Galaxy: The Best of My Years by Jim Baen
Aug. 17th, 2025 09:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicoll
Jim Baen's version of a single perfect issue of Baen-era Galaxy.
Galaxy: The Best of My Years by Jim Baen
james_davis_nicollJim Baen's version of a single perfect issue of Baen-era Galaxy.
Galaxy: The Best of My Years by Jim Baen
Censorship on Bluesky
Aug. 17th, 2025 04:57 amfayanoraAs it turns out, BlueSky is worse about censorship than Facebook is. After a couple hours of reblogging things on BlueSky and making the occasional text post today, I made a text post saying to punch Nazis and ICE agents, and as a result, I got an email saying the post was being removed. A bit ridiculous, but if it had been just that one post, I'd have understood. But when I went back to my profile page, everything I had posted for the past 17 hours was gone.
I. Am. PISSED! Even Facebook never took down dozens of posts because of one single mistake on one single post!
And on a first offense, no less!
I want to strangle the assholes who did that! Or more likely, given the speed it happened at, strangle the assholes who programmed the AI moderator. And then kick them in the gonads with sharpened cleats on for good measure!
I. Am. PISSED! Even Facebook never took down dozens of posts because of one single mistake on one single post!
And on a first offense, no less!
I want to strangle the assholes who did that! Or more likely, given the speed it happened at, strangle the assholes who programmed the AI moderator. And then kick them in the gonads with sharpened cleats on for good measure!
inventing saints
Aug. 16th, 2025 11:37 pmmarycatelliI exclude saints, I invent saints, I include saints. . . and I give existing ones new patronages, too.
High fantasy Christian milieux have me having an interesting time with saints. Obviously I don't include Renaissance or later if the milieu is medieval-ish, and I tend to avoid ones within the era most closely equivalent.
But the other world would, no doubt, have other saints.
I think I should avoid putting the same imaginary saint into two different world, to avoid their being confused. Such is the logic of world-building.
High fantasy Christian milieux have me having an interesting time with saints. Obviously I don't include Renaissance or later if the milieu is medieval-ish, and I tend to avoid ones within the era most closely equivalent.
But the other world would, no doubt, have other saints.
I think I should avoid putting the same imaginary saint into two different world, to avoid their being confused. Such is the logic of world-building.
Update: 16 August 2025
Aug. 16th, 2025 09:04 pmdewlineI got the bins from Canadian Tire.
I'm still recovering from the shopping trip. Considering that I walked half of it in the weather I did, I should have gone directly to bed.
Came downstairs to the office, instead.
Thinking about cleaning the iCan-branded computer-mouse, particularly the scroll-wheel. If I knew where on iFixit to look...
I'm still recovering from the shopping trip. Considering that I walked half of it in the weather I did, I should have gone directly to bed.
Came downstairs to the office, instead.
Thinking about cleaning the iCan-branded computer-mouse, particularly the scroll-wheel. If I knew where on iFixit to look...
Agatha Heterodyne, Girl Genius #21
Aug. 16th, 2025 07:57 pmmarycatelliAgatha Heterodyne, Girl Genius #21: An Entertainment in Londinium by Kaja Foglio and Phil Foglio
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
( Read more... )
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
( Read more... )
Checking In - 16 August 2025
Aug. 16th, 2025 12:58 pmdewlineChores.
That's my word for today.
Bedding-laundry, shopping, computer-mouse replacement, new colour-pencils for Mom, and if I can push myself the rest of the way, new storage bins to keep the basement reorg process going. Not sure that last item is going to be doable with today's local weather. Hot and humid.
Talked with the writer of San Francisco 2161 last night about proposed maps for his now-finished Trek-inspired fanfic project about the negotiations to co-found the Federation. What maps should there be attached, what forms they should take, that sort of thing.
I'm also toying with an idea for a prose fanfic project of my own centred on one of the participants in that story and a prequel, In the Raptor's Claws about the Coaltion-Romulan War that preceded the Federation. Specifically Nathan Samuels, whom Enterprise-watchers may remember as portrayed by Harry Groener. Not sure if this is going to go anywhere beyond maybe a couple of paragraphs before getting derailed by a job offer or loss of housing or whatever.
We'll see.
That's my word for today.
Bedding-laundry, shopping, computer-mouse replacement, new colour-pencils for Mom, and if I can push myself the rest of the way, new storage bins to keep the basement reorg process going. Not sure that last item is going to be doable with today's local weather. Hot and humid.
Talked with the writer of San Francisco 2161 last night about proposed maps for his now-finished Trek-inspired fanfic project about the negotiations to co-found the Federation. What maps should there be attached, what forms they should take, that sort of thing.
I'm also toying with an idea for a prose fanfic project of my own centred on one of the participants in that story and a prequel, In the Raptor's Claws about the Coaltion-Romulan War that preceded the Federation. Specifically Nathan Samuels, whom Enterprise-watchers may remember as portrayed by Harry Groener. Not sure if this is going to go anywhere beyond maybe a couple of paragraphs before getting derailed by a job offer or loss of housing or whatever.
We'll see.
Books Received, August 9 — August 15
Aug. 16th, 2025 08:51 amjames_davis_nicoll
Ten books new to me: five fantasy, two mysteries, and three science fiction novels. Four are series books and the other six seem to be stand-alone.
Books Received, August 9 — August 15
Poll #33494 Books Received, August 9 - August 15
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 53
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
Love Binds by Cynthia St. Aubin (December 2024
4 (7.5%)
Druid Cursed by C. J. Burright (October 2025)
3 (5.7%)
Hell’s Heart by Alexis Hall (March 2026)
13 (24.5%)
The Quiet Mother by Arnaldur Indridason (December 2025)
10 (18.9%)
Dark Matter by Kathe Koja (December 2025)
10 (18.9%)
Butterfly Effects by Seanan McGuire (March 2026)
14 (26.4%)
How to Get Away With Murder by Rebecca Philipson (February 2026)
7 (13.2%)
Cabaret in Flames by Hache Pueyo (March 2026)
5 (9.4%)
The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch (August 2025)
12 (22.6%)
What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed (April 2026)
24 (45.3%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
33 (62.3%)
WSFS MPC Retirement
Aug. 15th, 2025 08:43 pmkevin_standleeOn Thursday morning of Worldcon Seattle 2025, I attended the final meeting of my term as an elected member of the WSFS Mark Protection Committee. There was a fair bit of confusion about where the meeting would be, but we did eventually end up at a meeting room in the Sheraton.
As is typical these days, all we did was receive some reports and punt most decision on to the MPC's next term. I did address the members at the end and thanked them for having been able to serve as an elected member for so many years. The MPC then officially thanked me and I got a round of applause.
I told them at the meeting that they might want to take a good look at me, as there's a non-zero chance that this would have been the last time they were going to see me.
After the meeting, Don Eastlake and I both had errands best suited to Walgreens, and since I knew where is was, we walked there together and got our stuff. I'd initially considered getting a burrito from Chipotle to have later, but the lunchtime queue there was out the door, so I thought better of it.
That was the sole item at Seattle 2025 for which we needed my membership badge. Kayla will do the rest of the work this week.
As is typical these days, all we did was receive some reports and punt most decision on to the MPC's next term. I did address the members at the end and thanked them for having been able to serve as an elected member for so many years. The MPC then officially thanked me and I got a round of applause.
I told them at the meeting that they might want to take a good look at me, as there's a non-zero chance that this would have been the last time they were going to see me.
After the meeting, Don Eastlake and I both had errands best suited to Walgreens, and since I knew where is was, we walked there together and got our stuff. I'd initially considered getting a burrito from Chipotle to have later, but the lunchtime queue there was out the door, so I thought better of it.
That was the sole item at Seattle 2025 for which we needed my membership badge. Kayla will do the rest of the work this week.
This past week I listened to Verity Weaver
Aug. 19th, 2025 07:42 pmconulyWhich I guess I can sum up as "trenchant criticism of capitalism, maybe a little preachy, not subtle at all". This might not sound like a big endorsement, but then again, I'm pretty sure most of you are Star Trek and even Babylon 5 fans, so actually it is!
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Tonight's Warhammer The Old World Adventure
Aug. 15th, 2025 04:29 pmjames_davis_nicollwill feature an idealistic would-be knight, an idealistic but extremely cynical town watch member, a 600-year-old wood elf who has a little magic and is terrible keen on progress as it applies to firearms, and an artisan who adheres to most dwarven stereotypes but is in fact a short human.
The knight is the only one who can read, and the elf is their best medic, in the sense they have a 50% chance of binding wounds, rather than under 40%.
After one session:
The knight is a killing machine, with poor social graces in his current context. Well, that isn't quite true: he knows courtly manners. He just doesn't think they apply in the Empire and is very irritated that the peasants keep making eye contact.
The artisan is a relentless engine of effort, quite good at hitting things with a hammer but not so good at dodging. However, unlike the knight, he didn't stay in melee range to get bit.
The elf has almost supernatural reflexes and situational awareness and is a crack shot... but the dice were not on their side.
The town watchman is oddly crap in combat to the point they wanted to sell their sword for something where if they missed, at least they weren't next to whatever they missed. They are, however, keen-eyed and socially adept.
Amusingly enough, had the elf examined the adorable girl who accosted them, their tiny knack for magic would have revealed the revenant was somehow magical... but they were the one person who didn't side-eye the dead girl as she led them into an ambush.
The knight is the only one who can read, and the elf is their best medic, in the sense they have a 50% chance of binding wounds, rather than under 40%.
After one session:
The knight is a killing machine, with poor social graces in his current context. Well, that isn't quite true: he knows courtly manners. He just doesn't think they apply in the Empire and is very irritated that the peasants keep making eye contact.
The artisan is a relentless engine of effort, quite good at hitting things with a hammer but not so good at dodging. However, unlike the knight, he didn't stay in melee range to get bit.
The elf has almost supernatural reflexes and situational awareness and is a crack shot... but the dice were not on their side.
The town watchman is oddly crap in combat to the point they wanted to sell their sword for something where if they missed, at least they weren't next to whatever they missed. They are, however, keen-eyed and socially adept.
Amusingly enough, had the elf examined the adorable girl who accosted them, their tiny knack for magic would have revealed the revenant was somehow magical... but they were the one person who didn't side-eye the dead girl as she led them into an ambush.
So, I may have said, the niblings' stepmother* has a new baby!
Aug. 18th, 2025 02:00 amconulyAnyway, E was looking at Halloween costume patterns and obviously your opinion doesn't really matter at all, only the parents' does, but I thought I'd put up a poll anyway. Which costume is best for a six or seven month old?
* Former stepmother, but the relationship is still there even if she's not with their dad anymore
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Poll #33490 Halloween costumes!
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 52
* Former stepmother, but the relationship is still there even if she's not with their dad anymore
( Read more... )
Voyager episodes!
Aug. 17th, 2025 01:01 amconulySo, we watched that one with the telepathic pitcher plant. Seven and Naomi bond - the writers really worked to make Naomi useful to the plot rather than just being kinda there, and it mostly works - but honestly, our space Ahab has chosen the least-efficient manner possible to destroy his whale.
Then we watch the two parter with the Borg Queen, in which we establish that the Hansens (whom Seven actually refers to as the Hansens) were absolutely terrible parents. I mean, even beyond the way they brought their child on a platter to be assimilated, growing up on a tiny spaceship with only two other people is just no life for a child. They should have left her at home. (And all the flashbacks establish that she spent a lot of her brief childhood scared. Poor baby!) At one point in this episode, Seven helps rescue a group of astonishingly passive refugees who are about to be assimilated. There's a lot of off-screen screaming, but I guess these refugees weren't paid enough to talk, because they're both passive and totally silent. Also, nobody at any points suggests trying to de-assimilate any drones, even the one who is probably Seven's father, if we can believe the Borg Queen. Seems a bit uncaring, but as I said, he wasn't a good father so fuck him, I guess.
This is followed by a kinda sad and pointless episode in which Harry Kim contracts love from having surprisingly racy (for 90s Trek) sex with a dissident from a xenophobic society. She achieves her primary objective, forcing the people in charge to allow those who want to leave their society to do so, but they still break up. He's sad about it. (E and I decided that the only other Varro with a speaking role has gotta be her dad. He sure acts like he knows her pretty well, and that ship has a lot more people than Voyager does!)
And then one of my absolute favorite episodes, the one where Tom and B'Elanna get married and there's apparently a new baby on the ship we haven't heard of before and, by the way, the ship is disintegrating. Lots of people hate this episode because it's sad and bleak and pointless, but I absolutely fucking love it.
We skipped the Chakotay episode because ugh, fake Native American fake spirituality, something something "vision quest", and then it was Think Tank, which is a very watchable episode. It's not great, it's terrible - it's watchable. Also, nobody really says it, but the spokesperson of the eponymous Think Tank is himself a victim of it. He was taken from them in childhood, which wasn't all that long ago. Possibly they all are victims except the founder. It sounds like being part of a particularly reclusive cult.
