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The Company #4.5
Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers
This collection brings together the early Company stories in one volume for the first time with three previously unpublished works, including "The Queen in Yellow," written exclusively for this compilation. In these tales sci-fi fans follow the secret activities of the Company's field agents—once human, now centuries-old time-traveling immortal cyborgs—as they attempt to retrieve history's lost treasures. Botanist Mendoza's search for the rare hallucinogenic Black Elysium grape in 1844 Spanish-held Santa Barbara, facilitator Joseph's dreamlike solicitation of the ailing Robert Louis Stevenson in 1879, and marine salvage specialist Kalugin's recovering of an invaluable Eugène Delacroix painting from a sunken yacht off the coast of Los Angeles in 1894 are included.
288 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2002
5 people are currently reading
490 people want to read
About the author
Kage Baker
162 books357 followersBorn June 10, 1952, in Hollywood, California, and grew up there and in Pismo Beach, present home. Spent 12 years in assorted navy blue uniforms obtaining a good parochial school education and numerous emotional scars. Rapier wit developed as defense mechanism to deflect rage of larger and more powerful children who took offense at abrasive, condescending and arrogant personality in a sickly eight-year-old. Family: 2 parents, 6 siblings, 4 nieces, 2 nephews. Husbands: 0. Children: 0.
Prior occupations: graphic artist and mural painter, several lower clerical positions which could in no way be construed as a career, and (over a period of years for the Living History Centre) playwright, bit player, director, teacher of Elizabethan English for the stage, stage manager and educational program assistant coordinator. Presently reengaged in the above-listed capacities for the LHC's triumphant reincarnation, AS YOU LIKE IT PRODUCTIONS.
20 years of total immersion research in Elizabethan as well as other historical periods has paid off handsomely in a working knowledge of period speech and details.
In spare time (ha) reads: any old sea stories by Marryat, the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brien, the Hornblower books, ANYTHING by Robert Louis Stevenson, Raymond Chandler, Thorne Smith, Herman Melville (except Pierre, or the Ambiguities, which stinks) Somerset Maugham, George MacDonald Frasier.
Now happily settled in beautiful Pismo Beach, Clam Capital of the World, in charming seaside flat which is unfortunately not haunted by ghost of dashing sea captain. Avid gardener, birdwatcher, spinster aunt and Jethro Tull fan.
http://www.sfwa.org/2010/01/rip-kage-...
Prior occupations: graphic artist and mural painter, several lower clerical positions which could in no way be construed as a career, and (over a period of years for the Living History Centre) playwright, bit player, director, teacher of Elizabethan English for the stage, stage manager and educational program assistant coordinator. Presently reengaged in the above-listed capacities for the LHC's triumphant reincarnation, AS YOU LIKE IT PRODUCTIONS.
20 years of total immersion research in Elizabethan as well as other historical periods has paid off handsomely in a working knowledge of period speech and details.
In spare time (ha) reads: any old sea stories by Marryat, the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brien, the Hornblower books, ANYTHING by Robert Louis Stevenson, Raymond Chandler, Thorne Smith, Herman Melville (except Pierre, or the Ambiguities, which stinks) Somerset Maugham, George MacDonald Frasier.
Now happily settled in beautiful Pismo Beach, Clam Capital of the World, in charming seaside flat which is unfortunately not haunted by ghost of dashing sea captain. Avid gardener, birdwatcher, spinster aunt and Jethro Tull fan.
http://www.sfwa.org/2010/01/rip-kage-...
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 55 reviews
May 13, 2019
An enjoyable collection of short stories that fills out the time-traveling, mystery-laden world of The Company. Written in Baker's breezy, casual, and very charming style with trace notes of the sorrow, loss, and tragedies to come.
One amusing thing I noticed: Kage Baker was a Grouchy Old Man! She just could not stand a world of progressive liberalism that checks and attacks the things she took for granted in her life: enjoying competition and other potentially violent things; smoking and drinking and eating meat and other fatty, unhealthy foods; not getting an award for just showing up; not being afraid that the human touch is usually inappropriate and possibly toxic. I wonder what she would have thought about #MeToo. Depending on the story, the particular stance, and how ardent she is about not liking these things, her perspective varies from rather eye-rolling to completely understandable. I guess your outlook on her outlook depends on your own point of view.
My favorite story was written for this collection: "The Queen in Yellow". A fun romp on an archaeological dig in 1912 Egypt featuring sweet, optimistic cyborg Literature Preservationist Lewis and his sinister, impassive handler, the cyborg Executive Facilitator Lady Kiu. The story includes a tomb unearthed, genius unbound, plans gone awry, strange disguises and madcap chases, secrets revealed, and Lewis in his skivvies racing across a midnight desert at inhuman speed with a mummy case on his back.
Coming to the foreground is the enigmatic child Alec Checkerfield, who eventually becomes the love interest for the series' sometimes-heroine Mendoza and the source of one of its strangest mysteries. Who is this "Adonai" - a person who apparently lives and dies in multiple lives throughout time, causing trouble and breaking Mendoza's heart not once but twice? Who is this strange lad Alec, a little Lord, a boy who can control computers, free artificial intelligences, towers over his peers, hungers for love from his absent parents, and yearns to be a pirate? No complete answers here but it is clear that he is both a Black Project and a White Knight. Whatever that means!
