Bundle of Holding: Dread Laironomicon
Sep. 15th, 2025 02:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicoll
100 lair entries in two succinct pages apiece, from Aboleth's Sunken Lair to Wyvern's Nest.
Bundle of Holding: Dread Laironomicon
Clarke Award Finalists 2014
Sep. 15th, 2025 10:17 amjames_davis_nicoll2014: Creationism is banned in British schools, the first same sex marriages in the UK are conducted, and Canadian Mark Carney helps the UK navigate challenging times. What ever happened to Carney, anyway?
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2014 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
God's War by Kameron Hurley
Nexus by Ramez Naam
The Adjacent by Christopher Priest
The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann
The Machine by James Smythe
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 60
Which 2014 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
View Answers
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
57 (95.0%)
God's War by Kameron Hurley
21 (35.0%)
Nexus by Ramez Naam
9 (15.0%)
The Adjacent by Christopher Priest
4 (6.7%)
The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann
1 (1.7%)
The Machine by James Smythe
3 (5.0%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2014 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
God's War by Kameron Hurley
Nexus by Ramez Naam
The Adjacent by Christopher Priest
The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann
The Machine by James Smythe
Transit
Sep. 14th, 2025 06:38 pmjames_davis_nicollSo, yesterday, the wheelchair ramp on the Rt 8 bus I was on developed a bug. Or the system that detects if it is deployed did. The ramp retracted correctly but the bus thought it had not, and would not move.
Ha ha! I pick my routes to maximize alternatives in case of break-downs. I just disembarked and talked over to the LRT. Which, I discovered, was having a minor service delay.
My contingency plans can handle two delays, but not three. Good for me there were just the two. It did mean I was only a little early for work.
On the way home, just after I disembarked from the LRT, an SUV cut the LRT off so the SUV could reach the parking lot ten seconds earlier. If the train had not stopped, I'd have had to stick around, both as a witness and because the accident would blocked the sidewalk between me and the stop I needed to get to.
Less than five minutes after the LRT near-miss, three SUVs tried to turn into the same lane at the same time. I don't think they hit each other but there was a short discussion between the drivers before they all left. I'd have had to stick around for that as well, because it would have blocked the route my bus uses.
Ha ha! I pick my routes to maximize alternatives in case of break-downs. I just disembarked and talked over to the LRT. Which, I discovered, was having a minor service delay.
My contingency plans can handle two delays, but not three. Good for me there were just the two. It did mean I was only a little early for work.
On the way home, just after I disembarked from the LRT, an SUV cut the LRT off so the SUV could reach the parking lot ten seconds earlier. If the train had not stopped, I'd have had to stick around, both as a witness and because the accident would blocked the sidewalk between me and the stop I needed to get to.
Less than five minutes after the LRT near-miss, three SUVs tried to turn into the same lane at the same time. I don't think they hit each other but there was a short discussion between the drivers before they all left. I'd have had to stick around for that as well, because it would have blocked the route my bus uses.
Pay to propose
Sep. 14th, 2025 06:20 pmbrickhousewenchGood lord, if you want to propose to your sweetie at King Dick's, they'll happily charge you $450 for a package deal.
Can you imagine if you dropped that much cash and your sweetie said NO?!?
Can you imagine if you dropped that much cash and your sweetie said NO?!?
I'm supposed to be in Germany right now
Sep. 14th, 2025 05:51 pmbrickhousewenchI was supposed to be in Germany right now at a work offsite.
Friday my nose was a little drippy hanging upside down on the massage table, but otherwise I felt fine.
Yesterday I felt very low energy, but still got two loads of laundry done and was almost fully packed when I started to wonder why I was feeling so warm. I thought I was being silly, but I took my temperature. And dammit, I was running a low fever. My throat had been pretty sore when I woke up, but I just thought I'd gotten dried out overnight because it felt better once I drank something when I woke up. But, just to be safe, I took a Covid test. And freaked myself out, because I read the results wrong and thought it was positive.
I texted my Director and my BFF from work. Then took a second Covid test and realized, D'oh! That I'd read the results wrong and wasn't positive for Covid. But when I texted my Director back she said it was up to me if I felt well enough to travel. Because she didn't want me both jet lagged and sick at the event. I sat with that thought for ten or fifteen minutes, and realized that if I was just starting to get sick that I was probably going to feel worse before I got better. And I really didn't want to be dragging myself though an airport if I was feeling horrible. So I canceled my flight and put notes up in all the communication channels.
BAH! I am so pissed off at my body right now. I didn't set the alarm, and a good night's sleep helped, but I'm still running a low fever, and still feeling some body aches and a mild sore throat. And I'd really rather be at the German Spa we are renting out than here right now.
