The unco-operative bank
Jun. 7th, 2026 02:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustToday being, once again, the first Sunday in the month, I set off for the farmers' market assuming that I had now reassured my bank about anomalous payments that this might occasion. Silly me.
The lady who bakes the pies was having trouble with her terminal, so when my payment was refused it seemed possible that the problem was hers, not mine;
durham_rambler used his card, and no harm done. I had no difficulty at the butcher's (Broom House) or the cheesemakers, I paid cash for two small purchases (samosas and gooseberries) and then was refused again at te Scandinavian bakery, and durham_rambler had to step in again. Finally across the road to the Co-op store, where neither the cashpoint outside nor the till would work for me.So I wasn't surprised, when we got home, to find that message from bank security on the answering machine; and since I did now recognise that number, I called it. This was a much smoother process, because I didn't have to fight my way through to speaking to a person; but it was also much less reassuring, because it ending with the mechanical voice cheerfully telling me that my card had now been cleared - but that security might intervene again if the occasion arose. My card, in other words, is perfectly valid, as long as I don't try to use it.
This isn't the end of the world: I have another card (on a different account with a different bank) but it is annoying, and I need to find a way to take it up with the bank. Which is one reason for making a record of it here.
The Stainless Steel Rat (The Stainless Steel Rat, volume 1) by Harry Harrison
Jun. 7th, 2026 08:33 amjames_davis_nicoll
Scoundrel “Slippery Jim” DiGriz AKA the Stainless Steel Rat, so cunning he has two criminal nicknames, has never been outwitted, outmanoeuvred, captured or executed.
Until now.
The Stainless Steel Rat (The Stainless Steel Rat, volume 1) by Harry Harrison
Reading notes, week 23
Jun. 7th, 2026 06:00 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
found_objects_feedThe Snow Queen by Mercedes Lackey. Again, could have done without the part that gave it its title; a fairy tale I don’t like to start with, adapted in a ticking-the-boxes sort of way, but once that’s handled this one is really good. Ends quite abruptly, though. I’m somewhat surprised that Harlequin wanted to publish it in this form because while there’s romance it’s understated and the adventure and (retold and imagined) mythology are in the foreground.
DNF: Het evangelie naar Maria Magdalena by Maria de Groot. There’s much more commentary than text. Most of the text turns out to be fanfic, and the parts that aren’t have been translated with a huge gnostic/feminist* bias. For the same reason I can hardly read the commentary at all; it’s clearly not my way of dealing with God.
* I’m actually a feminist. I’m very much not a gnostic.
Archangel Protocol by Lyra Morehouse. Yes, I agree completely with the linked review. It reads like a cross of Valentina and Left Behind (disclaimer: I’ve never read the latter, only the deconstruction). I think I haven’t read enough thrillers, and I know I haven’t read enough cyberpunk, because this was definitely a cyberpunk thriller and I don’t know what to make of it. There are sequels (three of them!) but I don’t think I’ll seek those out in spite of the many loose ends (what’s with Daniel’s Bible? who gets to be President?).
Nebula Awards Finalist Announcement
Jun. 7th, 2026 04:00 amsfwa_feed
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Introducing SFWA’s 61st Annual Nebula Award Winners
San Francisco, CA – Saturday, June 6, 2026
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) is proud to announce its latest Nebula Award winners for works published in 2025, as first presented during the Nebula Awards Ceremony on Saturday, June 6, at the organization’s 61st Annual Nebula Awards Conference at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare Hotel and Conference Center in Chicago, Illinois.
The Nebula Awards are voted on by SFWA Members in good standing, and they represent the views of professional SFF writers on the state of their industry and recent excellence within it.
Since 1965, SFWA has advocated for writers of science fiction, fantasy, and related genres. From that very first year, the Nebula Awards process has been one of SFWA’s foundational pathways to improving literary community for SFF writers.
This year, SFWA celebrated two inaugural awards: one for Poem, and one for Comic. Like the Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation and the Nebula Award for Best Game Writing, these new awards celebrate writers at the heart of productions that also involve editors, artists, publishers, producers, and a wealth of other team members who make the magic happen. When voting opens later this year for work published in 2026, the second of these awards will be listed as Comics Writing.