One amusing thing I noticed: Kage Baker was a Grouchy Old Man! She just could not stand a world of progressive liberalism that checks and attacks the things she took for granted in her life: enjoying competition and other potentially violent things; smoking and drinking and eating meat and other fatty, unhealthy foods; not getting an award for just showing up; not being afraid that the human touch is usually inappropriate and possibly toxic. I wonder what she would have thought about #MeToo. Depending on the story, the particular stance, and how ardent she is about not liking these things, her perspective varies from rather eye-rolling to completely understandable. I guess your outlook on her outlook depends on your own point of view.
My favorite story was written for this collection: "The Queen in Yellow". A fun romp on an archaeological dig in 1912 Egypt featuring sweet, optimistic cyborg Literature Preservationist Lewis and his sinister, impassive handler, the cyborg Executive Facilitator Lady Kiu. The story includes a tomb unearthed, genius unbound, plans gone awry, strange disguises and madcap chases, secrets revealed, and Lewis in his skivvies racing across a midnight desert at inhuman speed with a mummy case on his back.
Coming to the foreground is the enigmatic child Alec Checkerfield, who eventually becomes the love interest for the series' sometimes-heroine Mendoza and the source of one of its strangest mysteries. Who is this "Adonai" - a person who apparently lives and dies in multiple lives throughout time, causing trouble and breaking Mendoza's heart not once but twice? Who is this strange lad Alec, a little Lord, a boy who can control computers, free artificial intelligences, towers over his peers, hungers for love from his absent parents, and yearns to be a pirate? No complete answers here but it is clear that he is both a Black Project and a White Knight. Whatever that means!
July 23, 2021
2021 reread: strong collection of most of the early Dr. Zeus Company short stories. Like most time-travel stories, the Company macguffin doesn't stand up to close inspection, and (imo) is an unusually ramshackle one for this subgenre. Fortunately, I didn't care (much), as Baker's greatest strength is as a master storyteller. Standout stories include "Old Flat Top," an origin story for the modern human race. It introduces the Great Goat Clan and its destruction by the Enforcers, bloodthirsty immortal warriors led (and held in check) by their massive leader Budu, and "The Hotel at Harlan's Landing," another great battle among the immortals, set in a moribund California timber-port during the Great Depression. Both were first published in this collection in 2002. All the stories here are worth reading, but a few are slight.
Here's a good sample story online: "The Dust Enclosed Here" (2001), http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories...
Will Shakespeare as an uptime museum exhibit, live and in color!
Kage Baker (1952-2010) was first published in SF/F in 1997. Her career was cut short by her early death from cancer, at age 57. Fortunately for us, she was quite productive in those 13 years. RIP ♰
Marty Halpern's comments:
http://martyhalpern.blogspot.com/2010...
He was Baker's editor for the anthology, and her friend.
From his tribute:
"Ah, Kage, I am so sorry... I expected so many more Company stories from you, so many more lunches and dinners together, and I had especially hoped that you and I would have an opportunity to work together again, at least once more."
Here's a good sample story online: "The Dust Enclosed Here" (2001), http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories...
Will Shakespeare as an uptime museum exhibit, live and in color!
Kage Baker (1952-2010) was first published in SF/F in 1997. Her career was cut short by her early death from cancer, at age 57. Fortunately for us, she was quite productive in those 13 years. RIP ♰
Marty Halpern's comments:
http://martyhalpern.blogspot.com/2010...
He was Baker's editor for the anthology, and her friend.
From his tribute:
"Ah, Kage, I am so sorry... I expected so many more Company stories from you, so many more lunches and dinners together, and I had especially hoped that you and I would have an opportunity to work together again, at least once more."
February 21, 2015
January 1, 2003
Individual stories about various characters from the Company series, mucking about in time. Great fun.
***
February 4, 2015
I don't really have a lot to add. Except that reading the whole series together, back to back, in order, makes for a much richer, more pleasurable, and more nuanced appreciation. As clever as the setup and the handling of it is, though, "great fun" remains the series' greatest strength.
Library copy.
Individual stories about various characters from the Company series, mucking about in time. Great fun.
***
February 4, 2015
I don't really have a lot to add. Except that reading the whole series together, back to back, in order, makes for a much richer, more pleasurable, and more nuanced appreciation. As clever as the setup and the handling of it is, though, "great fun" remains the series' greatest strength.
Library copy.
February 17, 2023
Mi sto preparando al continuo della saga. Come al solito Kage Baker mi piace molto, i suoi personaggi sono sempre molto umani (nonostante tutto!) e la sua conoscenza della storia rende le trame sempre ricche di curiosità e particolari. La forma del racconto le si addice, alternando anche i vari temi e pure i suoi vari registri, da quello più scanzonato alla Coyote del Cielo a quelli più riflessivi sulla natura umana/cyborg o a quelli dove va in brodo di giuggiole per Alec. Che tipa!
June 1, 2011
This is a nice collection of short stories set in Baker's The Company universe. It would serve as a pretty good introduction to the series.
