away.
*
Added DiffLines:
* GhostWorld: The DownerEnding involves the remnants of humanity eking out an existence in the DomedCity XK-Masada, entered through a CoolGate to a planet nearing the end of its tectonic life with the ruins of a long-disappeared civilization. The RuleOfSymbolism is obvious to everyone. EarthThatWas has long since become this trope once the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Eater of Souls]] consumed everyone there.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Trunk and Disorderly link fix
Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
* AntiquatedLinguistics: The story "[[http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/winter-2008/audio-trunk-and-disorderly-by-charles-stross/ Trunk and Disorderly]]" is set in Modern Times (centuries after the near-collapse of the human race) but is written in the barbaric yet spiffing idiom natural to the early 20th Century master Creator/PGWodehouse; enough to drive a cove near to distraction, as Uncle Philpott once remarked. (Additionally, there exists a Dalek.)
to:
* AntiquatedLinguistics: The story "[[http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/winter-2008/audio-trunk-and-disorderly-by-charles-stross/ "[[https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/winter_2008/audio_trunk_and_disorderly_by_charles_stross/ Trunk and Disorderly]]" is set in Modern Times (centuries after the near-collapse of the human race) but is written in the barbaric yet spiffing idiom natural to the early 20th Century master Creator/PGWodehouse; enough to drive a cove near to distraction, as Uncle Philpott once remarked. (Additionally, there exists a Dalek.)