The Nebula Awards Ceremony also celebrates excellence in science fiction, fantasy, and related genres through the issuance of special awards. This year, under the care and guiding words of Toastmaster Tananarive Due, the organization honored its 42nd Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master, N. K. Jemisin, the seasoned author of the Inheritance Trilogy, the Broken Earth Trilogy, and the Great Cities Duology, among others. SFWA also celebrated the excellent curatorial and community-building work of Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award Recipient David Langford, the tremendous genre commitment of Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Recipient Gay Haldeman, and the outstanding legacy of Infinity Award Recipient Roger Zelazny.
SFWA is delighted to announce that its next Nebula Awards Conference and Ceremony will be held in Seattle in June 2027. There is much to do to prepare for Nebula 62, but it all starts and ends with the power and purpose of good writing. Thank you to everyone who votes, writes, reads, and otherwise contributes to the betterment of this genre in all its brilliant forms.
The Nebula Award for Novel
When We Were Real, by Daryl Gregory (Saga)
★ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, by Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan UK) ★
Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor (Morrow; Gollancz)
The Incandescent, by Emily Tesh (Tor; Orbit UK)
Sour Cherry, by Natalia Theodoridou (Tin House; Wildfire)
Wearing the Lion, by John Wiswell (DAW; Arcadia)
The Nebula Award for Novella
Disgraced Return of the Kap’s Needle, by Renan Bernardo (Dark Matter INK)
★ The River Has Roots, by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia) ★
The Death of Mountains, by Jordan Kurella (Lethe)
Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz (Tordotcom)
But Not Too Bold, by Hache Pueyo (Tordotcom)
“Descent”, by Wole Talabi (Clarkesworld 5/25)
The Nebula Award for Novelette
“Our Echoes Drifting Through the Marsh”, by Marie Croke (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 1/9/25)
★ “Uncertain Sons”, by Thomas Ha (Uncertain Sons and Other Stories, Undertow Publications) ★
“We Begin Where Infinity Ends”, by Somto Ihezue (Clarkesworld 2/25)
The Name Ziya, by Wen-Yi Lee (Reactor; Tor Books)
“Never Eaten Vegetables”, by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld 1/25)
“The Life and Times of Alavira the Great as Written by Titos Pavlou and Reviewed by Two Lifelong Friends”, by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 3-4/25)
The Nebula Award for Short Story
“Through the Machine”, by P.A. Cornell (Lightspeed 5/25)
“Six People to Revise You”, by J.R. Dawson (Uncanny 1-2/25)
“In My Country”, by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 4/25)
“The Tawlish Island Songbook of the Dead”, by E.M. Linden (PodCastle 2/18/25)
“Because I Held His Name Like a Key”, by Aimee Ogden (Strange Horizons 6/16/25)
★ “Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything”, by Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots 5/25) ★
The Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction
The Tower, by David Anaxagoras (Recorded Books)
Gemini Rising, by Jonathan Brazee (Semper Fi Press)
Wishing Well, Wishing Well, by Jubilee Cho (Atthis Arts)
Sunrise on the Reaping, by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
★ Into the Wild Magic, by Michelle Knudsen (Candlewick) ★
Goblin Girl, by K.A. Mielke (self-published)
The Nebula Award for Game Writing
Spire, Surge, and Sea, by Stewart C. Baker (Choice of Games)
★ Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, by Guillaume Broche & Jennifer Svedberg-Yen (Kepler Interactive), Developer: Sandfall Interactive, Sandfall S.A.S. ★
Hollow Knight: Silksong, by Ari Gibson & William Pellen (Team Cherry)*
Dispatch, by Mayanna Berrin, Ashley Jeffalone, Suzee Matson, Chris Rebbert, Chad Rhiness, & Pierre Shorette (AdHoc Studio)
Hades II, by Greg Kasavin (Supergiant Games)