As with the novels, my favorite stories are the ones which depict the immortal operatives doing their routine work of preserving and acquiring significant historical objects. I find this much more interesting than the larger plot of the series, which involves far-reaching, sinister conspiracies.
My favorites were:
"Noble Mold": Joseph and Mendoza in 19th-century California attempting to acquire a grape vine with a "Favorable Mutation".
"The Wreck of the Gladstone": Mortals interfere with a salvage operation on a shipwreck which contains a valuable painting, carefully preserved by an operative who was not permitted to similarly preserve the crew.
"The Literary Agent": Joseph elicits an original story from an ailing and confused Robert Louis Stevenson.
"The Hotel at Harlan's Landing": Set during the Great Depression, a California coastal town hosts a strange pair of fugitives.
There are also four stories about Alec Checkerfield, and even though I dislike the overall plot revolving around Alec, these work well as standalone stories. At least one of them was incorporated into the novel The Life of the World to Come.
As with the novels, my favorite stories are the ones which depict the immortal operatives doing their routine work of preserving and acquiring significant historical objects. I find this much more interesting than the larger plot of the series, which involves far-reaching, sinister conspiracies.
My favorites were:
"Noble Mold": Joseph and Mendoza in 19th-century California attempting to acquire a grape vine with a "Favorable Mutation".
"The Wreck of the Gladstone": Mortals interfere with a salvage operation on a shipwreck which contains a valuable painting, carefully preserved by an operative who was not permitted to similarly preserve the crew.
"The Literary Agent": Joseph elicits an original story from an ailing and confused Robert Louis Stevenson.
"The Hotel at Harlan's Landing": Set during the Great Depression, a California coastal town hosts a strange pair of fugitives.
There are also four stories about Alec Checkerfield, and even though I dislike the overall plot revolving around Alec, these work well as standalone stories. At least one of them was incorporated into the novel The Life of the World to Come.
July 22, 2011
This collection contains fourteen short stories set in Kage Baker’s world of time traveling cyborgs and the mysterious Company. I can add little to previous reviews other than to say that these tales provide additional detail into some of the cyborg characters from her other books. It also introduces young Alec Checkerfield, who bears a striking resemblance to two human men the Cyborg Mendoza was well acquainted with in previous novels. Alec is a tall lad of remarkable capabilities who hangs out with an AI pirate. He’d make a great character for his own YA series but as to what he might really be, and whether he is a clone of the men he resembles remains unknown. I recommend this collection for all established Kage Baker fans.
September 23, 2025
♦ "Noble Mold" re-read 8/2/2015
♦ "Smart Alec" read 5/15/2001
Facts Relating to the Arrest of Dr. Kalugin
Old Flat Top
The Dust Enclosed Here
The Literary Agent
Lemuria Will Rise!
The Wreck of the "Gladstone"
Monster Story
Hanuman
"Studio Dick Drowns Near Malibu" 12-30-2000 re-read 8/2/2015
The Likely Lad
The Queen in Yellow
The Hotel at Harlan's Landing
♦ "Smart Alec" read 5/15/2001
Facts Relating to the Arrest of Dr. Kalugin
Old Flat Top
The Dust Enclosed Here
The Literary Agent
Lemuria Will Rise!
The Wreck of the "Gladstone"
Monster Story
Hanuman
"Studio Dick Drowns Near Malibu" 12-30-2000 re-read 8/2/2015
The Likely Lad
The Queen in Yellow
The Hotel at Harlan's Landing
August 29, 2021
I absolutely love the Company series. It's probably become my all time favorite scifi series.
The introduction at the beginning is really fantastic but I wish they'd gone back to the character who discovers the dossiers. What happens to him? Would have been great for him to wrap things up at the end as he flees discovery from the Company for happening across super secret time travel information.
Note: 8 of the stories in this volume take place amongst Company operatives in California so you're going to get a lot of California history in this volume.
Going down the list of stories in order of how much I like them:
The AMAZING:
The Literary Agent - Facilitator Joseph is a character I've come to adore. He takes a lot of his personality cues from con men of the early 20th century, and he is the perfect man to send for this particular mission. The gist is to approach a famous writer before he becomes famous to get story ideas out of him, but the catch (there has to be a catch!) is that people in the future are incredibly particular about their fiction. I laughed out loud over the frustration of both characters as they try to make future rich people happy.
Lemuria WILL Rise! - Mendoza is not good with mortals. But I love nothing more than to read about her interacting with mortals because she inevitably screws up, as smart as she is. Here, she underestimates an old hermit, who is casually dropping hints that something much more important is going on than she at first assumes. Being surprised is not something immortal cyborgs look forward to, but it makes for good fiction.
Studio Dick Drowns Near Malibu - A perfectly written piece with Facilitator Joseph taking front and center, showing off his moral compass as he saves a pretty young unfortunate from her grisly fate. Of course, that means convincing her he's an angel sent from heaven and that produces some of the best comedic bits out of his ever constant spin factory of a mind. A feel good ending that perfectly fits in thematically with the era of classic Hollywood films of the 1930s.
