Books Received, June 7 to June 13
Jun. 14th, 2025 09:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicoll
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: 46
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews (March 2026)
18 (39.1%)
The Swan’s Daughter: A Possibly Doomed Love Story by Roshani Chokshi (January 2026)
12 (26.1%)
Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology edited by Julie C. Day, Carina Bissett, and Craig Laurance Gidney (June 2025)
24 (52.2%)
The Storm by Rachel Hawkins (January2026)
3 (6.5%)
What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher (September 2025)
25 (54.3%)
Red Empire by Jonathan Maberry (March 2026)
2 (4.3%)
The Two Lies of Faven Sythe by Megan E. O’Keefe (June 2025)
13 (28.3%)
The Young Necromancer’s Guide to Ghosts by Vanessa Ricci-Thode (April 2024)
12 (26.1%)
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (January 2026)
6 (13.0%)
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (June 2025)
24 (52.2%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
29 (63.0%)
Valley So Low
Jun. 13th, 2025 04:52 pmmarycatelli posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
booksValley So Low: Southern Mountain Stories by Manly Wade Wellman
A collection of uncanny tales. Some are Silver John. Some feature other men who wander about and know some of the matters -- each one with his tales grouped -- and it's clear that it's one continuity, with their loosely knowing each other, with Judge Pursuivant the sage old man of their knowledge. Others are people who get mixed up in such matters and may or may not escape.
One can see how he was listed in the Appendix N as a D&D source.
A collection of uncanny tales. Some are Silver John. Some feature other men who wander about and know some of the matters -- each one with his tales grouped -- and it's clear that it's one continuity, with their loosely knowing each other, with Judge Pursuivant the sage old man of their knowledge. Others are people who get mixed up in such matters and may or may not escape.
One can see how he was listed in the Appendix N as a D&D source.
A Rebel’s History of Mars by Nadia Afifi
Jun. 13th, 2025 09:04 amjames_davis_nicoll
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
Bundle of Holding: Coriolis Mercy of the Icons T
Jun. 12th, 2025 10:41 amjames_davis_nicoll
The corebook + the ICONS adventure trilogy from Free League.
Bundle of Holding: Coriolis Mercy of the Icons
So, there's an employee I dread managing
Jun. 12th, 2025 09:35 amjames_davis_nicollVery nice and punctual but they've basically learned nothing in the year they've worked at the theatre. Not where to stand, not which row is which, or the general location of a given seat. The last two really matter during reserved seating shows. Whatever side that usher is on is going to have lines, and people may end up in the wrong seats.
So I was discussing the situation with my boss and I said my current approach was that each shift would be to pick one thing that usher does not know, and do my best to ensure they know it by the end of the shift. Last shift was "where to stand", for example. My reward is, I think, that usher is now _my_ special project who I will be working with whenever I HM.
I did assure my boss I do remember a previous HM who grilled ushers on seat location and would ding them a quarter hour for minor uniform infractions and that I wasn't going to use them as a model. Well, I do, but only in the sense of asking myself if the way I want to handle something is how that person would, and if it is, I do something else.
So I was discussing the situation with my boss and I said my current approach was that each shift would be to pick one thing that usher does not know, and do my best to ensure they know it by the end of the shift. Last shift was "where to stand", for example. My reward is, I think, that usher is now _my_ special project who I will be working with whenever I HM.
I did assure my boss I do remember a previous HM who grilled ushers on seat location and would ding them a quarter hour for minor uniform infractions and that I wasn't going to use them as a model. Well, I do, but only in the sense of asking myself if the way I want to handle something is how that person would, and if it is, I do something else.
The Transitive Properties of Cheese by Ann LeBlanc
Jun. 12th, 2025 08:59 amjames_davis_nicoll
An artisanal cheesemaker's attempt to save her precious cheese cave lands her in the middle of an interplanetary crisis.
The Transitive Properties of Cheese by Ann LeBlanc
The true meaning of Metal
Jun. 12th, 2025 11:19 amgreen_knightAnyone can be shouty, edgy, and black.
There seems to be more than one band with a pink logo, but this song surely features the most metal instrument of all times:
the recorder.
