THE DEEP ONES: "A Colder War" by Charles Stross

"A Colder War" by Charles Stross

Discussion begins June 20th.

First published in 2000 in Spectrum SF #3.



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New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird
The Book of Cthulhu
A Colder War
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighteenth Annual Collection

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http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm

MISCELLANY

http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Colder_War
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CharlesStross

I've read the first two volumes of Stross' Laundry stories (The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue), and this piece was a lot more somber than those. I'm puzzled by the reviews I've read that say that "A Colder War" could be in the narrative continuity of the Laundry; although they use some of the same elements, the conclusion of "A Colder War" seems to be in basic conflict with the 21st-century premises of the Laundry.

This story actually seemed to have a great deal more in common with the novel Declare by Tim Powers. In both stories, a key character -- not the protagonist -- is based on a factual intelligence scandal. Where Stross uses Oliver North, Powers has Kim Philby, the most notorious British-Soviet double agent of the Cold War.

I was glad to see that the online version preserved the typographical variation in the printed text.

I really liked this one. The era of the start of the Cold War up through Ray-gun's term is very successfully evoked. The Mythos fits right in, and it's fun to view real history through an HPL-filter (so that explains it - makes more sense, now!). I also enjoyed looking up all the military and biological/scientific terminology as I went, since that stuff was mostly based on fact.

>2 paradoxosalpha:

This is indeed a somber tale, isn't it? Very, very dark. Loved the idea of the squadron protecting the skies of a dead, alien world from... what? Lots of cool ideas here!

I'm not sure about the mood of the story, but I loved it. I read all but the ending as a Dr. Strangelove type satire, with a full complement of gallows humor and bitterness. The only thing I would have added is a reference to Ronnie's astrologer checking the alignment of Fomalhaut and the Hyades.

Then the ending! Either I missed the tone of the story or this was a major reveal or reversal. Stross goes all 'Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'entrate' here. There seemed to be a way for the characters to win, then there clearly was not.

> 4 The only thing I would have added is a reference to Ronnie's astrologer checking the alignment of Fomalhaut and the Hyades.

Right on!

There really was a serious pivot. Readers naturally think (I sure did!) that a story about the 1980s written in 2000 would have to lead to our 21st-century status quo. But there's space for us there, anyhow:

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.

Our timid new world of climate-change denial, entitlement liquidation, broken oceans, torture braggadocio, drone bombers, smarter phones and stupider humans is just being gamed out in the informational digestive tract of a godlike alien intelligence.

One thing I didn't quite get - what was the deal with the heroin?

I loved this line: "We have twelve PLUTO-class atomic-powered cruise missiles pointed at that thing, day and night, as many megatons as the entire Minuteman force. In principle, we will be able to blast it to pieces before it can be brought to full wakefulness and eat the minds of everyone within two hundred miles.''

Tongue-in-cheek, yet awe-inspiring! Strangeloveian, as Bertilak notes.

Hey, folks. Just wanted to let everybody know that I had a family emergencey this week & have been unable to get to the story yet. I am still planning on reading it and putting in my $.02 here once the dust settles a bit. :)

>6 gwendetenebre: Various conspiracy theories say that US Government clandestine projects were self-funded by sales of heroin.

>7 gwendetenebre: Yes, the Strangelove reference was explicit in the mention of the 'shoggoth gap', which was a 'mineshaft gap' in the movie.

> 6

what was the deal with the heroin

Stross has a brief blog post talking about the idea behind Colder War and the Laundry novels and their differences in tone at http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/01/the_lovecraftian_singularity... where he calls them Strangelovecraftian or Strangecraftian. I've only read the first of the Laundry novels but I have heard the later ones get more serious in tone.

>7 gwendetenebre: my favorite along those lines was
"That is minimally correct, sir, although countervailing weapons have been developed to reduce the risk of a unilateral preemption escalating to an exchange of weakly godlike agencies.''

>9 bertilak:,10

Knew about the heroin business; it just seemed like Stross was getting at some kind of Mythos connection. Supplying smack to shoggoths, perhaps.

>11 lucien:

” Weakly godlike agencies” just seems too realistic not to be real terminology. Great stuff!

>13 gwendetenebre: 'weakly godlike agencies' is real terminology of people who speculate about AIs and The Singularity. I haven't read Apocalyptic AI yet but I would expect to find a reference to it there. I love Stross's stories for just throwing this in and not explaining it.

As for The Singularity, how fascinating it is to see technonerds reinventing the archetype of The Rapture, except with a negative tone, since it is we who would be Left Behind by the godlike AIs.

>8 artturnerjr:

Art, hope all is ok at your end. Take your time - I'm going to re-read this one, myself.

>11 lucien:

Thanks for posting that link to "Dr. Strangecraft". An "open-source horror mythos", indeed! :D

I appreciate the comments Stross makes about horror and humor, and the idea of actually showing what happens after this Lovecraftian "singularity" is as risky as it is genius. Stross pretty much pulls it off, I think. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other stories that have really gone as this far. The singularity - if it even gets that far - usually happens the very end (often the last sentence) of your average Mythos tale. Sure, other worlds are glimpsed briefly or even explored (Kadath), but not what happens to our own after "the stars are aligned" and it's all over. Maybe Ligotti or someone else more contemporary did so. Can anyone think of any other examples?

> 16 Can anyone think of any other examples?

Indeed, there's a whole anthology committed to them. I've reviewed the book in question: Cthulhu's Reign.

> 17

An enticing volume and an excellent review. It's on my list- thanks!