The Queen in Yellow - This is my favorite story from this collection! An absolutely hilarious adventure in Victorian era Egypt involving Lewis, who is really growing on me with his constantly positive outlook on life. Of course, when he is paired with a curmudgeonly famous scholar who is MUCH smarter than your average mortal, things go awry. This story introduces Kiu, who is a frigid ice bitch that even Mendoza would seem warm and sensitive in comparison to, so of course her being paired with Lewis is a match made in Company hell.
The Hotel at Harlan's Landing - introduces some characters previously unknown to readers. I love reading the tidbits Kage Baker throws our way of immortals who have been on the run from the Company, who manage to escape detection. It's a cool little story that remains between horror and the Company universe that I appreciated all the more having been to the small town of Mendocino where it takes place.
The GOOD:
Noble Mold - Mendoza and Joseph in their first adventure that Kage Baker ever wrote. This is the one that started off the entire series, and I liked how it showcased immortals using far future technology to get what they want from locals in old Spanish mission era California.
Smart Alec - I liked this story enough but this is a reprint from part of book 5, so I'd already read it.
Old Flat Top - A friend of Budu's shows up in ancient Neolithic times to discuss how the Company got the ball rolling on human civilization. Entertaining, but Joshua and the rest of the Enforcers are definitely menacing. I enjoyed the ending because Joshua isn't necessarily a good guy, but he is very capable, and it's fun to see him interacting with a noob immortal who thinks he's going to be way better at his job than Joshua. We've all been there at a job where the boss didn't know nearly as much as he thought he did.
The Dust Enclosed Here - The hologram of Shakespeare that makes a cameo in book 5 gets his story told, and we get to see some more aspects of the casual Eloi-esque future that Britain has devolved into where no one reads the classics anymore. Alec shows up and helps in his own Alec way. Sometimes great writers have to write in secret when they are trapped in oppressive authoritarian governments.
Hanuman - this story surprised me for several reasons, which is good, but I found the sign language chimps to be a bit of a stretch in terms of realism.
The Likely Lad - Teenage Alec being hilarious Alec-y and driving the Captain crazy.
The MEDIOCRE:
Facts Relating to the Arrest of Dr. Kalugin - Kalugin is not a character I care too much about but I did enjoy seeing Labienus come in near the end to discuss a really oddball immortal who short circuits.
The Wreck of the Gladstone - Victor and Nan show up to salvage a shipwreck and deal with some Victorian era rednecks. Meh. But the ending did shock me a bit because of what Victor does behind the Company's back and I do wonder about the implications that will have later on...
Monster Story - more of Alec's childhood in shitty dystopian future London. Meh.
The introduction at the beginning is really fantastic but I wish they'd gone back to the character who discovers the dossiers. What happens to him? Would have been great for him to wrap things up at the end as he flees discovery from the Company for happening across super secret time travel information.
Note: 8 of the stories in this volume take place amongst Company operatives in California so you're going to get a lot of California history in this volume.
Going down the list of stories in order of how much I like them:
The AMAZING:
The Literary Agent - Facilitator Joseph is a character I've come to adore. He takes a lot of his personality cues from con men of the early 20th century, and he is the perfect man to send for this particular mission. The gist is to approach a famous writer before he becomes famous to get story ideas out of him, but the catch (there has to be a catch!) is that people in the future are incredibly particular about their fiction. I laughed out loud over the frustration of both characters as they try to make future rich people happy.
Lemuria WILL Rise! - Mendoza is not good with mortals. But I love nothing more than to read about her interacting with mortals because she inevitably screws up, as smart as she is. Here, she underestimates an old hermit, who is casually dropping hints that something much more important is going on than she at first assumes. Being surprised is not something immortal cyborgs look forward to, but it makes for good fiction.
Studio Dick Drowns Near Malibu - A perfectly written piece with Facilitator Joseph taking front and center, showing off his moral compass as he saves a pretty young unfortunate from her grisly fate. Of course, that means convincing her he's an angel sent from heaven and that produces some of the best comedic bits out of his ever constant spin factory of a mind. A feel good ending that perfectly fits in thematically with the era of classic Hollywood films of the 1930s.
The Queen in Yellow - This is my favorite story from this collection! An absolutely hilarious adventure in Victorian era Egypt involving Lewis, who is really growing on me with his constantly positive outlook on life. Of course, when he is paired with a curmudgeonly famous scholar who is MUCH smarter than your average mortal, things go awry. This story introduces Kiu, who is a frigid ice bitch that even Mendoza would seem warm and sensitive in comparison to, so of course her being paired with Lewis is a match made in Company hell.
The Hotel at Harlan's Landing - introduces some characters previously unknown to readers. I love reading the tidbits Kage Baker throws our way of immortals who have been on the run from the Company, who manage to escape detection. It's a cool little story that remains between horror and the Company universe that I appreciated all the more having been to the small town of Mendocino where it takes place.
The GOOD:
Noble Mold - Mendoza and Joseph in their first adventure that Kage Baker ever wrote. This is the one that started off the entire series, and I liked how it showcased immortals using far future technology to get what they want from locals in old Spanish mission era California.
Smart Alec - I liked this story enough but this is a reprint from part of book 5, so I'd already read it.
Old Flat Top - A friend of Budu's shows up in ancient Neolithic times to discuss how the Company got the ball rolling on human civilization. Entertaining, but Joshua and the rest of the Enforcers are definitely menacing. I enjoyed the ending because Joshua isn't necessarily a good guy, but he is very capable, and it's fun to see him interacting with a noob immortal who thinks he's going to be way better at his job than Joshua. We've all been there at a job where the boss didn't know nearly as much as he thought he did.
The Dust Enclosed Here - The hologram of Shakespeare that makes a cameo in book 5 gets his story told, and we get to see some more aspects of the casual Eloi-esque future that Britain has devolved into where no one reads the classics anymore. Alec shows up and helps in his own Alec way. Sometimes great writers have to write in secret when they are trapped in oppressive authoritarian governments.
Hanuman - this story surprised me for several reasons, which is good, but I found the sign language chimps to be a bit of a stretch in terms of realism.
The Likely Lad - Teenage Alec being hilarious Alec-y and driving the Captain crazy.
The MEDIOCRE:
Facts Relating to the Arrest of Dr. Kalugin - Kalugin is not a character I care too much about but I did enjoy seeing Labienus come in near the end to discuss a really oddball immortal who short circuits.
The Wreck of the Gladstone - Victor and Nan show up to salvage a shipwreck and deal with some Victorian era rednecks. Meh. But the ending did shock me a bit because of what Victor does behind the Company's back and I do wonder about the implications that will have later on...
Monster Story - more of Alec's childhood in shitty dystopian future London. Meh.
July 18, 2023
In a way, "The Company" universe is well suited to episodic depiction. It would be impossible to follow hundreds of characters, each of whom has lived hundreds or thousands of years through fascinating periods in history. Thus a taster's choice is served to tantalize the palette.
This anthology highlighted the author's exploration of the moral decline inherent in any nanny state that ignores personal freedom. In Baker's future world, simple solutions are implemented – Smoking is unhealthy: ban it. Physical sports are dangerous: ban them. I could wax eloquent about more nuanced social engineering but honestly... Baker's predictions ring true. Humanity usually opts for the quick and easy solutions, no matter how impractical they turn out to be. We will build the bars to our own cage, and I doubt there will be an Alec to save us from our collective stupidity.
This anthology highlighted the author's exploration of the moral decline inherent in any nanny state that ignores personal freedom. In Baker's future world, simple solutions are implemented – Smoking is unhealthy: ban it. Physical sports are dangerous: ban them. I could wax eloquent about more nuanced social engineering but honestly... Baker's predictions ring true. Humanity usually opts for the quick and easy solutions, no matter how impractical they turn out to be. We will build the bars to our own cage, and I doubt there will be an Alec to save us from our collective stupidity.
April 23, 2023
Short stories set in the Company series in different time periods. Some characters were new to me and others were known from the first four novels, but here the minor characters get their story or stories. Good stories and they round out the minor characters to be "real" people. After reading the blurb about the next novel "Life in the World to Come", I am glad I read this before I read that one next. The other 4 point something book I don't have so my not reading that hopefully is not a problem before reading number 5.
November 22, 2017
A wonderful collection of 'Company'-stories, mostly previously published in 'ASIMOV'S SF Magazine' with 2 originals.
Absolute gems are: 'The Dust Enclosed Here', 'The Literary Agent', 'Hanuman' (my first intro to this fascinating character - and I'd been worried it would be another semi-boring botanical story) and the previously unpublished Egyptian romp'The Queen in Yellow'.
Bonus: Nothing really disappointing here.
Absolute gems are: 'The Dust Enclosed Here', 'The Literary Agent', 'Hanuman' (my first intro to this fascinating character - and I'd been worried it would be another semi-boring botanical story) and the previously unpublished Egyptian romp'The Queen in Yellow'.
Bonus: Nothing really disappointing here.
February 9, 2023
This collects a number of short stories that first appeared in 'Asimovs' science fiction magazine from 1997-2002, the first 'Company' stories published plus a couple of previously unpublished ones. It is nice to see them gathered in one place, having first read them as they came out over those five years, before I'd read the novels.
Read
March 8, 2024The dust enclosnd here by Kage Baker
we met at edg of night
at autmn weather
at years cant come back
cant return our laught
which lost in fog of cloud
in angl of stars
i see from my goma
shakespearan will
health and words
but no one take me stright
to told what a flower i have
what ramin of shakspears at my time
shadow leem at light
sun setted and rest
we met at edg of night
at autmn weather
at years cant come back
cant return our laught
which lost in fog of cloud
in angl of stars
i see from my goma
shakespearan will
health and words
but no one take me stright
to told what a flower i have
what ramin of shakspears at my time
shadow leem at light
sun setted and rest
December 29, 2017
This set of short stories moves The Company saga along in some important ways and leaves me eager to read the next novel. Joseph, Budu, Mendoza, Lewis, and many other characters seen in the novels take pleasing turns in this set.
December 1, 2023
This is a super long saga, but this volume saves itself by being a collection of stories - there is one recurring subplot, but the rest of chapters are short snapshots into the stories of other characters, more or less well known by the readers.
