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Charlie Stross
@cstross@wandering.shop  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

#WritersCoffeeClub 18/10: Do you tend to incorporate supernatural elements in your work?

No, there are absolutely no supernatural elements in the Laundry Files whatsoever, just science we haven't fully explored yet but h̶̜̎ä̵̜̙̳̗̱̗͙͉̹́̈̎̑̾r̷̡̧͙̭̫͇̠̀k̵͍̺̳̜̠͑̍̂̏̋̀̆̉̈́͜ͅ ̴̧̗̩̫͖̹͍͕̎̓̐̆͝͝ͅḑ̶̞̻̣̝͐̿͐̋͗̐͒ô̶̖̦̙ ̴͇͍̟͉͉̰͖̂̀͐̉̀̽͠ẏ̴̪̾͑ö̷̩̮͚̣̮̪̦u̴̢̥̹͙̅͑̏̀̎͂̓̚ͅ ̵͇̮͆̉̿͂̋̑̇͛͆h̴̺͎̲̤̜͐̿͐́ḙ̸̢̪̰̼͒͒͑̓͝a̵̧̠̖̓͂̅̾͋̒̊̌ͅr̶̡̩̘̗̰̝̺͍̎͋̍͛ ̴̨̳̀͗͗̇̔̈͋̅͆ẗ̶̨̛͖̫̤̹́͐͝h̸̗͇̱̒̉͌̈̏͂͌͐e̴̮̹̋̇ ̶̣̄͒̅̀͘̕t̶͇̦͆͂̅̉̀̎̈ͅẹ̷͖̩̞͎̝̥̱̓̊̕r̵̢̝̻͕͕̰̺͉̽̅r̸͎̥̭̞̯̗̜̳̣͂̄̕̕͝i̸̺̺̗̫̿̿͊́b̷͙̲̗̜̩͚̉ļ̵͓͇̹̚̚͜e̴͔͊͒̀ ̸͉̙̩̫̇͑̈̄̈́̚͜͝p̵̥͎̹̣̱͇̘̻̪̓̊͗̊i̵̖̙͔̙͍̽p̴̨̮͍̥̻͈͚͉̌̔͆͌̋͠i̷̧̠̤̹̜͕̋̃́̂̓̾̔̚͝ñ̸̢̙͕̘̹̬͎͈͉͊̏̋͑̈́͝g̵͖̹͕̪̳̺͌ ̷̹͇̳̥̣̺̫̝͛̉̆͌͋̉̅ą̶̺͔̭͑̓͝ͅņ̵̛̯̖̙͆͌̄̍̌ͅd̵̺̗̯͕̗̖̣̊̒ͅ ̷̜̲̣̱̂̿͒̃͝ť̸͎̱̥͓̪̞̣͍̌̊̌̌͐̍ͅh̸̰̪̻̙̣̦̓̌̔̾̈̊́̕̚ȇ̷̡͙̖̜̳̋͠ ̷̙̦̻̱͗͗̀̋͂͗͛͘b̶͈̖̺͛̊̊̒̀͐̃̆͝ͅl̴̻͍̤͖̜̐̌̄͗̈̀͘͝ͅë̷̢͙̪̬̗͎́ä̵̢̧̼̺͈̖͓̞̹́͠t̵͇̗̙̉͘͝ ̵̧̢̢͓͍̺̮̖̃͒ơ̴̮̦̯̟̐͋͐̂̉́͂̾f̴̨̮̺͒̀͘ ̵̜͕͑̌̄a̸͕̜͙̪̋̔̏̃̉͠͝ç̴̲̥͕̟͛̀c̷̣̪̈́̽̃̂́̊̀͊ư̴̼̝̊̈͛̐̐̌͊r̷̞͐̾͐̓̍̄̓̍s̶͖͕̦̞̑̄̈́͛̈́́ͅę̵̛̞͉͋̓̒̆͂́̏̌ͅd̵͛̑̅̀̄ͅ ̶̤̜̗̭̺̦̥͔̥̾̄͘d̶͕̟̗̜̻͍̗͆͒̓̓r̴̞̯͒̆̐ữ̷͍͕̰̖̬͙͋̿͆́̕͠m̵̡͚̦͚̠͓̱̞̗̅̓͌͘s̷̢̛̪̗̱̟̥͒̔̆ ̴̨̰͎͌̅͋h̵͚́͝e̸͕͌͆̇̔̒̀̈́͂͝ ̶̧̛̔̓̽ī̸̡̺̹͕̪͙̼̹̑̃̓̍͛̄̋̊s̷͔̩̞͇̎̿ ̸̢͓̳̹̼̫̾̆̆̓͆ͅͅc̵͇͍̰͋̇ȍ̴̢̒̿̃̊̌̏m̶͍͋̅̾̈͋̈́̎ȉ̸̲̥̣͕͇̞͎̺̳̆͐͋n̸̖̤̝̝̤̲̦̣̬̎̓̋̆̽̓̑͝͝ǵ̷͔̟͇̫̣̦͓̊̃̊͜͜ ̶̭͕͓̣̲̹̮͎̐͋̔̇̿̏͘͝͠ḩ̵̘̭̪͚̣̠̩͔̆́̓͗̑͝ẽ̸͖́̏̑̇̄̕ ̴͍̝̼͙̮͛̑̊͑̋͌̀ī̵̼̥̬̦̃́̚ş̶̛̠͌̐̉ ̶̢͖̳̦̖̹͈̲̗̋͌c̶̺̣͖̳͔̖̆́͗̓̒͜ͅo̷͉̲̰͇̝͉͎̫͎̽̈̈͘ṃ̸͙̬̝̩͓͑͌i̶͖̳͈̚̚ͅn̶̗̒̉͊̂̔̿̔͒͠g̶͙̃̉̌̂̈́̐

