James Davis Nicoll
@jdnicoll.bsky.social
Reviewer, Essayist, Hugo, Aurora, and Darwin Award finalist.
Bundle of Holding: Forged 3
The third array of recent standalone tabletop roleplaying games using the Forged in the Dark rules system based on John Harper's Blades in the Dark from One Seven Design Studio.
bundleofholding.com/presents/For...
The third array of recent standalone tabletop roleplaying games using the Forged in the Dark rules system based on John Harper's Blades in the Dark from One Seven Design Studio.
bundleofholding.com/presents/For...
Forged in the Dark Bundle 3
Adventurer! This Forged in the Dark Bundle 3 is our third array of recent standalone tabletop roleplaying games that use the Forged in the Dark rules system based on John Harper's Blades in the Dark f...
bundleofholding.com
December 8, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Bundle of Holding: Forged 3
The third array of recent standalone tabletop roleplaying games using the Forged in the Dark rules system based on John Harper's Blades in the Dark from One Seven Design Studio.
bundleofholding.com/presents/For...
The third array of recent standalone tabletop roleplaying games using the Forged in the Dark rules system based on John Harper's Blades in the Dark from One Seven Design Studio.
bundleofholding.com/presents/For...
Five Freshly Reprinted SFF Books and Series
Did you miss these books the first time around? Good news!
reactormag.com/five-freshly...
#ReacTor
Did you miss these books the first time around? Good news!
reactormag.com/five-freshly...
#ReacTor
Five Freshly Reprinted SFF Books and Series - Reactor
Did you miss these books the first time around? Good news!
reactormag.com
December 8, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Five Freshly Reprinted SFF Books and Series
Did you miss these books the first time around? Good news!
reactormag.com/five-freshly...
#ReacTor
Did you miss these books the first time around? Good news!
reactormag.com/five-freshly...
#ReacTor
People can recover from libertarianism.
Good on Penn Jillette. Having to come to terms with your entire political identity and philosophy being wrong is not easy and most people could never do it.
December 8, 2025 at 3:27 PM
People can recover from libertarianism.
Books Received, November 29 — December 5
Six works new to me: four fantasy, one horror, and one SF (also ttrpg). Four are arguably series. First four covers!
jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-r...
Six works new to me: four fantasy, one horror, and one SF (also ttrpg). Four are arguably series. First four covers!
jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-r...
December 8, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Books Received, November 29 — December 5
Six works new to me: four fantasy, one horror, and one SF (also ttrpg). Four are arguably series. First four covers!
jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-r...
Six works new to me: four fantasy, one horror, and one SF (also ttrpg). Four are arguably series. First four covers!
jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-r...
Odd discovery at yesterday's shift: front of house has an usual number of employees who are enthusiastic and opinionated about stage mopping. I thought it was just me. We might set up a race with tech. That will earn us friends.
December 8, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Odd discovery at yesterday's shift: front of house has an usual number of employees who are enthusiastic and opinionated about stage mopping. I thought it was just me. We might set up a race with tech. That will earn us friends.
I have a crapton of tech skills I won't use again, because the new management got rid of all the 1970 - 2020 tech that was kicking around backstage. What will they do if a client shows up with their music on a reel-to-reel or an 8-track?
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?
When I was a security guard 40+ years ago, a number of posts had manual elevators. I got very good at getting the elevator to line up perfectly with the floor at which I wanted to exist.
When I was a security guard 40+ years ago, a number of posts had manual elevators. I got very good at getting the elevator to line up perfectly with the floor at which I wanted to exist.
December 8, 2025 at 2:28 PM
I have a crapton of tech skills I won't use again, because the new management got rid of all the 1970 - 2020 tech that was kicking around backstage. What will they do if a client shows up with their music on a reel-to-reel or an 8-track?
Discworld (clacks are new).
Glen Cook's Black Company and (I think) Dread Empire.
Glen Cook's Black Company and (I think) Dread Empire.
So here's a good question. Significant technological advancement across a fantasy series (as opposed to SF) is uncommon. Adrian's Shadows of the Apt. Pratchett's Discworld. @kyliu99.bsky.social 's Dandelion Dynasty.
Any others you can think of?
Any others you can think of?
Can’t honestly argue with any of this.
December 8, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Discworld (clacks are new).
Glen Cook's Black Company and (I think) Dread Empire.
Glen Cook's Black Company and (I think) Dread Empire.
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?
When I was a security guard 40+ years ago, a number of posts had manual elevators. I got very good at getting the elevator to line up perfectly with the floor at which I wanted to exist.
When I was a security guard 40+ years ago, a number of posts had manual elevators. I got very good at getting the elevator to line up perfectly with the floor at which I wanted to exist.
December 8, 2025 at 4:18 AM
What skill did you master that you will never, ever use again?
When I was a security guard 40+ years ago, a number of posts had manual elevators. I got very good at getting the elevator to line up perfectly with the floor at which I wanted to exist.
When I was a security guard 40+ years ago, a number of posts had manual elevators. I got very good at getting the elevator to line up perfectly with the floor at which I wanted to exist.
Well, at least _this_ comatose person was on the bus, where it's warm...
December 7, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Well, at least _this_ comatose person was on the bus, where it's warm...
Space Skimmer by David Gerrold
Who killed the empire? More importantly, what does it take to get men to process their emotions?
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/more
Who killed the empire? More importantly, what does it take to get men to process their emotions?
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/more
Nothing More Than Feelings
David Gerrold’s 1972 Space Skimmer is a touchy-feely space opera.
Dissatisfied with his home world, Streinveldt, for reasons he does not care to articulate, Mass sets out to find the answer to a quest...
jamesdavisnicoll.com
December 7, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Space Skimmer by David Gerrold
Who killed the empire? More importantly, what does it take to get men to process their emotions?
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/more
Who killed the empire? More importantly, what does it take to get men to process their emotions?
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/more
Reposted by James Davis Nicoll
Shelter for women and gender-diverse people officially opens in downtown Kitchener
Shelter for women and gender-diverse people officially opens in downtown Kitchener
A new emergency shelter with 66 spaces for women and gender-diverse individuals has officially opened in downtown Kitchener.
bit.ly
December 6, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Shelter for women and gender-diverse people officially opens in downtown Kitchener
Saw the 2025 Superman. I don't understand why that Superman would hang out with Mr. Terrific, Hawkwoman, and Guy Gardner, who seem to be mostly murderous dicks.
December 5, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Saw the 2025 Superman. I don't understand why that Superman would hang out with Mr. Terrific, Hawkwoman, and Guy Gardner, who seem to be mostly murderous dicks.
Apparently a patron complained bitterly to an usher about the fact Hum has all gender bathrooms now. We still have segregated bathrooms. It is just that we also have two bathrooms that are not segregated.
December 5, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Apparently a patron complained bitterly to an usher about the fact Hum has all gender bathrooms now. We still have segregated bathrooms. It is just that we also have two bathrooms that are not segregated.
Utopias of the Third Kind by Vandana Singh
An assortment of stories and essays.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/wired...
An assortment of stories and essays.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/wired...
Wired to the World
Vandana Singh’s 2022 Utopias of the Third Kind is a diverse collection.
Utopias of the Third Kind
is the truncated title. The full title is
Utopias of the Third Kind Plus Lamentations in a Lost Tongue...
jamesdavisnicoll.com
December 5, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Utopias of the Third Kind by Vandana Singh
An assortment of stories and essays.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/wired...
An assortment of stories and essays.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/wired...
One of the British Empire's successes was killing per capita income growth in India for 130 years. Isn't that basically what the post-Reagan approach is doing to American helot per capita income growth? And the experiment has only run less than half a century. Imagine 130 years of it!
December 4, 2025 at 3:31 PM
One of the British Empire's successes was killing per capita income growth in India for 130 years. Isn't that basically what the post-Reagan approach is doing to American helot per capita income growth? And the experiment has only run less than half a century. Imagine 130 years of it!
I instantly regret seeking clarification with an all too successful search.
What makes that Peter Wyngarde song the worst is that it is awful in all the ways you expect it to be, and also in multiple other ways you would not have predicted.
I'm seeing discussion of the worst song ever recorded from people who have clearly not encountered *that* Peter Wyngarde song.
December 4, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I instantly regret seeking clarification with an all too successful search.
A Mouthful of Dust (Singing Hills, volume 6) by Nghi Vo
Cleric Chih's quest to record the tragic history of a famine succeeds all too well.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/all-o...
Cleric Chih's quest to record the tragic history of a famine succeeds all too well.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/all-o...
