Escape from Yokai Land: A Laundry Files Novella

by Charles Stross

Overview

Regular readers of Charles Stross's Laundry Files might have noticed Bob Howard's absence from the events of The Nightmare Stacks, and his subsequent return from Tokyo at the start of The Delirium Brief.

Escape from Yokai Land explains what he was doing there.

Bob's been assigned to work with the Miyamoto Group, checking the wards that lock down Japan's warded sites—a task previously handled by his predecessor Dr. Angleton, the Eater of Souls. This mostly involves policing yokai: traditional magical beings, increasingly grown more annoying and energetic.

But then Bob's simple trip turns into a deadly confrontation with the ultimate yokai. It's massively powerful. It's pink. And it says "Hello."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250805706
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/01/2022
Series:	Laundry Files Series
Pages:	96
Sales rank:	297,280
Product dimensions:	6.34(w) x 8.13(h) x 0.52(d)

About the Author

CHARLES STROSS is a full-time science fiction writer and resident of Edinburgh, Scotland. He has won three Hugo Awards for Best Novella, including for the Laundry Files tale “Equoid.” His work has been translated into over twelve languages. His Laundry Files series includes the Locus Award finalist The Delirium Brief.

Like many writers, Stross has had a variety of careers, occupations, and job-shaped catastrophes, from pharmacist (he quit after the second police stakeout) to first code monkey on the team of a successful dot-com startup (with brilliant timing, he tried to change employers 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.

Editorial Reviews

06/07/2021

Ghostbusters meets H.P. Lovecraft—with some Japanese horror tropes and Hello Kitty kitsch thrown in—in Stross’s fun, bite-size 11th installment to his Laundry Files series (after Dead Lies Dreaming). In an alternate England where magic coexists with modern technology, Bob Howard is employed by the Laundry, a super-secret agency dedicated to stopping supernatural incursions from ruining the days of ordinary citizens. Over his protests, Bob is sent to Japan to keep minor demons called yokai in their place. Partnered with Dr. Yoko Suzuki of the Miyamoto Group, Bob gets a shock when he’s informed of the real reason he’s been brought to Japan: to confront an existential threat in the form of a hellmouth located beneath Puroland theme park, a “Disneyworld knock-off.” While staying mindful of all the innocent children visiting the park, Bob is forced to confront the ultimate horror—a terrifying version of the Princess Kitty cartoon character. With Yoko thrown into peril, can Bob save both her and the park before being destroyed himself? Once again, Stross exhibits a range of imagination that borders on the supernatural, using language to dizzying effect to create scientific rationales for otherworldly phenomena. This might be a minor addition to the Laundry Files canon, but the entertaining case and Bob’s sidesplitting asides make it a must for series fans. (July)

Publishers Weekly