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James Davis Nicoll

@jdnicoll.bsky.social
3.7K followers 2.6K following 15K posts

Reviewer, Essayist, Hugo, Aurora, and Darwin Award finalist. My hydronyms: turbid/opaque

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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 5h
Huh. He just flat-out kills the guy?
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 6h
I Am No Longer Pessimistic About the Survival of Complex Life on Earth, Thanks to Science! Great news, everyone! New evidence points towards complex life being very robust. reactormag.com/i-am-no-long...
reactormag.com
I Am No Longer Pessimistic About the Survival of Complex Life on Earth, Thanks to Science - Reactor
Great news, everyone! New evidence points towards complex life being very robust.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 8h
The Faith of Beasts (The Captive's War, volume 2) By James S. A. Corey In which a shrinking community of human survivors learn much about their alien conquerors... none of it good. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/so-it...
jamesdavisnicoll.com
So It Goes
2026’s The Faith of Beasts is the second volume in James S. A. Corey’s The Captive’s War space opera series. The first inkling that the humans of Anjiin had that they shared the universe with the rele...
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
For a second, I thought this was a reply to the sleep spells and toddlers conversation.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Do You Distinguish Between “Best” and “Favorite” Books? ...Or are the two lists indistinguishable in your mind? reactormag.com/do-you-disti...
reactormag.com
Do You Distinguish Between "Best" and "Favorite" Books? - Reactor
...Or are the two lists indistinguishable in your mind?
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
I am a little boggled there's never been a stab at adapting Cook to TV or film.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
As I recall, one of the kids in Runaways is immature for her age because her mage parents--EVIL mage parents--zapped her with sleep spells any time she was inconvenient.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
The Black Company (Book of the North, volume 1) by Glen Cook Hard-working mercenaries trade an unreliable employer for an evil employer. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/of-ma...
jamesdavisnicoll.com
Of Magic Born
1984’s The Black Company is the first volume in Glen Cook’s Book of the North, which is in turn part of Cook’s Black Company1 secondary-universe military fantasy. The story is narrated by a compromise...
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
(A)D&D has sleep spells, right? So at least she can avoid being kept awake. Do FRPG parents use sleep spell on the kids or themselves, I wonder?
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Nobody who boards a generation ship could have read any story featuring a generation ship because nobody who had such a story would board one. (OK, tech bros might because they would have misunderstood the stories)
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Unfortunately, a certain fraction of the Berlin-reversion proponents are also concentration camp enthusiasts, as odd as a Germanophile concentration camp enthusiast may sound.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Whether or not Kitchener should revert to Berlin is one of those totally safe subjects that visitors to KW should absolutely bring up without worrying that the conversation will go in horrifying directions. You won't want to fill your pockets with rocks and walk into the Grand at all.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
There's a Turtledove in which the US occupies Kitchener, Ontario. Except at the time the invasion was set, Kitchener was still Berlin, Ontario. (There's also a weird absence of Mennonites in his Kitchener. You can't throw an Erb in KW without hitting a Zehr or Weber]
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Bundle of Holding: Blue Fox Cthulhu Three giant solitaire gamebooks (800 pages!) plus 400 pages of full-color graphic novels and comics of Cthulhu Mythos cosmic horror from Blue Fox Publishing. bundleofholding.com/presents/Blu...
bundleofholding.com
Blue Fox Cthulhu
Adventurer! This all-new Blue Fox Cthulhu offer presents .PDF ebooks of Cthulhu Mythos gamebooks and graphic novels from Blue Fox Publishing. Explore shadowed Innsmouth and remote Scottish isles in pick-a-path gamebooks of impressive scope and challenge. As you follow your own path through the story, across hundreds of numbered and hyperlinked paragraphs, you control every action of your investigator. Every decision could lead one step closer to victory or death. Decide the outcome of battles using two six-sided dice. You probably won't make it through on your first attempt (nor second, nor third), but don't despair. Re-enter the story and forge a new path toward your goal.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Rec.arts.sf.whatevs seems to be very hard to search, unless there is an archive of which I am unaware.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Though I Am an Inept Villainess, volume 2 by Satsuki Nakamura, Ei Ohitsuji & Kana Yuki In which conniving Shu discovers that when one hijacks someone else's body, one gets that body's excruciating and possibly terminal illnesses as a free extra. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/the-g...
jamesdavisnicoll.com
The Ghost of You
2021’s Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court, Volume Two is the second tankōbon for Satsuki Nakamura, Ei Ohitsuji, and Kana Yuki’s manga adaptation o...
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Isn't a Pennsylvania politician named Scranton kind of on the nose?
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Apparently adults are allowed to do fun things they want to do without making a cost-benefit analysis favouring that action beforehand.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
I got my first pair of glasses in grade two. Apparently, stuff gets written on the blackboard. Who knew?
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Everybody’s Perfect by Jo Walton A prophecy followed from dream to reality, in an other-worldly Venice. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/beyon...
jamesdavisnicoll.com
Beyond The Shore
Jo Walton’s 2026 Everybody’s Perfect is a stand-alone secondary-universe fantasy. Tiry dreams of the doge marrying the sea. This would make sense if Tiry were human OR if Tiry lived in Venice OR where...
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
There may be 120,000 moose in NFLD now but when the episode was set, moose had only just been introduced (or were just about to be introduced). So, yes, George's aunt came from moose-free NFLD. And someone on the writing team was aware of the history of moose in NFLD.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