Blue Prince, by Tonda Ros (Raw Fury, Developer: Dogubomb)
The Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
KPop Demon Hunters, by Danya Jimenez, Maggie Kang, & Hannah McMechan (Netflix)*
Sinners, by Ryan Coogler (Warner Bros Pictures)*
Severance: “Chikhai Bardo”, by Dan Erickson & Mark Friedman (Apple TV+)*
Pluribus: Season One, by Vince Gilligan (Apple TV+)*
Superman, by James Gunn (Warner Bros Pictures)*
★ Murderbot: Season One, by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz (Apple TV+) ★
The Nebula Award for Comic
Second Shift, by Kit Anderson (Avery Hill)
Carmilla Volume 3: The Eternal, by Amy Chu (Berger)
Helen of Wyndhorn, by Bilquis Evely and Tom King (Dark Horse)
Fishflies, by Jeff Lemire (Image)
★ Mary Shelley’s School for Monsters: The Killing Stone, by Jessica Maison (Wicked Tree) ★
Strange Bedfellows, by Ariel Slamet Ries (HarperAlley)
The Flip Side, by Jason Walz (Rocky Pond)
The Stoneshore Register, by G. Willow Wilson (Berger)
The Nebula Award for Poem
“Though You Always Are”, by Linda D. Addison & Jamal Hodge (Everything Endless, Raw Dog Screaming Press)
“They Said Robots Are”, by Casey Aimer (Penumbric 6/25)
★ “The World To Come”, by Jennifer Hudak (Strange Horizons 12/22/25) ★
“The Mourning Robot”, by Angela Liu (Uncanny 9-10/25)
“Care for Lightning”, by Mari Ness (Uncanny 1-2/25)
“To Be the Change”, by Nico Martinez Nocito (Strange Horizons 3/10/25)
*No statement on LLM-use received from finalist during final ballot.
The post Nebula Awards Finalist Announcement appeared first on SFWA - The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association.
Blake's 7 - a walk down memory lane.
Jun. 6th, 2026 04:20 pmjulesjonesSHTTRPG Idea stolen from World’s Finest #189-190
Jun. 6th, 2026 11:02 amjames_davis_nicollThe PCs all have medical conditions addressable by transplants ranging from minor stuff like a cornea transplant to organ transplants. By tremendous luck, a donor comes in just as they all hit the top of their respective wait lists. However, unbeknownst to the doctors or the recipients, the dead person--who died peacefully in their sleep from unknown causes--was the local superhero, someone with a Superman or Martian Manhunter-level buffet of abilities.
Each PC gains an ability appropriate for the particular body part they received... and once their abilites manifest feel obligated to use them to replace the mysteriously vanished superhero.
Books Received, May 30 — June 5
Jun. 6th, 2026 09:15 amjames_davis_nicoll
Four books new to me. Two books whose genre isn't immediately clear to me, two fantasies. Three currently lack final cover art.
Books Received, May 30 — June 5
Which of these look interesting?
The Magical Cheese Emporium by Sarah Beth Durst (January 2027)
21 (48.8%)
A Devil of a Crime by T. Kingfisher (March 2027)
29 (67.4%)
Nocturnus by Greer Rivers (February 2027)
5 (11.6%)
Lock Her Up by Elizabeth Searle (October 2026)
8 (18.6%)
Some other option (see comments)
1 (2.3%)
Cats!
27 (62.8%)
Lunch in Fossgate
Jun. 6th, 2026 12:29 pmshewhomustThis - and the excellence of the tapas, and the pleasures of the wine list, and the joy of enjoying the latter (well, both of the aforementioned, but especially the latter) with people who enjoy it as much as we do - is why this is our favourite tapas bar. The company and the conversation would be excellent anywhere, and they were, and it seemed like no time at all before we left J and J with their dessert (more and different sherry) and set off for home.
Seen in the hundred yards or so back to the car park:
The rain which had been threatened for days finally caught up with us on the A19, and when it came it was impressive: thunder, lightning, torrential downpour, and flooding on the road (although this last thankfully not until we reached Shincliffe, nearly home).
3W4DW book meme
Jun. 5th, 2026 10:48 amoracnecoffeeandink:Take five books off your bookshelf. (Mine were all from my Print TBR bookcase. Yes, it is a whole bookcase.)
