I wonder if I can find a copy of Contemporary Children's Theater edited by Betty Jean Lifton. "Although Heinlein rarely permitted dramatic adaptations of his work, he authorized Douglas L. Lieberman to stage Starman Jones at the Goodman Children's Theater in Chicago." 1/n

A player in my The Old World game said the players were unusually punctual, which struck me as odd. Doesn't almost everyone have a calendar that can shout at them in their pocket? I've completely forgotten how we scheduled stuff in the 1980s. Verbal agreements? People just remembered to show up?

My friend spends too much money on yarn. Can Warhammer miniatures work as yarn methadone?

Well, that's a bold lease term.

Adventures in Tourism: Five SFF Stories About Travel Oh, the joys (and perils) of visiting unfamiliar places and times... reactormag.com/adventures-i...

Does merging 17 academic units into 6 schools address the issues at the correct level? Would it not be more effective to somehow merge the academics themselves? Arts has almost 300 faculty and over 100 staff. Could superposition, surgical grafting, or extreme pressure reduce that to ~140 falctaff?

Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis Oxford sends its best to study World War Two in this (grinds teeth) Hugo-winning tale of sound and fury. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/take-...

Ten years ago, I blew up my notifications on Facebook.

Bundle of Holding: Weird Wizard The SHADOW OF THE WEIRD WIZARD corebooks, supplements, and adventures. bundleofholding.com/presents/Wei...

2015: Five Britons sign for the doomed Mars One venture, the UK pays off its WWI War Loans, and the Liberal Democrats’ adroit political maneuvering yields memorable electoral returns. ✓ for read, * for intend to read, ! for never heard of it. Or whatever amuses you. #ClarkeAward

BTW, editors: I've got several more Cherryh essays cooking up that are even more ambitious than this one, so hmu if you're interested.

Question for booksellers: how do you shelve doubles like the Ace Doubles, the Tor Doubles, and Dell's Binary Stars? (ignoring the doubles where both stories are by the same author)

Probably best if Canadians stick to French whenever this guy is in the room.

Frostflower and Thorn (Frostflower and Thorn, volume 1) by Phyllis Ann Karr Frostflower can solve Thorn's pregnancy problem... but can the pair survive the attention of a fanatical farmer-priest? jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/pie-i...

"In January 1970, (The Archies' Jingle Jangle) went to number 1 for one week in Canada." And people wonder why we needed CanCon regulations.

I feel like Collier may be unaware of how people talked and thought about population back then. People may think the Nazis made certain approaches briefly unfashionable but ha ha yeah no. Lots of people were highly invested in the idea human population growth would only stop due to 1/n

Ah, just launch a hundred crewed Starship lunar landers. One or two should reach the moon and who knews? Maybe the crews will still be alive.

Books Received, September 13 — September 19 Really, more of Book Received. One work new to me, science fantasy. jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-r...

But surely this is only illegal in the narrow technical sense of being against the law?

If you listened this morning, you heard Waterloo Region has two restaurants in the Toronto Michelin Guide! Congrats to Langdon Hall & Odd Duck! And to Langdon Hall’s Faye MacLachlan got the Michelin Sommelier award! Food column forthcoming, but until then... #FoodSky www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Bad News From Alpha Centauri A… There's a planet in the habitable zone... but not an Earthlike planet. reactormag.com/bad-news-fro...

Sabrena Swept Away by Karuna Riazi Sabrena's life is full of struggles already. The last thing she needs is an other-worldly adventure. Life is, alas, not considerate of a teen's preferences. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/far-a...

Teen me expected space colonies or a thermonuclear war by now, maybe absurdly capable fusion rockets. Teen me did _not_ expect email from his doctor explaining vaccines are safe and have desirable health outcomes. Or rather, teem me never envisioned that that would be necessary. Or controversial.

Star Trek: TOS is super-duper American. What would a Canadian Star Trek have looked like? Aside from spending an inordinate amount of time waving away entrenched inequities on the grounds the Klingons are worse?

Huh. In the winter, I'd see a Cybertruck cruising through River at Ottawa. Have not seen it in months. Wonder if it's broken down already?

Should I list this novel by series order (in which case it is the first) or publication order (in which case it is the fifth)?

Does anyone remember an old SF short story (Disco-era, I think) in which it turned out humans were descended from pigs?

Geodesic Dreams: The Best Short Fiction of Gardner Dozois by Gardner Dozois A selection of Dozois' best, from the first half of his half century career. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/helpi...

On this day 11 years ago, I learned from overhearing a teen aged boy lecturing a girl who had been in the same class that Australopithicus came from Australia. 1/2

I don't know who the casting director on Orphan Black was but they sure had a preferred physical type.

The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike The Central Plaza Mansion tower offers palatial 900 square foot apartments for a mere ¥35,000,000. It is a deal too good for the Kano family to turn down... although they should have. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/high-...

The Feast of Saint Janis & Ginungagap by Michael Swanwick The Young People review Michael Swanwick's debut Nebula finalist stories. youngpeoplereadoldsff.com/story/the-fe...

Five Artificially Layered Planets and World Cities Need More Surface Area? Why Not Build More? reactormag.com/five-artific...

Spread Me by Sarah Gailey If not friend, why friend-shaped? jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/cant-...

My Achtung Cthulhu character is just six XP away from learning Atlantian, a language whose printed form causes mental trauma.

Something I discovered reviewing for SFBC and PW is if an author or work is stated to be an award winner, and I don't immediately know the award, it's worth-while to track back the chain of citations to see if maybe the award only exists on the author's web page.

I intensely dislike this line of logic.

Today I discovered I have been a Hugo finalist more often than John M. Ford, which just seems wrong. Not that I've been a finalist but that he never was.

Bundle of Holding: Dread Laironomicon 100 lair entries in two succinct pages apiece, from Aboleth's Sunken Lair to Wyvern's Nest. bundleofholding.com/presents/Lai...

2014: Creationism is banned in British schools, the first same sex marriages in the UK are conducted, and Canadian Mark Carney helps the UK navigate challenging times. What ever happened to Carney? ✓ for read, * for intend to read, ! for never heard of it. Or whatever amuses you. #ClarkeAward

Way back in the 1970s, my (Canadian) school teachers compared the Kennedys to the Gracchi. I think they may have expected Nixon to be Caesar.

Last night, just after I got off the LRT at Queen Station, a driver turning right into the mall parking lot cut the LRT off. LRT brakes are good. No collision. Lucky for me, because I would have had to stay as an eye witness and because the accident would have blocked the sidewalk I was using. 1/n

On Tuesday, I am going to revisit something I haven't really gotten into since my Champions days: a skirmish in an environment filled to the rafters with fragile bystanders.

Interesting (potential) life on Mars news makes me wonder how many different ways contact between Earth life and (presumably single-celled) Mars life could play out. The biochemistries could be very different. The biochemistry could be similar (or the same). 1/n

BEHOLD PROGRESS.

The Dosadi Experiment (ConSentiency, volume 2) by Frank Herbert Bureau of Sabotage agent Jorj X. McKie is assigned a legal and ethical trap: a planet of victims, who, whether rescued or left to their impending doom, present a danger to the ConSentiency. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/still...

The worst day on Earth in the midst of the End Permian Extinction, just after that rock hit the Yucatan, or during WWIII is still better than the best day on Mars.

Last four hours!

Books Received, September 6 — September 12 Six works new to me: two fantasy (one a roleplaying game), four science fiction. The roleplaying game is part of a series but otherwise, they all seem to be stand-alone. First four covers! jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-r...

When did thinly-veiled Vietnam War allegories stop appearing in US SF?