Database maintenance
Oct. 25th, 2025 08:42 amGood morning, afternoon, and evening!
We're doing some database and other light server maintenance this weekend (upgrading the version of MySQL we use in particular, but also probably doing some CDN work.)
I expect all of this to be pretty invisible except for some small "couple of minute" blips as we switch between machines, but there's a chance you will notice something untoward. I'll keep an eye on comments as per usual.
Ta for now!
Books Received, October 18 — October 24
Oct. 25th, 2025 09:20 am
Eight works new to me. Three fantasies, two horror, two SF, and one hard-to-classify RPG. One of the SF books is pretty horrory, so maybe that should be three fantasies, three horror, one SF, and one hard-to-classify RPG.
Books Received, October 18 — October 24
Which of these look interesting?
Abyss by Nicholas Binge (May 2026)
5 (11.1%)
Testimony of Mute Things by Lois McMaster Bujold (October 2025)
25 (55.6%)
Morsel by Carter Keane (April 2026)
3 (6.7%)
The Cove by Claire Rose (May 2026)
5 (11.1%)
Outgunned by Riccardo “Rico” Sirignano & Simone Formicola, with art by Daniela Giubellini (December 2024)
4 (8.9%)
And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer (May 2026)
16 (35.6%)
Lightning Runes by Harry Turtledove (March 2026)
8 (17.8%)
A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo (May 2026)
22 (48.9%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
35 (77.8%)
Exit Sigil
Oct. 24th, 2025 08:51 pm
We have made the difficult decision to end development on Sigil. T
Death in the Cards by Mia P. Manansala
Oct. 24th, 2025 08:57 am
High school student and semi-professional tarot card reader Danika Dizon assists her PI mother to look for a missing person... a teen who vanished after Danika gave her a tarot card reading.
Death in the Cards by Mia P. Manansala
Bundle of Holding: Nightmares Underneath (from 2023)
Oct. 23rd, 2025 11:41 am
The August 2023 Nightmares Underneath Bundle featuring The Nightmares Underneath, the old-school horror-fantasy tabletop roleplaying game from Chthonstone Games.
Bundle of Holding: Nightmares Underneath (from 2023)
Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner
Oct. 23rd, 2025 08:51 am
Faraday, Oregon, seems to have a missing persons problem. Its problem is much worse.
Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner
A Thousand Blues by Cheon Seon-Ran
Oct. 22nd, 2025 08:53 am
A robot muses contentedly on the events that led it to its rapidly approaching doom.
A Thousand Blues by Cheon Seon-Ran
The Eye of Argon by Jim Theis
Oct. 21st, 2025 08:55 am
The story that began the grand tradition of picking on a teenager's work.
The Eye of Argon by Jim Theis
Five Anticipated Books and Stories That Remain Unpublished
Oct. 20th, 2025 04:25 pm
Since the authors are no longer with us, will we ever get a glimpse?
Five Anticipated Books and Stories That Remain Unpublished
Bundle of Holding: Ghastly Affair
Oct. 20th, 2025 02:04 pm
A bundle for Daniel James Hanley's tabletop roleplaying game of Gothic and Romantic Horror in the decadent, disastrous age of Marie-Antoinette, Napoleon, and Lord Byron.
Bundle of Holding: Ghastly Affair
Young People Read Old Nebula Finalists: True Names by Vernor Vinge
Oct. 20th, 2025 12:40 pm
The young people wrestle with what is arguably an early example of Cyberpunk.
Young People Read Old Nebula Finalists: True Names by Vernor Vinge
AWS outage
Oct. 20th, 2025 10:11 amEdit: all services are running as of 16:12 CDT, but there is definitely still a backlog of notifications to get through.
Edit 2: and at 18:20 CDT everything's been running normally for about the last hour.
Clarke Award Finalists 2019
Oct. 20th, 2025 08:54 amWhich 2019 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Rosewater by Tade Thompson
10 (27.0%)
Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
2 (5.4%)
Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
29 (78.4%)
Semiosis by Sue Burke
13 (35.1%)
The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag
4 (10.8%)
The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley
1 (2.7%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2019 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Rosewater by Tade Thompson
Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
Semiosis by Sue Burke
The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag
The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley
Man Plus (Man Plus, volume 1) by Frederik Pohl
Oct. 19th, 2025 09:24 am
Mars being unfit for humans, there is no alternative but to make humans--or at least a human--fit for Mars.
Man Plus (Man Plus, volume 1) by Frederik Pohl
Books Received, October 11 to October 17
Oct. 18th, 2025 09:11 am
Seven books new to me. Well, six and one replacement. Four fantasy, one historical, one horror, one science fiction. Two appear to be part of series.
Books Received, October 11 to October 17
Which of these look interesting?
Boys With Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell (July 2026)
6 (11.5%)
Behind Five Willows by June Hur (May 2026)
17 (32.7%)
Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher (August 2026)
35 (67.3%)
Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray (June 2026)
4 (7.7%)
City of Others by Jaren Poon (January 2026)
20 (38.5%)
Starry Messenger: The Best of Galileo edited by Charles C. Ryan (November 1979)
7 (13.5%)
How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days by Jessie Sylva (January 2026)
19 (36.5%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
35 (67.3%)
As The Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories edited by Terese Mason Pierre
Oct. 17th, 2025 08:57 am
A selection of speculative fiction stories by Black Canadians.
As The Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories edited by Terese Mason Pierre
Bundle of Holding: Eclipse Phase 2E (from 2022)
Oct. 16th, 2025 12:16 pm
The tabletop science fiction roleplaying game of transhuman survival from Posthuman Studios.
Bundle of Holding: Eclipse Phase 2E (from 2022)
