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Cleric Chih's quest to record the tragic history of a famine succeeds all too well.

A Mouthful of Dust (Singing Hills, volume 6) by Nghi Vo

Wednesday reading: Percy Jackson

Dec. 3rd, 2025 07:36 pm
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About ten days ago, my hockey-and-languages buddy Owen enthused about Percy Jackson to me on the journey to/from my game in Lee Valley. (Owen was riding along to provide photography services.)

I was like, I've never read the books but I'm pretty sure I've got Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief somewhere in my to-read pile. So I took a look and sure enough, I had ten Percy Jackson books in my kindle account. My emails tell me I bought them in May 2016, and I have no memory of doing so or why (except that they were all 99p so that might have had something to do with it).

I opened up Lightning Thief to see if it was as good as expected ... and got fairly instantly hooked. I've read the first series of five books, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, then I briefly borrowed and read the short story collection The Demigod Files, before moving on to the next series of five, Heroes of Olympus. I'm currently a few chapters into the second book in that series, Son of Neptune. I'm having a great time: the books are good reads and I'm reviving a lot of memories from my childhood Greek myths phase. The positive ADHD rep doesn't hurt either.

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This new Worlds Without Number Bundle presents Worlds Without Number, the tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of far-future sword-and-sorcery adventure from acclaimed designer Kevin Crawford of Sine Nomine Publishing.

Bundle of Holding: Worlds Without Number
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Having saved hapless human Tully from the kif, hani star captain Pyanfar Chanur is faced with the consequences of saving hapless human Tully from the kif.

Chanur’s Venture (Chanur, volume 2) by C J Cherryh

The future!

Dec. 1st, 2025 11:43 pm
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Tremble at the majesty of an AI designed house.

Read more... )

Clarke Award Finalists 2024

Dec. 1st, 2025 10:59 am
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2024: Scutigera coleoptrata become established in the UK, a Trident missile suffers performance anxiety during a test and refuses to leave its sub, and Labour sweeps to victory in the General Election, with surprising little effect on the subsequent frequency of cruel and vindictive legislation.


Poll #33896 Clarke Award Finalists 2024
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 28


Which 2024 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
1 (3.6%)

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
1 (3.6%)

Corey Fah Does Social Mobility by Isabel Waidner
2 (7.1%)

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
27 (96.4%)

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
12 (42.9%)

The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
2 (7.1%)



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

Which 2024 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Corey Fah Does Social Mobility by Isabel Waidner
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

December 2025 Patreon Boost

Dec. 1st, 2025 08:59 am
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Impress your friends and potential significant others! Join the legions of James Nicoll Reviews supporters! James Nicoll Reviews is the only SF review that promises to be pyroclastic flow-free!

December 2025 Patreon Boost

November 2025 in Review

Nov. 30th, 2025 10:29 am
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21 works reviewed. 11 by women (52%), 10 by men (48%), 0 by non-binary authors (0%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 8 by POC (38%).

Book by book, closer to aleph null.

November 2025 in Review
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[staff profile] denise posting in [site community profile] dw_news
Hello, friends! It's about to be December again, and you know what that means: the fact I am posting this actually before December 1 means [staff profile] karzilla reminded me about the existence of linear time again. Wait, no -- well, yes, but also -- okay, look, let me back up and start again: it's almost December, and that means it's time for our annual December holiday points bonus.

The standard explanation: For the entire month of December, all orders made in the Shop of points and paid time, either for you or as a gift for a friend, will have 10% of your completed cart total sent to you in points when you finish the transaction. For instance, if you buy an order of 12 months of paid time for $35 (350 points), you'll get 35 points when the order is complete, to use on a future purchase.

The fine print and much more behind this cut! )

Thank you, in short, for being the best possible users any social media site could possibly ever hope for. I'm probably in danger of crossing the Sappiness Line if I haven't already, but you all make everything worth it.

On behalf of Mark, Jen, Robby, and our team of awesome volunteers, and to each and every one of you, whether you've been with us on this wild ride since the beginning or just signed up last week, I'm wishing you all a very happy set of end-of-year holidays, whichever ones you celebrate, and hoping for all of you that your 2026 is full of kindness, determination, empathy, and a hell of a lot more luck than we've all had lately. Let's go.
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Eight books new to me. Five fantasy, one horror, two science fiction, of which two are series and six may not be.

Books Received, November 22 — November 28



Poll #33890 Books Received, November 22 — November 28
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 63


Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

Kill All Wizards by Jedediah Berry (June 2026)
22 (34.9%)

The Franchise by Thomas Elrod (May 2026)
10 (15.9%)

Carry Me to My Grave by Christopher Golden (July 2026)
3 (4.8%)

Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer (June 2026)
31 (49.2%)

Inkpot Gods by Seanan McGuire (June 2026)
20 (31.7%)

Cursed Ever After by Andy C. Naranjo (June 2026)
7 (11.1%)

For Human Use by Sarah G. Pierce (February 2026)
3 (4.8%)

The War Beyond by Andrea Stewart (November 2025)
10 (15.9%)

Some other option (see comments)
1 (1.6%)

Cats!
45 (71.4%)

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But this time, I managed to wake her up without help. Go me.

James and the Commute Home

Nov. 28th, 2025 09:19 am
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Well, that was more close brushes with performing CPR than I consider ideal for a commute...

Read more... )

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