sigmonster | Reading

james_davis_nicoll

The story that began the grand tradition of picking on a teenager's work.

The Eye of Argon by Jim Theis

james_davis_nicoll

Since the authors are no longer with us, will we ever get a glimpse?

Five Anticipated Books and Stories That Remain Unpublished

andrewducker

Feeding the ducks
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

andrewducker

Through the power of (very basic) smart home automation I now get a notification whenever the kids open the back door, and can then remotely check if they've left it open.

Many parents throughout history would be jealous.

james_davis_nicoll

A bundle for Daniel James Hanley's tabletop roleplaying game of Gothic and Romantic Horror in the decadent, disastrous age of Marie-Antoinette, Napoleon, and Lord Byron.

Bundle of Holding: Ghastly Affair

james_davis_nicoll

The young people wrestle with what is arguably an early example of Cyberpunk.

Young People Read Old Nebula Finalists: True Names by Vernor Vinge

alierak posting in

dw_maintenance

DW is seeing some issues due to today's Amazon outage. For right now it looks like the site is loading, but it may be slow. Some of our processes like notifications and journal search don't appear to be running and can't be started due to rate limiting or capacity issues. DW could go down later if Amazon isn't able to improve things soon, but our services should return to normal when Amazon has cleared up the outage.

Edit: all services are running as of 16:12 CDT, but there is definitely still a backlog of notifications to get through.

Edit 2: and at 18:20 CDT everything's been running normally for about the last hour.

andrewducker

Sophia: "So mummy took a year off from her job when I was born and then she went back?

Incredulously: "And they remembered who she was?"

andrewducker

Gideon, climbing on to Sophia's lap: "I'll be Alexa."
Sophia: "Alexa, play Soda Pop"
Gideon: sings Soda Pop
Sophia: joins in

james_davis_nicoll

2019: The Tories somehow find someone worse than May to be Prime Minister, UK pleas to the EU for a Brexit negotiation do-over on the grounds “our negotiators were fucking numpties” fall on deaf ears, and Tory MPs reject multiple Tory Brexit proposals, for which UK voters rebuke the incompetent Tories with a massive majority.

Poll #33744 Clarke Award Finalists 2019

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 30

View Respondents

Which 2019 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Rosewater by Tade Thompson
7 (23.3%)

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
2 (6.7%)

Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
22 (73.3%)

Semiosis by Sue Burke
10 (33.3%)

The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag
4 (13.3%)

The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley
1 (3.3%)

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

Which 2019 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Rosewater by Tade Thompson
Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
Semiosis by Sue Burke
The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag
The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley

andrewducker

I've finally found a use for LinkedIn - it's doing all of the puzzles and then seeing how much better my contacts did.

james_davis_nicoll

Mars being unfit for humans, there is no alternative but to make humans--or at least a human--fit for Mars.

Man Plus (Man Plus, volume 1) by Frederik Pohl

james_davis_nicoll

Garden world or nightmarish hellscape?

james_davis_nicoll

Seven books new to me. Well, six and one replacement. Four fantasy, one historical, one horror, one science fiction. Two appear to be part of series.

Books Received, October 11 to October 17

Poll #33737 Books Received, October 11 to October 17

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 50

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

Boys With Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell (July 2026)
6 (12.0%)

Behind Five Willows by June Hur (May 2026)
16 (32.0%)

Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher (August 2026)
33 (66.0%)

Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray (June 2026)
4 (8.0%)

City of Others by Jaren Poon (January 2026)
20 (40.0%)

Starry Messenger: The Best of Galileo edited by Charles C. Ryan (November 1979)
7 (14.0%)

How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days by Jessie Sylva (January 2026)
18 (36.0%)

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

Cats!
34 (68.0%)

andrewducker

1. Endometriosis diagnosis from menstrual blood could make diagnosis dramatically faster (still a few years away though): (tags:endometriosis health )
2. Church of England bishops stop plans to trial blessing services for gay couples: (tags:LGBT bigotry religion ChurchOfEngland marriage relationships )
3. Russia's funding for Ukraine war set to 'contract' as new sanctions loom: (tags:Russia Ukraine war economics trade )
4. The Anglican Church just split in half (40-50 million in each side): (tags:ChurchOfEngland )
5. Judge rules that trans man can't be denied gender recognition certificate because he is trying to conceive.: (tags:transgender law UK children GoodNews )
6. Happy Tenth Anniversary to the "Leopards Eating People's Faces Party": (tags:politics meme satire )
7. Liberal Democrats win all six seats in Surrey council by-elections (clearly things afoot in the South-East): (tags:libdem elections uk )
8. Why FindOutNow polls differ from other polling companies: (tags:polls politics uk )
9. Some reasons to be hopeful about the future (if we can get through 2026): (tags:thefuture charlesstross )
10. Treating male partners halves the recurrence rate of Bacterial Vaginosis: (tags:Bacteria microbiome )
11. Lothian Buses celebrates a century of keeping Edinburgh moving through the night with the Night Bus: (tags:Edinburgh buses night history )
12. Turkey proposes radical new "reforms" to attack LGBTQ+ marriage, media, & trans people: (tags:LGBT transgender turkey bigotry )

james_davis_nicoll

A selection of speculative fiction stories by Black Canadians.

As The Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories edited by Terese Mason Pierre

andrewducker

The neighbours are putting in a front drive. The children were delighted to get a go.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

andrewducker

It would be awesome if I didn't have to have an argument with Gideon about bedtime every single night.

