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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-16 02:17 pm
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Bundle of Holding: Battlezoo



The Battlezoo Bundle presents the Battlezoo line of monsters and monster hunters from Roll for Combat for D&D 5E and compatible tabletop roleplaying systems, compiled from winning designs from the annual RPG Superstars competition.

Bundle of Holding: Battlezoo
lannamichaels: Astronaut Dale Gardner holds up For Sale sign after EVA. (Default)
Lanna Michaels ([personal profile] lannamichaels) wrote2025-07-16 08:46 am

Miles Vorkosigan alternate careers



It's not exactly a secret that I hate Miles Vorkosigan being in the military, so for RL reasons I was thinking hmm could Miles instead become a doctor, and then followed up immediately with "absolutely he could not" and in fact I could not think of any position in a hospital that he would be suited for, but then I realized I was overthinking this.

Miles would be a great plumber. It's perfect for him. No boss, just clients, and he can pick the interesting jobs. It's bounded but also a place for creativity. He has to find out what the problem is and fix it. Because of his size, he may even be a better choice for certain jobs than other plumbers. He can pick his hours by picking the clients and the jobs, and then hyperfocus on a problem until it's over. If he wants, he can pack his schedule, or he can relax it. But he's not answering to anyone and people are grateful for his help because it's a problem they can't fix themselves, and it's also necessary: everyone will at some point require the assistance of a plumber.

The only problem is that there's no wonderful recognition and pride from his peers, unless we can get him to value the opinions of other plumbers, and then he can just brag about all the impossible disasters he fixed before breakfast. The sense of accomplishment is built-in, as in the sense of being valuable and needed.

And I feel like even Miles Vorkosigan would not find a way to commit treason whilst doing it.

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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-16 08:57 am

Red Sword by Bora Chung (Translated by Anton Hur)



The only fate more glorious than dying for the uncaring empire is dying over and over for the uncaring empire.

Red Sword by Bora Chung (Translated by Anton Hur)
lannamichaels: Text: "We're here to heckle the muppet movie." (heckle the muppet movie)
Lanna Michaels ([personal profile] lannamichaels) wrote2025-07-15 08:03 pm
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Two non-fiction books


  • Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens by David Mitchell (2023): [personal profile] lirazel posted about the audiobook version of this, which got me to put this on my list, but alas my library only has access to the print version; I feel that the audiobook version is probably superior. There were several parts in the book that were a slog to get through the paragraph, that would be perfectly fine if you were listening to a patented David Mitchell Rant about the subject. In fact, imagining them in David Mitchell's voice is how I got through them. ExpandRead more... )

  • Subpar Parks: America's Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressed Visitors by Amber Share (2021): A bookified version of a Instagram account I never followed, a copy of which I read at someone's house who was using as a bookmark something that indicated they had gotten it as a gift when it came out and never got past the first fifth of the book. This book would have been fine if it had not decided it was going to fight the one star reviews, and instead just showed the artwork and mentioned how great the park was. As it was, it positioned itself as an argument between the one star reviewers and the author, and the one star reviewers won.ExpandRead more... )
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-15 09:07 am
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A Maze of Stars by John Brunner



An intelligent ship crisscrosses space-time to track the progress of the colonies it established

A Maze of Stars by John Brunner
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-14 11:43 pm

Happy Bastille Day!



May the prison you liberate have more than seven prisoners.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-14 02:14 pm
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-14 02:08 pm
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Bundle of Holding: Hearts of Wulin



This new Hearts of Wulin Bundle presents Hearts of Wulin, the tabletop roleplaying game of Chinese wuxia action melodrama from Age of Ravens Games.

Bundle of Holding: Hearts of Wulin
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-14 10:27 am
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Clarke Award Finalists 2005

2005: The Ulster Volunteer Force struggles to grasp the meaning of the term “ceasefire”, Britain is astonished by the unlikely coincidence that every known WWI veteran is over 100 years of age, and in what some experts hope is a sign Britain has begun to emerge from chaos after the retreat of the Roman Empire, Dr Who is revived.

