tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433 james_davis_nicoll james_davis_nicoll 2026-06-11T21:49:13Z tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13972230 2026-06-11T21:49:13Z 2026-06-11T21:49:13Z public 2 Worldcon in Memoriam reports:<br />"Author Jane Yolen (b.1939) died on June 11. She wrote books and novels for all ages, including Briar Rose, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?, and The Devil’s Arithmetic. Yolen won 2 Nebulas, a World Fantasy and was named Grand Master by SFPA, SFWA and World Fantasy. She served as SFWA President."<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13972230" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13972065 2026-06-11T17:01:14Z 2026-06-11T17:01:14Z public 5 <img src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/paradox-alley-thumbnail-2.png" /><br /><br />Surely, issues like traffic jams, speeding, and road rage can be solved through these creative strategies...<br /><br /><a href="https://reactormag.com/safer-driving-through-science-fiction/"> Safer Driving Through Science Fiction</a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13972065" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13971755 2026-06-11T13:05:05Z 2026-06-11T14:00:28Z public 5 <img src="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/imager/s3covers/143585/Trace-Elements_2026-06-10-230856_rnfd_8d27bb79e430478faac435b78759f809.jpg" /><br /><br />Ada Palmer & Jo Walton converse about Science Fiction and Fantasy.<br /><br /><a href="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/of-many-things">Trace Elements: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and Fantasy by Ada Palmer & Jo Walton </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13971755" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13971523 2026-06-10T19:21:49Z 2026-06-10T19:21:49Z public 0 <img src="https://assets.bundleofholding.com/resources/97/86/9786f7ce8de26c7e06bdd4308fea856aa68aa7e90e8d0e7860e0b25f31ed0855.png" /><br /><br /> Jump-start your tabletop fantasy roleplaying campaign with the hundreds of pages of system-neutral tools and tables in this all-new Dungeononomicon Bundle from Raging Swan Press.<br /><br /><a href="https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Dungeononomicon"> Bundle of Holding: Dungeononomicon</a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13971523" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13971288 2026-06-10T13:08:32Z 2026-06-10T13:08:32Z public 1 <img src="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/imager/s3covers/143520/Project-V_-A-Novel_2026-06-08-162605_ilhy_8d27bb79e430478faac435b78759f809.jpeg" /><br /><br />Two things stand between Kim Wooram and victory: rival contestants and institutional misogyny so entrenched women aren't allowed to compete at all. For the first, Wooram has exemplary skills. For the second, a cunning plan.<br /><br /><a href="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/big-girl-now">Project V by Park Seolyeon </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13971288" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13971056 2026-06-09T16:28:46Z 2026-06-09T16:28:46Z public 11 If so, would anyone like to be me for the purposes of accepting the Hugo should I win?<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13971056" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13970763 2026-06-09T13:33:18Z 2026-06-09T13:33:18Z public 2 <img src="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/imager/s3covers/143543/Street-Candles_-A-Stardrifter-Novel_8d27bb79e430478faac435b78759f809.jpeg" /><br /><br />Ship's gunner Ejoq Dosantos waives prudence for one quick off-ship errand that proves neither quick, nor easy, and quite possibly not survivable. <br /><br /><a href="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/cast-out-the-beam">Street Candles (Stardrifter, volume 2) by David Collins-Rivera </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13970763" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13970468 2026-06-09T03:47:14Z 2026-06-09T03:47:14Z public 6 <a href="https://locusmag.com/2026/06/subterranean-press-to-close/"> After a long career of publishing gorgeous limited editions, collections, art books, and novellas, publisher Bill Schafer has shared the news that Subterranean Press will be permanently closing in the coming years. </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13970468" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13970250 2026-06-08T20:26:01Z 2026-06-08T20:26:01Z public 4 <img src="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/imager/s3images/43806/The-Precipice_-A-Novel_8d27bb79e430478faac435b78759f809.jpeg" /><br /><br />A quarter century ago, I wrote my very first paid SF review. The book wasn't great but I got paid to read it! <br /><br /><a href="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/gonna-play-for-the-sky"> The Precipice (Asteroid Wars) by Ben Bova </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13970250" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13970114 2026-06-08T19:28:20Z 2026-06-08T19:28:20Z public 0 <img src="https://assets.bundleofholding.com/resources/24/b5/24b51ba318b97c27505f2363629613e5c40dfaaf691203f90b108a5043b84b82.png" /><br /><br />Digital science fiction and fantasy graphic albums from comics publisher Top Cow Productions.