June 18, 2017
Love Kage Baker's series, The Company. This is a mostly fun collection of short stories about the various immortal cyborg operatives of The Company.
September 8, 2019
Latest re-read: September 2019.
THREE STARS: I can see myself re-reading a few stories in future, but not most. I believe I've only read this book once before, and I can see why.
"4.5" is a great number value for this book in the series, because it really doesn't belong anywhere. Except, at the same time, it's vital to understanding the books going forward -- which just seems like poor planning in hindsight.
A collection of short stories by Baker. Arguably short stories are where she's at top form -- she knows how to do them splendidly, setting up conflict and resolution with no wasted energy, populating them with interesting characters, cloaking the whole thing in enviable atmosphere.
I lowkey hate short stories though. They do something, sure, but do they go anywhere? Not really, and Baker drags her feet even in her novels when it comes to narrative movement. That's part of their charm! But it becomes a feature instead of a bug when it's just a short story collection. This book is basically a lot of fleshing-out of her Company world, characters, and ideas. If you are already on board that train it's full speed ahead; but there is, very literally, nothing new here.
... except there is!
Otherwise the standouts, personally, are "Old Flat Top," giving us a much better glimpse into the lives of the Enforcers; "Hanuman" for an interesting treatment of modern and Company ethics, and because I miss Mendoza's abrasiveness; and even though "The Literary Agent" is little more than broad, winking meta at Hollywood hypocrisy, Baker makes it fun, and there's some interesting stuff about the impact of narrative in there. The weakest stories for me were about Kalugin, who, I'm sorry, I just do not care about -- he never featured strongly enough in the novels, and I also dislike the framing device of using a passive female character (and I DO care about Nancy, so more's the pity) to follow the active choices of a male one, so. Speaking of Baker's weirdness with female characters who aren't Mendoza -- "The Queen In Yellow" features not just a hugely unlikable woman but also feels like it doesn't fit into the ethos of any other Company work. Lewis definitely feels out of character, which makes me suspect this was one of the earlier stories that wasn't good enough to interest publishers until the series took off.
What can I say, I like Baker even when I don't like her much.
THREE STARS: I can see myself re-reading a few stories in future, but not most. I believe I've only read this book once before, and I can see why.
"4.5" is a great number value for this book in the series, because it really doesn't belong anywhere. Except, at the same time, it's vital to understanding the books going forward -- which just seems like poor planning in hindsight.
A collection of short stories by Baker. Arguably short stories are where she's at top form -- she knows how to do them splendidly, setting up conflict and resolution with no wasted energy, populating them with interesting characters, cloaking the whole thing in enviable atmosphere.
I lowkey hate short stories though. They do something, sure, but do they go anywhere? Not really, and Baker drags her feet even in her novels when it comes to narrative movement. That's part of their charm! But it becomes a feature instead of a bug when it's just a short story collection. This book is basically a lot of fleshing-out of her Company world, characters, and ideas. If you are already on board that train it's full speed ahead; but there is, very literally, nothing new here.
... except there is!
Otherwise the standouts, personally, are "Old Flat Top," giving us a much better glimpse into the lives of the Enforcers; "Hanuman" for an interesting treatment of modern and Company ethics, and because I miss Mendoza's abrasiveness; and even though "The Literary Agent" is little more than broad, winking meta at Hollywood hypocrisy, Baker makes it fun, and there's some interesting stuff about the impact of narrative in there. The weakest stories for me were about Kalugin, who, I'm sorry, I just do not care about -- he never featured strongly enough in the novels, and I also dislike the framing device of using a passive female character (and I DO care about Nancy, so more's the pity) to follow the active choices of a male one, so. Speaking of Baker's weirdness with female characters who aren't Mendoza -- "The Queen In Yellow" features not just a hugely unlikable woman but also feels like it doesn't fit into the ethos of any other Company work. Lewis definitely feels out of character, which makes me suspect this was one of the earlier stories that wasn't good enough to interest publishers until the series took off.
What can I say, I like Baker even when I don't like her much.
September 26, 2013
An extremely excellent colletion of Kage Baker's short stories regarding 'The Company.' Three of these were not published previously, and all of them include essential(?) clues and backstory regarding the Company and its mysterious, shadowy projects which interweave the entirety of human history.
Absolutely a must-read for anyone who's read any of the Company books - or a good introduction to the series.
I'm quoting Wikipedia for the contents summary, cause I'm lazy:
"Contents
The stories in this volume are:
Introduction: The Hounds of Zeus: A brief introduction to the world of The Company.
Noble Mold: Mendoza and Joseph attempt to secure a special plant from a Native American family living in 19th century Mission California.
Smart Alec: On the origins of the mysteriously talented Alec Checkerfield.
Facts Relating to the Arrest of Dr. Kalugin: Vasilii Kalugin has a bad week in the company of a very old Company operative.
Old Flat Top: A young Cro-Magnon learns some facts about how his valley came to be settled from the Enforcer Joshua.
The Dust Enclosed Here: A simulacrum of William Shakespeare encounters Alec Checkerfield and comes out of the experience changed.
The Literary Agent: Robert Louis Stevenson hallucinates a strangely contemporary encounter with a Mephistophelean figure who helps him rediscover his inspiration.
