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dw_maintenance

Good morning, afternoon, and evening!

We're doing some database and other light server maintenance this weekend (upgrading the version of MySQL we use in particular, but also probably doing some CDN work.)

I expect all of this to be pretty invisible except for some small "couple of minute" blips as we switch between machines, but there's a chance you will notice something untoward. I'll keep an eye on comments as per usual.

Ta for now!

james_davis_nicoll

Eight works new to me. Three fantasies, two horror, two SF, and one hard-to-classify RPG. One of the SF books is pretty horrory, so maybe that should be three fantasies, three horror, one SF, and one hard-to-classify RPG.

Books Received, October 18 — October 24

Poll #33761 Books Received, October 18 — October 24

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 27

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

Abyss by Nicholas Binge (May 2026)
3 (11.1%)

Testimony of Mute Things by Lois McMaster Bujold (October 2025)
14 (51.9%)

Morsel by Carter Keane (April 2026)
2 (7.4%)

The Cove by Claire Rose (May 2026)
3 (11.1%)

Outgunned by Riccardo “Rico” Sirignano & Simone Formicola, with art by Daniela Giubellini (December 2024)
2 (7.4%)

And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer (May 2026)
12 (44.4%)

Lightning Runes by Harry Turtledove (March 2026)
3 (11.1%)

A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo (May 2026)
14 (51.9%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
22 (81.5%)

Tags:

books received

james_davis_nicoll

From WOTC: exit their VTT

We have made the difficult decision to end development on Sigil. T

james_davis_nicoll

High school student and semi-professional tarot card reader Danika Dizon assists her PI mother to look for a missing person... a teen who vanished after Danika gave her a tarot card reading.

Death in the Cards by Mia P. Manansala

Tags:

james_davis_nicoll

The August 2023 Nightmares Underneath Bundle featuring The Nightmares Underneath, the old-school horror-fantasy tabletop roleplaying game from Chthonstone Games.

Bundle of Holding: Nightmares Underneath (from 2023)

Tags:

bundle of holding

james_davis_nicoll

Faraday, Oregon, seems to have a missing persons problem. Its problem is much worse.

Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner

Tags:

review

james_davis_nicoll

A robot muses contentedly on the events that led it to its rapidly approaching doom.

A Thousand Blues by Cheon Seon-Ran

Tags:

james_davis_nicoll

The story that began the grand tradition of picking on a teenager's work.

The Eye of Argon by Jim Theis

Tags:

james_davis_nicoll

Since the authors are no longer with us, will we ever get a glimpse?

Five Anticipated Books and Stories That Remain Unpublished

Tags:

james_davis_nicoll

A bundle for Daniel James Hanley's tabletop roleplaying game of Gothic and Romantic Horror in the decadent, disastrous age of Marie-Antoinette, Napoleon, and Lord Byron.

Bundle of Holding: Ghastly Affair

Tags:

bundle of holding

james_davis_nicoll

The young people wrestle with what is arguably an early example of Cyberpunk.

Young People Read Old Nebula Finalists: True Names by Vernor Vinge

Tags:

young people read old sf

alierak posting in

dw_maintenance

DW is seeing some issues due to today's Amazon outage. For right now it looks like the site is loading, but it may be slow. Some of our processes like notifications and journal search don't appear to be running and can't be started due to rate limiting or capacity issues. DW could go down later if Amazon isn't able to improve things soon, but our services should return to normal when Amazon has cleared up the outage.

Edit: all services are running as of 16:12 CDT, but there is definitely still a backlog of notifications to get through.

Edit 2: and at 18:20 CDT everything's been running normally for about the last hour.

james_davis_nicoll

2019: The Tories somehow find someone worse than May to be Prime Minister, UK pleas to the EU for a Brexit negotiation do-over on the grounds “our negotiators were fucking numpties” fall on deaf ears, and Tory MPs reject multiple Tory Brexit proposals, for which UK voters rebuke the incompetent Tories with a massive majority.

Poll #33744 Clarke Award Finalists 2019

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 36

View Respondents

Which 2019 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

Rosewater by Tade Thompson
9 (25.0%)

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
2 (5.6%)

Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
28 (77.8%)

Semiosis by Sue Burke
13 (36.1%)

The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag
4 (11.1%)

The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley
1 (2.8%)

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

Which 2019 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Rosewater by Tade Thompson
Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
Semiosis by Sue Burke
The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag
The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley

Tags:

clarke award

james_davis_nicoll

Mars being unfit for humans, there is no alternative but to make humans--or at least a human--fit for Mars.

Man Plus (Man Plus, volume 1) by Frederik Pohl

Tags:

james_davis_nicoll

Garden world or nightmarish hellscape?

james_davis_nicoll

Seven books new to me. Well, six and one replacement. Four fantasy, one historical, one horror, one science fiction. Two appear to be part of series.

Books Received, October 11 to October 17

Poll #33737 Books Received, October 11 to October 17

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 52

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

Boys With Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell (July 2026)
6 (11.5%)

Behind Five Willows by June Hur (May 2026)
17 (32.7%)

Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher (August 2026)
35 (67.3%)

Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray (June 2026)
4 (7.7%)

City of Others by Jaren Poon (January 2026)
20 (38.5%)

Starry Messenger: The Best of Galileo edited by Charles C. Ryan (November 1979)
7 (13.5%)

How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days by Jessie Sylva (January 2026)
19 (36.5%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
35 (67.3%)

Tags:

books received

james_davis_nicoll

A selection of speculative fiction stories by Black Canadians.

As The Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories edited by Terese Mason Pierre

Tags:

james_davis_nicoll

The tabletop science fiction roleplaying game of transhuman survival from Posthuman Studios.

Bundle of Holding: Eclipse Phase 2E (from 2022)

Tags:

bundle of holding

james_davis_nicoll

The American orbital transfer station offers employment to Byron McDougall, a chance for Charlie Bond to search for an alternative to MAD, and for Diana Osborne, escape from her violently abusive father.

The Moon Goddess and the Son by Donald Kingsbury

Tags:

james_davis_nicoll

Growing up is hard enough without the entire world falling apart around you.

Five Novels About Coming of Age During the Apocalypse

Tags:

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johnstonmr

Mjohnstonbooks.com

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Page Summary

mark in dw_maintenance - Database maintenance
james_davis_nicoll - Books Received, October 18 — October 24
james_davis_nicoll - Exit Sigil
james_davis_nicoll - Death in the Cards by Mia P. Manansala
james_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Nightmares Underneath (from 2023)
james_davis_nicoll - Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner
james_davis_nicoll - A Thousand Blues by Cheon Seon-Ran
james_davis_nicoll - The Eye of Argon by Jim Theis
james_davis_nicoll - Five Anticipated Books and Stories That Remain Unpublished
james_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Ghastly Affair
james_davis_nicoll - Young People Read Old Nebula Finalists: True Names by Vernor Vinge
alierak in dw_maintenance - AWS outage
james_davis_nicoll - Clarke Award Finalists 2019
james_davis_nicoll - Man Plus (Man Plus, volume 1) by Frederik Pohl
james_davis_nicoll - The Climate and Habitability of Teegarden's Star b
james_davis_nicoll - Books Received, October 11 to October 17
james_davis_nicoll - As The Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories edited by Terese Mason Pierre
james_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Eclipse Phase 2E (from 2022)
james_davis_nicoll - The Moon Goddess and the Son by Donald Kingsbury
james_davis_nicoll - Five Novels About Coming of Age During the Apocalypse

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