I knew I should have started wearing a mask a week or two ago to make sure I didn't get sick before this trip. =(
Friday my nose was a little drippy hanging upside down on the massage table, but otherwise I felt fine.
Yesterday I felt very low energy, but still got two loads of laundry done and was almost fully packed when I started to wonder why I was feeling so warm. I thought I was being silly, but I took my temperature. And dammit, I was running a low fever. My throat had been pretty sore when I woke up, but I just thought I'd gotten dried out overnight because it felt better once I drank something when I woke up. But, just to be safe, I took a Covid test. And freaked myself out, because I read the results wrong and thought it was positive.
I texted my Director and my BFF from work. Then took a second Covid test and realized, D'oh! That I'd read the results wrong and wasn't positive for Covid. But when I texted my Director back she said it was up to me if I felt well enough to travel. Because she didn't want me both jet lagged and sick at the event. I sat with that thought for ten or fifteen minutes, and realized that if I was just starting to get sick that I was probably going to feel worse before I got better. And I really didn't want to be dragging myself though an airport if I was feeling horrible. So I canceled my flight and put notes up in all the communication channels.
BAH! I am so pissed off at my body right now. I didn't set the alarm, and a good night's sleep helped, but I'm still running a low fever, and still feeling some body aches and a mild sore throat. And I'd really rather be at the German Spa we are renting out than here right now.
I knew I should have started wearing a mask a week or two ago to make sure I didn't get sick before this trip. =(
The Dosadi Experiment (ConSentiency, volume 2) by Frank Herbert
Sep. 14th, 2025 08:57 amjames_davis_nicoll
Bureau of Sabotage agent Jorj X. McKie is assigned a legal and ethical trap: a planet of victims, who, whether rescued or left to their impending doom, present a danger to the ConSentiency.
The Dosadi Experiment (ConSentiency, volume 2) by Frank Herbert
Marking another
Sep. 14th, 2025 04:48 amvvalkyriI'm struck by how bad I seem to be at making one-on-one plans nowadays. So reliant on being in the same place at the same time with people when I'm much more likely to have an evening free and not know what to do with it.
Tara and Liam are off to Amsterdam or close to it. I hadn't seen them in ages and hadn't been all that much in touch. I haven't been going to the physical therapist in columbia.
I feel like I have much less excuse with pluckedkiwi and Girlinpink. It was only 23 minutes to get home. They leave to move to New Zealand in the extremely near future. Or open house today and I'm only ended at 9:00 but they told me to still show up. I kept noting that they were yawning and they kept saying it was good to see me. I left 2 hours ago but somehow I'm still up.
Others who have left or cathy and Gary to Scotland and my high school friend Faisal and his wife to Portugal.
I spent a bunch of time the other night talking with a lifeguard in Spanish who was from ecuador, which reminds me that Dan is moving to ecuador. But he was planning that long before this election.
(Trying to explain trumpism and Reaganomics in Spanish was an experience. I eventually had to leave to English.)
I find myself wondering how stupid I am that I'm not looking to get out.
Unfortunately it's not particularly any better for Jews anywhere else.
In other news, it was really really good to see people at Simon's party, which is part of why I got there so late to p&g. So it would have been good to catch up with barchan once he got there but I was on my way out
I have to be at Glen Echo in less than 12 hours for a wedding
And I'm still wide awake and I still don't know what I'm wearing. And I would have liked to have time to go swimming beforehand especially since I won't be going to Acro first
Speaking of acro, I fell yesterday, and many kudos to my partner who managed to keep me safe. No biscuit to either of us for not making sure a specific person was identified to spot..
Tara and Liam are off to Amsterdam or close to it. I hadn't seen them in ages and hadn't been all that much in touch. I haven't been going to the physical therapist in columbia.
I feel like I have much less excuse with pluckedkiwi and Girlinpink. It was only 23 minutes to get home. They leave to move to New Zealand in the extremely near future. Or open house today and I'm only ended at 9:00 but they told me to still show up. I kept noting that they were yawning and they kept saying it was good to see me. I left 2 hours ago but somehow I'm still up.
Others who have left or cathy and Gary to Scotland and my high school friend Faisal and his wife to Portugal.
I spent a bunch of time the other night talking with a lifeguard in Spanish who was from ecuador, which reminds me that Dan is moving to ecuador. But he was planning that long before this election.
(Trying to explain trumpism and Reaganomics in Spanish was an experience. I eventually had to leave to English.)
I find myself wondering how stupid I am that I'm not looking to get out.
Unfortunately it's not particularly any better for Jews anywhere else.
