pvaneynd | Reading

2022: The British are heartened by Partygate revelations that the Tories celebrated in trust the gatherings barred to the rabble during Covid, the UK teaches the world a thing or two about political stability by going through three Prime Ministers in less than two months, and Queen Elizabeth II escapes the prospect of discovering how exactly the UK would continue its downward political arc.

Poll #33843 Clarke Award Finalists 2022

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

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Which 2022 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

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Deep Wheel Orcadia by Harry Josephine Giles
0 (0.0%)

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
4 (100.0%)

A River Called Time by Courttia Newland
0 (0.0%)

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
0 (0.0%)

Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley
1 (25.0%)

Wergen: The Alien Love War by Mercurio D. Rivera
0 (0.0%)

Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.

Which 2022 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Deep Wheel Orcadia by Harry Josephine Giles
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
A River Called Time by Courttia Newland
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley
Wergen: The Alien Love War by Mercurio D. Rivera

If I say I did not hear of something, it means that it is new to me. Did I not at least glance at the Clarkes in 2022?

james_davis_nicoll

Alien invasion and the local Nazis complicate Pelham "Rat" Garfield's simple dream of being a successful pimp.

A Sweet Sweet Summer by Jane Gaskell

oglaf_comic_feed

https://www.oglaf.com/buoyancy/

ewx

( Video )

james_davis_nicoll

Outgunned's task resolution system involves rolling six-sided dice and looking for sets.

Some explanation behind a cut.

( Read more... )

yhlee

This one's going to

helen_keeble. :)

james_davis_nicoll

A speculative fiction collection from Vanessa Fogg.

The House of Illusionists: and Other Stories by Vanessa Fogg

flareonfury posting in

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animatedfanfiction

Community Description:

animatedfanfiction is for any animated films/shows, such as cartoons or anime fanfiction. Any rating is accepted. Feel free to post your old or new works!

yhlee

They're not kidding when they say this loom folds up easily (a few seconds) and can be wheeled WITH A PARTIALLY WOVEN WIP STILL ON THE LOOM, ditto unfolding and your project's ready again. (The wheels are extra, but worth it to me.)

Note that this loom is lightweight, my preference (~30 lbs) but that means it will "travel" if you treadle hard. Likewise, by default it's only two harnesses. I unironically love plainweave so this is fine for my use case but if you have more complex weaving in mind, maybe not so much. (You can buy a spendy attachment to convert it to four harnesses, but...)

folded loom

( Read more... )

I haven't yet tested it, but the design of the "ready-made warp" tabletop system is fiendishly clever. Frankly, warping is potentially so annoying that it was worth the cost. I am considering a Frankenstein's monster modification that MIGHT make warping easier as well but I haven't yet tested it.

tabletop warping system

james_davis_nicoll

Experience the trip of a lifetime — without having to deal with planes, passports, or other tourists...

RPG Tourism: Five Games To Help You Travel Vicariously

james_davis_nicoll

Bold conspirators conceal a serious crime by committing a far more serious one.

Testimony of Mute Things (Penric & Desdemona, volume 15) by Lois McMaster Bujold

yhlee

Possum blend from Ixchel, two-ply!

I still love the wallaby blend best, but this is great too.

handspun yarn

yhlee

https://www.scottedelman.com/wordpress/2025/11/12/a-dream-denied/

On August 12, 1971, my 16-year-old self mailed the first story I ever wrote off on its first submission. The publication I hoped would buy that story, my dream market, was The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

[...]

...earlier this week, after what by my count were 23 back and forth emails between me and the new owners of F&SF as I attempted to transform that initial boilerplate contract into something acceptable, I had no choice other than to walk away from my dream.

Let me explain why.

But before I do, I want to preface this by making it clear I have nothing but good things to say about editor Sheree Renée Thomas. Her words of praise as she accepted this story moved me greatly, and her perceptive comments and suggested tweaks ably demonstrated her strengths as an editor. It breaks my heart to disappoint her by pulling a story which was intended to appear in the next issue of F&SF. But, alas, I must.

Short version: Must Read Magazines offers garbage contracts. I'm not in contracts or law, but I started in sf/f short stories 20+ years ago and IMO Edelman correctly refused to sign.

Based on this account and others, I would not go near Must Read Magazines (or F&SF, Asimov's, Analog under their current ownership) with a 200-foot anaconda, let alone a 20-foot pole.

ffutures

This is a big bundle of small supplements by Ken Hite for the Gumshoe system games from Pelgrane Press:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/KenWrites

About two-thirds of this material has been in previous bundles, the rest is new.

While I'm a fan of Hite's writing, I'm not a huge fan of the Gumshoe system, so mainly use these things as a source of ideas for other games. Right now I'm trying to get a LOT done before the end of the week, month, and year, and can't give them much time, but the price is pretty good and it looks like you're getting a lot for your money. I think it's worth a look.

james_davis_nicoll

39 Mythos-history-fringe-weird treatises from Pelgrane Press.

Bundle of Holding: Ken Writes About Stuff

james_davis_nicoll

The 1997 Second Edition of Over the Edge, the acclaimed Atlas Games tabletop roleplaying game of surreal danger on the conspiracy-ridden, reality-bending Mediterranean island of Al Amarja, and more.

Bundle of Holding: Over the Edge 2E (From 2014)

james_davis_nicoll

Ryudo Konosuke wakes in a fog, covered in wounds whose cause he does not recall and a haunting feeling he forgot something else very important.

Steel of the Celestial Shadows, volume 2 by Daruma Matsuura (Translated by Caleb D. Cook)

james_davis_nicoll

BEIJING, Nov 5 (Reuters) - China's Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country's human spaceflight agency said on Wednesday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country's space station Tiangong.

ffutures

At the request of (apparently) a lot of people who got Monday's Over the Edge 3E bundle, there's now an extra bundle, the third repeat of the Over the Edge 2nd Edition bundle from 2014. It contains more or less everything published for the classic weird conspiracy RPG Over the Edge, one of my favourites - and if you don't believe me, just ask Tiffany Trilobite!

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025OTE2E

I wasn't on the mailing list for reviewing this stuff in 2014, but when it was repeated in 2017 I said "As may be obvious from my introduction, I like this game - it's strange, weird, and wonderful, and there really isn't anything like it that's anywhere near as good. I already own a lot of this in dead tree format, but I'll certainly be downloading everything I don't have. Considering the original prices this is extremely good value for money - but as usual I have to point out that I get this stuff free if I want it, if you don't your mileage may vary.

Strongly recommended!"

I should also mention that the last two times this was offered the books weren't added to buyers' Drivethru RPG account, because that part of the Bundle of Holding offers hadn't been set up yet. It has now, so buying the bundle will give you access to any updates etc. later offered via Drivethru, as well as making it easy to get them again if your files go blooey...