Books Received, [strike] October 1 — October 7[/strike] November 1 - November 7
Nov. 8th, 2025 09:44 am
Six books new to me: two fantasy, one science fiction, one that seems to be a mix of both, one horror, and one non-fiction.
Books Received, November 1 - November 7
How is it November already?
Which of these (mostly upcoming) book look interesting?
Rings of Fate by Melissa de la Cruz (January 2026)
5 (14.7%)
Foundling Fathers by Meg Elison (June 2026)
14 (41.2%)
Letters From an Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss (November 2025)
15 (44.1%)
The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale by Joe R. Lansdale (October 2025)
3 (8.8%)
Fallen Gods by Rachel van Dyken (December 2025)
7 (20.6%)
The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes by Conevery Bolton Valencius (May 2024)
21 (61.8%)
Some other option (see comments)
1 (2.9%)
Cats!
26 (76.5%)
Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments (Edinburgh Nights, volume 2) by T. L. Huchu
Nov. 7th, 2025 09:12 am
Discovering what she expected to be a lucrative new job is instead an internship, Ropa Moyo tries to pay her bill by resorting to her avocation of detective.
Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments (Edinburgh Nights, volume 2) by T. L. Huchu
Outgunned by Riccardo “Rico” Sirignano & Simone Formicola (Translated by Caterina Arzani)
Nov. 6th, 2025 09:00 am
Miss the action movies of the recent past? Now you and your fellow gamers can recreate them.
Outgunned by Riccardo “Rico” Sirignano & Simone Formicola (Translated by Caterina Arzani)
Time Well Spent
Nov. 5th, 2025 03:25 pmEvan Mason: Captain Jetpack!
( Read more... )
This Monster Wants to Eat Me, volume 1 by Sai Naekawa
Nov. 5th, 2025 09:14 am
Hinako Yaotose is saved by certain doom... by a monster who wants to let Hinaka ripen a bit before eating her.
This Monster Wants to Eat Me, volume 1 by Sai Naekawa
My terrible confession
Nov. 4th, 2025 11:14 amVoyager in Night by C J Cherryh
Nov. 4th, 2025 08:43 am
A trading voyage leads to first contact and a delightful process of mutual discovery.
Voyager in Night by C J Cherryh
Doomscrolling isn't action
Nov. 3rd, 2025 07:53 pm
Most days for me it isn’t even a question of remaining sane, but rather being able to focus on anything long enough to engage meaningfully with it. You could say that as a technically retired person seeking to spin up a freelance business, I’ve got nothing but time to engage with a lot of things, and in a sense that’s true. On the other hand, when I don’t have a lot of set projects to work on, it’s a lot easier to get distracted from the main task that would ameliorate that, i.e., drumming up more work. Between the ongoing government shutdown and the effects this is having on health insurance rates (as someone who self-insures this definitely applies to me), SNAP benefits (applicable to lots of people I know and more than likely many who you do, too), and longer-term consequences that will take awhile to fully manifest, it’s hard to turn my eye off the news and onto the business of everyday life.
I’m not sure if this is what the 1960s activists who coined the phrase meant by “the personal is political,” but it’s increasingly hard to avoid knowing about how shenaniganery (totally a word) in the halls of power turns the business of everyday life into a series of reactions. At least one person I know is fighting a cancellation of benefits that will literally kill them. Making phone calls (which takes hours because that’s how long it takes them to get through), submitting reams of documentation, making more phone calls, being told five different things by five different people, and all of this because they aren’t able to actually work a regular job.
Yeah, I’ve heard stories about people scamming the system. Sometimes the tellers even know the scammers personally. But I’ve never known a single person receiving SNAP or other benefits who didn’t need them. Some of them were or are getting help from friends and family, too, including me. But people who say that this kind of aid, and maybe charity, ought to be the entirety of what’s available really have no idea how great the need is.
And that’s just one example.
Just today I started reading a book that I’ll be reviewing for Library Journal that has this quote, so indicative of what I’m talking about: “it is far easier to go for a walk in the woods than it is to stop monsters from marching to power.” Especially since the monsters will likely march whether one goes for a walk in the woods or not. I see that not as an argument for not even trying to stop the monsters, but for recognizing that stopping them will take a lot of effort from a lot of people. Corollary to that, if the monsters do march to power, don’t assume that nobody tried to stop them. I’ve been alive long enough to remember efforts to prevent or at least hinder the current state of affairs, the roots of which go back further than we generally realize.
That’s the thing about studying history; it’s not so much that those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it, as those who do study history find out that there’s always another thing that came before.
In practical terms, I’ve had to put a hard limit on how much time I spend each day absorbing the news. This used to be a lot easier to do in the days of broadcast TV and physical newspapers, but it’s still possible. At a certain point you hit diminishing returns, anyway, and it takes time and energy away from taking action.
It also necessitates curating where you’re getting that news from, which is the kind of thing I used to teach as a research librarian focused on information literacy. I’ll be writing more about that soon, I think.
Annoyed
Nov. 3rd, 2025 09:54 pm(It's not diabetes. It's just that I am incredibly intolerant to eating late)
Five Ways Science Fiction Can Expand Beyond Homo sapiens
Nov. 3rd, 2025 12:48 pm
Modern humans are fine, but what if we had a bit more variety in our stories?
Five Ways Science Fiction Can Expand Beyond Homo sapiens
Achtung! Cthulhu
Nov. 2nd, 2025 09:54 pmThis went over well
Nov. 2nd, 2025 03:58 pm
In case the image does not load or someone cannot read it: it is a Bluesky post reading "I firmly believe the Jays would have won had Diefenbaker not cancelled the Avro Arrow."
There are 7 reposts, 2 quotes, and 48 likes.
Moon of Mutiny (Jim Stanley, volume 3) by Lester del Rey
Nov. 2nd, 2025 07:52 am
Was Fred Halpern the boy space hero the papers believed him or the headstrong fool his teachers saw?
Moon of Mutiny (Jim Stanley, volume 3) by Lester del Rey
November 2025 Patreon Boost
Nov. 1st, 2025 01:00 pm
You too can be one of the legions of James Nicoll Review supporters, financing my slow but steady advance towards review aleph null!
November 2025 Patreon Boost
Books Received, October 25 — October 31
Nov. 1st, 2025 09:18 am
Five works new to me: two horror, one and a half science fiction, one half fantasy, and one TTRPG that's hard to classify. Two could be said to be series works.
Books Received, October 25 — October 31
Which of these upcoming books looks interesting?
Dreamland by Olivie Blake (August 2026)
13 (29.5%)
Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey (May 2026)
17 (38.6%)
Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Three edited by Stephen Kotowych (October 2025)
18 (40.9%)
Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler (March 2026)
18 (40.9%)
Outgunned Adventure by Riccardo“Rico” Sirignano & Simone Formicola, with art by Daniela Giubellini (October 2024)
9 (20.5%)
Some other option (see comments)
1 (2.3%)
Cats!
32 (72.7%)


