Books: The Jennifer Morgue (The Laundry Files #2) By Charles Stross (2010)

“In 1975, the CIA used Howard Hughes's Glomar Explorer in a bungled attempt to raise a sunken Soviet submarine in order to access the "Gravedust" unit, an occult device that allows communication with the dead. Now a ruthless billionaire intends to try again, even if by doing so he awakens the Great Old Ones, who thwarted the earlier expedition. It's up to Bob Howard and a collection of British eccentrics even Monty Python would consider odd to stop the bad guy and save the world, while getting receipts for all expenditures or else face the most dreaded menace of all: the Laundry's own auditors. Howard is sent abroad with Ramona Random, an operative of the Black Chamber and a member of BLUE HADES, to defeat Ellis Billington's plan to steal and use the Gravedust unit on DEEP SEVEN. BLUE HADES has an interest in preventing this. Ellis has relocated to the Caribbean island of Saint Martin and put it under an occult enchantment which ensures only people who fit a particular stereotype can enter the island safely.”

The Jennifer Morgue is the second collection of stories by Charles Stross featuring Bob Howard, containing the title novel, a short story called Pimpf, and an essay titled The Golden Age of Spying. And yes, as much as the first book played out like an old school spy novel, ala Len Dieghton, this one is a full blown homage to James Bond, with secret island bases, gadgets, monologue prone mad men out to remake the world and beautiful women.

And for those who want to keep with this series, the Black Chamber is an American cryptanalysis agency, which was officially disbanded in 1929, but then secretly re-tasked with occult intelligence duties sometime later. The Black Chamber is basically the US equivalent of The Laundry. "Black Chamber" itself is the designation the Laundry has given to the organization: its internal name is Operational Phenomenology Agency (OPA). Meanwhile, The Deep Ones is the code name for an ancient civilization living under the oceans. They are powerful but pose no immediate threat to the human population so long as humanity does not intrude on their territory, which is defined by a treaty. They have a long-standing issue with Deep Seven, are known as The Chthoians, a race of “polymorphous, occupy areas of the upper crust near the Polar Regions.”

Rooted in Lovecraftian overtones and Stross’ love for Ian Fleming’s James Bond, this book fits nicely into the same sort style that Tim Powers has done for decades. It’s not a diss, more to prove that writers can have similar themes and ideas and still present it in an entertaining fashion. And I adore Stross’ continued in-joke about how PowerPoint is really a tool of the occult.

Like the first book, I did not get every nerd reference in this book –especially the computer ones. I’m assuming Stross knows what he’s talking about, when he goes on describing things –if only because programmers who read his work will call him out on it. But it’s still a fun book with absurd ideas, snarky humor, and good pacing.