James Davis Nicoll
@jdnicoll.bsky.social
Reviewer, Essayist, Hugo, Aurora, and Darwin Award finalist.
Bundle of Holding: Wolves Upon the Coast
The Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign, a bare-bones old-school tabletop roleplaying game by designer Luke Gearing.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Wol...
The Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign, a bare-bones old-school tabletop roleplaying game by designer Luke Gearing.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Wol...
Wolves Upon the Coast Bundle
Adventurer! This all-new Wolves Upon the Coast Bundle presents the Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign, a bare-bones old-school tabletop roleplaying game by designer Luke Gearing. Your history is gon...
bundleofholding.com
February 18, 2026 at 7:56 PM
Bundle of Holding: Wolves Upon the Coast
The Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign, a bare-bones old-school tabletop roleplaying game by designer Luke Gearing.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Wol...
The Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign, a bare-bones old-school tabletop roleplaying game by designer Luke Gearing.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Wol...
Vague idea for a TTRPG campaign: All Regulations Are Written in Blood
PCs are field agents in charge of finding and dealing with arcane occupational safety violations. That six-sided summoning pentagram? Flagged. That storeroom where the universal solvent is next to the lemonade? Flagged.
(con't)
PCs are field agents in charge of finding and dealing with arcane occupational safety violations. That six-sided summoning pentagram? Flagged. That storeroom where the universal solvent is next to the lemonade? Flagged.
(con't)
February 18, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Vague idea for a TTRPG campaign: All Regulations Are Written in Blood
PCs are field agents in charge of finding and dealing with arcane occupational safety violations. That six-sided summoning pentagram? Flagged. That storeroom where the universal solvent is next to the lemonade? Flagged.
(con't)
PCs are field agents in charge of finding and dealing with arcane occupational safety violations. That six-sided summoning pentagram? Flagged. That storeroom where the universal solvent is next to the lemonade? Flagged.
(con't)
One Way to Immunize Yourself Against Pseudoscience and Other Nonsense
Classic SF was chock-full of dubious ideas; Martin Gardner supplied the antidote.
reactormag.com/one-way-to-i...
Classic SF was chock-full of dubious ideas; Martin Gardner supplied the antidote.
reactormag.com/one-way-to-i...
One Way to Immunize Yourself Against Pseudoscience and Other Nonsense - Reactor
Classic SF was chock-full of dubius ideas; Martin Gardner supplied the antidote.
reactormag.com
February 18, 2026 at 3:09 PM
One Way to Immunize Yourself Against Pseudoscience and Other Nonsense
Classic SF was chock-full of dubious ideas; Martin Gardner supplied the antidote.
reactormag.com/one-way-to-i...
Classic SF was chock-full of dubious ideas; Martin Gardner supplied the antidote.
reactormag.com/one-way-to-i...
I woke up in a bad mood because I dreamed I discovered they'd cut the buses from TO to KW back to one bus per day, at 2:15 PM. And in my dream, it was just after 4 PM when I discovered this.
February 18, 2026 at 2:36 PM
I woke up in a bad mood because I dreamed I discovered they'd cut the buses from TO to KW back to one bus per day, at 2:15 PM. And in my dream, it was just after 4 PM when I discovered this.
Ah, memories of that time at a particularly horrible job, the bosses decided as an incentive to post the productivity levels of the workers... and it turned out my numbers were higher than their favourite employee, the person who made my time there hell.
I am reminded of a parallel situation where a person thought they were meeting high standards until they saw the standards others were meeting... I suppose it's too early for him to have been Manifesting the best grades.
February 18, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Ah, memories of that time at a particularly horrible job, the bosses decided as an incentive to post the productivity levels of the workers... and it turned out my numbers were higher than their favourite employee, the person who made my time there hell.
Ichi the Witch, volume 1 by Osamu NIchi & Shiro Usazaki (Translated by Adrienne Beck)
Only witches hunt demons, all witches are women, and Uroro cannot be defeated by any woman. Uroro feels entirely safe, right until the world's first male witch defeats him.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/loop-...
Only witches hunt demons, all witches are women, and Uroro cannot be defeated by any woman. Uroro feels entirely safe, right until the world's first male witch defeats him.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/loop-...
Loop Hole
2025’s Ichi the Witch, Volume 1 is the first tankōbon for Osamu NIchi and Shiro Usazaki’s Ichi the Witch secondary-universe fantasy manga. Ichi
has been serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump mag...
jamesdavisnicoll.com
February 18, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Ichi the Witch, volume 1 by Osamu NIchi & Shiro Usazaki (Translated by Adrienne Beck)
Only witches hunt demons, all witches are women, and Uroro cannot be defeated by any woman. Uroro feels entirely safe, right until the world's first male witch defeats him.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/loop-...
