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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-05 08:49 am
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-04 02:05 pm
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-04 09:59 am

Happy Civil Holiday!

Living as I do in Ontario, a province run for and by assholes, the Civic Holiday is an "optional" holiday that employers may either observe or spend beating their employees with a stick no thicker than Andre the Giant's thumb.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-04 09:42 am

Clarke Award Finalists 2008

2008: Norovirus is a smash hit with three million-plus Britons, an avoidable market collapse relieves boredom, and Boris Johnson’s election as mayor of London surely is not a harbinger of dark days to come.

Poll #33463 Clarke Award Finalists 2008
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 22


Which 2008 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Black Man by Richard Morgan
10 (45.5%)

The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall
7 (31.8%)

The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
9 (40.9%)

The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter
0 (0.0%)

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
4 (18.2%)

The Red Men by Matthew De Abaitua
1 (4.5%)



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

Which 2008 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Black Man by Richard Morgan
The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall
The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
The Red Men by Matthew De Abaitua
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marthawells ([personal profile] marthawells) wrote2025-08-02 10:59 am

Queen Demon review

Woke up to a fantastic review of Queen Demon in the August Locus. Here's an excerpt:


This is a fantastic novel, set in a fascinating world with truly compelling characters. It is shot through with grief, with the reverberations of destruction and the aftermaths of trauma: While the past timeline gives us emotional focus on the characters’ griefs, immediate traumas, and desperate choices, the present makes plain the extent of the Hierarchs’ destruction of the rest of the world, the scars in the landscape, in societies, in the vanishing of entire cultures. New societies have built themselves out of the ruins, in the shadow of what was lost and in its absences. While we see it particularly from Kai’s perspective, understanding his losses and his wounds, his scars and his griefs, and what healing has been possible for him between the past and the present, it’s not unique to Kai, either. Loss with all its jagged edges looms over this fragile recovery. These scars wear not only upon the main characters but upon their allies and opponents, too: Trauma, both personal and generational, is a strongly motivating factor and a weight that influences most of the personal relationships and many of the political interactions that we see.
-- Liz Bourke, Locus August 2025


Queen Demon is the sequel to Witch King, and it will be out in ebook, hardcover, and audiobook (narrated by Eric Mok, on October 7
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-02 09:54 am

Books Received, July 26 to July 31 belated poll

Poll #33455 Books Received, July 26 to July 31
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 48


Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

The Laundry Roleplaying Game: Operative’s Handbook by by David F Chapman, Calum Collins, Christopher Colston, Alister Davison, Michael Duxbury, Warren Frey, Gareth Hanrahan, and Elaine Lithgow et al (Q4, 2025)
20 (41.7%)

The Laundry Roleplaying Game: Supervisor’s Guide by Anthony Boyd, Greg Buchanan, David F Chapman, Calum Collins, Christopher Colston, Alister Davison, Michael Duxbury, Warren Frey, Gareth Hanrahan, Derek Johnston, and Elaine Lithgow et al (Q4, 2025)
20 (41.7%)

You do know at least one person in the group needs both books, right?
24 (50.0%)

Some other option (see comments)
2 (4.2%)

Cats!
43 (89.6%)

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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-02 09:18 am
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Books Received, July 26 to July 31



Just two items this week (although maybe two halves of one thing). Both cosmic horror, both part of (or related to) a series.


Books Received, July 26 to July 31
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-01 03:45 pm
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-08-01 08:49 am

Empath by Hoa Pham



Many people spend their lives wondering if there's a point to their existence. Vuong and her clone sisters have a purpose. With a little investigation, they might find out what it is.

Empath by Hoa Pham
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-31 10:17 am
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-31 09:04 am
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-31 08:57 am
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July 2025 in Review



23 works reviewed. 12 by women (52%), 10 by men (43%),1 by non-binary authors (4%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 11 by POC (48%).

July 2025 in Review
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-30 04:00 pm

Hypothetically speaking

If someone asked for a list of issues with the Reactor site, what would be your top five? Not counting search. Assume search will be mentioned.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-30 03:16 pm
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Bundle of Holding: BattleTech Shrapnel 2



11 digital issues of The Official BattleTech Magazine from Catalyst Game Labs, Shrapnel.

Bundle of Holding: BattleTech Shrapnel 2
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-30 08:59 am

Mr. Villain’s Day Off, volume 1 by Yuu Morikawa



One day the General will be victorious. Earth will be his! Humanity will be exterminated!

However, today is the General’s day off.

Mr. Villain’s Day Off, volume 1 by Yuu Morikawa
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-29 09:28 pm

Heads up for the Pacific

8.7 quake in Siberia, tsunami warning across the Pacific.
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marthawells ([personal profile] marthawells) wrote2025-07-29 09:00 am

Online Event

Tomorrow (Wednesday the 30th) Summer of Science Fiction & Fantasy: Martha Wells in conversation with Kate Elliott

July 30 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm PT Register at this link:

https://www.clarionwest.org/event/summer-of-science-fiction-fantasy-martha-wells-in-conversation-with-kate-elliott/

It's free!
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-29 08:54 am

Angel Station by Walter Jon Williams



Two orphans try to make a living in an unforgiving universe.

Angel Station by Walter Jon Williams