Down on the Farm by Charles Stross

“Down on the Farm” is a 2008 science fiction novelette by Charles Stross. It is about a special agent who goes to a mental institution to investigate a strange plea for help.

Alan Turing Would Be Proud!

I recently graduated with a degree in Computer Science. One of my required courses was “Theory of Automata” and included such fun ideas as Finite State Machines and Turing Machines. Fascinating stuff to be sure, but students often complained that there was no practical application for these ideas. Well, I am happy to report that this story has the best practical use of a Turing Machine that I have ever seen! That may not be saying much, but the story sure is entertaining!

Non-spoiler Summary in a Nutshell

Bob Howard is a special agent for the “Laundry” – a secret UK agency that investigates (and experiments with) supernatural phenomenon. So when Bob is asked to look into a strange message from an associated mental institution of course he jumps at the chance. Ok, not really, but he does end up going to the “funny farm” after his superiors give him lots of useful hints and warnings. He quickly discovers that this is not the ordinary type of institution, and as he visits with the patients he discovers some very powerful people, extraordinary long term plans, and one very nasty computer!

My Two Cents…

• Dang! I have to say that Stross’s Laundry stories are some of the most creative stories I have ever read! I was constantly amazed at the originality in this story.
• Creepy old buildings, iron fisted robot sisters, wizards with historical names and trapped demons… what’s not to love?
• While I thought this story was highly entertaining and very clever, I realize that I am a computer geek – so if you don’t have at least a bit of interest in geeky things then you may miss some of the awesome yet subtle parts of this story.

Interesting Tidbits About This Story:

• Page Count: 21
• Word Count: 12,918
• Did you know that Charles Stross created several monsters for the role playing game Dungeons & Dragons? Yep. You can learn more about this awesome science fiction writer at Wikipedia.

Where You Can Find Down on the Farm:

• This story was originally published in July 2008 in the short story section at Tor.com – where you can still read it online for free.
• It is also included in Stross’s short story collection Wireless.

Craving More Stories?

If you liked “Down on the Farm” then you’ll love The Concrete Jungle – another Laundry story by Charles Stross.

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