![[sticky entry]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/entry/sticky_entry.png){kind=small}
My review site's patreon can be found here.
James Davis Nicoll is creating Book reviews
A very belated clarification about something:
( Read more... )
![[sticky entry]](//www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/entry/sticky_entry.png)
Sticky: New Policy: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE POST A NAKED URL HERE.
Oct. 11th, 2025 11:26 amDO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE POST A NAKED URL HERE.
Asking politely has failed for 20 years. Therefore, comments with naked urls will be deleted, as they break Recent Comments. To post links, follow the advice below.
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE POST A NAKED URL HERE.
Asking politely has failed for 20 years. Therefore, comments with naked urls will be deleted, as they break Recent Comments. To post links, follow the advice below.
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE POST A NAKED URL HERE.
Books Received, February 21 — February 27
Feb. 28th, 2026 08:54 am
20 (!) works new to me: almost all fantasy. It's striking how little prose SF here is in the mix and how what there is is confined to the older works I acquired.
Books Received, February 21 — February 27
Poll #34301 Books Received, February 21 — February 27
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 27
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
Mirrorwoven by Bori Cser (July 2026)
3 (11.1%)
Bodies of Magic by Marske Freya (September 2026)
10 (37.0%)
The Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace (September 2026)
2 (7.4%)
Hawk & Sparrow by Ayana Gray (September 2026)
2 (7.4%)
When Shadows Burn by Vanessa Le (December 2026)
2 (7.4%)
Call Me Traitor by Everina Maxwell (October 2026)
9 (33.3%)
Trunk No. 3 by Allie Millington (October 2026)
5 (18.5%)
Lightning and Thunder by Sara Raasch (December 2026)
2 (7.4%)
East of Envy by Nikki Saint Crowe (November 2026)
4 (14.8%)
Outgunned — Action Flicks Vol. 3 by by Riccardo “Rico” Sirignano and Simone Formicola with art by Daniela Giubellini (February 2026)
4 (14.8%)
Outgunned Superheroes by Riccardo “Rico” Sirignano and Simone Formicola with art by Daniela Giubellini (February 2026)
4 (14.8%)
The Harrow Home for Wayward Girls by Jessica Spotswood (August 2026)
3 (11.1%)
Antilia: Sword And Song by Kate Story (June 2018)
2 (7.4%)
Antilia: Seer and Sacrifice by Kate Story (May 2019)
2 (7.4%)
Blasted by Kate Story (August 2008)
5 (18.5%)
Ferry Back the Gifts by Kate Story (November 2022)
2 (7.4%)
This Insubstantial Pageant by Kate Story (October 2017)
6 (22.2%)
Nightjars by Michael Wehunt (September 2026)
2 (7.4%)
The Dreamless by Jen Williams (May 2026)
6 (22.2%)
It Looks Like You in the Dark by Mathilda Zeller (October 2026)
9 (33.3%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
22 (81.5%)
February 2026 in Review
Feb. 28th, 2026 08:46 am
It's almost March 2026, somehow. I hope March 2026 to January 21, 2029 goes by as quickly...
20 works reviewed. 10 by women (50%), 8 by men (40%), 1 by non-binary authors (5%), 1 by authors whose gender is unknown (5%), and 8 by POC (40%).
More details here.
Watsfic's 50th
Feb. 27th, 2026 09:39 pmSeen on the Watsfic discord, qwp
Heyeveryone,
**It is with great pride that I announce WATSFIC's 50ᵗʰ Anniversary!** On January 13th, 1976, we were officially recognized by the Federation of Students as a student club. For 50-years since then we have been nerding out to all facets of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. From the original release of Star Wars and the animated Lord of the Rings films, to Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and Wargaming.
To celebrate our first half-century as a club at UW, **we are hosting our 50ᵗʰ Anniversary Event on March 7ᵗʰ. Join us from 11 AM to 11 PM in MC 4041 and 4042** as we take a walk down memory lane. With stops along Ravenloft and the White Plume Mountain, glimpses of the wonders and horrors of space with Mothership and Warhammer, casual pitstops with Board Games and Magic: The Gathering, and some nice R&R complete with classic films and painting.
**Please Sign-Up using this form :**
Walk-Ins are welcome, however, we cannot guarantee space for everyone at every activity.
**We'd like to thank everyone** for helping keep this club going strong for 50 years, **and invite you all, first-year to alumni, to join us in this once in a 50-year celebration** of nerdom at the University of Waterloo!
( Read more... )
Noted author, bigot Dan Simmons reported dead of stroke.
