James Davis Nicoll

Tobias S. Buckell @tobiasbuckell.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 06, 2024 at 01:33 UTC

Hello social medias...

You may not be aware a major Cat 5 hurricane struck an area that normally doesn't get them. The eye passed directly over Carriacou and Petit Martinique.

The devastation is tremendous. The need is great.

You can help and make a difference:

www.gofundme.com/f/the-people...

5 replies 424 reposts 325 likes

James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 10, 2024 at 17:02 UTC

How odd that I've encountered two different books, written a decade apart, in which a grad student's dismal academic record reflected character flaws that shaped the plots. I suppose competent grad students don't have adventures. At least, not unless their field is pure and applied adventurology.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 10, 2024 at 15:11 UTC

My malevolent laugh is a sympathetic malevolent laugh.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 10, 2024 at 13:48 UTC

Iwo Jima's civilians had been evacuated by the time the Americans arrived, so there were no civilians to massacre. This implies nobody familiar with even a rudimentary history of WWII vetted the biography.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 10, 2024 at 13:42 UTC

The Patterson bio is interesting. Patterson accepts all of Heinlein's self-serving claims as gospel truth and still manages to paint RAH as a disagreeable jackass. The degree to which the bio can be trusted is indicated by the grim account it gives of the WWII civilian massacres on Iwo Jima.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 10, 2024 at 13:38 UTC

You will want to avoid this remarkable essay by a noteworthy SF author, which I append to facilitate avoiding it. It was part of the Big Push for the first volume of Patterson's Heinlein bio.

reactormag.com/what-do-hein...

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 10, 2024 at 13:31 UTC

This is one of the best RPG deals I've seen.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 10, 2024 at 13:23 UTC

What benchmark were they using? John Norman?

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 10, 2024 at 13:09 UTC

Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki

The sybaritic life of a WWII-era Imperial Japanese army unit in New Britain, as told by one of the few soldiers to survive the experience.

jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/glory...

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 10, 2024 at 04:11 UTC

See, if you'd read earlier Hansen's War Games, which features every sort of sex except consensual, that would not have come as a surprise.

jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/its-a...

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 10, 2024 at 03:03 UTC

This reminds me of the SFF author who wanted more sex scenes in SFF, clearly never having read the sex scene in FOOTFALL.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 10, 2024 at 00:00 UTC

The building my store was in was old and quirky. Store door could not be locked from the inside. As I sat in the dark, customer after customer came in past the sign, commented that I forgot the lights, and bought stuff. It was a very busy day, for the half hour I was there. 2/2

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 23:58 UTC

I tell patrons anyone left in the audience once we lock the doors becomes theatre staff. I am thinking of holding my flashlight under my chin next time. Back when I had the game store, I closed for a day for my mother's funeral. Put up a big sign saying closed for funeral. Waited for my ride. 1/2

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 18:54 UTC

They're OK, I guess, but they are no Lake Agassiz or Western Interior Seaway.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 18:41 UTC

I really need to finish reading a tome so this urge to write about North America's dire lack of inland and other seas is not helpful.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 16:17 UTC

You may wonder how far a four-year-old is airborne after stepping out from behind a parked car into traffic but I do not need to.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 15:39 UTC

What makes it more hilarious is that I didn't speak until I was four so a lot of my adventures happened while I was non-verbal. One foray involved me zooming off on a tricycle across Herne Hill roads I hesitated to cross on foot as an adult.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 15:04 UTC

As an infant, I moved to London England for four years, so my original accent was a South of the River accent. London is where I learned to explore cities on my own, and whose air provided my standard candle for air pollution.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 14:59 UTC

I pity the poor bastards over in London Ontario, having to share their city's name with a far more famous city. Signed, Born in Waterloo, Ontario

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 14:16 UTC

Very odd: I use a couple of browsers and it took longer for the ReacTor site to update on one than it did on Firefox.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 14:07 UTC

Five SFF Novels Set in London (But Not the One in Canada)

London, England! A stage for so many adventures!

reactormag.com/five-sff-nov...

#ReacTor

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 13:07 UTC

Menewood (The Light of the World, volume 2) by Nicola Griffith

In strife-torn Britain, survival is victory.

jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/their...

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 02:40 UTC

EYEBALL IN SPACE

exoplanetes.umontreal.ca/en/astronome...

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 02:32 UTC

How did you create that image?

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 09, 2024 at 02:30 UTC

A person-eating house would make an interesting AirB&B, as long as it remembered to wait until after the food posted five star reviews.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 18:02 UTC

Bundle of Holding: Spirit of '77

Featuring an abundance of works for Spirit of '77, the high-octane 1970s pop-culture tabletop roleplaying game from Monkeyfun Studios.

bundleofholding.com/presents/Spi...

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 14:08 UTC

That is a lot of RuneQuest for a very reasonable price:

www.humblebundle.com/books/runequ...

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 13:57 UTC

I amended the phrasing, as only the title is (arguably) a racial slur. The story is jam-packed with far-right tropes, not least of which is liberal democracy as a virus. However, this is on brand for the author, who last I heard was a far right pundit.

nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 13:50 UTC

✓ for read, * for intend to read, ! for never heard of it, and # for "Wow, that's a lot of far-right dog-whistles. Did the editors not see that?" Or whatever amuses you.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 13:47 UTC

Which 1991 Nebula Finalist Short Stories Have You Read? Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson ✓ Before I Wake by Kim Stanley Robinson ✓ Lieserl by Karen Joy Fowler Love and Sex Among the Invertebrates by Pat Murphy ✓ Story Child by Kristine Kathryn Rusch The Power and the Passion by Pat Cadigan ✓

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 13:47 UTC

Which 1991 Nebula Finalist Novelettes Have You Read? (2/2) Over the Long Haul by Martha Soukup ✓ The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, A Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk by Dafydd ab Hugh # The Manamouki by Mike Resnick ✓ The Shobies' Story by Ursula K. Le Guin ✓

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 13:46 UTC

Which 1991 Nebula Finalist Novelettes Have You Read? (1/2) Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang ✓ 1/72nd Scale by Ian R. MacLeod A Time for Every Purpose by Kristine Kathryn Rusch Loose Cannon by Susan Shwartz ✓

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 13:45 UTC

Which 1991 Nebula Finalist Novellas Have You Read? The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman ✓ Bones by Pat Murphy ✓ Fool to Believe by Pat Cadigan Mr. Boy by James Patrick Kelly ✓ Weatherman by Lois McMaster Bujold ✓

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 13:44 UTC

Which 1991 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read? Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin ✓ Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin! Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow ✓ Redshift Rendezvous by John E. Stith ✓ The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons ✓ White Jenna by Jane Yolen ✓

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 13:40 UTC

1991: The abrupt collapse of one of the two military alliances dominating Europe promised eternal peace on that troubled continent, after some delay Ötzi the Iceman completed his journey, and the world's supply of both Soviet Unions and Yugoslavias fell to zero.
#nebula

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 02:30 UTC

As someone who got into SF during the heyday of Asimov, Ellison, and MZB, I have no idea what those poor young fans of NG and JKR are going through.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 01:53 UTC

GABLE IS A WELL-KNOWN ARCHITECTURAL TERM.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 07, 2024 at 23:12 UTC

The Sadako-san and Sadako-chan manga revealed that the curse requires the recording medium to be a VHS tape, and it must be viewed on a CRT-style television. DVDs, streaming, and flatscreens are very frustrating for Sadako-san. A new friend is trying to get Sadako-san onto YouTube.

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 07, 2024 at 22:38 UTC

"More Words, Deeper Hole", formerly of LiveJournal, now on DreamWidth. Name courtesy of CBC food reporter @cardamomaddict.bsky.social, after she watched me try to describe my bookshelf needs to a long-suffering Ikea salesperson I hope has since recovered from the trauma.

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