Bundle of Holding: Weird Wizard
Sep. 22nd, 2025 01:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicoll
The SHADOW OF THE WEIRD WIZARD corebooks, supplements, and adventures.
Bundle of Holding: Weird Wizard
james_davis_nicollThe SHADOW OF THE WEIRD WIZARD corebooks, supplements, and adventures.
Bundle of Holding: Weird Wizard
Clarke Award Finalists 201
Sep. 22nd, 2025 09:52 amjames_davis_nicoll2015: Five Britons sign for the doomed Mars One venture, the UK pays off its WWI War Loans, and the Liberal Democrats’ adroit political maneuvering yields memorable electoral returns.
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2015 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson
Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
Poll #33648 Clarke Award Finalists 2015
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 32
Which 2015 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
View Answers
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
21 (65.6%)
Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson
7 (21.9%)
Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta
6 (18.8%)
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
4 (12.5%)
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
14 (43.8%)
The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
15 (46.9%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2015 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson
Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
Interesting Links for 22-09-2025
Sep. 22nd, 2025 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Canada, Australia and UK recognize Palestinian statehood (France soon)
- (tags:Palestine France UK Australia Canada )
- 2. Among UK Jews, opposition to Palestinian political autonomy is vanishing
- (tags:UK Palestine Israel )
- 3. Examining overlap and homogeneity in ASD, ADHD, and OCD: a data-driven, diagnosis-agnostic approach
- (tags:ADHD autism psychology )
- 4. South Korea's President Lee says U.S. investment demands would spark a financial crisis
- (tags:usa korea economics doom )
Photo cross-post
Sep. 21st, 2025 10:25 amandrewducker
We went up the hill. There were roses. Nobody knows why. Gideon has
theories involving dead people.
Original
is here on Pixelfed.scot.
Frostflower and Thorn (Frostflower and Thorn, volume 1) by Phyllis Ann Karr
Sep. 21st, 2025 09:13 amjames_davis_nicoll
Frostflower can solve Thorn's pregnancy problem... but can the pair survive the attention of a fanatical farmer-priest?
Frostflower and Thorn (Frostflower and Thorn, volume 1) by Phyllis Ann Karr
Interesting Links for 21-09-2025
Sep. 21st, 2025 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. EU Data Act — What Businesses Need to Know (no more lock-in!)
- (tags:Europe data regulation )
- 2. Troubles legacy: Mixed reaction to UK-Ireland deal on addressing cases
- (tags:UK Ireland )
- 3. Visa holders on vacation have 15 hours to return to US or pay $100k fee
- (tags:USA migration OhForFucksSake )
- 4. Goebbels Ends Careers of Five 'Aryan' Actors Who Made Witticisms About the Nazi Regime (a headline from 1939)
- (tags:nazis censorship society history )
- 5. We have invented the vibroblade! (The World's First Ultrasonic Chef's Knife for Home Cooks)
- (tags:Technology knife video )
Books Received, September 13 — September 19
Sep. 20th, 2025 09:28 amjames_davis_nicoll
Really, more of Book Received. One work new to me, science fantasy.
Books Received, September 13 — September 19
Poll #33640 Books Received, September 13 — September 19
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 37
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
Yalum by Matthew Hughes (September 2025)
10 (27.0%)
Some other option (see comments)
1 (2.7%)
Cats!
35 (94.6%)
Interesting Links for 20-09-2025
Sep. 20th, 2025 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Popper was right about the link between certainty and extremism
- (tags:politics psychology belief )
- 2. Plastic from takeaway containers may fuel Alzheimer's risk (in mice)
- (tags:mice alzheimers plastic )
- 3. Is it cheating if your illicit affair is with AI?
- (tags:relationships ai )
- 4. The US "healthcare" system is not fit for purpose.
- (tags:healthcare USA OhForFucksSake )
Book review: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Sep. 19th, 2025 10:46 pmrocky41_7 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fffridayLast night I finished Becky Chambers' The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, a sci-fi book about a motley crew of spacefarers who "drill" wormholes to enable rapid travel across space for the diverse galactic alliance known as the GC. At the start of the book, they are offered a bid on a particularly difficult, lucrative job, and can't resist taking the bait.
This should be (another) lesson to me in not going all-in on a creator because I've enjoyed one of their works. I loved Chambers' To Be Taught, if Fortunate, and I've heard plenty of internet praise for The Long Way, so when I saw it at the bookstore recently, I dropped $20 on it readily. If I hadn't, I probably wouldn't have bothered finishing it.
First - if you picked up this book looking for the femslash, it's barely there, and it's a lot more friends-with-benefits than romance. The other two romances in the book get a lot more attention. If what you really want is F/F romance, it's not really here.
This is a character-driven book with barely a plot, which wouldn't be a problem if the characters were interesting. As it is, they are functionally interchangeable: a crew of people who are all optimistic, friendly, emotionally open, painstakingly polite, and obsessively well-intentioned (except for the one guy who's a Jerk, who exists to be a jerk whenever the scene calls for someone who needs to be less-than-fanatically-polite or there's a chance for Chambers to squeeze in another instance of his being a jerk, even when he's technically right). There is no character growth to speak of; none of these characters changes at all between the start of the book and the end. There's no complexity to anyone.
( Read more... )
This should be (another) lesson to me in not going all-in on a creator because I've enjoyed one of their works. I loved Chambers' To Be Taught, if Fortunate, and I've heard plenty of internet praise for The Long Way, so when I saw it at the bookstore recently, I dropped $20 on it readily. If I hadn't, I probably wouldn't have bothered finishing it.
First - if you picked up this book looking for the femslash, it's barely there, and it's a lot more friends-with-benefits than romance. The other two romances in the book get a lot more attention. If what you really want is F/F romance, it's not really here.
This is a character-driven book with barely a plot, which wouldn't be a problem if the characters were interesting. As it is, they are functionally interchangeable: a crew of people who are all optimistic, friendly, emotionally open, painstakingly polite, and obsessively well-intentioned (except for the one guy who's a Jerk, who exists to be a jerk whenever the scene calls for someone who needs to be less-than-fanatically-polite or there's a chance for Chambers to squeeze in another instance of his being a jerk, even when he's technically right). There is no character growth to speak of; none of these characters changes at all between the start of the book and the end. There's no complexity to anyone.
( Read more... )Bad News From Alpha Centauri A…
Sep. 19th, 2025 10:21 amjames_davis_nicoll
There's a planet in the habitable zone... but not an Earthlike planet.
Bad News From Alpha Centauri A…
Sabrena Swept Away by Karuna Riazi
Sep. 19th, 2025 10:14 amjames_davis_nicoll
Sabrena's life is full of struggles already. The last thing she needs is an other-worldly adventure. Life is, alas, not considerate of a teen's preferences.
Sabrena Swept Away by Karuna Riazi
Interesting Links for 19-09-2025
Sep. 19th, 2025 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Labour's plan to jumpstart city building after Rayner's 1.5m homes drive stalls
- (tags:housing uk )
- 2. Chimps consume a pint of lager's worth of alcohol every day in fruit
- (tags:alcohol chimpanzees )
- 3. Man with Covid for over two years became virus incubator, as it evolved into new variants of concern
- (tags:pandemic virus evolution )
- 4. Samsung confirms its $1,800+ fridges will start showing you ads (and so I will never buy one)
- (tags:advertising Samsung technology OhForFucksSake )
- 5. Early dropoff in girls' school sports linked to new gender confirmation forms (in Canada)
- (tags:Canada girls sports school LGBT transgender bigotry )
- 6. Trump Spends Entire U.K. Trip Trying To Figure Out Where He Knows Prince Andrew From
- (tags:politics Child_abuse satire usa uk royalty )
- 7. An "At The Mountains Of Madness" game, where you play as a penguin.
- (tags:penguins hplovecraft games wtf )
ADHD research
Sep. 18th, 2025 12:12 pmfirecatFrom the “You don’t say!🙀” files
(Content note: The article uses language that frames ADHD as a problem)
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/adhd-advantage-hypercuriosity
(Content note: The article uses language that frames ADHD as a problem)
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/adhd-advantage-hypercuriosity
Geodesic Dreams: The Best Short Fiction of Gardner Dozois by Gardner Dozois
Sep. 18th, 2025 08:47 amjames_davis_nicoll
A selection of Dozois' best, from the first half of his half century career.
Geodesic Dreams: The Best Short Fiction of Gardner Dozois by Gardner Dozois
Interesting Links for 18-09-2025
Sep. 18th, 2025 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Ukraine is hitting Russia where it hurts - and it's working
- (tags:ukraine russia war economy )
- 2. 'Erosion emergency' at Edinburgh's Calton Hill after grass cut too short
- (tags:edinburgh nature )
- 3. 'Forgotten' royal castle uncovered on Herbidean Scottish island
- (tags:scotland castle )
- 4. What's changing for trials in Scotland?
- (tags:scotland law )
- 5. Renewables do unambiguously reduce wholesale power prices
- (tags:renewables electricity economics )
- 6. There Are Too Many Video Games (and songs and books and TV shows)
- (tags:media economics society )
silly body continues to be silly, yet I trudge forward, for I am frikkin' stubborn
Sep. 17th, 2025 08:46 pmelisem In the course of dealing with silly body stuff with which I will not bore you, my sleep cycle got turned upside down again, so I am busy with various attempts at precessing back to a more manageable situation.
Somewhere in some book or other, a character said something about the phrase for having a hangover in a certain language was "my eyes are not opposite the holes." It's not a hangover, but when my sleep schedule is deeply out of synch and I'm trying to do stuff connected to the outside world's schedule, I kind of feel like my life is not opposite the holes.
How's your life matching your hours of access lately?
Somewhere in some book or other, a character said something about the phrase for having a hangover in a certain language was "my eyes are not opposite the holes." It's not a hangover, but when my sleep schedule is deeply out of synch and I'm trying to do stuff connected to the outside world's schedule, I kind of feel like my life is not opposite the holes.
How's your life matching your hours of access lately?
Om nom: food combinations, or, playing with what's here
Sep. 17th, 2025 08:28 pmelisem So a little while back, for. my birthday I got various tasty things to nibble. One of them was salmon skin and salted egg crisps, with curry leaves in the mix, and some spice. Extremely tasty. When I got down to the bottom of the bag, there were a lot of little shards and crumbs that were particularly spicy. A mental note was. made for possible future uses.
Today was a future use. There wasn't a fresh vegetable in the house, but I wanted something with both softness and crunch, and wanted it to be in something that had umami plus. The last of the bread gave me toast. There was some braunsweiger (liver paste, Nueske's in particular) which went onto the toast, cut pretty thinly. (I am from people who like thick slices of braunsweiger on toast or bread, and normally I do too, but this was a special application, part flavor and part structural adhesive.) Then I spooned out some of the fragments from the bottom of the bag of salted egg and salmon skin crisps, laying them on top of the liver paste and pressing them in with the back of the spoon, and had it open-faced.
Big win. Big tasty win. Especially the way the curry leaves went with the braunsweiger.
Must remember this and make it again.
Part of the idea for this one was looking at the braunsweiger and wishing I could magically make a banh mi from the place in Global Market appear. So some of the taste combo came from that. Lettuce or bok choy or other green or variously colored thinly sliced vegetables, with vinegar or not, would have been great, but there was no such suppy in the house, alas. Although hey, there is a little new kraut in the back of the fridge which should get eaten up. Hmmm. Although we are out of bread now. Hmm. I wonder how it would be on top of ramen noodles. Pity that the boiled eggs are all et up.
Do you have any tasty kludged-together food that you are fond of? What gave you the idea?
(My term for kludged-together food is "cream of refrigerator soup," which explains the tag. No actual soup was generated in this particular instance.)
Today was a future use. There wasn't a fresh vegetable in the house, but I wanted something with both softness and crunch, and wanted it to be in something that had umami plus. The last of the bread gave me toast. There was some braunsweiger (liver paste, Nueske's in particular) which went onto the toast, cut pretty thinly. (I am from people who like thick slices of braunsweiger on toast or bread, and normally I do too, but this was a special application, part flavor and part structural adhesive.) Then I spooned out some of the fragments from the bottom of the bag of salted egg and salmon skin crisps, laying them on top of the liver paste and pressing them in with the back of the spoon, and had it open-faced.
Big win. Big tasty win. Especially the way the curry leaves went with the braunsweiger.
Must remember this and make it again.
Part of the idea for this one was looking at the braunsweiger and wishing I could magically make a banh mi from the place in Global Market appear. So some of the taste combo came from that. Lettuce or bok choy or other green or variously colored thinly sliced vegetables, with vinegar or not, would have been great, but there was no such suppy in the house, alas. Although hey, there is a little new kraut in the back of the fridge which should get eaten up. Hmmm. Although we are out of bread now. Hmm. I wonder how it would be on top of ramen noodles. Pity that the boiled eggs are all et up.
Do you have any tasty kludged-together food that you are fond of? What gave you the idea?
(My term for kludged-together food is "cream of refrigerator soup," which explains the tag. No actual soup was generated in this particular instance.)
Whining about online t-shirt purchases.
Sep. 17th, 2025 05:36 pmandrewduckerOoh, I thought, that's a really cool t-shirt! And the price is only £24, that's actually pretty reasonable!
Except no, it's £24 plus £6 tax plus £7 shipping *that takes up to 6 weeks*.
And this for an item that's print on demand. Which means, theoretically, they could print it in the UK in the first place and not have to presumably ship it to me by alpaca from Kazakhstan!
Shame, really, it's a nice t-shirt. But not £37 nice.
Except no, it's £24 plus £6 tax plus £7 shipping *that takes up to 6 weeks*.
And this for an item that's print on demand. Which means, theoretically, they could print it in the UK in the first place and not have to presumably ship it to me by alpaca from Kazakhstan!
Shame, really, it's a nice t-shirt. But not £37 nice.
The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike
Sep. 17th, 2025 09:00 amjames_davis_nicoll
The Central Plaza Mansion tower offers palatial 900 square foot apartments for a mere ¥35,000,000. It is a deal too good for the Kano family to turn down... although they should have.
The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike
