jdnicoll

jdnicoll, 3 months ago to random

Five SF Strategies for Creating More Land

Make Room! Make Room! Literally.

https://reactormag.com/five-sf-strategies-for-creating-more-land/
#TorDotCom #ReacTor

jdnicoll, 3 months ago to random

Decision to cut costly pre-flight test yields major savings in on-going operational costs thanks to dramatic mission duration reduction.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/moon-lander-odysseus-mission-expected-end-tuesday-morning-5-days-after-touchdown-2024-02-26/

pauldrye, 3 months ago to random

The cover for the first book in a long British YA series begun in 1957.

It's intriguing to me as being touted as "realistic space travel"--as realistic as a book for young readers in 1957 can be, anyway. It also uses weight as an excuse for a teenaged protagonist: the British rocket on-hand can't haul a full-sized man to the Moon and young Chris is only five feet tall.

...Which is doubly interesting because god forbid they use a woman pilot rather than rely on a rookie teen. Very 1957, IOW.

jdnicoll, 3 months ago to random

Never Mind the Torment Nexus, Here’s Five SF Ideas I’d Like to See in Reality

Hey, tech billionaires—if you want to steal ideas from science fiction, start with these...

https://reactormag.com/never-mind-the-torment-nexus-heres-five-sf-ideas-id-like-to-see-in-reality/

#tordotcom #ReacTor

jdnicoll, 3 months ago to random

Brian Stableford (1948 - 2024)

Numerous sources report the death of SF author Brian Stableford. This has been a terrible year for SFF.

While I suspect I reread his Daedelus books most often, my favourites were the David Lydyard books. I should reread them.

jdnicoll, 3 months ago to random

Nightside City (Carlisle Hsing, volume 1) by Lawrence Watt-Evans

Why would someone buy doomed real estate?

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/in-my-dreams

jdnicoll, 3 months ago to random

Termush by Sven Holm (Translated by Sylvia Clayton)

Having waited out apocalypse in their lavish shelter, the rich are now free to inherit the Earth. What's left of it.

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/cares
#booktodon

jdnicoll, 3 months ago to random

The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion

https://www.patreon.com/posts/98498779

jdnicoll, 3 months ago to random

Bundle of Holding: Sig: Manual of the Primes

Inspired by AD&D Planescape, Neil Gaiman's American Gods, and other otherworldly settings, Sig: Manual of the Primes and Spark by designer Jason Pitre at Genesis of Legend Publishing.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/SigSpark
#BundleOfHolding

jdnicoll, 3 months ago to random

They’d Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton & Frank Riley

Would the super-computer doom us all or simply ensure sales to John W. Campbell, Jr.?

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/regrets-ive-had-a-few
#WhatsTheWorstThatCouldHappen

jdnicoll, 3 months ago to random

What’s The Worst That Could Happen?

A foray into SFF's most notorious books.

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/whats-the-worst-that-could-happen
#WhatsTheWorstThatCouldHappen

jdnicoll, 4 months ago to random

Five Exciting Careers for the End of the World

The world ended but you still need a job! Here are five!

https://reactormag.com/five-exciting-careers-for-the-end-of-the-world/

#ReacTor #tordotcom

jdnicoll, 4 months ago to random

Another Monday, another round of "Which Nebula Award finalists have you read?" This week, the focus is on that very groovy year, 1970!

✔ for read, * for intend to read, and ! for never heard of it. Or use symbols of your own preference. Or don't. Whatever amuses you.
#NebulaAward

jdnicoll, 4 months ago to random

BLAME CANADA!

https://phys.org/news/2024-02-earth-giant-snowball-million-years.html

jdnicoll, 4 months ago to random

Furious Heaven (Sun Chronicles, volume 2) by Kate Elliott

Fate hands Sun the chance to showcase her exuberant military strategy.

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/destined-for-death
#BOOKTODON

jdnicoll, 4 months ago to random

Bundle of Holding: Hero Magazines (from 2020)

A bargain-priced assortment of long-running hobby periodicals devoted to Champions, The Super Roleplaying Game and the universal HERO System rules set from Hero Games.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/HeroMags2024
#BundleOfHolding

jdnicoll, 4 months ago to random

Five SFF Works That Explore the (Sometimes Perilous) Power of Libraries

Knowledge is power, and with great power comes... well, you know.

https://reactormag.com/five-sff-works-that-explore-the-sometimes-perilous-power-of-libraries/
#tordotcom #reactormag

jdnicoll, 4 months ago to random

SF 12 (The Year’s Best S‑F, volume 12) edited by Judith Merril

The 12th and final entry (not counting retrospective volumes) in Merril's Best S-F series, which was afaik was the sole Best SF anthology series helmed by a lone woman in the 20th Century.

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/starry-notions
#booktodon

jdnicoll, 4 months ago to random

This is a shot of pure, crystallized nostalgia straight to my adrenal gland.

Bundle of Holding: Early Champions

Every book for the First (1981), Second (1982), and Third (1984) Editions of Champions.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2024EarlyChamps
#BundleOfHolding

jdnicoll, 4 months ago to random

Five Ways Authors Motivate Characters to Leave Earth Behind

How to attract workers to toxic, nearly airless, radiation-bombarded Mars, hellish Venus, or even the bone-eroding microgravity of the asteroids when there’s a perfectly habitable planet available?

https://reactormag.com/five-ways-authors-motivate-characters-to-leave-earth-behind/
#tordotcom #reactormag

jdnicoll, 4 months ago to random

Uncle Fluffy's Post​-​Apocalyptic Sing​-​Along by Kurt Pankaus

One travelling children's entertainer sings educational songs about the horrifying world in which those unlucky enough to survive that thing we don't talk about live.

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/this-very-particular-apocalypse

jdnicoll, 4 months ago to random

Worldcon Intellectual Property announces resignations and censures in wave of the calamitous 2023 Hugo Award debacle.

https://www.wsfs.org/2024/01/31/announcements-from-worldcon-intellectual-property/

cstross, 4 months ago to random

My thought on Neuralink implanting tech in human heads for the first time:

Brain implants are one of those technologies where the MTBF for the implant MUST exceed the MTBF of the implantee. And there must be lifetime after-sales support, Or else the execs who made the decision to pull support should go to prison for the rest of their lives.

jdnicoll, 4 months ago to random

Idea for a ttrpg alignment system. Keep the law to chaos axis but replace the good, neutral, and evil axis with potatoes. I just haven't worked out which potatoes go where.