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
Feb. 27th, 2026 09:06 am
The Sicilian debacle leaves Syracuse with seven thousand Athenian prisoners slowly starving in a quarry. What better time to stage a play?
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
"What is this thing, and where the heck did it come from?" is a great way to start any story!
Five Science Fiction Stories About Investigating Enigmatic Artifacts
Hell’s Heart by Alexis Hall
Feb. 26th, 2026 08:37 am
What better cure for melancholy than to serve under a captain whose obsessed pursuit of a leviathan will surely doom all involved?
Hell’s Heart by Alexis Hall
The Good Society Bundle featuring Good Society, the Jane Austen-inspired tabletop roleplaying game from Storybrewers Roleplaying.
Bundle of Holding: Good Society (from 2024)
Babel no Toshokan by Tsubana
Feb. 25th, 2026 08:52 am
What could possibly go wrong with playing along with an unhappy teen's delusions?
Babel no Toshokan by Tsubana
The Rift by Walter Jon Williams
Feb. 24th, 2026 09:15 am
The New Madrid Fault teaches a memorable lesson about the transience of things.
The Rift by Walter Jon Williams
Bundle of Holding: Mists of Akuma
Feb. 23rd, 2026 02:10 pm
A bundle for Mists of Akuma, the tabletop roleplaying campaign setting of Eastern fantasy noir steampunk from Storm Bunny Studios for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition.
Bundle of Holding: Mists of Akuma
You may be surprised to learn that "Canadian thriller" is not an oxymoron.
A Brief Survey of Canadian Political Thrillers
Dance the Eagle to Sleep by Marge Piercy
Feb. 22nd, 2026 09:33 am
Can America's well-financed, highly-experienced, heavily-armed war machine hope to prevail against a numerically insignificant, poorly-armed, American teen movement?
Dance the Eagle to Sleep by Marge Piercy
Books Received, February 14 — February 20
Feb. 21st, 2026 09:02 am
Seven books new to me. four fantasy, one horror, one ostensibly non-fiction, and one romance. Three are series. Yeah, there does seem to be a shortage of science fiction.
I had a bunch of stuff come in just after the cut-off time for these. Next week will look very different.
Books Received, February 14 — February 20
Poll #34247 Books Received, February 14 — February 20
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 47
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
I Want You to Be Happy by Jem Calder (May 2026)
3 (6.4%)
In the Realm of the Last Man: A Memoir by Francis Fukuyama (September 2026)
5 (10.6%)
A Divided Duty: An October Daye Novel by Seanan McGuire (September 2026)
15 (31.9%)
Wickhills by Premee Mohamed (September 2026)
18 (38.3%)
Hallowed Bones: A Sons of Salem Novel by Lucy Smoke (October 2026)
2 (4.3%)
Falling for a Villainous Vampire by Charlotte Stein (October 2026)
6 (12.8%)
I Am the Monster Under the Bed: A Novel by Emily Zinnikas (September 2026)
14 (29.8%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
39 (83.0%)
The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho
Feb. 20th, 2026 09:10 am
A successful businesswoman has the opportunity of a lifetime offered to her, only to have an old friend greatly complicate matters.
The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho
All Regulations Are Written in Blood
Feb. 19th, 2026 12:10 pmTTRPG campaign idea.
PCs are field agents in charge of finding and dealing with arcane occupational safety violations. That six-sided summoning pentagram? Flagged. That storeroom where the universal solvent is next to the lemonade? Flagged.
That deadly-trap-filled dungeon abandoned by its creator when the maintenance fees got too high? Red tagged.
This isn't the same as my recent FabUlt campaign. That was about discouraging the worst excesses in a world run by oligarch mages and there weren't really regulations. This would be set in a regulatory state, and would be more an exploration of normalization of deviance.
PCs are field agents in charge of finding and dealing with arcane occupational safety violations. That six-sided summoning pentagram? Flagged. That storeroom where the universal solvent is next to the lemonade? Flagged.
That deadly-trap-filled dungeon abandoned by its creator when the maintenance fees got too high? Red tagged.
This isn't the same as my recent FabUlt campaign. That was about discouraging the worst excesses in a world run by oligarch mages and there weren't really regulations. This would be set in a regulatory state, and would be more an exploration of normalization of deviance.
Slow Gods by Claire North
Feb. 19th, 2026 08:52 am
Against the gleefully hypocritical, exploitative Shine, the very gods themselves contend in vain.
Slow Gods by Claire North
Bundle of Holding: Wolves Upon the Coast
Feb. 18th, 2026 02:57 pm
The Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign, a bare-bones old-school tabletop roleplaying game by designer Luke Gearing.
Bundle of Holding: Wolves Upon the Coast
