My CoC character, who is a published pulp author, spent the night coasting on "I am a writer who finds you and your profession fascinating. Could you tell me more about it?" Oh, but I just realized he left his actual name with everyone he spoke to. Ah, well. That won't come back to haunt him.

There are many fine TTRPGs not published by Hasbro.

Apparently there was a Sisu 2.

Trump threatens bridge to prevent Canadians from visiting country Canadians do not want to visit

Got hit with a $3000.00 vet bill yesterday. Still looking for work. So, uh, buy my books, maybe? www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/EC2/e...

Age verification? My first anime was Marine Boy.

Scarlet Morning (Scarlet Morning, volume 1) by ND Stevenson Two orphans escape their dismal island home for adventure in a slowly dying world. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/yo-ho...

The same keen sense of self-preservation that led me, having seen a giant icicle above me, to snap it off lest it endanger someone else, inspired me to wonder how long Tangent Online 2025 recommended reading list preamble was this year, then check. ~6000 words. #MemeticProphylacticRecommended

It needs a scene where the thieves find a hall of Stanley Cups, only one of which is real, leading to a recapitulation of this scene. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA7J...

Post a banger that's not in English. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHZq...

Why do modern SFF authors insist on politicizing everything? Why can't we have swell, value-neutral SFF romps like The End of Eternity, Rite of Passage, and Fahrenheit 451?

The two bus stops I need to use look like this.

Bundle of Holding: Bundle for Two 4 Seven quick tabletop roleplaying games for two players bundleofholding.com/presents/For...

What Lures Readers Into Picking Up an Unfamiliar Book? What elements do you look for when browsing the shelves? reactormag.com/what-lures-r...

WAKE UP, HOSERS NEW PETITION JUST DROPPED Petition e-7148 calls to require all federal party leaders to obtain and maintain top-secret security clearance to ensure they are fully informed of threats to Canada’s national security and able to act decisively to protect Canadians and our democracy.

OK OK OK Moby Dick but it's from the whale's point of view and also it really likes Ahab, it's just not great at communicating. Because it's a whale.

I regret the low contrast means this is completely unreadable for me.

I wonder why more cultures around the world don't strap feet-knives onto their kids before handing them long clubs, instilling the kids with fierce competitive spirit and pushing them towards other poorly-coordinated similarly conditioned kids.

Watching a piece on Operation Ten-Go. I have some logistical concerns but I assume the officers in charge were high-ranking for a reason.

What's worse? Terrible stairs or terrible doors? Pretty sure it's the stairs.

Nine Tomorrows by Isaac Asimov An assortment of (mostly) SF from just before Asimov's Sputnik-inspired hiatus from SF. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/this-...

This is what nearly clipped me.

Well, that was more flying car parts flying towards me than I like.

"Would you like to know where the secret women's washroom is?"

My advice for new book reviewers: * Practice is for losers. If you can't be best right away, give up. * Admitting error is weakling talk. * Never, ever put grudges behind you. * Establish your brand by with exceptional unpleasantness. People remember trauma best so be a human paper cut. (con't)

Books Received, January 31 — February 6 With two books new to me, this just barely qualifies as books received. One SF, one fantasy and the SF novel is from a series. jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-r...

It's amusing how quickly this guy go from "curling is a thing, I guess?" to "curling is timeless." www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bww...

Fate's Bane by C. L. Clark Can true love overcome clan rivalry and dark magic? jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/not-f...

I was watching a New Zealand mystery in which a fossil that had been misidentified as a dinosaur turns out to be a fossil of a mammal instead... and none of the fossil hunters seemed to realize fossil (non-bat) mammals in NZ would be big news.

Does anyone know offhand the surface area of the ISS' Active Thermal Control System? (I saw a claim it was 2500 meters square but I think that's the solar array)

I wonder if my Outgunned campaign is the first one where the party Ace (driver) deliberate jumped their commandeered centipede over a Giant Asian Hornet in a bid to immobilize the hornet?

Golden Sunlands by Christopher Rowley Federal Ranger Cracka Buckshore's efforts to keep irate parents from lynching handsome Fodo Bathin are complicated when Cracka, Fodo, and everyone else on the planet are kidnapped and taken to an artificial universe. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/seven...

Should the Hugo Committee nominate more women for the Joseph Campbell Award?

Had 2 back-to-back ttrpg sessions, at opposite ends of the bullet-deadliness quotient scale:Call of Cthulhu (my SAN 35 character now has 8% Mythos skill) and Outgunned (the players rode a centipede, fought a Vespa mandarinia, and facilitated a romance subplot). My brain is cheese.

Bundle of Holding: Human Gorilla Heists This all-new Human Gorilla Heists Bundle presents .PDF ebooks from Human Gorilla Creations that help you create tabletop fantasy roleplaying adventures of thieves and thievery. bundleofholding.com/presents/Hum...

Why have Canadians become so shitty at plowing roads?

The Girl from the West (Kokun, volume 1) by Nahoko Uehashi (Translated by Cathy Hirano) Aisha's unique senses could help the empire escape the ecological crisis the empire has inadvertently engineered. Too bad dynastic security requires her death. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/sweet...

Fig (2011 - 2026) I just got email from Fig's owner that Fig (who I owned from 2012 to 2017 before having to rehome him and Ibid) passed away this evening. Cause unknown. My impression is Fig just didn't wake up.

I wonder what happened in Leiber's Conjure Wife setting when second-wave feminism arrived.

Does anyone know the name of the translator for Ichi the Witch?

Do kids in Texas not get taught how to beat people? I see slaps and pushes, but once someone is down, you cannot go wrong (except in a petty GBH is illegal sense) with well-aimed kicks. Lots of muscle in legs.

WHY DO PURISTS INSIST ON FOCUSING ON HH HOLMES' UNFORTUNATE HOBBIES AND NOT HIS GROUND BREAKING ARCHITECTURE?

Watsfic is the University of Waterloo's Science Fiction & Fantasy Club (a remit it defines broadly). This year is its 50th anniversary. Posted with permission: (con't)

Should failing to give the Ice agent whose QR code you scanned after being beaten bloody a five star review be a federal offence?

That time I found a pile of old NASA research documents in a skip and took them home for a lark.

D&D scenario: decades after the PCs' last adventure, an old epic foe reappears, still bent on conquest. Time to get the band back together! Alas, the band isn't just dispersed. All but one member is long dead. Happily, the last surviving member is a necromancer.

Angel With a Sword (Merovingen Nights, volume 2) by C J Cherryh A moment of foolish charity drags impoverished Altair Jones into a deadly struggle. jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/mater...

Jason being an ancient name never surprised me but I was astounded to discover the Toronto Argonauts have been around since the Bronze Age.

Why indeed.

Has Nolan lost the plot by not filming the Odyssey in original Ancient Greek and Luwian?