Poll #33355 Clarke Award Finalists 2005
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 40


Which 2005 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Iron Council by China Miéville
15 (37.5%)

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
12 (30.0%)

Market Forces by Richard Morgan
6 (15.0%)

River of Gods by Ian McDonald
10 (25.0%)

The System of the World by Neal Stephenson
17 (42.5%)

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
13 (32.5%)



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

Which 2005 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Iron Council by China Miéville
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Market Forces by Richard Morgan
River of Gods by Ian McDonald
The System of the World by Neal Stephenson

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-13 08:50 am
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-12 12:02 pm

Huh

This is probably in no way significant, but it just occurred to me to check to see where WorldCon was the years I was nominated:

2010: Melbourne, Australia
2011: Reno, USA
2019: Dublin, Ireland
2020: Wellington, New Zealand
2024: Glasgow, Scotland

(I was nowhere near the ballot in 2009, Montreal)

At a guess, those are years where vote totals were a bit lower?

ExpandRead more... )
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-12 08:47 am
Entry tags:

Books Received, July 5 — July 11



Four books new to me.Two are SF, one is fantasy, one is a mix of both. I don't see anything unambiguously labelled as series works.

Books Received, July 5 — July 11

Poll #33350 Books Received, July 5 — July 11
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 39


Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

Secrets, Spells, and Chocolate by Marisa Churchill (December 2025)
14 (35.9%)

Spread Me by Sarah Gailey (September 2025)
14 (35.9%)

The Forest on the Edge of Time by Jasmin Kirkbride (February 2026)
14 (35.9%)

The Universe Box by Michael Swanwick (February 2026)
18 (46.2%)

Some other option (see comments)
1 (2.6%)

Cats!
31 (79.5%)

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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-11 10:43 pm

RPG checklist

Specifically Fabula Ultima

ExpandRead more... )
lannamichaels: Brachos 2a, caption: "There's a debate about that" (daf yomi)
Lanna Michaels ([personal profile] lannamichaels) wrote2025-07-11 04:56 pm
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[Daf Yomi] Maseches Avoda Zara, perek 1 - Lifnei Eideihen



Fun with idolatry and "I'm doing Avoda Zara" jokes! The perek ended yesterday but RL is being busy.

The absolute requisite note on Avoda Zara is one that gets stressed constantly, which is that this is referring specifically to the religious groups amongst whom the tanaim and amoraim were living, and only them. Among the reasons the commentators have said this for a long time is 1) actual real differences between the avoda zarah described in the mishna/gemara and the goysche practices they lived amongst, combined with 2) because if they kept to all of this, there would be many practical problems, because they were a lot more interconnected by that time and working in specific professions, and 3) the outside world thinks it gets a say in Jewish religious texts and would be violently offended if this refers to them.

But definitely there were times when dealing with Artscroll commentary when I had to snap and actually look up when the Meiri lived, and it's like, ah, 13th century France, I understand completely.


ExpandRead more... )

lannamichaels: Astronaut Dale Gardner holds up For Sale sign after EVA. (Default)
Lanna Michaels ([personal profile] lannamichaels) wrote2025-07-11 01:51 pm

Murderbot TV, season the first



So I hated the first part of episode 10, and liked the last ~8 minutes, those were great, truly great. But I really didn't need what came before that; I liked how Murderbot slipped away at the end of the first novella. Oh well.

In general, overall, I really enjoyed Murderbot The Television Show, although there were parts of it I had to skip or not watch. They did a really good job at translating a novella into a tv show; the changes were understandable and made sense for the medium, even when they were ones I disliked. The show fleshed out the characters very well, and they had just so so so so much fun with the in-universe tv shows.

If this show has one thesis, it is Murderbot = Gurathin, and with my complaints about the first part of episode 10, I did like how it went so, are you not convinced that Murderbot = Gurathin yet? Here, let me show it to you again.

Anyway, I assume five seconds after the end of ep10, ART says hello. (okay that's probably not ART. But it would make sense to begin s2 immediately after s1 ends)

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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-11 09:08 am

The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monáe



New Dawn requires only that people conform without exception or face memory erasure and worse. Yet, a minority insists on being individuals.

The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monáe
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-10 08:53 am
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Starling House by Alix E. Harrow



Desperate to pay her brother Jasper's way out of Muhlenberg County, Opal accepts a job at an infamously cursed mansion.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow