sigmonster | Reading

Right now (7:30am) it is 14 degrees outside.

It is 24 degrees in our bedroom, despite the windows being open all night. Humidity is 92%.

This afternoon it will rise to 26 degrees. I'm glad the office has air conditioning. I'm not looking forward to tonight.

james_davis_nicoll

Last feline from Parliament Hill cat colony dies

james_davis_nicoll

Desperate to pay her brother Jasper's way out of Muhlenberg County, Opal accepts a job at an infamously cursed mansion.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

james_davis_nicoll

The latter half of Pyramid's ten-year run, the issues published from November 2013 to December 2018, sixty-two issues in all.

Bundle of Holding: Pyramid 2

james_davis_nicoll

Yelling "Get off my lawn!" on an interplanetary scale...

Five Books About Aliens Who Are Fed Up With Humans

james_davis_nicoll

In a city with over a million people per square kilometre, real estate firms will never lack for clients. Good news for the employees of the Wong Loi Realty Company!

Kowloon Generic Romance, volume 1 by Jun Mayuzuki (Translated by Amanda Haley)

james_davis_nicoll

Tepid remake of the Fenian Raids fails to launch.

james_davis_nicoll

Arrogant traffic analyst Boyd Hakluyt is just a pawn in the struggle for Ciudad de Vados' future.

The Squares of the City by John Brunner

andrewducker

1. 7 Engineers Suspended After $2.3 Million Bridge Includes Bizarre 90-Degree Turn: (tags:architecture design epicfail India )
2. Edinburgh Airport liquid limit increased from 100ml to two litres: (tags:airport security Technology )
3. The Time Someone Plagiarized Calvin & Hobbes and Nobody Noticed or Cared: (tags:comics plagiarism history art ai )
4. Turns out a great way to get children to want to learn their times tables is to set them to pop songs: (tags:numbers video music )
5. Employers to be banned from silencing harassed or abused staff: (tags:regulation abuse work UK law )
6. Some English children are living in 'Dickensian' poverty, says commissioner: (tags:england poverty children OhForFucksSake )
7. Electricity from large solar arrays with batteries now cheaper than from fossil plants in Germany: (tags:electricity solarpower batteries germany GoodNews )
8. O Fortuna Misheard Lyrics: (tags:music hearing words illusion funny video )

james_davis_nicoll

Everything you need for your own GURPS 4E tabletop roleplaying campaign.

Bundle of Holding: GURPS 4E Essentials (from 2022)

Volume 3 (Nov 2008 - Dec 2018) of Pyramid, the Steve Jackson Games magazine for tabletop roleplaying gamers. Sixty issues and more!

Bundle of Holding: Pyramid 1

james_davis_nicoll

Why wait around for the throne or the cash when murder can deliver it immediately?

Five Dangerously Impatient Heirs and Successors

james_davis_nicoll

2004: Labour spares no effort to liberate Britons from human rights, UKIP's electoral successes surely do not reflect fundamental flaws in the British psyche, and London voters are heartbroken to discover the Livingstone who was just elected mayor isn’t the Livingstone who co-wrote the Fighting Fantasy books.

Poll #33332 Clarke Award Finalists 2004

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 41

View Respondents

Which 2004 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
20 (48.8%)

Coalescent by Stephen Baxter
5 (12.2%)

Darwin's Children by Greg Bear
15 (36.6%)

Maul by Tricia Sullivan
5 (12.2%)

Midnight Lamp by Gwyneth Jones
2 (4.9%)

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
19 (46.3%)

Bold for have read, italic for intend to read,, underline for never heard of it.

Which 2004 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
Coalescent by Stephen Baxter
Darwin's Children by Greg Bear
Maul by Tricia Sullivan
Midnight Lamp by Gwyneth Jones
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

james_davis_nicoll

Can the American King's uncanny military genius best an enemy so cunning the enemy loses every battle?

The Steel, the Mist, and the Blazing Sun by Christopher Anvil

james_davis_nicoll

This is much easier for Martin's New Voices series....

( Read more... )

james_davis_nicoll

Four works new to me. One is SF, two fantasy, and the magazine (which I have not yet looked inside) likely both. Two of the novels are series novels, one does not seem to me.

Books Received, June 28 — July 4

Poll #33326 Books Received, June 28 — July 4

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 36

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

FIYAH No. 35: Black Isekai published by FIYAH Literary Magazine (July 2025)
18 (50.0%)

Aces Full edited by George R. R. Martin (November 2025)
3 (8.3%)

Only Spell Deep by Ava Morgyn (March 2026)
6 (16.7%)

The Damned by Harper L. Woods (October 2025)
3 (8.3%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
29 (80.6%)

james_davis_nicoll

Ninety years after her grandmother's family was stalked by a witch, international student Minerva Contrera's studies land her in a similar position.