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Then we watch the two parter with the Borg Queen, in which we establish that the Hansens (whom Seven actually refers to as the Hansens) were absolutely terrible parents. I mean, even beyond the way they brought their child on a platter to be assimilated, growing up on a tiny spaceship with only two other people is just no life for a child. They should have left her at home. (And all the flashbacks establish that she spent a lot of her brief childhood scared. Poor baby!) At one point in this episode, Seven helps rescue a group of astonishingly passive refugees who are about to be assimilated. There's a lot of off-screen screaming, but I guess these refugees weren't paid enough to talk, because they're both passive and totally silent. Also, nobody at any points suggests trying to de-assimilate any drones, even the one who is probably Seven's father, if we can believe the Borg Queen. Seems a bit uncaring, but as I said, he wasn't a good father so fuck him, I guess.
This is followed by a kinda sad and pointless episode in which Harry Kim contracts love from having surprisingly racy (for 90s Trek) sex with a dissident from a xenophobic society. She achieves her primary objective, forcing the people in charge to allow those who want to leave their society to do so, but they still break up. He's sad about it. (E and I decided that the only other Varro with a speaking role has gotta be her dad. He sure acts like he knows her pretty well, and that ship has a lot more people than Voyager does!)
And then one of my absolute favorite episodes, the one where Tom and B'Elanna get married and there's apparently a new baby on the ship we haven't heard of before and, by the way, the ship is disintegrating. Lots of people hate this episode because it's sad and bleak and pointless, but I absolutely fucking love it.
We skipped the Chakotay episode because ugh, fake Native American fake spirituality, something something "vision quest", and then it was Think Tank, which is a very watchable episode. It's not great, it's terrible - it's watchable. Also, nobody really says it, but the spokesperson of the eponymous Think Tank is himself a victim of it. He was taken from them in childhood, which wasn't all that long ago. Possibly they all are victims except the founder. It sounds like being part of a particularly reclusive cult.
( Read more... )
Thankful Thursday
Aug. 14th, 2025 08:33 pmmdlbearToday I am thankful for...
- The coconut octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, a tool-using invertebrate. It's also one of two octopus species known to walk bipedally.
- Hopepunk (c.f. Denethor in Lord of the Rings is now a metaphor for doomscrolling, and "Bread and Butter and Hope" by Robert Reich.)
- Getting the melody for m's new song transcribed. (Figuring out the chords is another matter. It might be in Cmin, but are those grace-notes quarter-tones?) (No; it needed quite a lot of proofreading this afternoon.)
- A mastodon thread that starts out "I'm on the
server floor of a "highly secure data center with 24/7/365
surveillance, direct access control and robust perimeter security".
An actual duck just walked by. 🦆
A MYSTERY!
Aug. 14th, 2025 11:15 amjames_davis_nicollIn Women of Futures Past, Rusch quotes Willis:
"The field didn't just have women writers--it had really good women writers. These were wonderful stories, and I don't believe they were overlooked at the time, because when I read them, they were all in Year's Best collections."
Rusch speculates that Willis is referencing Merril's Best S-F. However, Rusch says she only did a spot check. I reread the whole of Merril's Best S-F in 2023. Her anthologies were mostly stories by men.
OK, so maybe it was one of the other Best SF series around back then? But I checked Bleiler and Dikty, Harrison & Aldiss, and Wollheim & Carr and it's not them.
Was there another 1950s-1960s Best SF series?
Or was Willis thinking of a magazine-specific annual like Analog 1?
Not literally Analog 1, obs. But something like it from another magazine.
My guess, having checked the early years, is Willis was reading The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction. Specifically, Boucher's run.
(Guess two would have been something edited by Goldsmith but she does not appear to have edited anthologies)
"The field didn't just have women writers--it had really good women writers. These were wonderful stories, and I don't believe they were overlooked at the time, because when I read them, they were all in Year's Best collections."
Rusch speculates that Willis is referencing Merril's Best S-F. However, Rusch says she only did a spot check. I reread the whole of Merril's Best S-F in 2023. Her anthologies were mostly stories by men.
OK, so maybe it was one of the other Best SF series around back then? But I checked Bleiler and Dikty, Harrison & Aldiss, and Wollheim & Carr and it's not them.
Was there another 1950s-1960s Best SF series?
Or was Willis thinking of a magazine-specific annual like Analog 1?
Not literally Analog 1, obs. But something like it from another magazine.
My guess, having checked the early years, is Willis was reading The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction. Specifically, Boucher's run.
(Guess two would have been something edited by Goldsmith but she does not appear to have edited anthologies)