Wireless

Wireless combines two things I love - short story collections, and the works of Charles Stross. It has some fantastic stories in it, including the first Stross story I ever read, A Colder War. This is an absolutely brilliant short story, setting the awakening of Cthulhu against the backdrop of the cold war.

The great thing about a science fiction short story is that it's the ideal vehicle for letting an author's imagination run wild. They don't have to ensure character development, or a satisfactory conclusion, or enough plot to sustain hundreds of pages entertainingly, so they're able to freely throw ideas around that might be problematic in a longer format.

Apart from A Colder War, the other standout stories in this collection were Missile Gap, another cold war/sci-fi crossover, and Palimpsest, a time-travel novel that gleefully stomps all over the Grandfather Paradox.

In summary, as always, Stross is a great read.