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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-09 08:50 am

The Cool War by Frederik Pohl



A hapless minister is drafted into international intrigue.

The Cool War by Frederik Pohl
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tamaranth ([personal profile] tamaranth) wrote2025-10-09 01:42 pm
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2025/156: Dreamhunter Duet — Elizabeth Knox

2025/156: Dreamhunter Duet — Elizabeth Knox
'I was finished. I wanted time to stop, and to let me stop with it. And I wanted revenge.
I ... said to the land, 'Bury me, and rise up. Rise up and crush them all.' [loc. 5131]

Rereads, after reading Kings of This World -- which is set in the same alt-Aotearoa-New Zealand, rather later than the Dreamhunter duet, which begins in 1906. My original reviews from (OMG) 2005 and 2007 are here: The Rainbow Opera and The Dream Quake.

The link points to the first of two volumes: the second has only just become available on Amazon.

Read more... )
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tamaranth ([personal profile] tamaranth) wrote2025-10-09 09:28 am
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2025/155: Sabella — Tanith Lee

2025/155: Sabella — Tanith Lee
There are genuine ruins (beware tourist traps) here and there. Thin pillars soaring, levelled foundations crumbling, cracked urns whispering of spilled dusts -- all the Martian dreams that old Mars denied to mankind. [loc. 53]

Another reread, when I was (unsuspectingly) coming down with a migraine: I last read this in the last millennium, and had forgotten much of it. It's a short novel, an SF vampire romance set on Novo Mars -- like original Mars, but pink rather than red, with rapid sunsets and mutated earth-import flora and fauna. 

The novel opens with Sabella Quey receiving an invitation to her aunt's funeral. There's an ominous bequest (her aunt was a devout Christian Revivalist, and knew about Sabella's unsavoury youth) and a gorgeous young man who tracks Sabella back to her isolated home, and does not question her about her aversion to sunlight, or the bottles of red juice ('pomegranate and tomato juice... my physician makes it up for me') in the fridge.

Read more... )
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-08 02:15 pm
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Bundle of Holding: Mystery Flesh Pit



Welcome, visitor, to Mystery Flesh Pit National Park: The RPG, the Cypher System tabletop roleplaying game rulebook from Ganza Gaming about the Permian Basin Superorganism.

Bundle of Holding: Mystery Flesh Pit
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-08 11:00 am
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Redbird ([personal profile] redbird) wrote2025-10-07 05:51 pm
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blood draw etc.

I woke up at about 7:30 a.m., had a cup of black tea, showered, and went to my doctor’s office for a fasting blood, which I wanted to do before I see her in a couple of weeks. There was a little bit of annoying delay: Mt Auburn Hospital is being moved to a different MyChart system, and some balls are being dropped. Specifically, the order for my lab work wasn’t on the new system, so they had to copy it from the old system, which is in read-only mode for a few weeks, after which it won’t be available even to medical staff. Carmen said her office is going to be sending an email to all patients, advising us to follow up on existing referrals and orders for lab work before the end of the month. I hope that doesn’t miss too many people, but I made a point of telling Adrian about it.

Once they had my test tube of blood, I stopped at a couple of stores on the same block as my doctor’s office, to buy (frozen) ground lamb and some more cannabis edibles. Then I treated myself to an apple, grape, and brie crepe for breakfast, which I ate at an outdoor table. After eating the crepe, I went to CVS and got a flu vaccine, then took the subway home. I am feeling very accomplished, and a bit tired.

The flu and covid tests I mentioned in my previous post arrived yesterday.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-07 08:51 am
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Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C J Cherryh



Union technocrats had a plan for Gehenna, a plan that failed to take into account local conditions.

Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C J Cherryh
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andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2025-10-07 02:41 am
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-06 02:47 pm
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Bundle of Holding: Achtung! Cthulhu



Everything you need for Nazi-punching Mythos adventures

Bundle of Holding: Achtung! Cthulhu
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bibliofile ([personal profile] bibliofile) wrote2025-10-06 01:08 pm

RIP Terry Garey, 1948-2025

I knew Terry a little, mainly from LiveJournal and then WisCon.

She was this amazing person, a good writer, a poet (founding member of the Lady Poetesses from Hell), librarian, and longtime science fiction fan. Formerly of the Bay Area and Minneapolis primarily, and many other places in her youth.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-06 12:12 pm
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Clarke Award Finalists 2017

2017: The Royal College of Nursing’s alarming description of conditions in the NHS inspires the government to do worse, the Tories succeed in freezing British lifespans after a century of progress, and the UK begins that political equivalent of autoerotic asphyxiation known as Brexit.

Poll #33694 Clarke Award Finalists 2017
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 60


Which 2017 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
6 (10.0%)

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
41 (68.3%)

After Atlas by Emma Newman
10 (16.7%)

Central Station by Lavie Tidhar
9 (15.0%)

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
47 (78.3%)

Occupy Me by Tricia Sullivan
4 (6.7%)



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


Which 2017 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
After Atlas by Emma Newman

Central Station by Lavie Tidhar
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
Occupy Me by Tricia Sullivan
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mdlbear ([personal profile] mdlbear) wrote2025-10-05 05:26 pm
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Done Since 2025-09-28

Mixed, as usual. Four walks (which sounds good except that the total was only 2.9km), a little work on the HSX website (fixing a busted link counts, right?), and a little work in the recording studio (with disappointingly little to show for it). Pretty sure I'm not getting enough sleep, either, although it's been somewhat better now that I'm using the duvet and duvet cover (a bit of a weighted blanket effect?), and going to bed a little later.

Lots of difficulty with motivation. Nothing new there, either.

N and G are going to be gone for two weeks (plus a bit) at the end of the month. I have been looking into "personal alarm" buttons/pendants, in case I need emergency help. Somewhat problematic.

Here, have an amusing link: Portlanders mock Trump by posting pics of peaceful weekend activities in ‘War ravaged’ city | The Independent.

Notes & links, as usual )

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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-05 08:59 am

Destinies, February-March 1980 (Destinies, # 6) edited by Jim Baen



Pacifist Dorsai, space forts, duelling reviews, a rant about that mean Mr. Einstein and more in this issue of Destinies.

Destinies, February-March 1980 (Destinies, # 6) edited by Jim Baen
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andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2025-10-05 05:10 am
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Photo cross-post


Just had to ask what was going on.

Sophia told me "There's a spider in the bathroom"
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-04 09:04 am
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Books Received, September 27 — October 3



Twelve books new to me. Four fantasies, one horror, one non-fiction, and six (!) science fiction works, of which at least four are series instalments.

Books Received, September 27 — October 3

Poll #33688 Books Received, September 27 — October 3
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 58


Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

Children of Fallen Gods by Carissa Broadbent (December 2025)
4 (6.9%)

Enchanting the Fae Queen by Stephanie Burgis (January 2026)
9 (15.5%)

The Language of Liars by S. L. Huang (April 2026)
22 (37.9%)

We Burned So Bright by T. J. Klune (April 2026)
21 (36.2%)

We Could Be Anyone by Anna-Marie McLemore (May 2026)
8 (13.8%)

These Godly Lies by Rachelle Raeta (July 2026)
4 (6.9%)

The New Prometheans: Faith, Science, and the Supernatural
16 (27.6%)

Every Exquisite Thing by Laura Steven (July 2026)
5 (8.6%)

The Infinite State by Richard Swan (August 2026)
7 (12.1%)

Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky (June 2026)
25 (43.1%)

Moss’d in Space by Rebecca Thorne (July 2026)
20 (34.5%)

Platform Decay by Martha Wells (May 2026)
43 (74.1%)

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

Cats!
40 (69.0%)