fivemack | Reading

How great would it be to talk with animals, through magic or technology or… whatever?

Five Books About Conversing With Animals

james_davis_nicoll

Starmen marooned in barbaric America!

Hard Landing by Algis Budrys

james_davis_nicoll

The TRAVELLER 2022 UPDATE corebook, ALIENS guides, sector sourcebooks, and more.

Bundle of Holding: Traveller Explorations (from 2022)

A high-power 800-page adventure for Mongoose Traveller that uncovers the greatest mysteries of Charted Space

Bundle of Holding: Traveller Ancients

rmc28

Literally the funniest thing I have read about the Heated Rivalry tv show so far (thanks to the Rec Center newsletter last Friday):

"With Hockey RPF the fanfic was for the romance and the sex, the things canon didn't provide. But in Heated Rivalry canon does provide. So logic dictates that the fanfic is there to make them actually play hockey." - (from bluesky)

It's not just me who wants more hockey in the hockey romance!

(Heated Rivalry is still not legally available in the UK; HBO Max is launching in the UK in March, hopefully it'll include the show when it does.)

Meanwhile my Rick Riordan reading adventure has come to the end of the 10 (ten!) books I bought on Kindle a decade ago for no reason I now remember, so I have been wrangling the local libraries to get more. I'm officially off sick today with this stupid cough, and resting / reading a lot.

I could be reading through the large pile of library Riordans ... but no
I could be reading one of the other four library books I have out that are due back this week ... but no
I could read one of the several books I already bought in December ... but no
I could go wild and watch the episodes-so-far of Percy Jackson on Disney+ (challenge my inability to watch anything by myself!) ... but no
I am actually reading a modern AU fanfic of Much Ado About Nothing and vaguely wondering about challenging my inability to watch anything by myself with the Tennant/Tate production

james_davis_nicoll

2025: Scientists are astonished when the largest ever dinosaur fossil trackway does not lead into the House of Lords, Tate Britain breaks with English tradition by returning looted art, and in a shocking break from centuries of Catholic precedent, the new Pope is a Cubs fan.

Poll #33961 Clarke Award Finalists 2025

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 22

View Respondents

Which 2025 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
1 (4.5%)

Extremophile by Ian Green
0 (0.0%)

Private Rites by Julia Armfield
1 (4.5%)

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
14 (63.6%)

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
14 (63.6%)

Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf
0 (0.0%)

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

Which 2025 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Extremophile by Ian Green
Private Rites by Julia Armfield
Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf

james_davis_nicoll

Now you can have the ebook (which you're only renting if it is DRMed), hard-to-shelve trade paperback, or the expensive hardcover.

james_davis_nicoll

I was a bit surprised to come across this as Hartwell wasn't really the go-to editor where women's SF was concerned. An interesting snapshot of SF in a sixteen-year period. The end is the fall of the American republic. Not sure what was significant about 1984.

( Read more... )

james_davis_nicoll

One very small step for a man, one giant leap for Her Majesty's Government.

Cold War in a Country Garden (Dilke, volume 1) by Lindsay Gutteridge

james_davis_nicoll

I am not aware of any big name authors who got their start with a work published by Baen Books after 2006. If there are recent analogs of Bujold or Weber, I do not know of them.

james_davis_nicoll

So, I asked on Bluesky:

Aside from Larry Correia, are there any big name Baen authors who debuted at Baen, after Jim Baen's death?

(So, Tim Powers wouldn't count because he debuted not at Baen and also long before JB died)

I got three names: Chuck Gannon, Jason Cordova and Mike Kupari. Gannon actually debuted at Baen in 1994 but only two (I think) short pieces, after which there was a long delay until his novels began appearing. I don't know the other two but SF is huge and it's perfectly possible for me to overlook BNAs. Still, granting all three, with LC that makes four... and in 2028, Toni Weisskopf will have been running Baen for as long as Jim Baen did.

This could, of course, be the natural consequence of the Del Monte approach.

[added later]

james_davis_nicoll

I got much better at spelling his name once I realized it contains "lie".

Embattled CPC leader's Christmas card list gets one name shorter.

james_davis_nicoll

Where to start reading — or rereading — Varley's many series and stories.

Looking Back at the Work of John Varley, 1947-2025

james_davis_nicoll

The visitors might be Bird Island's salvation or simply the next step in its doom.

The Wayfinder by Adam Johnson

james_davis_nicoll

Multiple sources report the death of SF author John Varley.

james_davis_nicoll

One of (Blish's) best novels, in my view, is The Star Dwellers, first published in 1961 and now nominated for the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Fiction.

vs my

How does a novel this terrible not only get published but remain in print for twenty years (more than sixty in the UK)?

james_davis_nicoll

A 2567 blueblood travels back to the Summer of Love to save one very special 16-year-old.

Summer of Love (Zhu Wong, volume 1) by Lisa Mason

james_davis_nicoll

Bernadette Bosky reported Arthur's death on Facebook

james_davis_nicoll

Magical Kitties Save the Day, the all-ages introductory storytelling game from Atlas Games.

Bundle of Holding: Magical Kitties

james_davis_nicoll

Could safety from the global pandemic be found in desperate flight towards a land of banditry and violence?

To The Warm Horizon by Choi Jin-Young (Translated by Soje)