Hi fellow denizens,

"A Conventional Boy" is the first optimistic story I have read in the Laundry Files. It is the first story in the Volume of the same name.
The Boy is Derek Rielly who has been imprisoned since he
was 14 in Sunshine Camp which is about 40 years away from
society. The Laundry thought he was summing demons and
other aspects of the Eldritch when he was only running a Dungeon
and Dragons game for 3 friends. They were all taken into but
because of his high thaumaturgic index they decided to keep
Derek in Camp Sunshine which is warded in a bubble of an alternate
Universe. The others got new id. because a boating accident had
been arranged to account for their disappearances. Derek has
been a trustee working at producing newsletters for the morale of
Camp Sunshine(where it is generally raining). He learns that the
buildings of Sunshine are to be torn down and that he and other
trustees will be accommodate nearby while others will be shipped
to other location and also that there will be a gamers convention
not too far away... He already has a perfect escape plan and it
works. Also he has learned that the threats the Laundry protects
from are real from the initiates of various cults, like the Cult
of the Black Pharaoh or the Eater of Souls or the Mute Poet who
sits at the knee of the Smoking Mirror...
Advise reading ASAP!

It is a slim volume with a additional story in first person
from Bob Howard. the protagonist of so-many Laundry Files stories and
books. Mr.Kringle from forecasting has told the Christmas Eve staff that
this will be the last Christmas Party the Laundry will ever host.
Will they be forced to non-organized religion or ???

This volume of two stories and a lot of afterword which I have
yet to peruse is from Tor Publishing 211 pages ? in 2024 at $28.99 US.
and <https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250357847/aconventionalboy/>

bliss


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.6
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 1/28/26 22:25, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

Hi fellow denizens,

ÿÿÿÿ"A Conventional Boy" is the first optimistic story I have read in the Laundry Files. It is the first story in the Volume of the same name.
ÿÿÿÿThe Boy is Derek Rielly who has been imprisoned since he
was 14 in Sunshine Camp which is about 40 years away from
society.ÿ The Laundry thought he was summing demons and
other aspects of the Eldritch when he was only running a Dungeon
and Dragons game for 3 friends.ÿ They were all taken into but
because of his high thaumaturgic index they decided to keep
Derek in Camp Sunshine which is warded in a bubble of an alternate
Universe.ÿ The others got new id. because a boating accident had
been arranged to account for their disappearances.ÿ Derek has
been a trustee working at producing newsletters for the morale of
Camp Sunshine(where it is generally raining). He learns that the
buildings of Sunshine are to be torn down and that he and other
trustees will be accommodate nearby while others will be shipped
to other location and also that there will be a gamers convention
not too far away... He already has a perfect escape plan and it
works.ÿ Also he has learned that the threats the Laundry protects
from are real from the initiates of various cults, like the Cult
of the Black Pharaoh or the Eater of Souls or the Mute Poet who
sits at the knee of the Smoking Mirror...
ÿÿÿÿAdvise reading ASAP!

ÿÿÿÿÿ It is a slim volume with a additional story in first person
from Bob Howard. the protagonist of so-many Laundry Files stories and
books.ÿ Mr.Kringle from forecasting has told the Christmas Eve staff that this will be the last Christmas Party the Laundry will ever host.
ÿÿÿÿWill they be forced to non-organized religion or ???

Well the prediction is a red herring but Bob saves the day.

ÿÿÿÿThis volume of two stories and a lot of afterword which I have
yet to peruse is from Tor Publishing 211 pages ? in 2024 at $28.99 US.
and <https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250357847/aconventionalboy/>

There is a second Bob Howard story included and is is titled Down on the Farm
about Bob's visit to St.Hilda's Lunatical Asylum where the people driven
mad or somewhat mad by their work in the Laundry are held.

The Afterword is quite readable. It discusses Dungeons and Dragons
and the ridiculous outcry that was made over the young people playing this
game back in the day, witch-hunters and other madness.

Altogether and despite what we know happens to the Laundry universe it is
quite an optimistic collection.

bliss

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.6
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 09:24:53 -0800, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:

On 1/28/26 22:25, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

<snippo>

The Afterword is quite readable. It discusses Dungeons and Dragons
and the ridiculous outcry that was made over the young people playing

this

game back in the day, witch-hunters and other madness.

You have to understand this as part of the Blame Game: that is, an
attempt to answer the question "why are our kids not learning?" that
doesn't blame any adults. It is very important that no adults be
blamed, for then the problem might be fixed, and where's the fun in
that?

In my experience, the first stage was /comic books/: kids weren't
learning because they were reading /comic books/ instead of real
books.

