Dance the Eagle to Sleep by Marge Piercy
Feb. 22nd, 2026 09:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicoll
Can America's well-financed, highly-experienced, heavily-armed war machine hope to prevail against a numerically insignificant, poorly-armed, American teen movement?
Dance the Eagle to Sleep by Marge Piercy
Books Received, February 14 — February 20
Feb. 21st, 2026 09:02 amjames_davis_nicoll
Seven books new to me. four fantasy, one horror, one ostensibly non-fiction, and one romance. Three are series. Yeah, there does seem to be a shortage of science fiction.
I had a bunch of stuff come in just after the cut-off time for these. Next week will look very different.
Books Received, February 14 — February 20
Poll #34247 Books Received, February 14 — February 20
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 39
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
I Want You to Be Happy by Jem Calder (May 2026)
3 (7.7%)
In the Realm of the Last Man: A Memoir by Francis Fukuyama (September 2026)
5 (12.8%)
A Divided Duty: An October Daye Novel by Seanan McGuire (September 2026)
14 (35.9%)
Wickhills by Premee Mohamed (September 2026)
15 (38.5%)
Hallowed Bones: A Sons of Salem Novel by Lucy Smoke (October 2026)
2 (5.1%)
Falling for a Villainous Vampire by Charlotte Stein (October 2026)
6 (15.4%)
I Am the Monster Under the Bed: A Novel by Emily Zinnikas (September 2026)
13 (33.3%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
33 (84.6%)
Fragments 2026
Feb. 20th, 2026 08:12 amscott_sanfordVarious tidbits too small to stand on their own. The completely arbitrary cutoff is 500 words; longer than that and stories get their own files.( Read more... )
The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho
Feb. 20th, 2026 09:10 amjames_davis_nicoll
A successful businesswoman has the opportunity of a lifetime offered to her, only to have an old friend greatly complicate matters.
The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho
All Regulations Are Written in Blood
Feb. 19th, 2026 12:10 pmjames_davis_nicollTTRPG campaign idea.
PCs are field agents in charge of finding and dealing with arcane occupational safety violations. That six-sided summoning pentagram? Flagged. That storeroom where the universal solvent is next to the lemonade? Flagged.
That deadly-trap-filled dungeon abandoned by its creator when the maintenance fees got too high? Red tagged.
This isn't the same as my recent FabUlt campaign. That was about discouraging the worst excesses in a world run by oligarch mages and there weren't really regulations. This would be set in a regulatory state, and would be more an exploration of normalization of deviance.
PCs are field agents in charge of finding and dealing with arcane occupational safety violations. That six-sided summoning pentagram? Flagged. That storeroom where the universal solvent is next to the lemonade? Flagged.
That deadly-trap-filled dungeon abandoned by its creator when the maintenance fees got too high? Red tagged.
This isn't the same as my recent FabUlt campaign. That was about discouraging the worst excesses in a world run by oligarch mages and there weren't really regulations. This would be set in a regulatory state, and would be more an exploration of normalization of deviance.
Slow Gods by Claire North
Feb. 19th, 2026 08:52 amjames_davis_nicoll
Against the gleefully hypocritical, exploitative Shine, the very gods themselves contend in vain.
Slow Gods by Claire North
Bundle of Holding: Wolves Upon the Coast
Feb. 18th, 2026 02:57 pmjames_davis_nicoll
The Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign, a bare-bones old-school tabletop roleplaying game by designer Luke Gearing.
Bundle of Holding: Wolves Upon the Coast
One Way to Immunize Yourself Against Pseudoscience and Other Nonsense
Feb. 18th, 2026 10:10 amjames_davis_nicoll
Classic SF was chock-full of dubious ideas; Martin Gardner supplied the antidote.
One Way to Immunize Yourself Against Pseudoscience and Other Nonsense
Ichi the Witch, volume 1 by Osamu NIchi & Shiro Usazaki (Translated by Adrienne Beck)
Feb. 18th, 2026 09:18 amjames_davis_nicoll
Only witches hunt demons, all witches are women, and Uroro cannot be defeated by any woman. Uroro feels entirely safe, right until the world's first male witch defeats him.
Ichi the Witch, volume 1 by Osamu NIchi & Shiro Usazaki (Translated by Adrienne Beck)
The Man Who Came Early by Poul Anderson
Feb. 17th, 2026 09:09 amjames_davis_nicoll
What hope has 10th century Icelandic culture against an armed and moderately educated 20th century American?
The Man Who Came Early by Poul Anderson
Bundle of Holding: Downcrawl-Skycrawl
Feb. 16th, 2026 02:07 pmjames_davis_nicoll
Downcrawl and Skycrawl, twin toolkits from designer Aaron A. Reed that help you create spontaneous tabletop roleplaying adventures in the Deep, Deep Down and the Azure Etern.
Bundle of Holding: Downcrawl-Skycrawl
Another AI Post -- on Assumptions and the Future
Feb. 15th, 2026 01:21 pmseawaspA discussion with a knowledgeable friend on this triggered the following post, which will cover a number of elements of both the technology and, perhaps more importantly, its uses and impacts.
( Read on... )
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Feb. 15th, 2026 07:12 amjames_davis_nicoll
Ben Reich plans a perfect murder in a world where getting away with murder is impossible.
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Books Received, February 7 to February 13
Feb. 14th, 2026 09:10 amjames_davis_nicoll
Nine books new to me: 3 horror, 4 mystery, 1 non-fiction, and 1 science fiction, although I am not sure about the proper categorization of some of those books. Only one is explicitly part of a series.
Books Received, February 7 to February 13
Poll #34218 Books Received, February 7 to February 13
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 42
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
Dive Bar at the End of the Road by Kelley Armstrong (October 2026)
14 (33.3%)
Tyrant Lizard Queen: The Love, Life, and Terror of Earth’s Greatest Carnivore by Riley Black (October 2026)
18 (42.9%)
Lethal Kiss by Taylor Grothe (October 2026)
7 (16.7%)
Null Entity by Seth Haddon (July 2026)
5 (11.9%)
Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm (September 2026)
10 (23.8%)
Savvy Summers and the Po’boy Perils by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (July 2026)
8 (19.0%)
Revenge of the Final Girl by Andrea Mosqueda (October 2026)
10 (23.8%)
Lucy Kline, Necromancer by Tom O’Donnell (September 2026)
6 (14.3%)
They Say a Girl Died Here by Sarah Pinborough (August 2026)
7 (16.7%)
Some other option (see comments)
1 (2.4%)
Cats!
33 (78.6%)
Arsenic and Adobo (Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery) by Mia P. Manansala
Feb. 13th, 2026 09:10 amjames_davis_nicoll
Lila Macapagal's quest to keep her aunt's ailing restaurant afloat is greatly complicated when a pesky foodblogger dies mid-meal... with Lila as the most likely murder suspect.
Arsenic and Adobo (Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery) by Mia P. Manansala
New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 3, edited by Oliver Brackenbury
Feb. 12th, 2026 08:37 amjames_davis_nicoll
A sample issue of New Edge Sword & Sorcery, whose 2026 funding drive goes live today.
New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 3, edited by Oliver Brackenbury
Bundle of Holding: Neon City Overdrive (from 2022)
Feb. 11th, 2026 02:03 pmjames_davis_nicoll
The revived May 2022 Neon City Overdrive Bundle featuring the fast-playing cyberpunk tabletop roleplaying game Neon City Overdrive from Peril Planet.
Bundle of Holding: Neon City Overdrive (from 2022)