MINERVA - read-only archives

You need to let your nostrils flare a bit more. And turn your head slightly to the side while you're looking at someone, with an arrogant frown. Going "hmph!" as you do so is allowed if you're not already talking, but that might be overdoing it in some circumstances, you'll get pompous points docked for that.

Bear in mind, however.

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Just finished JENNIFER MORGUE by Charles Stross, which I enjoyed hugely, (but then I've enjoyed all of his other books too). Highly recommended to everyone else who likes a blend of eldrich Lovecraftian horrors, industrial strength nerdism and light espionage.
The basic plot is that magic exists, abit, as a function of fractal multidimensional giggerypookery, and that solving the wrong high level equations will end up with your brain being eaten by something squamous from the nth dimension, but it's ok because the government have a department specially to cover it all up. Unfortunately it's still part of the civil service so they still need to get a form signed in triplicate just to get some more paper clips.

Anyway, should appeal to those of you with a warped sense of humour and a love of obscure references, of which there's a few round about here. Oh, and don't start with JENNIFER MORGUE, start with The Atrocity Archives, it's make (slightly) more sense.

Now you know what would be very pompous? Bragging about reading every official training guide for Maya 7. Thankfully I haven't done that, so I'll just be all pompous about not being able to stomach the first two pages of "Empire" simply because it was that bad. Seriously, read it yourself. It's agonizing.