<br /><br /><a href="https://bundleofholding.com/presents/TopCow"> Bundle of Holding: Top Cow</a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13970114" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13969763 2026-06-08T16:36:29Z 2026-06-08T16:36:29Z public 7 I have a review category called <a href="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/reviews/project/talking-to-the-sun">Talking to the Sun"</a>. Created in Jan 2026. Two reviews. No documentation. I can't work out what the common element was.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13969763" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13969447 2026-06-08T14:16:12Z 2026-06-08T14:16:12Z public 0 <img src="https://youngpeoplereadoldsff.com/imager/s3headerimages/143258/Lean-Times-in-Lankhmar-Fantastic-Aug-1959-Leo-Summers-1500x1342_d8b92247b34de695c59ebd5336df7485.jpg" /><br /><br />The Young People discuss Leiber's take on sword and sorcery.<br /><br /><a href="https://youngpeoplereadoldsff.com/story/lean-times-in-lankhmar"> Young People Read Old Science Fiction Stories Edited By Cele Goldsmith: Fritz Leiber’s 1959 Lean Times in Lankhmar</a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13969447" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13969323 2026-06-08T01:09:26Z 2026-06-08T01:09:26Z public 14 <a href="https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/100-Mansion-St-Kitchener-ON-N2H-2J9/463011432_zpid/"> What an unusual design.</a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13969323" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13968994 2026-06-07T12:40:00Z 2026-06-07T12:40:00Z public 13 <img src="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/imager/s3covers/143218/Stainless-Steel-Rat_8d27bb79e430478faac435b78759f809.jpeg" /><br /><br />Scoundrel “Slippery Jim” DiGriz AKA the Stainless Steel Rat, so cunning he has two criminal nicknames, has never been outwitted, outmanoeuvred, captured or executed.<br /><br />Until now. <br /><br /><a href="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/cold-stone">The Stainless Steel Rat (The Stainless Steel Rat, volume 1) by Harry Harrison </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13968994" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13968869 2026-06-06T15:18:34Z 2026-06-06T15:27:28Z public 9 For a setting where everyone is supposed to have some sort of common origin and yet they all have wildly different abilities.<br /><br />The PCs all have medical conditions addressable by transplants ranging from minor stuff like a cornea transplant to organ transplants. By tremendous luck, a donor comes in just as they all hit the top of their respective wait lists. However, unbeknownst to the doctors or the recipients, the dead person--who died peacefully in their sleep from unknown causes--was the local superhero, someone with a Superman or Martian Manhunter-level buffet of abilities. <br /><br />Each PC gains an ability appropriate for the particular body part they received... and once their abilites manifest feel obligated to use them to replace the mysteriously vanished superhero.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13968869" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13968507 2026-06-06T13:32:17Z 2026-06-06T13:32:17Z public 3 <img src="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/imager/s3covers/143474/The-Magical-Cheese-Emporium_d349a682de2f9756b215af76c31e108a.jpeg" /><br /><br />Four books new to me. Two books whose genre isn't immediately clear to me, two fantasies. Three currently lack final cover art.<br /><br /><a href="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-received-may-30-june-5-2"> Books Received, May 30 — June 5</a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://www.dreamwidth.org/poll/?id=34694">View Poll: Books Received, May 30 — June 5</a></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13968507" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13968140 2026-06-05T14:27:17Z 2026-06-05T14:27:17Z public 6 <img src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Panic-in-the-Year-Zero.png" /><br /><br />We've all encountered this trope in post-apocalyptic fiction before. Let's give it a name...<br /><br /><a href="https://reactormag.com/finally-a-unit-of-measurement-for-a-certain-kind-of-moral-depravity/">Finally, a Unit of Measurement for a Certain Kind of Moral Depravity… </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13968140" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13968046 2026-06-05T12:55:51Z 2026-06-05T12:56:34Z public 2 <img src="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/imager/s3covers/143286/Sublimation_2026-06-04-233206_bbeh_8d27bb79e430478faac435b78759f809.jpeg" /><br /><br />Soyoung Rose Kang would like to have her cake and eat it too. Happily for Ms. Kang, she lives in a world where that’s possible.