• Rule 34 by Charles Stross

    From Bobbie Sellers@bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com to rec.arts.sf.written on Wed Sep 24 11:15:09 2025
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

    Hi fellow denizens of sf.written,

    I am sure I put up a post about a Stross book earlier but cannot find that post and its comments but someone mentioned Rule 34 and I realized
    I had not read that to the best of my recollection.

    So I did in the last couple of days and he manages to cram into
    one book, a police procedural set in an alternative present or future,
    the tale of an emergent AI consciousness which has one purpose to
    fight net crimes like Spam or identity theft as it does its best to take
    down the Operation a criminal network dealing in all sort of naughty.
    .
    Most of the humans involved which include police detectives, petty
    and a major criminal, a sociopath, set in an Edinburgh where wide
    surveilance
    by auto camers and drones is taken for granted and more.
    I liked it and Charles Stross whose Laundry Files stories were my
    major contact with his work did a great job.
    I like stories set in Edinburgh nearly as much as I like them set
    in San Francisco. Don't know why exactly but I do. The AI bent on
    law enforcement is a bonus despite its somewhat record of disposing
    of spammers that advertise for the Operation.

    bliss
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