Of course, I believe I have references to an earlier time when the
problem was SF. This is why the earlier forms of SF were aimed at
teenage boys and focused on the science and technology [1]: this was
to make them /educational/ and so /ok to read/.

[1] Did anyone else notice that, at the end of one of the Lensmen
books, the boy is advised by a senior to marry the girl and the next
book starts with them being married long enough to have children (and
not, IIRC, infants either) with /no clue whatsoever where the babies
came from being provided/? This is the sort of thing that the later
sex-laded stories were reacting against.

But then D&D (and similar games, but D&D was the best known and so
most cited) arrived, became popular, and suddenly the kids weren't
learning because they were not reading at all but playing a fantasy
game. A fantasy game some parents objected to because of the witches
and demons and so on. I don't know which they liked less: that the witches/demons were being /introduced/ to their kids, or that they
were being treated as /imaginary fantasy characters/ while the parents preferred to treat them as possibly real.

Since then, of course, we have had /1st-person shooters/, alleged to
be responsible for every mass shooting done by a kid. Or young adult.
Other factors, such as the level of abuse and hatred in public
expression or the various economic problems, some with a very long
history, are, of course, of no importance. "Pay no attention to the
man behind the curtain".

I honestly don't know the entire history of this nonsense or what is
currently being blamed -- but, whatever it is, I am sure that it has
absolutely no relation to what is really responsible. Which we must
not investigate because it might turn out that the man behind the
curtain is the very adults trying to blame something -- anything --
else.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.8
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Well you should really read the afterword which is not
focused on school performance but on confabulations of
recovered memory forcusing on alleged witchcraft imposed
on pre-schoolers. This transferred to the college students
who were using the steam tunnels to play a sort of Dungeons
and Dragons.
As for school performance:
I blame the parents who were not so bright and who
considered that their school days were harmed by homework.
I had lots of homework in the 1950s. I did it even though I
was absorbed by my extra-curricular reading to a severe degree.
I did not like it but I considered it neccesary to the schooling
I was recieving. I was in a parochial High School (RC) and definitely
reading stuff on the Index. Stuff lIke the works of James Branch
Cabell and other fantasy books. I read all the SF magazines in
available on my allowance and in Sacramento, CA. I incessantly
shopped for the latest issues. I bought old pulps and the copyright
breaking LOTR releases.

But I still blame the classmates who did not understand the
neccesity of homework who softened the curriculum for their kids.

More below;

On 1/30/26 09:41, Paul S Person wrote:

On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 09:24:53 -0800, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:

On 1/28/26 22:25, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

<snippo>

The Afterword is quite readable. It discusses Dungeons and Dragons
and the ridiculous outcry that was made over the young people playing this >> game back in the day, witch-hunters and other madness.

You have to understand this as part of the Blame Game: that is, an
attempt to answer the question "why are our kids not learning?" that
doesn't blame any adults. It is very important that no adults be
blamed, for then the problem might be fixed, and where's the fun in
that?

In my experience, the first stage was /comic books/: kids weren't
learning because they were reading /comic books/ instead of real
books.

Of course, I believe I have references to an earlier time when the
problem was SF. This is why the earlier forms of SF were aimed at
teenage boys and focused on the science and technology [1]: this was
to make them /educational/ and so /ok to read/.

[1] Did anyone else notice that, at the end of one of the Lensmen
books, the boy is advised by a senior to marry the girl and the next
book starts with them being married long enough to have children (and
not, IIRC, infants either) with /no clue whatsoever where the babies
came from being provided/? This is the sort of thing that the later
sex-laded stories were reacting against.

But then D&D (and similar games, but D&D was the best known and so
most cited) arrived, became popular, and suddenly the kids weren't
learning because they were not reading at all but playing a fantasy
game. A fantasy game some parents objected to because of the witches
and demons and so on. I don't know which they liked less: that the witches/demons were being /introduced/ to their kids, or that they
were being treated as /imaginary fantasy characters/ while the parents preferred to treat them as possibly real.

Since then, of course, we have had /1st-person shooters/, alleged to
be responsible for every mass shooting done by a kid. Or young adult.
Other factors, such as the level of abuse and hatred in public
expression or the various economic problems, some with a very long
history, are, of course, of no importance. "Pay no attention to the
man behind the curtain".

I honestly don't know the entire history of this nonsense or what is currently being blamed -- but, whatever it is, I am sure that it has absolutely no relation to what is really responsible. Which we must
not investigate because it might turn out that the man behind the
curtain is the very adults trying to blame something -- anything --
else.

Have a good day Paul. Remember that in the earlier days the cirriculum even in country schools was much tougher which is why my mom born in
1916 could help me with my 1950s homework. And remember even Batman
was shaped by mothers who thought a two gun Batman would give their
kids bad ideas.

bliss


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.8
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)