Book #1 -- first sentence: "The Saturday after Labor Day, at the last party wrung from the summer, my friend Kathy showed us a picture of her brother's two boys."
Book #2 -- last sentence on page fifty: "So I read science fiction and dreamed."
Book #3 -- second sentence on page one hundred: "Hold the bucket and belay, there."
(I chose the second complete sentence.)
Book #4 -- next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty: "Vanessa's domestic skill and organization brio have been extolled by nearly everyone she knew."
(The last sentence was incomplete, but most of it was on the page, so I counted it.)
Book #5 -- final sentence of the book: "But if the Islamic world managed it before, it can do so again."
Make the five sentences into a paragraph:
he Saturday after Labor Day, at the last party wrung from the summer, my friend Kathy showed us a picture of her brother's two boys. So I read science fiction and dreamed. Hold the bucket and belay, there. Vanessa's domestic skill and organization brio have been extolled by nearly everyone she knew. But if the Islamic world managed it before, it can do so again.
(Well, that's a bit Dada!)
Book #1: The Smoke Week, Sept. 11-21, 2001 by Ellis Avery
Book #2: Mammoths of the Great Plains plus... by Eleanor Arnason
Book #3: The Hundred Days by Patrick O'Brian
Book #4: Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Msrriages by Katie Roiphe
Book #5: The House of Wisdom by Jim Al-Khalili
Finally, a Unit of Measurement for a Certain Kind of Moral Depravity…
Jun. 5th, 2026 10:22 amjames_davis_nicoll
We've all encountered this trope in post-apocalyptic fiction before. Let's give it a name...
Finally, a Unit of Measurement for a Certain Kind of Moral Depravity…
Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim
Jun. 5th, 2026 08:46 amjames_davis_nicoll
Soyoung Rose Kang would like to have her cake and eat it too. Happily for Ms. Kang, she lives in a world where that’s possible.
To an extent.
Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim
A question a day
Jun. 5th, 2026 11:22 amgaladhirHave you learned anything new in the past year (a new hobby/craft/language/fact)?
In the last week or so I discovered Indian Club Swinging and I am attempting to learn that. I have learned how to do forward hearts and I can do reverse hearts in a wobbly and slow way where I have to think about every movement before I do them.
I like to take things up, but I do have a tendency to abandon them as soon as they get difficult, so have I really learned anything in my life at all? Your definition may vary.
The Restoration Game by Ken MacLeod
Jun. 4th, 2026 09:15 amjames_davis_nicoll
A programmer is dragged into a geopolitical squabble, complicated by untoward existential revelations.
The Restoration Game by Ken MacLeod
I have a Patreon now!
Jun. 3rd, 2026 07:00 pmjreynoldswardI've toyed with the notion of creating a Patreon for some time now, but just didn't want to get around to doing that level of WORK. However, one of the things that became clear to me during my Great Draft2Digital migration was that I needed to have something besides my website and my blog for visibility. Additionally, I wanted to make all of my published short stories available to readers without having to mess around with reprint submissions, cover creation, formatting, and managing listings for all that work. I have over thirty short pieces, many of which were published in venues that are no longer available.
I also have multiple outtakes and worldbuilding short stories tied to my various series that for obvious reasons, really aren't saleable to traditional publishing outlets. At least I didn't want to fiddlefutz around with ensuring that my rights were preserved appropriately. Some of these pieces are just plain sketches, such as a couple of interviews, an attempt to write the opening sequence of a video version of the Martiniere Legacy, and things like that.
Furthermore, given the problems with generative AI, I wanted to at least keep some barriers up to prevent AI scraping. Nothing's perfect, but if there's a charge, I'm small enough that perhaps that stuff isn't going to end up in an AI training database. Also, I decided that a Patreon showing rough draft work-in-progress might serve as appropriate documentation that I'm not using AI for brainstorming and worldbuilding.
But why Patreon and not Substack, especially since I have a Substack presence? Why develop an entirely new platform?
Multiple reasons.
First of all, for better or worse, there are parties who just won't bother to read anything from Substack. Even though my Substack mostly functions as a mirror of content posted on my website, Ko-fi, and Dreamwidth, there are people who just won't click on the other links, as I've found out.
Second, Patreon is more flexible about setting up tiers than Substack is--at least, I can understand it better. I'm running multiple projects--a weekly update which will essentially be free (though I ask for a $1 contribution), a monthly posting of a short story (short stories are also for sale for $3--ouch--but that's the cost due to fees), every other week posting of a horse memoir that I want to work on, documentation of the worldbuilding and creation of a new book I'm developing, and rough draft versions of the second book in the Goddess's Vision series. The way I have it set up, people can pick different tiers, or subscribe to everything for $7 a month.
This just allows for different people with different interests to decide what they want to follow.
Patreon also has a longer history than Substack and that's a factor as well.
But another issue is tied to the lesson I've learned from the Draft2Digital situation, which is to diversify my outlets. While I've already done that to some extent, I haven't had a monetization option that I really want to exercise, except perhaps for Ko-fi and that hasn't been super-active, probably because I'm not promoting it.
I'm skittish about monetizing my Substack because I've heard of too many problems with migrating those subscribers. Not that I would monetize it anyway, for assorted reasons including political. The prices for other newsletter platforms are more than I want to pay, especially since I view most of them as a place to blog (aka "blather") and I don't want to pay for that. I'm already paying for a website with a blogging page. I'm not selling coaching services, opinion columns, news reporting--I'm just a little old lady writing books who would like people to read and enjoy my work. I don't fit the profile of those other services.
My Patreon is exclusively focused on my writing work, and that's what readers will get, whether it's the $1 weekly update tier, the $2 short stories tier, the $3 horse memoir tier, the $3 Into the Vortex worldbuilding tier, or the $4 Vision of Chaos rough draft tier. Or everything for $7.
If this sounds interesting, check it out: Patreon link
And thanks to those of you who decide to subscribe!
Another Fantasy Bundle - Kobolds Ate My Baby
Jun. 3rd, 2026 08:59 pmffutureshttps://bundleofholding.com/presents/KAMB2026
As mentioned above, it's been a long while since I looked at this game. The new edition is prettier than the old one, with better layout and a lot of new art (all of the art is by John Kovalik), and there are a lot of adventures and add-ons in the bundle, offering kobolds new and exciting ways to die. It's VERY silly, but sometimes silly is fun, and you can learn it VERY quickly. Enjoy!
Bundle of Holding: Kobolds Ate My Baby!
Jun. 3rd, 2026 01:56 pmjames_davis_nicollThis new Kobolds Ate My Baby! Bundle presents Kobolds Ate My Baby!, the cult-classic tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of anti-dungeon-crawl silliness, in its 2024 Orange Book edition from 9th Level Games.
Bundle of Holding: Kobolds Ate My Baby!
Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir (Translated by Mary Robinette Kowal)
Jun. 3rd, 2026 08:56 amjames_davis_nicoll
Io the cat and Io's owner Ásta need a pragmatic friend. Happily for the pair, Unna could be that friend.
Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir (Translated by Mary Robinette Kowal)
A question a day
Jun. 3rd, 2026 10:22 amgaladhirDo you still pay for things with cash? Have you been somewhere recently where they don’t take cash anymore?
I always try to have cash on me in case I meet a homeless person or Big Issue seller, but I tend to always pay by card. (Which means I wouldn't notice if anywhere didn't take cash.) I have to remind myself to use cash occasionally on a 'use it or lose it' basis. (I don't want to lose it.)
Have you ever used a photobooth? Are they still around where you live (where’s the nearest one?)
I have used them many a time, every time for getting some sort of official ID - passport, drivers' license, student IDs etc.
They don't seem to be around any more. There used to be one in Tescos, and in the Post Office but it's not there now (neither the photobooths nor the Post Office.)
I assume that now everyone can take photos on their phone it's no longer profitable for the photobooths to exist. Which is a shame, because it's actually quite difficult to take a photo on a phone that is acceptable for use in official documents.