Reading

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Five SFF Stories About Making Amends

People adopt very different strategies when it comes to making up for mistakes.

Five SFF Stories About Making Amends

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Golem100 by Alfred Bester

What could possibly go wrong with a little harmless Satanism between friends?

Golem100 by Alfred Bester

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bundle of holding

Bundle of Holding: His Majesty the Worm

His Majesty the Worm, a megadungeon-crawling fantasy roleplaying game from Josh McCrowell at Rise Up Comus.

Bundle of Holding: His Majesty the Worm

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Pet Shop of Horrors, volume 1 by Matsuri Akino

Each would-be pet owner gets three simple rules for taking care of the exotic animals Count D supplies. How hard could it possibly be to follow three simple rules?

Pet Shop of Horrors, volume 1 by Matsuri Akino

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House of Shards (Drake Maijstral, volume 2) by Walter Jon Williams

Silverside Station attracts the rich, the famous, and the bizarre, as well as two Allowed Burglars bent on flamboyant larceny.

House of Shards (Drake Maijstral, volume 2) by Walter Jon Williams

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bundle of holding

Bundle of Holding: Cawood Monsters

Bestiaries and DM sourcebooks from Andrew Cawood at Cawood Publishing for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (2014) and compatible tabletop roleplaying games.

Bundle of Holding: Cawood Monsters

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Five Stories Featuring Highly Supportive Parents

Encouraging the next generation of space pirates and superheroes...

Five Stories Featuring Highly Supportive Parents

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clarke award

Clarke Award Finalists 2002

2002: Cherie Blair wows Britain with a notably successful real estate deal, Terry Pratchett's Night Watch wins the Best Scottish Socialist novel Prometheus Award, and an earthquake shakes England after Margaret Thatcher makes a public appearance.

Poll #33279 2002 Clarke Award Finalists

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 34

View Respondents

Which 2002 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Bold As Love by Gwyneth Jones
11 (32.4%)

Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton
7 (20.6%)

Mappa Mundi by Justina Robson
7 (20.6%)

Pashazade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
10 (29.4%)

Passage by Connie Willis
23 (67.6%)

The Secret of Life by Paul J. McAuley
5 (14.7%)

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

Which 2002 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Bold As Love by Gwyneth Jones
Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton
Mappa Mundi by Justina Robson
Pashazade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Passage by Connie Willis
The Secret of Life by Paul J. McAuley

Well, it was a long day

But I ended it by reuniting one fellow with his wallet and someone else with their car keys.

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The Delikon by H M Hoover

The Delikon invested millennia trying to civilize humans, a gift for which humans intend to show appropriate gratitude.

The Delikon by H M Hoover

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aurora

Voting is open for the 2025 Aurora Awards

(quoting from an emailed newsletter because if there was a press release, I missed it)

Voting is now open for this year's Aurora Awards. CSFFA members have until 11:59pm EDT on July 19th, 2024, to submit their ballot.

Only current members of CSFFA can vote in the Aurora Awards.

Two favours

Could some kind person update the awards section of my Wikipedia article?

Also, could some kind person add my latest Aurora nomination to my ISFDB article? Unless it is OK for me to do so.

TIL

Funk & Wagnalls published at least one SF anthology, and my library has a copy.

Books Received, June 14 to June 20

Five works new to me: 2 fantasy, 1 non-fiction, 2 science fiction, of which 1 belongs to a series, and the other 4 are stand-alone.

Books Received, June 14 to June 20

Poll #33275 Books Received, June 14 to June 20

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 46

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Them by A. M. Alker, M. D. & Ashely Alker (January 2026)
24 (52.2%)

The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear (June 2025)
25 (54.3%)

From These Dark Abodes by Lyndsie Manusos (May 2024)
8 (17.4%)

The Prestige by Christopher Priest (July 2025)
9 (19.6%)

Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai (April 2026)
13 (28.3%)

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

Cats!
31 (67.4%)

New to me

This is a painting by Édouard Frédéric Wilhelm Richter, who I had never heard of. As well, it's an example of "orientalist" painting, which I had also never heard of. Seems to be depictions of the east (starting at the middle east), as imagined by a painter whose online bio does not mention having ever visited the east.

Some interesting detail work in the expanded version.

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The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw

All that stands between Alessa Li and freedom from Hellebore Technical Institute for the Ambitiously Gifted is a single carnage-filled rite of passage, or as the unspeakable teachers call it, dinner.

The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw

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review

In The Garden of Iden (Company, volume 1) by Kage Baker

A timid immortal cyborg searches for valuable plants in a Tudor England torn between Anglicans and Catholics. What could possibly go wrong?

In The Garden of Iden (Company, volume 1) by Kage Baker

Last night in Fabula Ultima

Rather than use a group of interchangeable mooks, the hostiles had two brutes (one who was accurate, one with multiple attacks), a mage with a couple of decent multi-target attacks, and a mage adept at protective spells. It worked pretty well, esp the part where the healer kept the other NPCS upright. It would have worked even better had she not been prioritizing their boss, who is currently enthralled by an artifact of doom and not much good in a fight.