Lemuria Will Rise: Mendoza encounters an eccentric hermit in 19th century Pismo Beach.
The Wreck of the Gladstone: Victor and Kalugin have to recover Company property from a wreck off the coast of Los Angeles without damaging the local mortals too badly.
Monster Story: Young Alec Checkerfield goes to take his exams.
Hanuman: Mendoza gets hit on by an augmented australopithecine with a story to tell about his tragic upbringing.
Studio Dick Drowns Near Malibu: Joseph goes to shed one mortal identity and assume a new one, but first he has to resolve a complication.
The Likely Lad: Alec Checkerfield and his amoral pet artificial intelligence take to the high seas.
The Queen in Yellow: Literature Preservation Specialist Lewis is given a job on a dig in Egypt for which he is poorly suited.
The Hotel at Harlan's Landing: A storm on the coast of California during the Great Depression where Company secrets are revealed, and more questions posed.
Absolutely a must-read for anyone who's read any of the Company books - or a good introduction to the series.
I'm quoting Wikipedia for the contents summary, cause I'm lazy:
"Contents
The stories in this volume are:
Introduction: The Hounds of Zeus: A brief introduction to the world of The Company.
Noble Mold: Mendoza and Joseph attempt to secure a special plant from a Native American family living in 19th century Mission California.
Smart Alec: On the origins of the mysteriously talented Alec Checkerfield.
Facts Relating to the Arrest of Dr. Kalugin: Vasilii Kalugin has a bad week in the company of a very old Company operative.
Old Flat Top: A young Cro-Magnon learns some facts about how his valley came to be settled from the Enforcer Joshua.
The Dust Enclosed Here: A simulacrum of William Shakespeare encounters Alec Checkerfield and comes out of the experience changed.
The Literary Agent: Robert Louis Stevenson hallucinates a strangely contemporary encounter with a Mephistophelean figure who helps him rediscover his inspiration.
Lemuria Will Rise: Mendoza encounters an eccentric hermit in 19th century Pismo Beach.
The Wreck of the Gladstone: Victor and Kalugin have to recover Company property from a wreck off the coast of Los Angeles without damaging the local mortals too badly.
Monster Story: Young Alec Checkerfield goes to take his exams.
Hanuman: Mendoza gets hit on by an augmented australopithecine with a story to tell about his tragic upbringing.
Studio Dick Drowns Near Malibu: Joseph goes to shed one mortal identity and assume a new one, but first he has to resolve a complication.
The Likely Lad: Alec Checkerfield and his amoral pet artificial intelligence take to the high seas.
The Queen in Yellow: Literature Preservation Specialist Lewis is given a job on a dig in Egypt for which he is poorly suited.
The Hotel at Harlan's Landing: A storm on the coast of California during the Great Depression where Company secrets are revealed, and more questions posed.
March 13, 2019
The Company short stories are my favorites, and this collection is a good sampling. At least one of them - and I think three or four - later became chunks of the novels, which always seem awfully episodic for just that reason. But they're great as individual shorts. Lewis's appearance in "The Queen in Yellow" is delightful (Lewis is my favorite) and both "Smart Alec" and "A Likely Lad" are fantastic Alec stories as well. ("Monster Story", I felt, was a touch too didactic to be perfect. It's where all of the far-future stories tend to fail for me, when they fail.) Mendoza makes an appearance in "Hanuman," which is also on the didactic side, but somewhat more successful in its musing about the nature of humanity and identity than usual. The rest of the stories cover the range of characters that appear throughout the series, and they make an excellent overview.
The brief Author's Notes for each story are particularly delightful as well, as they usually reference what Baker was inspired by for each story. They're generally prosaic things, which makes it all the more fascinating to see where her brain took them.
The brief Author's Notes for each story are particularly delightful as well, as they usually reference what Baker was inspired by for each story. They're generally prosaic things, which makes it all the more fascinating to see where her brain took them.
November 2, 2014
SUMMARY:
This collection brings together the early Company stories in one volume for the first time with three previously unpublished works, including "The Queen in Yellow," written exclusively for this compilation. In these tales sci-fi fans follow the secret activities of the Company's field agents—once human, now centuries-old time-traveling immortal cyborgs—as they attempt to retrieve history's lost treasures. Botanist Mendoza's search for the rare hallucinogenic Black Elysium grape in 1844 Spanish-held Santa Barbara, facilitator Joseph's dreamlike solicitation of the ailing Robert Louis Stevenson in 1879, and marine salvage specialist Kalugin's recovering of an invaluable Eugène Delacroix painting from a sunken yacht off the coast of Los Angeles in 1894 are included.
February 4, 2016
A strange and curious collections of tales about the activities of the field agents of the Company, or Dr. Zeus, Inc., immortal cyborgs, who are engaged in such missions as searching for the "rare hallucinogenic Black Elysium grape, checking in on the ill-health of Robert Louis Stevenson, to recovering priceless literary artifacts from a sarcophagus in 1914 Egypt. To quote the book jacket, 'Is it possible to interfere with History in a moral way, especially if profit is the primary motivation for doing so? In fact, is it possible to sustain any ethical standards at all when handed what amounts to unlimited power?"