The opposite of "niche fact a TV show or movie got wrong": In one Murdoch Mysteries episode, George mentions that one of his aunts moved from Newfoundland to Ontario, but soon moved back because she didn't like all the moose in Ontario. "Surely, they have moose in NFLD," thought I, and checked.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Couldn't that detail be a condemnation of Usonian public schools?
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Bundle of Holding: Monster Hunters This new Monster Hunters of the Week Bundle presents .PDF ebooks of the Monster of the Week Revised Edition tabletop roleplaying game line from Evil Hat Productions. bundleofholding.com/presents/Mot...
bundleofholding.com
Monster Hunters of the Week Bundle
Adventurer! This new Monster Hunters of the Week Bundle presents .PDF ebooks of the Monster of the Week Revised Edition tabletop roleplaying game line from Evil Hat Productions. Most people don't beli...
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
As I recall, one of the louder "guuuuurrrrrrrrlllllls can't write cosmic horror with their puny lady brains" later tried to take credit for inspiring a WFA-winning anthology.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The first spark was the notion, among some fans of the Lovecraft Mythos, that women do not like to write in this category, that they can’t write in this category. […] We hope this anthology will help to dispel such notions."
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
From the World Fantasy Award winner She Walks in Shadow ed Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles: "The present volume assembles stories about women, by women. Why an all-woman volume? (con't)
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
A skull-shaped mountain fortress would employ many contractors to build.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The Best of Lester del Rey (Ballantine’s Classic Library of Science Fiction, volume 18) by Lester del Rey A collection of the best by SF curmudgeon Lester del Rey. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/get-i...
jamesdavisnicoll.com
Get It While You Can
Lester del Rey’s 1978 The Best of Lester del Rey is a collection of short fiction by Lester del Rey. The collection is part of Ballantine’s Classic Science Fiction series1.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
We _can_ blame Rowling but it would be factually incorrect. Consider Andre Norton.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Bilking promising young people into signing up for 20 years hard labour in the Pain Mines of Mercury while convincing the general public nobody can be attractive without excruciating, expensive, and almost always fatal cosmetic surgery. You know, normal stuff.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
I wonder if I had hundreds of billions of dollars, if I'd handle it better than the people who do?
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Butter gives this cat the runs...
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
If parking on the train tracks ever becomes an Olympic sport, Waterloo Region drivers will take gold.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Today's review very nearly featured Word's correction of midlister to molester...
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
There are few scowls as displeased as that of a cat who finds cat food in his dish and not the butter he very clearly ordered.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
What _are_ you reading?
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Now, city folk don't need guns. They can sort mice and such with trebuchets, guisarmes, and household nuclear weapons in the kiloton range.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
How were we to keep the rampaging horde of tin cans dangling from strings at bay? That said, on a farm, fire-arms are used for wildlife control, which can absolutely run amok in destructive ways. E.g. a groundhog determined to run a burrow into and through the retaining wall of an artificial lake.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
So, uh, I might have had a scar on my left thumb for years from an attempt to make fruit salad with a sabre. In my defence, every other knife was dirty and I didn't feel like doing the dishes. But it wouldn't killed me. (My father might have, for bleeding on the easily-cleaned floor)
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Where and when I grew up, unsecured guns were everywhere but we didn't have _that_ many gun-related mishaps, at least compared to farm and automobile mishaps. Our household had a peak annual fatality rate of 20% and that was an statistical outlier.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
'You can't give her that!' she screamed. 'It's not safe!' IT'S A SWORD, said the Hogfather. THEY'RE NOT MEANT TO BE SAFE. 'She's a child!' shouted Crumley. IT'S EDUCATIONAL. 'What if she cuts herself?' THAT WILL BE AN IMPORTANT LESSON.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
The guy who delivers that line has been informed by Top People that he's a spectacular example of Homo Superior, aside from the matter of his complete disinterest in having kids.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
The Dragonbane PCs nicked an ornate locked box from a demon, which I am sure isn't something that will come back to haunt them.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
How different do two versions of a ttrpg have to be to qualify as different editions?
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
I hope Walter Ostanek and Bif Naked had at least one duet.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
For extra points, this was in the Applied Health Sciences building, where the germ (and virus) theory of disease seemed to be unknown to about 90% of the population.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
In 2022, UW had big signs asking people to limit elevators to 3 at a time. I had a lot of fun pointing those out to people who are supposedly the cream of Canada's intellectual crop.
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
"But gun-fighting has a strong biological use. We do not have enough things to kill off the weak and the stupid these days. But to stay alive as an armed citizen a man has to be either quick with his wits or with his hands, preferably both. It's a good thing."
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James Davis Nicoll @jdnicoll.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
The phrase is used in Heinlein's Beyond This Horizon. Lots of thinly veiled threats between armed people and an assassination attempt framed as a duel. Presumably, lots of people get killed offstage. BTH is among other things a eugenic utopia so they count the deaths as a good thing. To quote:
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