Sophia doesn't do that any more. I wonder at what age he'll grow out of it.

james_davis_nicoll

The tabletop science fiction roleplaying game of transhuman survival from Posthuman Studios.

Bundle of Holding: Eclipse Phase 2E (from 2022)

james_davis_nicoll

The American orbital transfer station offers employment to Byron McDougall, a chance for Charlie Bond to search for an alternative to MAD, and for Diana Osborne, escape from her violently abusive father.

The Moon Goddess and the Son by Donald Kingsbury

james_davis_nicoll

Growing up is hard enough without the entire world falling apart around you.

Five Novels About Coming of Age During the Apocalypse

james_davis_nicoll

Why do Cheolma Rehabilitation Hospital patients keep plummeting from the 6th floor, and why do none of them bleed when they hit the tarmac? The explanation is outside Detective Suyeon's field of expertise.

The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-Ran

andrewducker

1. The Commissioner for human rights for the Council of Europe warns that Britain's treatment of trans people could breach the ECHR: (tags:rights europe uk transgender lgbt )
2. Have you made the Ur-Ur error?: (tags:language history )
3. A human-faced stone from 12 thousand years ago was found in Karahan Tepe (Turkey): (tags:turkey archeology prehistory )
4. Afghanistan commando who served with British Army is deported to Taliban (because the Home Office failed to get paperwork done): (tags:Afghanistan UK military migration OhForFucksSake )
5. How UK recognising Palestine helped win Arab support for Trump's Gaza deal: (tags:UK Gaza Israel diplomacy )
6. Enzymes successfully converted a kidney to universal type O for transplant, marking a major step toward faster, more compatible organ donations.: (tags:organdonor technology GoodNews )
7. Waymo's Robotaxis Are Coming to London in 2026: (tags:taxis automation Technology london uk )
8. So far, in 2025, Britain has wasted more than £1Billion switching off wind turbines and paying gas plants to switch on.: (tags:waste electricity uk OhForFucksSake )

james_davis_nicoll

Skull morphology diverges between urban and rural populations of red foxes mirroring patterns of domestication and macroevolution

andrewducker

Today I spent £108 on getting myself vaccinated against Flu and Covid.

Which led me to wonder what the cost of days off is to the economy. And how far off we are from it being worth the government vaccinating everyone.

james_davis_nicoll

Fallen Woman turned private investigator Sarah Tolerance is hired to recover a fan. Carnage ensues.

Point of Honour (Sarah Tolerance, volume 1) by Madeleine E. Robins

james_davis_nicoll

James Hetley, 78, passed away on October 8 as a result of a bike crash.

james_davis_nicoll

During which I encountered:

* A person supine on the sidewalk, having apparently been struck by a car exiting the expressway. There were EMTs so I didn't interfere.

* A person driving their RC car on the LRT tracks as the train was approaching, who seemed put out that I told him to get off the tracks.

* An angry screaming apparently deranged guy between me and where I needed to be to catch the bus.

james_davis_nicoll

This all-new Huckleberry Bundle presents Huckleberry, the mythic Wyrd West tabletop roleplaying game about tragic cowboys in a world doomed to calamity – unless you save it.

Bundle of Holding: Huckleberry

james_davis_nicoll

2018: Tories vote to pitch the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, PM May’s Brexit progress is strangely uneven, while Prince Harry and Meghan Markle conduct an experiment to determine the depths of British racism.

Poll #33722 Clarke Award Finalists 2018

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

View Respondents

Which 2018 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Dreams Before the Start of Time by Anne Charnock
1 (14.3%)

American War by Omar El Akkad
2 (28.6%)

Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
5 (71.4%)

Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed
0 (0.0%)

Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill
1 (14.3%)

Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař
1 (14.3%)

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

Which 2018 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Dreams Before the Start of Time by Anne Charnock
American War by Omar El Akkad
Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed
Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill
Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař

james_davis_nicoll

On Spec to close. From the editorial:

Earlier this year, I announced that I’d be retiring and leaving On Spec at the end of December, and my final issue as Managing Editor would be VOL 35 No 4. After much soul-searching, and discussion with the rest of our editorial staff, the Board of the Copper Pig Writers’ Society has made the difficult decision to end publication of On Spec with that issue.

andrewducker

1. Wikipedia:List of citogenesis incidents: (tags:Wikipedia fraud memetics )
2. Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport: (tags:transport cycling )
3. The UK Supreme Court is quietly editing the Human Rights Act out of existence (and has been for years): (tags:UK rights law OhForFucksSake )

james_davis_nicoll

A diverse assortment of (mostly) non-Future History science fiction stories from Robert A. Heinlein.

The Menace From Earth by Robert A. Heinlein

james_davis_nicoll

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE POST A NAKED URL HERE.

Asking politely has failed for 20 years. Therefore, comments with naked urls will be deleted, as they break Recent Comments. To post links, follow the advice below.

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE POST A NAKED URL HERE.

OK, results of this have not been what I wanted.

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE POST A NAKED URL HERE.

I am beginning a count now (1:23 PM Oct 13) and if the naked url count hits ten, and I don't think it's someone trying to game what I am going to post, I will turn off anonymous comments for a week. If after that, I get another ten naked urls, I will try a month, and then a year.

If the offender has a DW account, I will block them.

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE POST A NAKED URL HERE.

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