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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-28 08:37 pm

I don't know what to make of this



The Cherryh titles I dropped into ngram fell into 3 patterns:

Ones whose titles don't play nicely with ngrams. I dropped those.
Ones where the mentions per year decline fairly steadily year to year.
Cyteen. What's up with Cyteen? Did Jo Walton mention it on tor dot com around 2009?
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ffutures ([personal profile] ffutures) wrote2025-09-28 10:45 pm

Fanfic: Worm/The War of the Worlds - The Martian Part VIII

Continuing my Worm / War of the Worlds crossover story. Another fairly short chapter to end the first day of the story.

The previous chapters are archived on these sites:
On Twisting the Hellmouth - https://www.tthfanfic.org/story.php?no=33872
On AO3 - https://archiveofourown.org/works/39112812
On Fanfiction.net - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14083560/1/The-Martian
On Spacebattles Forum - https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-martian-worm-the-war-of-the-worlds-au.1034761/

See chapter I for disclaimers.

VIII - Podkayne of Mars )

Comments please before I post to archives.
watervole: (Default)
Judith Proctor ([personal profile] watervole) wrote2025-09-28 02:07 pm
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(no subject)

 Theo is growing rapidly.  He'll be one year old by the end of October, and it hardly seems possible.

He's a cheeky little monkey, outgoing and very confident.

He's totally adorable when he sees me. Gives a big smile and crawls, very fast, over to see me. Grabs hold of my legs, pulls himself to standing, and asks to be picked up.  (Not verbally, but it's a very expectant face)

Which I love doing - he's very cuddly.

But, he's also getting heavy.   Very heavy...

And my back is suffering.

I've got to learn to resist that happy face, and play with him on the floor.  And read books to him on the floor as well.  I think that lifting him onto my knee when I'm reading to him is actually the biggest source of the back pain, as I have to lean forward to do it.

 

 

 

 

 

lproven: (Default)
Liam Proven ([personal profile] lproven) wrote2025-09-28 12:47 pm

Get out there and gather some acorns while ye may

In the British Isles, it looks like 2025 is a mast year.

https://medium.com/gardening-birding-and-outdoor-adventure/what-is-a-mast-year-e6ef751460d0

Please help the trees. Gather as many acorns & other big, easy to find tree seeds as you can find, & scatter them on any waste land you can reach. 

https://www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/countryside/a66136717/seeing-lots-of-acorns-on-autumn-walks-heres-why-2025-is-a-bumper-year/

The world urgently needs more trees.

https://ribbletrust.org.uk/what-is-a-mast-year/

Please do share this sentiment more widely. We all can do a lot to spread trees. Forests are burning across the world. Isolated trees & small groups away from woodland have chances to survive & form species reservoirs.
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ericcoleman ([personal profile] ericcoleman) wrote in [community profile] filk2025-09-27 10:19 pm

FilkConbobulated! June 26-28 Des Moines IA

Ok, we are doing this thing in a slightly different way. Because kickstarter has limitations on how they fundraise, we are doing this thru GoFundMe. HOWEVER, much like a kickstarter, there will be tiers for donations to the convention that get you different things. Badge level, Supporting Membership level, and Glad to help level. Come see!
https://gofund.me/70d28e045
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lexin ([personal profile] lexin) wrote2025-09-27 06:13 pm
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Volunteering

I spent yesterday volunteering at the local Repair Cafe. It was quite fun, everyone was welcoming, and I even got some sewing work in, which I almost finished. Next month I will remember to bring some sewing needles. I took my sewing machine, but it wouldn’t cope with sewing the fur side of the fur layer.

Thinking about it, I should have sewed the the other side, but that never occurred to me at the time. I just hope no-one ever turns up wanting something lined. That would take too long.

But I will go along next month.
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-27 09:10 am
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Books Received, September 20 — September 26



Six works new to me: four fantasy, one mystery, one non-fiction (from an unexpected source)... unless you count the fantasy-mystery as mystery, in which case it's three fantasy and two mysteries. At least two are series. I don't know why publishers are so averse to labelling series.

Books Received, September 20 — September 26

Poll #33662 Books Received, September 20 — September 26
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 40


Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

An Ordinary Sort of Evil by Kelley Armstrong
12 (30.0%)

Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst (July 2026)
12 (30.0%)

Following My Nose by Alexei Panshin (December 2024)
11 (27.5%)

The Fake Divination Offense by Sara Raasch (May 2026)
7 (17.5%)

The Harvey Girl by Dana Stabenow (February 2026)
7 (17.5%)

Scarlet Morning by ND Stevenson (September 2025)
16 (40.0%)

Some other option (see comments)
1 (2.5%)

Cats!
29 (72.5%)

ericcoleman: (Default)
ericcoleman ([personal profile] ericcoleman) wrote in [community profile] filk2025-09-26 09:39 pm

FilkConbobulated! June 26-28 Des Moines IA

We are looking for an experienced Con Suite person. It is the one part that neither of us have ever worked on.

Email me at ericcoleman at gmail
ffutures: (Default)
ffutures ([personal profile] ffutures) wrote2025-09-26 07:27 pm

Another "Brit-Card" Thought

Anyone want to bet against the possibility that the software needed to make this work will require really recent versions of the OS etc, thus forcing internet users to buy new phones etc.?
history_monk: (Default)
history_monk ([personal profile] history_monk) wrote2025-09-26 05:32 pm
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E-mail to my MP

"Brit card" will likely cost you your seat 

Dear Mr Zeichner,
 
A compulsory ID card, digital or otherwise, is a catastrophically bad idea for Labour. The British public have accepted such ID systems in time of war, but the illegal immigration and working problems are not a crisis on that scale, no matter how much the right-wing press tries to make it seem so. 
 
By over-reacting in this way, Labour are handing the entire civil liberties agenda to the Tories and Reform (Reform? Civil liberties? What have we come to?). They are not really in favour of civil liberties, but they have a better idea of what the public will put up with than Labour is displaying. 
 
In Cambridge, the Tories and Reform have no real hope of unseating you, but the Liberal Democrats and the Greens do, especially if they were to form an electoral pact against you. As a strongly Remain former Labour MP, finding another seat would be challenging, at best. 
 
I urge you to oppose any form of compulsory ID in all ways possible. It makes Labour look even more authoritarian than the Tories and Reform.
 
I would also suggest that Labour needs to be far more sceptical about policy suggestions from the Tony Blair Institute. It isn't 1997 any more. but the TBI doesn't seem to have noticed and carries on campaigning for things Blair was unable to push through, because they were bad ideas for both New Labour and the United Kingdom.  
 
Yours, sincerely, 
 
John Dallman
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-26 09:17 am

Bound Feet by Kelsea Yu



A grieving mother and her best friend break into a ghost museum to conduct illicit but surely harmless Ghost Day celebrations. Revelations await.

Bound Feet by Kelsea Yu
ffutures: (Default)
ffutures ([personal profile] ffutures) wrote2025-09-25 10:40 pm

Petition against Digital ID

Our wonderful Prime Minister is pushing a bill to make online digital ID compulsory for Britons. Apart from the sheer impossibility of making it work without crippling the internet, and the huge costs of making it work even it it were possible, especially with multiple countries involved with differing interests and competing schemes, it would massively invade everyone's privacy.

There's a petition against it here if anyone is interested...

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/reject-plans-for-a-mandatory-britcard-digital-id 

Incidentally, I would strongly recommend treating any attempt to make this work as phishing and attempted identity theft, because a lot of the emails sent out about it definitely will be be bogus. Including most that purport to come from the government.

history_monk: (Default)
history_monk ([personal profile] history_monk) wrote2025-09-25 08:07 pm
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Mandatory Digital ID

 Tomorrow, the UK government will announce plants for mandatory digital ID. This is an act of the most profound stupidity on their part, making it trivial for the Conservatives and Reform (Even Reform!) to outflank Labour on civil liberties. It won't work, it will be hacked and abused, and people without a smartphone will be even more marginalised.

Please sign this petition against it, contact your MP, and resist in all practical ways.      

Parliamentary petition here has over a million signatures, Let's try for ten million. 
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-25 10:07 am
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On Writing Romance as Hard Science Fiction



More stories should dig into the chemistry, biology, and physics of falling in love.

On Writing Romance as Hard Science Fiction
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Judith Proctor ([personal profile] watervole) wrote2025-09-25 01:59 pm
Entry tags:

Southern Star are recruiting!

 

The Morris Federation have been producing a series of short videos for many of their members.  The aim is to get as many shares as possible, in order to boost the number of people reached.

 

So, here's the short video for Southern Star Longsword.  We're a small, friendly team, who welcome men, women and children. We meet in Corfe Mullen on Monday evening.  We're especially keen to recruit new musicians at present.

We perform English longsword dances (no connection to Scottish sword dancing), and write many of our own dances.  Our latest dance - sadly, no decent video as yet - is danced to 'The Wellerman'.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-25 08:53 am

Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack



Amid economic downturn and political strife, young American teen discovers her hidden potential.

Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-24 09:05 am

Kowloon Generic Romance, volume 2 by Jun Mayuzuki




Realtor Reiko Kujirai has many questions, about her apparent rival and about herself, but very few answers.

Kowloon Generic Romance, volume 2 by Jun Mayuzuki