The Steel, the Mist, and the Blazing Sun by Christopher Anvil
Jul. 6th, 2025 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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
Books Received, June 28 — July 4
Jul. 5th, 2025 09:01 amjames_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: 35
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
FIYAH No. 35: Black Isekai published by FIYAH Literary Magazine (July 2025)
18 (51.4%)
Aces Full edited by George R. R. Martin (November 2025)
2 (5.7%)
Only Spell Deep by Ava Morgyn (March 2026)
6 (17.1%)
The Damned by Harper L. Woods (October 2025)
3 (8.6%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
29 (82.9%)
2025 52 Card Project: Week 26: Cold
Jul. 4th, 2025 10:11 ampegkerrEverything this week got cancelled.
I had a miserable cold.
That was my week.
Image description: A hand pours tea from a teapot into a cup. Lower left corner: a pot of honey. A couple of cough drops lie to the side of the teacup. Behind the teacup: a Dayquil/Nightquil pack of medicine. Left: a woman blows her nose into a Kleenex.
Cold
Click on the links to see the 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.
I had a miserable cold.
That was my week.
Image description: A hand pours tea from a teapot into a cup. Lower left corner: a pot of honey. A couple of cough drops lie to the side of the teacup. Behind the teacup: a Dayquil/Nightquil pack of medicine. Left: a woman blows her nose into a Kleenex.
Click on the links to see the 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.
The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Jul. 4th, 2025 08:58 amjames_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
Every time I run something
Jul. 3rd, 2025 10:34 pmjames_davis_nicollI 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.
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.
Blight (Sleep of Reason, volume 2) by Rachel A. Rosen
Jul. 3rd, 2025 08:56 amjames_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
My alt-Mummy film
Jul. 2nd, 2025 11:51 pmjames_davis_nicollThe 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... )
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... )
The Way Up is Death, by Dan Hanks
Jul. 2nd, 2025 01:39 pmrachelmanija
In a prologue that's very Terry Pratchett-esque without actually being funny, an enormous floating tower appears in England, becomes a 12-hour wonder, and is then forgotten as people have short attention spans. Then thirteen random people suddenly vanish from their lives and appear at the base of the tower, facing the command ASCEND.
I normally love stories about people dealing with inexplicable alien architecture. This was the most boring and unimaginative version of that idea I've ever read. Each level is a death trap based on something in one of their minds - a video game, The Poseidon Adventure, an old home - but less interesting than that sounds. The action was repetitive, the characters were paper-thin, and one, an already-dated influencer, was actively painful to read:
Time to give her the Alpha Male rizzzzzzz, baby!
The ending was, unsurprisingly, also a cliche.
( Read more... )
Bundle of Holding: The Dark Eye MEGA (from 2023)
Jul. 2nd, 2025 02:46 pmjames_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)
Touring After the Apocalypse, volume 5 by Sakae Saito
Jul. 2nd, 2025 08:52 amjames_davis_nicoll
Youko and Airi meet a new friend and encounter Chekov's Volcano.
Touring After the Apocalypse, volume 5 by Sakae Saito
a loaded god complex, cock it and pull it
Jul. 1st, 2025 10:15 pmmusesfoolLast night I watched a cute movie on Netflix called Nonnas about that restaurant on Staten Island that hires grandmas as chefs. Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro, Talia Shire, and Susan Sarandon play the nonnas, and Vince Vaughn plays the guy opening the restaurant. It's kind of a nice mellow detox from The Bear in terms of a bunch of Italian-Americans yelling at each other in a restaurant kitchen. *g* Plus a really horrifying rendition of capuzelle, which is a roasted (or baked?) sheep's head, which is one of those dishes I try to forget knowing about. Anyway, the restaurant still exists, and now it has grandmas from all different backgrounds who cook there (a review of the real restaurant).
Today was my Monday, and tomorrow is my Friday at work. I could get used to a 2 day work week!
*
Today was my Monday, and tomorrow is my Friday at work. I could get used to a 2 day work week!
*
2025 CSFFA Hall of Fame Inductees
Jul. 1st, 2025 06:02 pmjames_davis_nicollThe quotation below is a quotation
Congratulations to the Inductees!
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!
The Dreamstone (Ealdwood, volume 1) by C J Cherryh
Jul. 1st, 2025 09:02 amjames_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
July 2025 Patreon Boost
Jul. 1st, 2025 08:58 amjames_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
waiting for the moment to turn
Jun. 30th, 2025 06:24 pmmusesfoolRecs update ahoy:
unfitforsociety has been updated for June 2025 with 15 recs in 3 fandoms:
✭ 13 Batfamily
✭ 2 Percy Jackson crossovers
✭
I'm not sure why I went looking for PJO crossovers but I'm kind of glad I did?
Anyway, I took today and Thursday off and I'm looking forward to this 2 day work week. *g*
✭
unfitforsociety has been updated for June 2025 with 15 recs in 3 fandoms:✭ 13 Batfamily
✭ 2 Percy Jackson crossovers
✭
I'm not sure why I went looking for PJO crossovers but I'm kind of glad I did?
Anyway, I took today and Thursday off and I'm looking forward to this 2 day work week. *g*
✭