All of These Voices
2025’s A Mouthful of Dust is the sixth volume in Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills secondary-universe fantasy series.
Cleric Chih of Singing Hills and their hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant traverse the Singin...
jamesdavisnicoll.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:54 PM
A Mouthful of Dust (Singing Hills, volume 6) by Nghi Vo
Cleric Chih's quest to record the tragic history of a famine succeeds all too well.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/all-o...
Cleric Chih's quest to record the tragic history of a famine succeeds all too well.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/all-o...
I still don't really get why if it is OK for me to know on what day someone was born, it's rude of me to count back nine months to work out on which holiday they were conceived.
December 4, 2025 at 12:56 AM
I still don't really get why if it is OK for me to know on what day someone was born, it's rude of me to count back nine months to work out on which holiday they were conceived.
The Segway makes me wonder what people's top BIG NEW THING that went nowhere is.
Remember how the Space Shuttle was going to make L5 colonies possible? Nay, inevitable! Everyone gets their own Marin County!
Cold fusion does not quite cut it for me because it was shot down too quickly.
Remember how the Space Shuttle was going to make L5 colonies possible? Nay, inevitable! Everyone gets their own Marin County!
Cold fusion does not quite cut it for me because it was shot down too quickly.
December 3, 2025 at 11:51 PM
The Segway makes me wonder what people's top BIG NEW THING that went nowhere is.
Remember how the Space Shuttle was going to make L5 colonies possible? Nay, inevitable! Everyone gets their own Marin County!
Cold fusion does not quite cut it for me because it was shot down too quickly.
Remember how the Space Shuttle was going to make L5 colonies possible? Nay, inevitable! Everyone gets their own Marin County!
Cold fusion does not quite cut it for me because it was shot down too quickly.
Ah, memories of an early 21st century novel in which it's a minor plot point that Segways dominate transit.
(Oddly, something that's clearly a Segway turns up in a Dean Ing novel written long before Segways appeared)
(Oddly, something that's clearly a Segway turns up in a Dean Ing novel written long before Segways appeared)
Younger people who didn't witness it cannot fathom the hype around the Segway. Every news station agreed it would revolutionize the entire social fabric of the Earth. That all future humans would divide history between the savage days of the past, and the soon to be new era of zoom zoom scoot scoot.
December 3, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Ah, memories of an early 21st century novel in which it's a minor plot point that Segways dominate transit.
(Oddly, something that's clearly a Segway turns up in a Dean Ing novel written long before Segways appeared)
(Oddly, something that's clearly a Segway turns up in a Dean Ing novel written long before Segways appeared)
I put a lot of garlic in my mashed potatoes. Should I balance it with extra butter?
December 3, 2025 at 10:59 PM
I put a lot of garlic in my mashed potatoes. Should I balance it with extra butter?
Bundle of Holding: Worlds Without Number
This new Worlds Without Number Bundle presents Worlds Without Number, the tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of far-future sword-and-sorcery adventure from acclaimed designer Kevin Crawford of Sine Nomine Publishing.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Wor...
This new Worlds Without Number Bundle presents Worlds Without Number, the tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of far-future sword-and-sorcery adventure from acclaimed designer Kevin Crawford of Sine Nomine Publishing.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Wor...
Worlds Without Number Bundle
Adventurer! This new Worlds Without Number Bundle presents Worlds Without Number, the tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of far-future sword-and-sorcery adventure from acclaimed designer Kevin Crawford...
bundleofholding.com
December 3, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Bundle of Holding: Worlds Without Number
This new Worlds Without Number Bundle presents Worlds Without Number, the tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of far-future sword-and-sorcery adventure from acclaimed designer Kevin Crawford of Sine Nomine Publishing.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Wor...
This new Worlds Without Number Bundle presents Worlds Without Number, the tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of far-future sword-and-sorcery adventure from acclaimed designer Kevin Crawford of Sine Nomine Publishing.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Wor...
There was an unsuccessful American TV show back in the 1960s, sort of a Forbidden Planet meets Voyage of the Space Beagle deal. I think there was a character named after a famous children's doctor? Does anyone remember the title?
December 3, 2025 at 4:47 PM
There was an unsuccessful American TV show back in the 1960s, sort of a Forbidden Planet meets Voyage of the Space Beagle deal. I think there was a character named after a famous children's doctor? Does anyone remember the title?