What would be the point of making up such a story? There isn't one. I live in the same neck of the woods as Charles Stross and see him around occasionally, as well as a few folk that know him. I'm not sure what the big deal with that is? I used to run into Ken MacLeod too sometimes, who is/was a friend of Stross', and in my view a more enjoyable writer. (I've never got into Stross' novels.)