This is one of the first two Stross stories I read (the other was "Antibodies"), and one of his best. He's absolutely brilliant at this sort of cold horror. He could have had an entire career doing only this, I suspect. The Atrocity Archives has an essay on the connections he sees between Lovecraftian fiction and the Cold War spy story; don't know if it's online, but it's well worth reading.

>19 dukedom_enough:

Based on previous recommendations here and then reading this story, I just ordered The Atrocity Archives. Also purchased the above-mentioned Cthulhu's Reign.

I really enjoyed this story, the key factor that really stood out for me in comparison to previous stories we've read and discussed here, is the 'passive' role of the 'end days'. What I mean is that the story focuses on Roger and his squatting in a government bunker as opposed to the chaos and destruction that was happening in the rest of the world. Usually, one would expect the author to approach this subject the other way around, sure focusing on a couple of survivors to humanize the war, but putting the reader smack dab in the thick of the Great Old Ones wiping out mankind. This approach is novel from a unique perspective, though I'm glad HPL's stories are more direct.

>15 gwendetenebre:

Thanks, Kenton. It's looking like things are going to be getting back to normal in a couple of weeks. In the interim, my activity in the WT is probably gonna be pretty limited. :(

Wow.

Second time I've read this story. The first time I read it I was just awed by the concept of an alternate history involving the Pabodie Expedition and the plot being a take-off on Iran-Contra.

This time I noticed even more cameos than the first time: Fawn Hall and K. Eric Drexler to be specific.

And I missed, the first time around, the Singularity-like personality simulations run in K-Tulu's mind and linking nanotechnology to the servitors.

I was so awed by all this that the bleakness of the end was kind of lost on me.

I haven't checked the dates, but I suspect this story formed the template for a whole bunch of Mythos stories including David Conyers Harrison Peel series and the Delta Green stuff -- though I haven't read the later.

And, yes, I agree with those who liked the realistically bureaucratic language. I hadn't thought of it, but it is Strangelovian.

And I loved those nuclear-powered bombers and how Stross rationalized the secret of Antarctica's real geography -- all the maps are censored by governments. It's very Lovecraftian, that touch. (Joshi has remarked on the strain of deliberate political and scientific censorship in Lovecraft.)

"I am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why." - silence and denial as the best defense.

> 23

I don't know Peel, but Stross has written (in the essay appended to The Atrocity Archives) that the Delta Green material was a parallel development, not derivative from his work. "When it's steam engine time, it's steam engines," to quote Charles Fort.

>Haven't gotten around to revealing the Peel collection The Spiraling Worm but I did review the novella "Eye of Infinity" for Innsmouth Free Press.

Like "A Colder War" it has intelligence installations spread across several worlds and dimensional gateways.

Okay. Finally got around to reading this one.

***

I have to say this is one of my favorites that we've discussed so far. The combination of the Cold War setting, alternate history touches, and giant tentatcled monsters gave the whole thing a Watchmenesque vibe that I found totally irresistible. The bleak and ambiguous ending was the icing on the cake.

The origin of "Koschei" (as in Project Koschei):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koschei

I love the line that comes after Professor Gould's inquiry about extraterrestrial life:

Roger shudders: idiot, he thinks, If you only knew you wouldn't be so happy.

Perfect. Grandpa would be proud.

Oh yeah - I feel the need to mention that throughout my reading I had that classic line from Public Enemy's "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" going through my head: Just like Oliver's neck/I had to break North 8)

Stross' afterword to "A Colder War" (from his short story collection Wireless):

http://books.google.com/books?id=ggpe3SNqWA8C&pg=PT109&lpg=PT109&dq=...

>17 paradoxosalpha:

That does indeed sound excellent. Going on my wish list as well. 8)

> 28

Thanks for the link!

>17 paradoxosalpha:

While Mythos anthologies are a dime-a-dozen, I'm finding Cthulhu's Reign to be a very diverting read. It's relentlessly bleak and depressing, but quite enjoyable nonetheless. Thanks for the recommendation!

> 31

"Bleak and depressing"? Whenever there's a terrible new sign of global collapse or societal disintegration, you can just think: "Could be worse. Could be Cthulhu!"

>32 paradoxosalpha:

Now that's the power of positive thinking! Of course, I meant bleak and depressing in a good way.

>31 gwendetenebre:

I so wanna see that as a blurb on the back of the book:

"Bleak and depressing!" - KentonSem, The Weird Tradition

:D

Didn't work for me -- a pity, as it's up my street , but the problem is I've read too much about black projects and military tech and a) he keeps slipping on details and b) he doesn't really reflect how crazy and incompetant that world is

Since last time this thread was updated, I have discovered that one can actually buy a plastic model of the Project Pluto concept bomber that Stross uses as XK-PLUTO. Kind of pricey - I'm sure not getting one - but cool.

> 35

Stross is somewhat better about the craziness and incompetence in his Laundry stories.

>35 wembley66: & 37

"Yes, there is a conspiracy, in fact there are a great number of conspiracies that are all tripping each other up. And all of those conspiracies are run by paranoid fantasists and ham-fisted clowns. If you are on a list targeted by the CIA, you really have nothing to worry about. If however, you have a name similar to somebody on a list targeted by the CIA, then you are dead." - Alan Moore

That is an impressive piece, well done on a number of levels. I liked the in jokes on both sides (80s conspiracy / politics and Yog-Sothery), such as the knowing use of accents by the old senator: Aye-ranian and foo-loo; the dropping of elder names into a speech on Iraqi politics, knowing full well the average reader wouldn't be able to distinguish them; the clever linkage between Antarctic expeditions, Nazi atrocity medicine, Soviet weapons of mass destruction.

Stross rises on my list of novels to try out.