THE LAUNDRY
The Atrocity Archive
The Jennifer Morgue
The Fuller Memorandum
The Apocalypse Codex
The Rhesus Chart
The Annihilation Score
The Nightmare Stacks
STORY COLLECTIONS
Toast
Wireless
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHARLES STROSS is a full-time science fiction writer and resident of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the author of seven Hugo-nominated novels and winner of three Hugo Awards for best novella (including Equoid, published by Tor.com). Stross’s works have been translated into more than twelve languages. His most recent novel, Empire Games, was published by Tor in January 2017.
Like many writers, Stross has had a variety of careers, occupations, and job-shaped catastrophes in the past, from pharmacist (he quit after the second police stakeout) to first code monkey on the team of a successful dot-com start-up (with brilliant timing he tried to change employer just as the bubble burst). Along the way he collected degrees in pharmacy and computer science, making him the world’s first officially qualified cyberpunk writer.
You can visit his website at www.accelerando.org/ or follow him on Twitter at @cstross, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Part I: God Game Indigo
One: The Prodigal’s Return
Two: The Comstock Office is Closing
Three: God Game Indigo
Part II: Liquidation
Four: Termination
Five: Breakout
Six: Party Planners
Seven: Audition for Apocalypse
Eight: Betrayal
Nine: Indigo Hummingbird
Ten: A Very British Coup
Eleven: Night and Magic
Twelve: Epilogue: The Quisling Breed
Also by Charles Stross
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE DELIRIUM BRIEF
Copyright © 2017 by Charles Stross
All rights reserved.
Edited by Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Cover art and design by Peter Lutjen
A Tor.com Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-9466-8 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-9467-5 (ebook)
eISBN 9780765394675
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First Edition: July 2017
1 Her being a fellow employee is arguably my fault, but as there were tentacle monsters and terrorists involved she chose not to hold it against me.
2 Now a hole in the ground, soon to be a shiny new investment opportunity for offshore property speculators.
3 The Operational Phenomenology Agency, a secretive US government agency known to their friends as the Black Chamber and to everybody else as the Nazgûl.
4 Where correspondence addressed to “James Bond” will be responded to with a polite note that Mr. Bond is a fictional character and in any case would have retired long before his employers moved to these premises.
5 The alfär Host run on a hierarchical tree of geases—compulsions to obey—leashed to the All-Highest’s will. The artillery park outside the camp was there because if the All-Highest dies, the web of power collapses onto the head of the next highest in the hierarchy. We demanded that she bind Alex as her Second, and he’s one of ours, but if he dies as well … let’s just say alfär social hierarchy isn’t great at managing single points of failure.
6 As a result of prerogatives and exemptions written into laws dating back to 1377 and subsequently grandfathered into newer legislation, the Duke of Cornwall—in the person of the Crown Prince—has accidentally acquired the right to use atomic weapons without facing prosecution under the Nuclear Explosions (Prohibition and Inspections) Act (1998). Thereby promising a different and alarmingly unsatisfactory outcome in event of another civil war between Crown and Parliament.