A Conventional Boy

Laundry Files, Book 13

By: Charles Stross

Narrated by: Gideon Emery

In this new Laundry Files adventure the fate of the world will literally depend on the roll of dice ... twenty-sided dice, that is.

In 1984, Derek Reilly was just another spotty teenage dungeon master growing up in middle England. But then a secret government agency tasked with suppressing magical intrusions received a tip-off—and one midnight raid later, his life was turned upside down by the Satanic D&D Panic.

Decades later Derek, now middle-aged and institutionalized, is a long-term inmate at Camp Sunshine, a center for deprogramming captured Elder God cultists. He’s considered safe enough to edit the camp newsletter, and he even has postal privileges—which he uses to run a play-by-mail game. After 25 years, Derek finally has reason to escape: a nearby D&D convention. While Derek’s D&D games were full of fictional elder gods and world-ending threats, a LARP game at the con is a dread ritual designed to summon a great evil into our world, and it’s up to Derek and his players to stop them.

The fate of the world may depend on the contents of Derek’s magic dice bag.

©2024 Charles Stross (P)2025 Recorded Books

loved the introspective talk of sources and inspiration at the end!

book was solid, but honestly the candid talk of matters at the end was probably my favorite of the book

But what if D&D was a path to dark magic?

Another banger by Mr. Stross. Our protagonist was a humble teen wrongly, yet also not, imprisoned for the crime of loving AD&D. Only drawback to this book is not a single mention of THAC0.

D&D taken to the cleaners (the laundry)

Charles Stross’s A Conventional Boy is the latest installment in his hugely successful Laundry series. This volume focuses on Derek who was picked up by a sweep when he was a teenage dungeon mas-ter in the early years of D&D when anything remotely occult was suspicious. Derek was shipped off the Camp Sunshine and forgotten. He is now an adult but still maintains a D&D game by mail. He escapes the camp to attend a D&D convention. At the convention, dark forces are afoot masquerading as just another D&D game.

Stross as usual is poking fun of many aspects of modern life. In this case, he jumps headlong into the world of fantasy gaming. At the same time, the juvenile penal system receives some attention. Finally, the convention itself becomes a source of barbs and humor.

The narration is excellent with good character distinction. Pacing is smooth.

a return to greatness

After somewhat dishonestly inserting a sequel trilogy into the Laundry Files series as if they were a continuation, a trilogy that read more like a checklist of twitter virtue signals than any kind of coherent story, Stross has finally logged off and gotten back to writing the kind of engaging and enjoyable work that he's always been capable of, bringing us a well written and likable character with a personality instead of just a thin identity. The story firmly belongs in the laundry files universe and gives us a protagonist that is both out of his depth and supremely competent in his wheelhouse. On top of that we get two Bob stories and appearances from Angleton. If you enjoyed the pre-twitter era of Stross this is a good place to jump back on.

Excellent fantasy story. Another one I would never pick for myself but enjoyed the entire story.

Excellent fantasy story. Another one I would never pick for myself but enjoyed the entire story.