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llewelly
@llewelly@sauropods.win replied  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago

@cstross science fiction: a hollow, washed up shell of a business, whose true objective is laundering the supernatural.

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Charlie Stross
@cstross@wandering.shop replied  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago

@llewelly Why did you immediately assume science fiction, rather than urban fantasy or comedy lovecraftiana or something else?

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llewelly
@llewelly@sauropods.win replied  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago

@cstross I needed a genre which (usually) filed off the serial numbers. Urban fantasy, in my opinion, doesn't even try to put a sticker over the serial numbers, so it wouldn't have worked with the joke. Comedy lovecraftiana, I didn't think of, despite the context.

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lp0 on fire :unverified:
@lp0_on_fire@social.linux.pizza replied  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

@cstross,
👁️👁️
🩸🩸
🩸🩸
🩸🩸
🩸🩸

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Turing Incomplete
@dawngreeter@dice.camp replied  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

@cstross Tony the pony is coming.

(Kisses to all the Stack Overflow frequenters from ages past that get the reference)

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Tony Fisk
@arfisk@aus.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

@cstross For some reason, this eldritchery reminds me of Greg Egan's 'Dark Integers' (a mathematician's vision of how another Universe could break into ours.)

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Liam Proven
@lproven@social.vivaldi.net replied  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

@cstross I blame Vietnamese. Not _the_ Vietnamese, whatever demented pan-nationalist thought officially adoping the French imperialist overlords' Latin alphabet with diacritics to an Austro-asiatic tonal language.

A trilingual friend of mine, who rejoiced in the name TNT -- really, straight up, Thien-ti or something like that, only probably with more diacritics -- learned I was a (VERY limited) polyglot who knew a few words of Mandarin. I had commented that Vietnamese looked VERY HARD and that stacking diacritics on top of other diacritics was NOT OK and something had gone very wrong somewhere. I mean where does it start? Do you process them top-to-bottom before doing other letters left to right? What is this, boustrophedon?

Setting aside the implementation details of, I don't know, pronounced a retroflex semi-vocalic on a rising-then-falling tone or something. I only have the one tongue and am sadly deficient in skeletal air-sacs.

No no, TNT insisted, it's easy and logical, and told me he'd explain the orthography.

Look, he said, there are just 5 tones. For example, *vaguely musical hooting noises*. Hang on, maybe 7. More hooting. No, nine. No, look, let me write some notes.

Half an hour and NINE PAGES of scribbled examples later, he conceded that actually, it WAS quite complicated.

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Chaucerburnt
@chaucerburnt@aus.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

@cstross The fact that I can read this without much difficulty says something about the human brain's image processing abilities!

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Khairul Hisham
@hishgraphics@dice.camp replied  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

@cstross When I grow up I want to be zalgo text.

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Anja
@Maristya@norden.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

@cstross this is awesome. How did you do this????

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