Only witches hunt demons, all witches are women, and Uroro cannot be defeated by any woman. Uroro feels entirely safe, right until the world's first male witch defeats him.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/loop-...
KWites: how loudly am I going to groan when I look out my front window?
February 18, 2026 at 2:11 PM
KWites: how loudly am I going to groan when I look out my front window?
There was a Canadian PSA about helmets that used a watermelon impacting on a road. Can't find it online...
1. NH didn't have motorcycle helmet laws, so to show us what happens when you don't wear a helmet he brought in a helmet and a sledgehammer and smashed it dramatically, spraying us all with juice and pull
(he was later forbidden from doing this but I thought it was effective)
(he was later forbidden from doing this but I thought it was effective)
February 18, 2026 at 4:53 AM
There was a Canadian PSA about helmets that used a watermelon impacting on a road. Can't find it online...
Odd but true: Doc Savage's tailor financed his kids' uni purely off shirt sales to Doc Savage.
Happy 93rd birthday to Doc Savage!
The first issue of the Man of Bronze's magazine hit stands OTD in 1933.
The first issue of the Man of Bronze's magazine hit stands OTD in 1933.
February 18, 2026 at 4:11 AM
Odd but true: Doc Savage's tailor financed his kids' uni purely off shirt sales to Doc Savage.
I would not have made it out of the crib. I might not have made it into the crib.
I sometimes try and work out when I would have died in my life in earlier times - from infection or disease. I think the earliest might be appendicitis at 10 years old.
February 18, 2026 at 12:49 AM
I would not have made it out of the crib. I might not have made it into the crib.
Overheard on public transit, one end of an extremely angry phone conversation. The last bit that I heard just before I disembarked:
"I suggest, [NAME], you shut up and turn yourself in!"
"I suggest, [NAME], you shut up and turn yourself in!"
February 17, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Overheard on public transit, one end of an extremely angry phone conversation. The last bit that I heard just before I disembarked:
"I suggest, [NAME], you shut up and turn yourself in!"
"I suggest, [NAME], you shut up and turn yourself in!"
I think I just got a very funny idea for a TTRPG adventure.
My friend who is about to defend told me the point of a PhD is to turn you into an insane person but a very specific kind of insane person.
So FYI Thursday you’ll see a giant thread on the derivation of the Differential Chapman Kolmogorov equation.
And I might act a little weird and crazy until June.
And I might act a little weird and crazy until June.
February 17, 2026 at 10:51 PM
I think I just got a very funny idea for a TTRPG adventure.
The Man Who Came Early by Poul Anderson
What hope has 10th century Icelandic culture against an armed and moderately educated 20th century American?
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/day-i...
What hope has 10th century Icelandic culture against an armed and moderately educated 20th century American?
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/day-i...
Day Is Done
Poul Anderson’s 1956 short story, The Man Who Came Early, is a Morganade.
Other Icelanders might rebuke, drive away or even kill a visiting Christian missionary. Ospak Ulfsson of Hillstead has a more ...
jamesdavisnicoll.com
February 17, 2026 at 2:08 PM
The Man Who Came Early by Poul Anderson
What hope has 10th century Icelandic culture against an armed and moderately educated 20th century American?
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/day-i...
What hope has 10th century Icelandic culture against an armed and moderately educated 20th century American?
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/day-i...
Bundle of Holding: Downcrawl-Skycrawl
Downcrawl and Skycrawl, twin toolkits from designer Aaron A. Reed that help you create spontaneous tabletop roleplaying adventures in the Deep, Deep Down and the Azure Etern.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Dow...
#ttrpg
Downcrawl and Skycrawl, twin toolkits from designer Aaron A. Reed that help you create spontaneous tabletop roleplaying adventures in the Deep, Deep Down and the Azure Etern.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Dow...
#ttrpg
Downcrawl-Skycrawl Bundle
Adventurer! This new Downcrawl-Skycrawl Bundle presents Downcrawl and Skycrawl, twin toolkits from designer Aaron A. Reed that help you create spontaneous tabletop roleplaying adventures in the Deep, ...
bundleofholding.com
February 16, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Bundle of Holding: Downcrawl-Skycrawl
Downcrawl and Skycrawl, twin toolkits from designer Aaron A. Reed that help you create spontaneous tabletop roleplaying adventures in the Deep, Deep Down and the Azure Etern.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Dow...
#ttrpg
Downcrawl and Skycrawl, twin toolkits from designer Aaron A. Reed that help you create spontaneous tabletop roleplaying adventures in the Deep, Deep Down and the Azure Etern.
bundleofholding.com/presents/Dow...
#ttrpg
Someone firmly asserted to me that I should follow backing ttrpg kickstarters or purchasing ttrpgs by actually reading or even playing the games in question. Are they communists?
February 16, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Someone firmly asserted to me that I should follow backing ttrpg kickstarters or purchasing ttrpgs by actually reading or even playing the games in question. Are they communists?
Reposted by James Davis Nicoll
I feel ashamed to share this, but it's where things are at, with no solution in sight, so I am sharing. I apologize.
www.gofundme.com/f/support-te...
www.gofundme.com/f/support-te...
Donate to Support Teri Hall now facing a Brain Tumor Diagnosis, organized by Christy Raedeke
This is not a fundraiser I ever imagined writing. More than a dec… Christy Raedeke needs your support for Support Teri Hall now facing a Brain Tumor Diagnosis
www.gofundme.com
February 16, 2026 at 5:47 PM
I feel ashamed to share this, but it's where things are at, with no solution in sight, so I am sharing. I apologize.
www.gofundme.com/f/support-te...
www.gofundme.com/f/support-te...
I wonder how aliens will react to the English name for the galaxy involving a bodily secretion.
February 16, 2026 at 1:54 AM
I wonder how aliens will react to the English name for the galaxy involving a bodily secretion.
If I ever run into one my old shop teachers, I will complement them on how nobody died.
February 15, 2026 at 10:50 PM
If I ever run into one my old shop teachers, I will complement them on how nobody died.
I love how supergroups often have mixes like Paragon of Human Development, One Man Tank, Mage, Omega-level Telepath, Actual God, and Guy Who is An Above Average Archer.
February 15, 2026 at 8:21 PM
I love how supergroups often have mixes like Paragon of Human Development, One Man Tank, Mage, Omega-level Telepath, Actual God, and Guy Who is An Above Average Archer.
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Ben Reich plans a perfect murder in a world where getting away with murder is impossible.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/mind-...
Ben Reich plans a perfect murder in a world where getting away with murder is impossible.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/mind-...
Mind Games
Alfred Bester’s 1953 The Demolished Man is a stand-alone science fiction police-procedural novel.
Monarch Utilities & Resources is an established but declining commercial concern. Owner Ben Reich...
jamesdavisnicoll.com
February 15, 2026 at 12:12 PM
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Ben Reich plans a perfect murder in a world where getting away with murder is impossible.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/mind-...
Ben Reich plans a perfect murder in a world where getting away with murder is impossible.
jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/mind-...
Ever see a title unfamiliar to you, only to discover the author's career was kneecapped by stupid publisher tricks?
I have as well.
I have as well.
February 14, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Ever see a title unfamiliar to you, only to discover the author's career was kneecapped by stupid publisher tricks?
I have as well.
I have as well.
Books Received, February 7 to February 13
Nine books new to me: 3 horror, 4 mystery, 1 non-fiction, and 1 science fiction, although I am not sure about the proper categorization of some of those books. Only one is explicitly part of a series. First 4 covers!
jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-r...
Nine books new to me: 3 horror, 4 mystery, 1 non-fiction, and 1 science fiction, although I am not sure about the proper categorization of some of those books. Only one is explicitly part of a series. First 4 covers!
jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-r...
February 14, 2026 at 2:31 PM
Books Received, February 7 to February 13
Nine books new to me: 3 horror, 4 mystery, 1 non-fiction, and 1 science fiction, although I am not sure about the proper categorization of some of those books. Only one is explicitly part of a series. First 4 covers!
jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-r...
Nine books new to me: 3 horror, 4 mystery, 1 non-fiction, and 1 science fiction, although I am not sure about the proper categorization of some of those books. Only one is explicitly part of a series. First 4 covers!
jamesdavisnicoll.com/post/books-r...
On this day, Captain James Cook decided to spend the rest of his life in Hawaii.
February 14, 2026 at 5:08 AM
On this day, Captain James Cook decided to spend the rest of his life in Hawaii.
Elon Musk downgrades empty Mars Colony pledge to empty Lunar Colony pledge
www.thebeaverton.com/2026/02/elon...
www.thebeaverton.com/2026/02/elon...
Elon Musk downgrades empty Mars Colony pledge to empty Lunar Colony pledge
BROWNSVILLE, TX - Tech visionary Elon Musk astounded observers when he set aside more than a decade of unfulfilled vows to colonize the Red Planet in favour of the seemingly more modest goal of failin...
www.thebeaverton.com
February 13, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Elon Musk downgrades empty Mars Colony pledge to empty Lunar Colony pledge
www.thebeaverton.com/2026/02/elon...
www.thebeaverton.com/2026/02/elon...
If my two 2025 Beaverton pieces qualify for short fiction awards, does it follow that they should also qualify for the ISFDB?
February 13, 2026 at 9:10 PM
If my two 2025 Beaverton pieces qualify for short fiction awards, does it follow that they should also qualify for the ISFDB?