(For Germans: This is Torfrock. Brings back memories. I got there via Platt folk songs: Dat Du meen Leevsten büst -> Nakich bün ick gor nich mehr so schmuck (from recommendations - c'mon, I had to listen to that [*]) -> other Torfrock songs -> WTF???)
[*] There's an English language folk song, 'I just don't look good naked anymore' of which this is riffing off. And in typical Torfrock manner, it's a lot more direct. ('schmuck' is an adjective used for attractive people, so... yeah. I still understand a fair bit of it. Not all, though, which is annoying.).
There seems to be more than one band with a pink logo, but this song surely features the most metal instrument of all times:
the recorder.
(For Germans: This is Torfrock. Brings back memories. I got there via Platt folk songs: Dat Du meen Leevsten büst -> Nakich bün ick gor nich mehr so schmuck (from recommendations - c'mon, I had to listen to that [*]) -> other Torfrock songs -> WTF???)
[*] There's an English language folk song, 'I just don't look good naked anymore' of which this is riffing off. And in typical Torfrock manner, it's a lot more direct. ('schmuck' is an adjective used for attractive people, so... yeah. I still understand a fair bit of it. Not all, though, which is annoying.).
Of Dice and Bots
Jun. 11th, 2025 03:29 pmgreen_knightI wanted to make a post about shiny math rocks, and will do so at a later time, but my experience has been marred a bit by customer service issues.
( Same problem, different solutions )
I definitely need to find more opportunities to play DnD.
( Same problem, different solutions )
I definitely need to find more opportunities to play DnD.
Five SFF Books About Oddballs Resisting Conformity
Jun. 11th, 2025 10:08 amjames_davis_nicoll
Tales of dissidents, dissenters, and iconoclasts taking on the status quo...
Five SFF Books About Oddballs Resisting Conformity
The Hanging Stones
Jun. 10th, 2025 08:53 pmmarycatelli posting in booksThe Hanging Stones by Manly Wade Wellman
A Silver John story, Works as a stand-alone.
( Read more... )
A Silver John story, Works as a stand-alone.
( Read more... )
From This Day Forward by John Brunner
Jun. 10th, 2025 09:00 amjames_davis_nicoll
The sudden, shocking, return of Shockwave Reader. Will the living envy the dead?
From This Day Forward by John Brunner
Five Stories About Time Travel on a Limited Scale
Jun. 9th, 2025 12:40 pmjames_davis_nicoll
No rules, no bureaucracy, just some randos messing around with the past, present, and future.
Five Stories About Time Travel on a Limited Scale
Clarke Award Finalists 2000
Jun. 9th, 2025 10:21 amjames_davis_nicoll2000: The theft of an Enigma Machine comes too late to play a significant role in World War Two, Sellafield highlight British dedication to nuclear saafety, and the Conservatives, informed polling has them 2% ahead of Labour, discover that they are actually trailing by 13%.
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read,, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2000 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Distraction by Bruce Sterling
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Silver Screen by Justina Robson
The Bones of Time by Kathleen Ann Goonan
Time by Stephen Baxter
Poll #33234 Clarke Award Finalists 2000
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 54
Which 2000 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
View Answers
Distraction by Bruce Sterling
11 (20.4%)
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
40 (74.1%)
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
42 (77.8%)
Silver Screen by Justina Robson
8 (14.8%)
The Bones of Time by Kathleen Ann Goonan
4 (7.4%)
Time by Stephen Baxter
11 (20.4%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read,, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2000 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Distraction by Bruce Sterling
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Silver Screen by Justina Robson
The Bones of Time by Kathleen Ann Goonan
Time by Stephen Baxter
Timing
Jun. 8th, 2025 07:06 pmjames_davis_nicollI swung by Old Goat Books to pick up a book I ordered, which meant I was in the right place at the right time hear the confused customer next to me ask "What's speculative fiction?" Which, after I explained what it meant, was followed by the question. "Do you know anything about Andre Norton?"
It was only with great effort that I resisted shouting "BEHOLD! I AM Marshall McLuhan" before helping.
It was only with great effort that I resisted shouting "BEHOLD! I AM Marshall McLuhan" before helping.