JD
James Davis Nicoll
@jdnicoll
Reviewer, essayist, cautionary tale
I read books. I write about books. From time to time, I catch fire and/or bleed.
459 Posts
Starships edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, & Charles G. Waugh An assortment of vintage SF stories featuring starships, written by a variety of authors. https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/the-stars-tonight Bundle of Holding: Delta Green Fiction Dozens of stories and full-length novels inspired by Arc Dream Publishing's roleplaying game of modern-day Cthulhu Mythos conspiracy-horror, Delta Green. https://bundleofholding.com/presents/DGFiction The Tomorrow City by Monica Hughes In which an AI completely transforms a city's problems. https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/feel-so-cold Books Received, April 13 — April 19 Just two new books this week, both myth-based fantasies. https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-received-april-13-april-19 Bundle of Holding: ArM5 World of Magic (from 2019) World-spanning supplements for Ars Magica Fifth Edition, the tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of medieval myth and magic from Atlas Games. https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ArM5World2024 Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland An unjustly fired adjunct returns to a home town surprisingly well-stocked with attractive men, where her dead sister has an impossible task for her. https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/restless-spirit Bundle of Holding: ArM5 Mythic Europe (from 2018) Character and culture sourcebooks that enhance the medieval setting of Ars Magica Fifth Edition, the tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of medieval myth and magic from Atlas Games. https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ArM5Europe2024 Five Superb SFF Fix-Up Novels A celebration of the SFFnal tradition of transforming short works into more commercially viable novels. https://reactormag.com/five-superb-sff-fix-up-novels/ Bones & Runes by Stephen Embleton Three friends from very different religions contend against a vengeful god. https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/side-by-side Bundle of Holding: ArM5 Wizards And Power (from 2017) Tribunal and Realms of Power tabletop roleplaying game ebook supplements for Ars Magica Fifth Edition. https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ArM5Wizards2024 Magus of the Library, volume 4 by Mitsu Izumi In which Theo bombs his first pop-quiz and encounters the woman who set him on the path of becoming a librarian. https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/the-present-curriculum Bundle of Holding: Ars Magica 5th Edition* More Magic (from 2016) More Magic adds lots of supernatural material to expand any Mythic Europe saga for Ars Magica 5th Edition. * Not to be confused with other 5th edition TTFRPGs. https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ArM5More2024 #Bundleo Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea (Tomes & Tea, volume 1) by Rebecca Thorne An underappreciated bodyguard casts her current career aside in favour of romance and small-town entrepreneurship, thus earning the incandescent fury of her absolute monarch ex-boss. https://jamesdavisnicol Bundle of Holding: Ars Magica 5 (repeat from 2014) Everything needed to run 5th edition Ars Magica saga of wizardly Covenants in Mythic Europe. https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ArM5-2024 “Bad” Books, and the Readers That Love Them Inexplicably not titled "Why I Own Most of Hal Clement's Novels." https://reactormag.com/bad-books-and-the-readers-that-love-them/ The Anything Box by Zenna Henderson An assortment of Henderson's non-People SFF. https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/they-bite Books Received, April 6 — April 12 Upcoming speculative fiction and an abundance of TTRPG works from Free League Publishing and FrostByte Books. Books Received, April 6 - April 12 The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark An undead assassin is stuck with a contract in which both success and failure ensure dire consequences. https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/couldnt-stay-away Five SF Novels Inspired by Disproven Scientific Theories Plenty of exciting hypotheses eventually fall out of scientific favor — but not before they've found their way into science fiction! https://reactormag.com/five-sf-novels-inspired-by-disproven-scientific-theories/ The Feast Makers (Scapegracers, volume 3) by H. A. Clarke Will magic, a high school clique, and appalling judgment save Sideways Pike? https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/cant-stay-away