Reading

Current Mood: crushed
Current Location: the living room
Current Music: Nothing. Not a damn thin.

Entry tags:

Dept. of Fare thee well, Democracy

They Did It

I mean, there was no way it wasn't going to pass, but it's still like a knife twist, like salt in the wound that knife left, like the laughter of the people who brought knives and salt to the scene.

Motherfuckers. Murderers.

2025.07.03

A Wisconsin brewery owner wants to shut down Fourth of July parades, both in Minocqua, where the brewery is located, and across the nation. Kirk Bangstad “says he ‘will not allow this town to comfortably celebrate its most important event of the year’ because he believes he’s been targeted by city officials,” according to Bring Me The News. Via MinnPost
https://bringmethenews.com/wisconsin-news/wisconsin-brewery-owner-plans-to-disrupt-parade-over-feud-with-officials

Scientists warn US will lose a generation of talent because of Trump cuts
Political interference and chaotic cuts to staff, programs and grants at the National Science Foundation are producing ‘devastating consequences’
Nina Lakhani
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/03/national-science-foundation-trump-cuts

New Orleans teacher fired by Catholic school for being gay says ‘it’s just time’ for discrimination to stop
Mark Richards was fired from St Francis Xavier school after an obituary identified him as his late husband’s widower
Ramon Antonio Vargas in New Orleans
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/03/new-orleans-teacher-mark-richards ( Read more... )

Entry tags:

review

Blight (Sleep of Reason, volume 2) by Rachel A. Rosen

Director of the nation formerly known as Canada Quinn Atherton is determined to deliver much mass murder as it takes to achieve peace, order, good government. Why do so many ingrates object?

Blight(Sleep of Reason, volume 2) by Rachel A. Rosen

My alt-Mummy film

The inspiration being the 1999 Mummy movie is not without problematic elements.

Imagine an Egyptian film company wanting to make a movie about idiots waking a horror in Canada that only the Egyptian lead can resolve.
( Read more... )

Entry tags:

Wednesday reading

Boston's Orange Line, by Andrew Elder and Jeremy C. Fox. This is a collection of black-and-white photos, going back to the start of the old elevated orange line, with captions. This was for the "explore Boston history" square on the BPL summer reading bingo. If I'd noticed the "images of rail" series title, I wouldn't have borrowed this book. The captions are just about enough to confirm that there's more than enough to be said on the subject to make a book, but this isn't. This has a disjointed discussion of the lengthy "realigmnent" of the orange line to its current route, and a couple of paragraphs on the decision not to run an 8-lane interstate through the middle of Boston and Cambridge, and no suggestion that anything similar had happened elsewhere. Ah, well.

There are suggestions on the library website for some of the squares (including "with a green cover"), but not this one. Searching the catalog for "Boston histpry" got me this, along with, among other things, a book about the Big Dig, a book about the Great Molasses Flood (which is at least mentioned in this, with a picture of damage to the orange line), and Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

Entry tags:

bundle of holding

Bundle of Holding: The Dark Eye MEGA (from 2023)

The June 2023 Dark Eye Megabundle featuring the English-language edition from Ulisses Spiele of the leading German tabletop roleplaying game of heroic fantasy, The Dark Eye.

Bundle of Holding: The Dark Eye MEGA (from 2023)

2025.07.02

Dinner du Nord invites diners to a 7-block-long table on Nicollet Mall
Dinner du Nord organizers share a toast at a model table in Minneapolis on July 1, featuring dishes from several local restaurants.
Estelle Timar-Wilcox
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/07/01/dinner-du-nord-invites-diners-to-a-7blocklong-table-on-nicollet-mall

Concerns about Uptown’s changing face are familiar and overwrought
Yes, the critical Minneapolis retail and entertainment hub is suffering. But the key to its future isn’t recreating the past.
by Bill Lindeke
https://www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2025/07/concerns-about-uptowns-changing-face-are-familiar-and-overwrought/

Judge blocks Kristi Noem from ending temporary protected status for Haitians
Homeland security secretary attempting to end legal status for approximately 521,000 Haitian immigrants
Reuters
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/01/kristi-noem-haitian-immigrants-tps

Kristi Noem failed to disclose $80,000 received while South Dakota governor – report
Homeland security secretary was paid by group listed as American Resolve Police Fund, according to Politico
Edward Helmore
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/01/kristi-noem-payment-south-dakota-governor ( Read more... )

Entry tags:

Touring After the Apocalypse, volume 5 by Sakae Saito

Youko and Airi meet a new friend and encounter Chekov's Volcano.

Touring After the Apocalypse, volume 5 by Sakae Saito

Entry tags:

adult_content

Kink Hub Theme of the Month: "Sex on the Beach"

Kink Hub: A Sharing & Reccing Community for Kink Fics

Links:

kinkhub | Community Rules | Posting Guidelines | Monthly Themes & Free-For-All | July: Sex on the Beach

Description: Kink Hub is an 18+ comm for anything kink fic, where you can self-promote, share and rec fanfics of all fandoms and original works. RPF is welcome.

For the month of July, the theme for all shared fics is "Sex on the Beach", which means any kinks related to outdoor fun (no actual beach required) and/or alcoholic beverages (no cocktail required). If you've written or read fics featuring any related kink, you're very welcome to share the links to them in this comm.

2025 CSFFA Hall of Fame Inductees

The quotation below is a quotation

CSFFA (The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association) is proud to announce the 2025 CSFFA Hall of Fame inductees.

Clint Budd, fan, convention organizer, modernized CSFFA and created the CSFFA Hall of Fame
Charles R. Saunders, author, journalist, and founder of the “sword and soul” literary genre
Diane L. Walton, editor, mentor, and a founding member of On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic

More information here.

