History Literature / TheEschatonSeries

** At one point, Martin asks, "The UsefulNotes/ColdWar was all about who could build the biggest refrigerator, wasn't it?", but in context it's clear he knows that's not true - he's making a joke.
*** [[RuleOfFunny Even though in the next book Rachel shows a perfect understanding of what the Cold War was...]]

** At one point, Martin asks, "The UsefulNotes/ColdWar was all about who could build the biggest refrigerator, wasn't it?"

* InspirationNod: Having made the New Republic military a concious parody of Napoleonic-era Prussia, Stross then gives their leader, Admiral Kurtz, the same delusion as Prussia's Generalfeldmarschall von Blucher: he believes he's pregnant with an ''elephant''.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The [=ReMastered=] are very Nazi-like - ([[spoiler: their philosophy has been "memetically engineered" from Nazism to be just as unpleasant ''without'' containing the seeds of its own destruction]].) To the point where they make ''Literature/TheDraka'' look like pleasant company.

* AGodAmI: Subverted in that the Eschaton specifically [[AGodIAmNot states it is not God]] - however, it is willing to take strong, Old Testament action so that causality will not be violated.
** A number of the tribal communities that Eschaton recruited ''colonists'' from ignore this rule and worship Eschaton, and tend to be [[AxCrazy belligerent]] about it with those that read the Eschaton's laws as written. Warbloggers are able to make quite a living off these conflicts.

* {{Trickster}}: The Festival is a whole ''race'' of tricksters who desire stories.

* FetishFuel: ''Lolitas'' are mentioned explicitly in passing and various fetishes are very explicitly mentioned in the second book. Wednesday comments on exhibitionist BDSM in progress. [[invoked]]

* ShoutOut: Little references to other works are scattered throughout the books. At one point a wheelchair-bound character stands up and shouts, "[[DrStrangelove My emperor! I can walk!]]"

** The notion of the "''Space Pirates of KPMG''" eventually resurfaced in NeptunesBrood, in a slightly modified form.

** Brits who lived out the [[MargaretThatcher Thatcher years]] will recognize a reference to the People's Republic of ''South'' Yorkshire. (The seat held by the man who made that remark is now held by UsefulNotes/NickClegg...).

* [[OutsideContextVillain Outside Context Antagonist]]: The Festival is definitely a threat to the New Republic, in more ways than one. However, the Republic's government & military have no idea of what the threat ''really'' is, and reflexively place the Festival in the nice, neat mental box of "enemy invasion." [[spoiler: This leads directly to the aforementioned CurbStompBattle.]]

* AGodAmI: Subverted in that the Eschaton specifically [[AGodIAmNot states it is not God]] - however, it is willingly to take strong, Old Testament action so that causality will not be violated.

** At one point, Martin asks, "The ColdWar was all about who could build the biggest refrigerator, wasn't it?"

** "The ColdWar was all about who could build the biggest refrigerator, wasn't it?"
*** [[RuleOfFunny Even though in the next book she shows a perfect understanding of what the Cold War was...]]

* DeusEstMachina: The Eschaton bootstrapped its self from a telephone exchange.

A SpeculativeFiction series by Creator/CharlesStross about a universe where a godlike AI called the "Eschaton" has randomly uprooted and spread humanity across the universe. Contains two books, ''Singularity Sky'' and ''Iron Sunrise''

** Brits who lived out the [[MargaretThatcher Thatcher years]] will recognize a reference to the People's Republic of ''South'' Yorkshire. (The seat held by the man who made that remark is now held by NickClegg...).