Dark, sometimes funny and satirical (the UK "nanny state" is eviscerated), sad, intense, and a very carefully constructed alternate reality and secret history.
Clearly a title that has been on my "To Be Read"s shelf for too long.
Dark, sometimes funny and satirical (the UK "nanny state" is eviscerated), sad, intense, and a very carefully constructed alternate reality and secret history.
Clearly a title that has been on my "To Be Read"s shelf for too long.
March 28, 2016
Company-themed short stories with Baker's wonderful double entendres, fun characters, plotlines that are like movie scripts. Her love for Hollywood, for natural California, and for a healthy skepticism always shine through. I love the "Angel of Death by Drowning" (in the story "Studio Dick Drowns Near Malibu"), how she uses her Company stories to resurrect the real life archaeologist Flinders Petrie in his pink underwear ("The Queen in Yellow"), and Mother Nature's one-fingered salute ("Lemuria Will Rise!"). Other things are not so funny. In her future world, nobody learns to read except children who are slated by the government's sorting process to become low-level clericals. It harks back to feudal times when nobles and knights prided themselves on their illiteracy. And I can totally imagine that happening.
July 4, 2016
This book is the perfect combination of the two best things in the whole world: Kage Baker's short stories and her Company series. Ms. Baker does the *perfect* short story and it's even more magical when the plot evolves around her Company characters. We've got some Joseph stories and Lewis stories and (my favorite) Mendoza stories, plus we get to meet some new characters. This one is integral to the series as it also introduces us to Alec Checkerfield. If you're plowing through the whole Company series, DON'T SKIP THIS ONE thinking it's just going to be some B-side vignettes. There's important plot development here.
April 20, 2010
I saw a reference to this book when I was reading about Baker's recent death, and I didn't think I'd read it. Turns out, once I started on the stories, that I had, but it had been a long time, and I liked it enough to read it again.
Enjoyable collection of stories from Baker's "Company" setting, with a variety of settings (altho lots of California), characters, and time periods. If I remember correctly, this is the volume that introduced me to Alec.
As always, love her narrative style(s), although it's a little jouncy going from one tale to the next. Makes me want to go back and read all the Company novels over again!
Enjoyable collection of stories from Baker's "Company" setting, with a variety of settings (altho lots of California), characters, and time periods. If I remember correctly, this is the volume that introduced me to Alec.
As always, love her narrative style(s), although it's a little jouncy going from one tale to the next. Makes me want to go back and read all the Company novels over again!
August 25, 2015
This was a solid work, but as with all short story collections it suffers from some of the works being weaker than the others. I find Baker's 24th century a somewhat bland 'evil liberal' dystopia as far as evil liberal dystopias go, but she needed to have the future of the Company be some sort of dystopia and this option was better than most. Baker excels when she has time to sit down and really tell you a story in the character's voice and the short form just doesn't work as well as her novels. Of course, her novels are very good, so there you go.
Dammit, I just realized I have to go in and put all that in past tense. Fuck cancer.
Dammit, I just realized I have to go in and put all that in past tense. Fuck cancer.
June 29, 2010
I remember a while ago that someone on goodreads wrote that Kage Baker's short stories are better than her novels. I have to agree. Some of these stories--"Old Flat Top," "Monster Story," "Hanuman," "The Dust Enclosed Here," and the "Likely Lad"--are just wonderful. I would love to see Shakespeare's play set on the moon. "Lemuria Will Rise!" and "Studio Dick Drowns near Malibu" give a wonderful sense of place for their real-life locations in California. I now want to go to Jade Cove one day. The most cleverly constructed story is probably "The Wreck of the Gladstone."
August 15, 2011
Having finished the last of the company novels, The Sons Of Heaven, before I got this one read, I have to say that it in no way diminished my enjoyment of this story collection. I skipped through the Alec Checkerfield chapters, but immensely enjoyed all the other stories. It's gotten to the point that everything I read of Kage Baker's makes me sad about losing such a great talent.
June 25, 2011
Black Projects, White Knights (2002) by Kage Baker.
A short story collection that offers insight to various "Company" characters we've encountered before. My favorite supporting character was a parrot who only appeared for a few pages. Baker's character Alec shows up in three short stories later incorporated into the novel _The Life of the World to Come_ (2004).
Overall, a nice addition to Baker's "Company" saga, nicely flavored with differing narrative styles for each of the characters.
(July 2008)
A short story collection that offers insight to various "Company" characters we've encountered before. My favorite supporting character was a parrot who only appeared for a few pages. Baker's character Alec shows up in three short stories later incorporated into the novel _The Life of the World to Come_ (2004).
Overall, a nice addition to Baker's "Company" saga, nicely flavored with differing narrative styles for each of the characters.
(July 2008)
August 21, 2011
I kept thinking that I'd read these stories before but, if so, I couldn't remember a thing about them. And, while they were interesting enough while reading them, I kept wondering what the point of them was. Were they supposedly illustrating some aspect of human character? Perhaps the conundrum of time travel was being explicated. Or maybe it was the chasm between cyborgs and humans we were meant to dive into. It was probably something I haven't thought of, but whatever the point may have been, I didn't get it.
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