welcome to reallocations

I'm ashamed to admit that it has taken me over 6 years to discover that the book exists, but I was quite happy to read the fourth book in Nick Pollotta's Bureau 13 series. Except it isn't really the fourth book, but rather the ultimate prequel to the whole series, dealing with the foundation of the Bureau during the American Civil War. An excellent book, although one tending more to the caricature school of thought than the character. It was fun. For those who haven't heard of it before, Bureau 13 is the secret US government organisation dedicated to defending the US* against supernatural menaces, large and small, based loosely on the role-playing game by the same name.** Generally over the top fun, written in good humour, and with a deep appreciation of the ironic, it's the sort of gonzo fun that is a role-players guilty pleasure (including a love of weapons of all varieties). The other books in the series are Bureau 13 (rereleased as Judgement Night), The Doomsday Exam, and Full Moonster. Speaking of which, his Satellite News trilogy (Satellite Night News, Satellite Night Special, and Satellite Night Fever), written under the pseudonym of Jack Hopkins, is very similar in style, and well worth reading. Although it does takes the gonzo up a notch or three. Detailing the adventures of the top news team for Satellite News in a solar system that's gotten rather weird. You know something is going wrong when the Admiral insists that they deploy the Strategic Space Lawyer. And then there is That Darn Squid God, which surprisingly, isn't connected with the Cthulhu Mythos in any way (save perhaps as an inspiration), which tells of cultists trying to summon their god back into Victorian England. And like The Disaster, there are some things which polite society just doesn't talk about. Of course, my first introduction to his work was the book he co-wrote with Phil Foglio: Illegal Aliens. Which, as the book suggests, is the greatest debacle since the committee to name Big. There are plenty of other stuff that he has done, such as his collection of short stories (Tequila Mockingbird), where the connecting pieces show his wicked sense of humour (and experience writing advertisements for radio), his gaming novels (particularly Gamma World), and not to mention the other books he writes as James Axler and Don Pendleton where he can fully engage in his gun love, but I really do recommend you give any of the above-named books a try. Just don't expect serious literature. * Other countries have their own organisations. For example, from memory Australia is defended by Wally's Spook Club. ** Definitely had me thinking about This Favoured Land, a superhero RPG set in the American Civil War, in things coming a full circle kind of way. ETA: Invasion From Uranus is a collection of short stories that has a massive overlap with Tequila Mockingbird (to the extent it even maintains the same framing to the stories. The addition is a very short radio play (Doc Bronze, Man of Tan) and one short story (Falling Like The Gentle Rain). So there is really no need to get both.