In other news, it was really really good to see people at Simon's party, which is part of why I got there so late to p&g. So it would have been good to catch up with barchan once he got there but I was on my way out
I have to be at Glen Echo in less than 12 hours for a wedding
And I'm still wide awake and I still don't know what I'm wearing. And I would have liked to have time to go swimming beforehand especially since I won't be going to Acro first
Speaking of acro, I fell yesterday, and many kudos to my partner who managed to keep me safe. No biscuit to either of us for not making sure a specific person was identified to spot..
Quotes of the Day - How to heal burnout
Sep. 13th, 2025 01:19 pmbrickhousewenchhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/sep/12/burnout-exhausted-surviving-how-to-heal-without-expensive-time-off
One small thing that can help is to switch your thinking about self-care from activities to feelings. The self-care industry often presents “rest” as a set of actions: a holiday, a meditation, a particular kind of exercise – sometimes conveniently bundled together for a price. But no activity is recovery if you feel eroded and small while doing it. Activities help when they are routes to a feeling but it’s the feeling itself that matters. Frogmarching through something that’s meant to make people feel calm won’t be much use if the stress follows you throughout, or if what you needed wasn’t to feel calm but to feel free, or silly, or stimulated.
It can help to name the feeling we need in greater detail than we’re used to. Not “I need to not feel burned out” but “I need to feel safe”, or “like myself”, or “like I’m enough”. Then we can look for ways to get those feelings that don’t require months of expensive leave. Instead of the activity “no screens”, the goal of feeling proud of something I did today. Instead of the activity of “long walk”, the feeling of attending to my surrounds. Are your finite slivers of recreation giving you the feelings you need to recharge? Are there small ways to make room for them at work?
One small thing that can help is to switch your thinking about self-care from activities to feelings. The self-care industry often presents “rest” as a set of actions: a holiday, a meditation, a particular kind of exercise – sometimes conveniently bundled together for a price. But no activity is recovery if you feel eroded and small while doing it. Activities help when they are routes to a feeling but it’s the feeling itself that matters. Frogmarching through something that’s meant to make people feel calm won’t be much use if the stress follows you throughout, or if what you needed wasn’t to feel calm but to feel free, or silly, or stimulated.
It can help to name the feeling we need in greater detail than we’re used to. Not “I need to not feel burned out” but “I need to feel safe”, or “like myself”, or “like I’m enough”. Then we can look for ways to get those feelings that don’t require months of expensive leave. Instead of the activity “no screens”, the goal of feeling proud of something I did today. Instead of the activity of “long walk”, the feeling of attending to my surrounds. Are your finite slivers of recreation giving you the feelings you need to recharge? Are there small ways to make room for them at work?
Books Received, September 6 — September 12
Sep. 13th, 2025 09:06 amjames_davis_nicoll
Six works new to me: two fantasy (one a roleplaying game), four science fiction. The roleplaying game is part of a series but otherwise, they all seem to be stand-alone.
Books Received, September 6 — September 12
Poll #33608 Books Received, September 6 — September 12
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 45
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent (October 2025)
8 (17.8%)
Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey (November 2025)
20 (44.4%)
Champions of Chaos by Calum Colins, et al
1 (2.2%)
Slow Gods by Claire North (November 2025)
23 (51.1%)
The Divine Gardener’s Handbook: Or What to Do if Your Girlfriend Accidentally Turns Off the Sun by Eli Snow (August 2026)
21 (46.7%)
Death Engine Protocol: Better Dying Through Science by Margret A. Treiber (April 2025)
13 (28.9%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
30 (66.7%)
Swedish Cottage
Sep. 12th, 2025 12:37 pmbrickhousewenchSomebody on Facebook saved all the photos of that Swedish cottage I posted about last week!
Check it out.
Check it out.
Happy 11th Birthday, James Nicoll Reviews!
Sep. 12th, 2025 09:12 amjames_davis_nicoll
I'd been posting reviews to LiveJournal since April of 2014 but on September 12, 2014, James Nicoll Reviews went live, with a review of Robert A. Heinlein's Between Planets.
Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan
Sep. 12th, 2025 08:57 amjames_davis_nicoll
It's time for Bo to leave doomed San Francisco behind... just as soon as she completes one final task.
Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan
Bundle of Holding: Rifts Worlds 1 (from 2018) & Rifts Land and Sea (from 2022)
Sep. 11th, 2025 03:35 pmjames_davis_nicoll
11 sourcebooks that range across the shattered Earth of the Rifts tabletop roleplaying game from Palladium Books.
Bundle of Holding: Rifts Worlds 1
More World Books for the cross-dimensional tabletop roleplaying game
Bundle of Holding: Rifts Land and Sea (from 2022)