<br /><br />To an extent.<br /><br /><a href="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/beside-myself"> Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim<br /></a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13968046" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13967774 2026-06-04T13:26:43Z 2026-06-04T13:26:43Z public 3 <img src="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/imager/s3covers/143235/Restoration-Game_8d27bb79e430478faac435b78759f809.jpg" /><br /><br />A programmer is dragged into a geopolitical squabble, complicated by untoward existential revelations.<br /><br /><a href="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/unease-you">The Restoration Game by Ken MacLeod </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13967774" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13967548 2026-06-03T18:01:00Z 2026-06-03T18:01:00Z public 1 <img src="https://assets.bundleofholding.com/resources/f9/66/f9665c547fe97d5d069484141b4d59d7b105755002e2b0f6face5e1e1390c343.png" /><br /><br />This new Kobolds Ate My Baby! Bundle presents Kobolds Ate My Baby!, the cult-classic tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of anti-dungeon-crawl silliness, in its 2024 Orange Book edition from 9th Level Games. <br /><br /><a href="https://bundleofholding.com/presents/KAMB2026">Bundle of Holding: Kobolds Ate My Baby! </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13967548" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13967181 2026-06-03T13:02:03Z 2026-06-03T13:02:03Z public 6 <img src="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/imager/s3covers/143106/Dead-Weight_8d27bb79e430478faac435b78759f809.png" /><br /><br />Io the cat and Io's owner Ásta need a pragmatic friend. Happily for the pair, Unna could be that friend. <br /><br /><a href="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/just-a-mistake">Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir (Translated by Mary Robinette Kowal) </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13967181" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13966905 2026-06-02T13:08:02Z 2026-06-02T13:08:02Z public 11 <img src="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/imager/s3covers/143175/rimrunners_8d27bb79e430478faac435b78759f809.jpg" /><br /><br />Merchantship Loki is retired war criminal Bet Yeager's ticket off Thule Station and away from murder charges... but Loki offers hazards of its own. <br /><br /><a href="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/running-is-a-victory">Rimrunners (Rimrunners, volume 5) by C J Cherryh </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13966905" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13966675 2026-06-01T18:34:25Z 2026-06-01T18:37:12Z public 0 <img src="https://assets.bundleofholding.com/resources/a1/d8/a1d8bf08add1b79579d428dd869565c5a0721846174dcd16e84aa3a473bc0a72.png" /><br /><br />Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (and compatible systems) knavish adventure in Acheron Games' Brancalonia. <br /><br /><a href="https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2026Brancalonia">Bundle of Holding: Brancalonia (from 2024) </a><br /><br /><img src="https://assets.bundleofholding.com/resources/02/b8/02b83a5c4cce0444c49a297b391124b89b062cd3894d50dfc395113d5c1074cf.png" /><br /><br />An all-new bundle of recent Brancalonia supplements.<br /><br /><a href="https://bundleofholding.com/presents/BountyBranc">Bundle of Holding: Brancalonia Bounty </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13966675" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13966470 2026-06-01T14:16:27Z 2026-06-01T14:16:27Z public 11 <img src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/star-wars-luke-lightsaber.jpg" /><br /><br />Whether actively harmful or simply inept, certain mentors seem to do more harm than good...<br /><br /><a href="https://reactormag.com/five-terrible-or-useless-mentors-in-sf-and-fantasy/">Five Terrible or Useless Mentors in SF and Fantasy </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13966470" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-02:217433:13966158 2026-06-01T14:08:21Z 2026-06-01T14:08:21Z public 0 <img src="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/imager/s3covers/143147/Sleep-of-Reason_2026-05-30-165456_wiuv_8d27bb79e430478faac435b78759f809.jpg" /><br /><br />James Nicoll Reviews offers readers a relentless barrage of human-created reviews of human-created works. I am the John Henry of speculative fiction reviewing.<br /><br /><a href="https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/june-2026-patreon-boost">You can help fund James Nicoll Reviews in several ways. </a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=james_davis_nicoll&ditemid=13966158" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments