james_davis_nicoll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-20 08:18 pm
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-20 08:18 pm
Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (azurelunatic) wrote2025-07-20 04:16 pm
azurelunatic) wrote2025-07-20 04:16 pmEntry tags:
A good grade
One of the LED bulbs in the bathroom vanity developed a distracting (which is code for sensory nope) flicker. Since the porch fixture takes the same bulb, I proposed that the ailing bulb become a public nuisance rather than a private one.
One of my oncologists (I believe I have dubbed her Dr. Bitsblobs, the oncology gynecologist) is retiring soon. So she has been bidding her patients farewell. Apparently I am a "gold star" patient in terms of trying my best to comply with medical advice, and for self-advocacy. A good grade in cancer, something that is normal to want and possible to achieve.
One of my oncologists (I believe I have dubbed her Dr. Bitsblobs, the oncology gynecologist) is retiring soon. So she has been bidding her patients farewell. Apparently I am a "gold star" patient in terms of trying my best to comply with medical advice, and for self-advocacy. A good grade in cancer, something that is normal to want and possible to achieve.
james_davis_nicoll (james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-20 08:52 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-20 08:52 amEntry tags:
james_davis_nicoll (james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-19 08:53 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-19 08:53 amEntry tags:
Books Received, July 12 — July 19
Four works new to me. three novels, one TTRPG supplement. Two appear to be fantasy, one SF, and one is a mystery (by an author famous for their fantasy). Two appear to be stand-alone and two are series.
Books Received, July 12 — July 19
Poll #33375 Books Received, July 12 — July 19
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 38
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
The Bloody and the Damned by Becca Coffindaffer (April 2026)
12 (31.6%)
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Sea Wardens of Cothique by Dave Allen, Dominic McDowall, Michael Duxbury, Jude Hornborg, Naomi Hunter, Steven Lewis, Simon Wileman, et al (4th Quarter, 2025)
1 (2.6%)
Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur by Ian McDonald (February 2026)
18 (47.4%)
Enola Holmes and the Clanging Coffin by Nancy Springer (February 2026)
11 (28.9%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
27 (71.1%)
james_davis_nicoll (james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-18 10:03 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-18 10:03 amEntry tags:
Checking in on Our Old Friend, Barnard’s Star
In case you've been waiting for an update for the last seven years...
Checking in on Our Old Friend, Barnard’s Star
james_davis_nicoll (james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-18 09:05 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-18 09:05 amEntry tags:
Club Contango (Tracerverse, volume 2) by Eliane Boey
Terrible life choices gave Connie Lam a mountain of debt. The most recent poor decision left her as the lead suspect in a murder case.
Club Contango (Tracerverse, volume 2) by Eliane Boey
Isis (isis) wrote2025-07-17 07:02 pm
isis) wrote2025-07-17 07:02 pmthursday reads and things
I really did intend to post yesterday, but I didn't get to it. Well, it's Thursday!
What I recently finished reading:
The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison, the third book in the Cemeteries of Amalo sub-series of The Goblin Emperor books. I had gone into it with mixed feelings; not that I strongly cared about but I enjoyed it, overall. I liked the low-ish stakes plot, and the DRAGONS, and the fairly mild author's message of what makes a person a person, and the importance of basic rights and the rule of law, which, let's face it, is a relevant message these days.
Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky, stand-alone SF. Again, a lot of people whose reviews I follow didn't like it, but I did; Tchaikovsky is hit and miss for me, but this was a hit. A biologist who is also a political dissident on an extremely authoritarian Earth is exiled as prison labor on a planet with native life that is very weird and apparently hostile. This is basically another exploration of Tchaikovsky's Theme, which is at core, I think, "How can we see the Other as a Person? How do we overcome the instinct to be closed and tribal, and instead practice empathy, leading to discussion and exchange?" There are echos of the Children of Time series, in particular Children of Ruin (the second book), I think. There is also the strong contrast between a culture which gives lip service to the importance of individuality, but demands conformity, and a culture which emphasizes the communal and the good of the community. And of course, the importance of resistance, of holding to one's core beliefs even in the face of a terrible horrible authoritarian government.
I mostly enjoyed the style except for a few references which seemed a little too grounded in 21st century reality for this future in which humans are mining multiple far-flung planets. The structure and pacing worked well for me. Warning for a terrible horrible authoritarian government that doesn't give a shit about human lives other than their own, and body horror, and an ending which may strike some people as not entirely happy, but which satisfied me.sovay, it's very different from Elder Race but if these themes appeal I think you'll like it.
"Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy" by Martha Wells, a Murderbot short story, in which Murderbot doesn't explicitly appear, but ART | Perihelion has recently met it for the first time. It's from Iris's point of view, on a mission with the rest of the crew, and really the mission is just a framing device McGuffin for "Peri has changed because it met someone?!?", and I agree withrunpunkrun's take that there are way too many words devoted to them walking around on this mission which turns out to be not really relevant, compared to the actual point of the story. Still, it's nice to have a bit about Murderbot from not Murderbot's POV.
What I'm reading now:
Just started on the seventh and last Shardlake book by CJ Sansom, Tombland.
What I recently finished watching:
Murderbot! I enjoyed it! I (mostly) appreciate, or at least understand, the changes they made in adaptation. (Not sure why it's not enough for Pin-Lee to be Space Lawyer, but also must be Badass Fighter? And the Arada/Pin-Lee/Ratthi thing didn't seem to have any reason for being and just felt a bit cringe.) I really loved the ending, and Gurathin's whole general arc, and SANCTUARY MOOOOON, and Mensah is chef's kiss perfect.
Speaking of Sanctuary Moon, Murderbot vidded it! Okay, it was really![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
pollyrepeat, but: RADIOACTIVE by Murderbot [vid]!!!
What I'm watching now:
Arcane, because B watched the first episode during the winter, riding the stationary bike, and decided I might like to watch it with him, so moved on to something else so we could watch it together. Not very far into it yet.
What I recently listened to:
The third episode of S3 of The Strange Case of Starship Iris, which, I really liked this one!
What I recently finished reading:
The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison, the third book in the Cemeteries of Amalo sub-series of The Goblin Emperor books. I had gone into it with mixed feelings; not that I strongly cared about
spoiler
the Thara Celehar/Iäna Pel-Thenhior ship, but I had heard that the way it was sunk was awkward and issueficcy and felt like "I was going to write this relationship in but it felt pointless after all the fanfiction", and - yeah, it wasAlien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky, stand-alone SF. Again, a lot of people whose reviews I follow didn't like it, but I did; Tchaikovsky is hit and miss for me, but this was a hit. A biologist who is also a political dissident on an extremely authoritarian Earth is exiled as prison labor on a planet with native life that is very weird and apparently hostile. This is basically another exploration of Tchaikovsky's Theme, which is at core, I think, "How can we see the Other as a Person? How do we overcome the instinct to be closed and tribal, and instead practice empathy, leading to discussion and exchange?" There are echos of the Children of Time series, in particular Children of Ruin (the second book), I think. There is also the strong contrast between a culture which gives lip service to the importance of individuality, but demands conformity, and a culture which emphasizes the communal and the good of the community. And of course, the importance of resistance, of holding to one's core beliefs even in the face of a terrible horrible authoritarian government.
I mostly enjoyed the style except for a few references which seemed a little too grounded in 21st century reality for this future in which humans are mining multiple far-flung planets. The structure and pacing worked well for me. Warning for a terrible horrible authoritarian government that doesn't give a shit about human lives other than their own, and body horror, and an ending which may strike some people as not entirely happy, but which satisfied me.
sovay, it's very different from Elder Race but if these themes appeal I think you'll like it."Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy" by Martha Wells, a Murderbot short story, in which Murderbot doesn't explicitly appear, but ART | Perihelion has recently met it for the first time. It's from Iris's point of view, on a mission with the rest of the crew, and really the mission is just a framing device McGuffin for "Peri has changed because it met someone?!?", and I agree with
runpunkrun's take that there are way too many words devoted to them walking around on this mission which turns out to be not really relevant, compared to the actual point of the story. Still, it's nice to have a bit about Murderbot from not Murderbot's POV.What I'm reading now:
Just started on the seventh and last Shardlake book by CJ Sansom, Tombland.
What I recently finished watching:
Murderbot! I enjoyed it! I (mostly) appreciate, or at least understand, the changes they made in adaptation. (Not sure why it's not enough for Pin-Lee to be Space Lawyer, but also must be Badass Fighter? And the Arada/Pin-Lee/Ratthi thing didn't seem to have any reason for being and just felt a bit cringe.) I really loved the ending, and Gurathin's whole general arc, and SANCTUARY MOOOOON, and Mensah is chef's kiss perfect.
Speaking of Sanctuary Moon, Murderbot vidded it! Okay, it was really
What I'm watching now:
Arcane, because B watched the first episode during the winter, riding the stationary bike, and decided I might like to watch it with him, so moved on to something else so we could watch it together. Not very far into it yet.
What I recently listened to:
The third episode of S3 of The Strange Case of Starship Iris, which, I really liked this one!
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My 4-year-old transitioned to a big-kid bed more than six months ago. Since the switch, every time he wakes up (at night, super early in the morning, etc.), he comes into our room needing us (and waking us up). Sometimes he is crying because he is scared, but often it just feels like an automatic thing he’s doing. We always march him back to his room and don’t let him get in bed with us. We have tried what feels like everything: a reward chart for a bigger reward he gets to pick, a small reward each day he stays in his room, a light that changes color when he can come out of his room, talks at times other than when we’re dealing with it in the moment about staying in his room, some books about being afraid of the dark, a special box of toys to play with when he wakes up, a fun galaxy light, a Yoto he can listen to … nothing has worked.
I don’t want to lock him in for a variety of reasons. I feel like we’re almost back in the baby stages of being woken up at night! I was hoping it was just a phase we’d get through, but it’s really dragging on at this point. He’s also been tired during the day so he’s not getting enough sleep. Any ideas?
—Mom in the Land of 10,000 Yawns
( Read more... )
I don’t want to lock him in for a variety of reasons. I feel like we’re almost back in the baby stages of being woken up at night! I was hoping it was just a phase we’d get through, but it’s really dragging on at this point. He’s also been tired during the day so he’s not getting enough sleep. Any ideas?
—Mom in the Land of 10,000 Yawns
( Read more... )
rachelmanija (rachelmanija) wrote2025-07-17 02:40 pm
rachelmanija) wrote2025-07-17 02:40 pmWildfire Days: A Woman, a Hotshot Crew, and the Burning American West, by Kelly Ramsey
Kelly Ramsey became a hotshot - the so-called Special Forces of firefighting - with three strikes against her. She's a woman on an otherwise all-male crew, a small woman dealing with equipment much too big for her, and 36 years old when most of the men are in their early 20s. If that's not enough, it's 2020 - the start of the pandemic - and California is having a record fire year, with GIGAFIRES that burn more than ONE MILLION acres. At one point her own hometown burns down.
The memoir tells the story of her two seasons with the Rowdy River Hotshots, her relationship with her awful fiance (also a firefighter, on a different crew), her relationship with her alcoholic homeless father, and a general memoir of her life. I'd say about three-fifths of the book is about the hotshots, and two-fifths are her fiance/her father/her life up to that point.
You will be unsurprised to hear that I was WAY more interested in the hotshots than in her personal life. The fiance was loosely relevant to her time with the hotshots (he was jealous of both the male hotshots and of her job itself), and her alcoholic father and her history of impulsive sexual relationships was relevant to her personality, but you could have cut all of that by about 75% and still gotten the point.
All the firefighting material is really interesting, and Ramsey does an impressively good job of not only vividly depicting hotshot culture, but also differentiating 19 male firefighters. I had a good idea of what all of them were like and knew who she meant whenever she mentioned one, and that is not easy. You get a very good idea of both the technique and sheer physical effort it takes to fight fires, along with plenty of info on fire behavior and the history of fire in California. (She does not neglect either climate change or the indigenous use of fire.)
This feels like an incredibly honest book. Ramsey doesn't gloss over how gross and embarrassing things get when no one's bathed for weeks, you've been slogging through powdery ash the whole time, there's no toilets, and you're the only one who menstruates. She depicts not only the struggle of trying to keep up with a bunch of younger, stronger, macho guys, but how desperate she is to be accepted by them as one of the guys and how this causes problems when another woman joins the crew - a woman who openly points out that flawed men are welcomed while every mistake she makes is taken as a sign that women can't do the job.
I caught myself wishing that Ramsey hadn't had an affair with one of her crew mates as many readers will think "Yep, that's what happens when women get on crews," and then realizing that I hadn't thought that about the man who had the affair with her. Even I blamed Ramsey and not the equally culpable dude!
Ramsey reminded me at times of Amy Dunn's vicious description of the "cool girl" in Gone Girl, but to her credit, she's aware that this is a persona she adopted to please men and fill the void left by her alcoholic dad. Thankfully, there's a lot more to the book than that.
james_davis_nicoll (james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-17 09:32 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-17 09:32 amEntry tags:
Young People Read Old Nebula Finalists: Red As Blood by Tanith Lee
The Young People react to Tanith Lee's retelling of a classic fairy tale.
Young People Read Old Nebula Finalists: Red As Blood by Tanith Lee
james_davis_nicoll (james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-17 08:55 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-17 08:55 amEntry tags:
Unwillingly to Earth by Pauline Ashwell
A teenager's social engineering skills are harnessed for good.
Unwillingly to Earth by Pauline Ashwell
james_davis_nicoll (james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-16 02:17 pm
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-16 02:17 pmEntry tags:
Bundle of Holding: Battlezoo
The Battlezoo Bundle presents the Battlezoo line of monsters and monster hunters from Roll for Combat for D&D 5E and compatible tabletop roleplaying systems, compiled from winning designs from the annual RPG Superstars competition.
Bundle of Holding: Battlezoo
james_davis_nicoll (james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-16 08:57 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-16 08:57 amEntry tags:
Red Sword by Bora Chung (Translated by Anton Hur)
The only fate more glorious than dying for the uncaring empire is dying over and over for the uncaring empire.
Red Sword by Bora Chung (Translated by Anton Hur)