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

andrewducker

Got halfway to the bus stop to go to the pool and realised I didn't have my shoulder bag. Sprinted home, got it, and made it to the bus.

Got off the bus at the other end, realised Sophia's bag didn't have her swimming costume in it. Got a bus home, grabbed it, now in a taxi.

Fingers crossed that nothing else comes between me and drop-off and work!
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

james_davis_nicoll

I embrace new tools. In Fabula Ultima, for example, the order in which characters go in combat varies. I found it hard to keep track of who'd gone, so I went out and got poker chips and little round labels. Now, I can just toss the chips representing characters into a bowl once they've gone. Order!

OK, except it turns out I can't tell blue from green under the ceiling light in the room where I DM and the names on the labels need to be bigger.

james_davis_nicoll

Director of the nation formerly known as Canada Quinn Atherton is determined to deliver much mass murder as it takes to achieve peace, order, good government. Why do so many ingrates object?

Blight(Sleep of Reason, volume 2) by Rachel A. Rosen

james_davis_nicoll

The inspiration being the 1999 Mummy movie is not without problematic elements.

Imagine an Egyptian film company wanting to make a movie about idiots waking a horror in Canada that only the Egyptian lead can resolve.
( Read more... )

james_davis_nicoll

The June 2023 Dark Eye Megabundle featuring the English-language edition from Ulisses Spiele of the leading German tabletop roleplaying game of heroic fantasy, The Dark Eye.

Bundle of Holding: The Dark Eye MEGA (from 2023)

james_davis_nicoll

Youko and Airi meet a new friend and encounter Chekov's Volcano.

Touring After the Apocalypse, volume 5 by Sakae Saito

andrewducker

1. How Common is Multiple Invention?: (tags:invention research history viaFanf )
2. The death of business attire? Just 7% of workers wear a suit to work: (tags:clothing work UK )
3. FOI Exposes EHRC Anti-Trans Bias: Private Meetings, Legal Echoes, and Policy Capture: (tags:rights UK bigotry OhForFucksSake corruption )

andrewducker

As of this morning (2nd of July), we are now closer to 2050 than 2000.

james_davis_nicoll

The quotation below is a quotation

CSFFA (The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association) is proud to announce the 2025 CSFFA Hall of Fame inductees.

Clint Budd, fan, convention organizer, modernized CSFFA and created the CSFFA Hall of Fame
Charles R. Saunders, author, journalist, and founder of the “sword and soul” literary genre
Diane L. Walton, editor, mentor, and a founding member of On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic

More information here.

Congratulations to the Inductees!

andrewducker

"Sophia, will you pose with your brother for a photo?"

"I will, but I'm very angry about it!"
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

james_davis_nicoll

Only the brave, the arrogant, the naïve, or the desperate Men trespass in Arafel's Ealdwood. Into which category does the latest visitor fall?

The Dreamstone (Ealdwood, volume 1) by C J Cherryh

james_davis_nicoll

Jealous of all the people who support Aurora-finalist James Nicoll Reviews? Want to join them? Here are your options:

July 2025 Patreon Boost

james_davis_nicoll

Former Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, 73, has reportedly passed away from esophageal cancer.

alierak posting in

dw_maintenance

We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

james_davis_nicoll

The English-language rulebook and supplements for Broken Tales, the tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of upside-down fairy tales from Italian game publisher The World Anvil Publishing.

Bundle of Holding: Broken Tales

james_davis_nicoll

2003: PM Blair embraces hilariously transparent lies to justify the invasion of Iraq, two million Britons reveal the power of public outrage when they protest the Iraq War to no effect, and the Coalition of the Billing (UK included) faces an occupation of Iraq that will no doubt be entirely without unforeseen challenges or consequences.

Poll #33305 Clarke Award Finalists 2003

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 60

View Respondents

Which 2003 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

The Separation by Christopher Priest
10 (16.7%)

Kiln People by David Brin
18 (30.0%)

Light by M. John Harrison
16 (26.7%)

The Scar by China Miéville
26 (43.3%)

The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
30 (50.0%)

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
32 (53.3%)

Bold for have read, italic for intend to read,, underline for never heard of it.

Which 2003 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
The Separation by Christopher Priest
Kiln People by David Brin
Light by M. John Harrison
The Scar by China Miéville
The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson

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