Congratulations to the Inductees!

2025.07.01

Severe weather hits the US hard as key forecast offices reel from Trump cuts
This year marks the first time that local NWS offices have stopped round-the-clock operations in the agency’s history
Eric Holthaus
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/01/severe-weather-nws-trump-cuts

And everybody sez irony is dead?
Trump threatens to set Doge on Musk as pair feud again over budget plan
Aleks Phillips
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdvv2qqlrqo

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Entry tags:

meetpoint,
review

The Dreamstone (Ealdwood, volume 1) by C J Cherryh

Only the brave, the arrogant, the naïve, or the desperate Men trespass in Arafel's Ealdwood. Into which category does the latest visitor fall?

The Dreamstone (Ealdwood, volume 1) by C J Cherryh

Entry tags:

patreon

July 2025 Patreon Boost

Jealous of all the people who support Aurora-finalist James Nicoll Reviews? Want to join them? Here are your options:

July 2025 Patreon Boost

Jim Shooter (1951 - 2025)

Former Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, 73, has reportedly passed away from esophageal cancer.

LARP comes to the USA!

If you've been reading this blog, you will have seen me raving about my Live Action Role Play experiences in Europe in the past few years. Well, suddenly the European LARP experience is coming to the United States!

I'm aware of the following LARP events in the US in the next year. Many of these are being run in cooperation with a European LARP organizer. Some of them are still provisional; others are already sold out (though there is usually a waiting list). Check the websites for details and contact the organizers if you have any questions. And feel free to bookmark my public LARP spreadsheet, which I try to keep updated with every LARP I hear about that's of interest to me. (Which excludes vampire and boffer LARPs, for example.)

Miskatonic University North America (Lovecraft) - Pennsylvania
Aug 1-3 2025
https://chaosleague.org/miskatonic-university-larp-us
Daemon (His Dark Materials) - Colorado
Run 1: Sep 26-28 2025
Run 2: Sep 29 - Oct 1 2025
https://www.mooneybinentertainment.com/daemon
Hawkins (Stranger Things) - Wisconsin
Oct 2-5 2025
http://hawkinslarp.com
Monstrosity (Erotic horror) - New Jersey
Run 1: Oct 30 - Nov 1 2025
Run 2: Nov 2-4 2025
Run 3: Nov 6-8 2025
https://www.monstrositylarp.com
Bard's Tale US (Shakespeare) - Wisconsin
Run 5: Apr 10-12 2026
https://www.westcoastinteractive.com/bardstale
Lies & Liability (Regency) - Wisconsin
Late April 2026
https://grimmoire.productions/lies-and-liability/
Outbound Hope Mission (Galactica-ish on a decomissioned warship) - Michigan
Run 1: Apr 30 - May 3 2026
Run 2: May 7-10 2026
https://outboundhopemission.com/
Conscience USA (Westworld) - Montana
Run 1: Jun 26-28 2026
Run 2: Jul 3-5 2026
http://mooneybinentertainment.com/conscienceusa
Hivemind (1960s spies) - USA TBD
Nov 6-7 2026
https://www.hivemindlarp.com/

Rebuilding journal search again

We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

Entry tags:

bundle of holding

Bundle of Holding: Broken Tales

The English-language rulebook and supplements for Broken Tales, the tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of upside-down fairy tales from Italian game publisher The World Anvil Publishing.

Bundle of Holding: Broken Tales

2025.06.30

Trump’s justice department issues directive to strip naturalized Americans of citizenship for civil offenses
Memo says those subjected to civil proceedings are not entitled to an attorney like they are in criminal cases
Edward Helmore
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/30/trump-birthright-citizenship-naturalized-citizens

15 Hmong Minnesotans face deportation over convictions, some decades old
More Hmong Americans are facing deportation over past convictions, after the Trump administration increased pressure on Laos to approve travel visas.
by Katelyn Vue
https://sahanjournal.com/immigration/hmong-deportation-ice-minnesota-laos/

Throwing their bodies on the gears: the Democratic lawmakers showing up to resist Trump
Republicans may literally own social media platforms, but some Democrats are buying back legitimacy with protests
George Chidi
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/30/democrats-trump-resistance

Zohran Mamdani won by being himself – and his victory has revealed the Islamophobic ugliness of others
Nesrine Malik
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/30/zohran-mamdani-new-york-islamophobia-us-politics

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner was deemed the 'safest' of planes. The whistleblowers were always less sure
Theo Leggett
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyq7vgq2e5o

'Every word has come back to haunt me': China cracks down on women who write gay erotica
Yi Ma BBC News Reporting from London
Eunice Yang BBC Chinese
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c056nle2drno

Entry tags:

clarke award

Clarke Award Finalists 2003

2003: PM Blair embraces hilariously transparent lies to justify the invasion of Iraq, two million Britons reveal the power of public outrage when they protest the Iraq War to no effect, and the Coalition of the Billing (UK included) faces an occupation of Iraq that will no doubt be entirely without unforeseen challenges or consequences.

Poll #33305 Clarke Award Finalists 2003

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 60

View Respondents

Which 2003 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

The Separation by Christopher Priest
10 (16.7%)

Kiln People by David Brin
18 (30.0%)

Light by M. John Harrison
16 (26.7%)

The Scar by China Miéville
26 (43.3%)

The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
30 (50.0%)

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
32 (53.3%)

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

Which 2003 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
The Separation by Christopher Priest
Kiln People by David Brin
Light by M. John Harrison
The Scar by China Miéville
The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson