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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-22 08:54 am
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The Delikon by H M Hoover



The Delikon invested millennia trying to civilize humans, a gift for which humans intend to show appropriate gratitude.

The Delikon by H M Hoover
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-21 09:25 pm
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Voting is open for the 2025 Aurora Awards

(quoting from an emailed newsletter because if there was a press release, I missed it)

Voting is now open for this year's Aurora Awards. CSFFA members have until 11:59pm EDT on July 19th, 2024, to submit their ballot.

Only current members of CSFFA can vote in the Aurora Awards.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-21 06:31 pm
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Two favours

Could some kind person update the awards section of my Wikipedia article?

Also, could some kind person add my latest Aurora nomination to my ISFDB article? Unless it is OK for me to do so.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-21 06:16 pm
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TIL

Funk & Wagnalls published at least one SF anthology, and my library has a copy.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-21 08:55 am
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Books Received, June 14 to June 20



Five works new to me: 2 fantasy, 1 non-fiction, 2 science fiction, of which 1 belongs to a series, and the other 4 are stand-alone.

Books Received, June 14 to June 20

Poll #33275 Books Received, June 14 to June 20
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 43

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Them by A. M. Alker, M. D. & Ashely Alker (January 2026)
22 (51.2%)

The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear (June 2025)
24 (55.8%)

From These Dark Abodes by Lyndsie Manusos (May 2024)
8 (18.6%)

The Prestige by Christopher Priest (July 2025)
8 (18.6%)

Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai (April 2026)
12 (27.9%)

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

Cats!
31 (72.1%)

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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-20 12:01 pm
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New to me



This is a painting by Édouard Frédéric Wilhelm Richter, who I had never heard of. As well, it's an example of "orientalist" painting, which I had also never heard of. Seems to be depictions of the east (starting at the middle east), as imagined by a painter whose online bio does not mention having ever visited the east.

Some interesting detail work in the expanded version.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-20 09:02 am
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The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw



All that stands between Alessa Li and freedom from Hellebore Technical Institute for the Ambitiously Gifted is a single carnage-filled rite of passage, or as the unspeakable teachers call it, dinner.

The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-19 09:31 am
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In The Garden of Iden (Company, volume 1) by Kage Baker



A timid immortal cyborg searches for valuable plants in a Tudor England torn between Anglicans and Catholics. What could possibly go wrong?

In The Garden of Iden (Company, volume 1) by Kage Baker
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-19 08:58 am
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Last night in Fabula Ultima

Rather than use a group of interchangeable mooks, the hostiles had two brutes (one who was accurate, one with multiple attacks), a mage with a couple of decent multi-target attacks, and a mage adept at protective spells. It worked pretty well, esp the part where the healer kept the other NPCS upright. It would have worked even better had she not been prioritizing their boss, who is currently enthralled by an artifact of doom and not much good in a fight.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-19 12:48 am
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-18 02:25 pm
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Bundle of Horror: Raven



Raven: A Gothic Horror RPG – the core rulebook, scenarios, & GM Screen in both English and Spanish versions!

Bundle of Horror: Raven
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-18 10:16 am
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Counting the Days: Five SFF Approaches to Calendars



So many different ways of measuring history and the passage of time...

Counting the Days: Five SFF Approaches to Calendars
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-18 09:04 am
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Magus of the Library, volume 8 by Mitsu Izumi



For what purpose has someone summoned a ten-story-tall mountain spirit to Aftzaak, City of Books?

Magus of the Library, volume 8 by Mitsu Izumi
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-17 08:54 am
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Disgraced Return of The Kap’s Needle by Renan Bernardo



When the target world proves too inhospitable for colonization, colonists make a desperate bid to return to Earth on a failing starship.

Disgraced Return of The Kap’s Needle by Renan Bernardo
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-16 02:27 pm
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Bundle of Holding: Troika Warehouse



Many supplements and adventures for Troika!, the acid-fantasy tabletop roleplaying game from Melsonian Arts Council.

Bundle of Holding: Troika Warehouse
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-16 09:48 am
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Clarke Award Finalists 2001

2001: Labour narrowly wins a second overwhelming victory, Simon Darcount finds his calling, and Jeffrey Archer distracts people from that time he was accused of stealing three suits.

Poll #33257 Clarke Award Finalists 2001
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 63

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Which 2001 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
43 (68.3%)

Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle
27 (42.9%)

Cosmonaut Keep by Ken MacLeod
18 (28.6%)

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
29 (46.0%)

Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
22 (34.9%)

Salt by Adam Roberts
5 (7.9%)



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

Which 2001 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle
Cosmonaut Keep by Ken MacLeod
Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
Salt by Adam Roberts
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-15 08:51 am
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-14 09:03 am
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Books Received, June 7 to June 13



Ten books new to me: 4.5 fantasy, 1 horror, 1 mystery, 3.5 science fiction, of which only two are identified as series.

Books Received, June 7 to June 13



Poll #33251 Books Received, June 7 to June 13
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 54

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews (March 2026)
20 (37.0%)

The Swan’s Daughter: A Possibly Doomed Love Story by Roshani Chokshi (January 2026)
14 (25.9%)

Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology edited by Julie C. Day, Carina Bissett, and Craig Laurance Gidney (June 2025)
28 (51.9%)

The Storm by Rachel Hawkins (January2026)
4 (7.4%)

What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher (September 2025)
30 (55.6%)

Red Empire by Jonathan Maberry (March 2026)
3 (5.6%)

The Two Lies of Faven Sythe by Megan E. O’Keefe (June 2025)
14 (25.9%)

The Young Necromancer’s Guide to Ghosts by Vanessa Ricci-Thode (April 2024)
14 (25.9%)

The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (January 2026)
6 (11.1%)

Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (June 2025)
25 (46.3%)

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

Cats!
34 (63.0%)

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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-13 09:04 am
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A Rebel’s History of Mars by Nadia Afifi



The embittered Martian aerialist and the nonconformist live a thousand-plus years apart, in different solar systems. What, then, connects them?

A Rebel’s History of Mars by Nadia Afifi
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-06-12 10:41 am
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