Well, another one for the impromptu
Dexter by
Jeff Lindsay reading club here. The library recently acquired 4 out of the 5 books in ePub editions, and I finished reading the last one I was waiting on hold for out of the lot.
Mostly, they compare quite well to the TV series, though there are some things I feel the show did better and vice versa. Also, the quality takes a decided dip with #3,
Dexter in the Dark, which I don't recommend spending money upon to read unless it's being offered dirt cheap, but rebounds and is back to form for #5,
Dexter is Delicious, which is nearly as good as #1,
Darkly Dreaming Dexter, and neatly picks up certain threads from that story, though it does leave a lot unresolved.
Also devoured
Charles Stross' Lovecraftian bureaucratic technogeek
Laundry adventure series, the first two novels, which I'd promised myself I'd buy for months now after reading the various short stories* and used the recent Kobo $3 off coupon to splurge upon.
Very enjoyable, and I realize now that I'm a sucker for stuff involving agents of paranormal investigation bureaus, like
The Middleman and
Bureau 13 (which is kind of like Laundry-lite and the tie-in books nice light comedic romps which I'd previously bought MultiFormat and cheap with coupon from Fictionwise). Possibly it's a residual X-Files effect, what with growing in proximity to the original shooting locations.
I'm pleased to say that two of the short stories were included as extras in the back of the novels, which also came with rather interesting essays by Stross on the similarities between Cold War spy thrillers and horror novels, as well as the Bond archetype.
Well worth my money, which I'm glad to have finally spent, though I'm going to wait until
The Fuller Memorandum goes to paperback release pricing and in the meanwhile put in a request at the library for their hardcover copy.
Also read Stross' decidedly bleaker story
A Colder War, which is a sort of precursor to the Laundry idea and shows the outcome of a US/USSR arms race involving a "shoggoth gap". Good and disturbing, offered free in his first collection
Toast, which is CC-licensed and in various e-book formats, or as an online read directly from
Infinity Plus.
*
Available to read online; “Overtime” is especially fitting holiday fare, what with this being the season of the “Filler of Stockings, Lurker in Fireplaces, The King in Red”. You'd better watch out...
