Aug. 14th, 2025 10:24 pm

Drive, Unload, and Drive Again

billroper: (Default)
[personal profile] billroper
Well, that was a trip.

We managed to get everything (including the Dodeka cart) to fit into the back of the Edge without blocking any of the windows, so I took that as a major success. We headed out at 6:15 AM, which was close enough to my intended window of departure that we managed to miss all of the congestion on the way out of town. With one stop to grab breakfast at a McDonald's and one to buy gas, we made it to Muncie in 4:15, which was *excellent* time. We got there early enough to be able to stop at a Bob Evans in town and have lunch.

Then it was off to load in. We got there a little bit early. The nice policeman who was directing traffic was explaining to us how there was a waiting list for luggage carts and I interrupted him and told him that we'd brought our own cart. He looked very pleased. Because of some good planning between K and Gretchen, almost everything K brought was packed into four giant rectangular bags that stacked neatly on the cart. I dropped the ottoman, the duffel bag, and the arm pillow onto the top of this and left K to carry the monitor and her backpack separately. I parked the car across the street in the garage, came back, and we rolled directly in and to the kids' room.

The Midkiffs were running a little late, which turned out to combine nicely with our a little early. This gave us time to use my big rubber mallet to knock the bed apart so that we could move it to the height that K wanted. Then we pulled out the bedding and made the bed. We also moved all of the furniture in the room to the "place where it belongs". More unpacking followed. By the time Phil and Max arrived with the Midkiff wagon, we were pretty much done and putting the giant rectangular bags away.

Jen was waiting downstairs for a luggage cart and I suggested that they could expedite the process by borrowing our now empty cart. Off they went and a bit later, we had three Midkiffs and a metric ton of additional stuff. :) More unpacking followed. I practiced staying out of the way and assembling bits for K's desk.

After everything was assembled, we headed over to the food service a couple of buildings over and had some additional lunch (for us; first lunch for Midkiffs). Then I abandoned the party as they headed for the tech store to grab computers, because I had a longer drive home.

Traffic was a bit congested in a few places, but I still made the return trip in 4:30. Yay, me!

Meanwhile, Julie had a successful first day of her senior year in high school.

And Ruby and Calvin continue to try to figure out how to get along. Progress is being made. *Slow* progress...

Anyway, I am very tired and am going to head toward bed.

I am going to miss K coming in to chat every evening. :)
Aug. 14th, 2025 11:15 am

A MYSTERY!

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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll
In Women of Futures Past, Rusch quotes Willis:

"The field didn't just have women writers--it had really good women writers. These were wonderful stories, and I don't believe they were overlooked at the time, because when I read them, they were all in Year's Best collections."

Rusch speculates that Willis is referencing Merril's Best S-F. However, Rusch says she only did a spot check. I reread the whole of Merril's Best S-F in 2023. Her anthologies were mostly stories by men.

OK, so maybe it was one of the other Best SF series around back then? But I checked Bleiler and Dikty, Harrison & Aldiss, and Wollheim & Carr and it's not them.

Was there another 1950s-1960s Best SF series?

Or was Willis thinking of a magazine-specific annual like Analog 1?

Not literally Analog 1, obs. But something like it from another magazine.

My guess, having checked the early years, is Willis was reading The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction. Specifically, Boucher's run.

(Guess two would have been something edited by Goldsmith but she does not appear to have edited anthologies)
Aug. 14th, 2025 06:07 am

BOOM

billroper: (Default)
[personal profile] billroper
Shaving, then on the road.

Wish us luck!
Aug. 13th, 2025 10:24 pm

Tick, Tick, Tick

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[personal profile] billroper
I am getting up at 5:30 in the morning tomorrow in the hope of leaving with K for college in time to get her there by 1 PM. If I do this correctly, there will be slack. If not, well...
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


A zeppelin-full of digital graphic albums featuring Studio Foglio's Girl Genius, the "gaslamp fantasy" webcomic of adventure, romance, and mad science.

Bundle of Holding: Girl Genius (from 2020)



Even more Girl Genius, plus Buck Godot, Zap Gun for Hire.

Bundle of Holding: Girl Genius 2 (from 2023)
ffutures: (Default)
[personal profile] ffutures
Two repeat bundles for Girl Genius comics, which are RPG-adjacent due to the existence of GURPS Girl Genius and the long association of the authors with the RPG industry.

GIRL GENIUS 1 (previously offered Oct 2020)
   https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025Genius

GIRL GENIUS 2 (May 2023)
   https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2ndGenius2025

  

This is pretty much a no brainer, as I've said before. It's great value and a fantastic read. But I should probably point out that if you've previously bought either bundle no new material is added.
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


In the 1970s, many of the best new authors were women — the trick was finding their work.

Women Have Always Written SFF — But It Wasn’t Always Easy to Find

Yes, I know comments are not working. No, I have no control over that. Yes, I have mentioned the issue repeatedly. No, I don't know when it will be fixed.
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


Bathed in unquenchable fire, Ruri struggles to maintain her grade point average.

RuriDragon, volume 6 by Masaoki Shindo
Aug. 12th, 2025 10:00 pm

Closer, Ever Closer

billroper: (Default)
[personal profile] billroper
Two more good nights' sleep (I hope) before departing to take K to college.

Tonight's adventure was taking her over to Mariano's to acquire "snacks". And powdered coffee creamer, because half-and-half is going to become a lot harder to stock in the dorm.

There is a ginormous pile of stuff to go in the car tomorrow night, but it should all fit.

Whee!
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


War crime survivor turned expert swordswoman and student sorcerer Cheon resolves to obliterate the nation responsible, make herself queen, and find a like-minded woman to court.

The Four Wishes (Cheon of Weltanland, volume 1) by Charlotte Stone
Aug. 12th, 2025 12:11 pm

Another one-day Games Con - Ruby Con

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[personal profile] ffutures
Leisure Games will be running a one day games con in Finchley, London on September 6th to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital and celebrate their 40th anniversary. I'm not going to be able to make it due to family stuff, but the details are on line here

https://leisuregames.com/pages/saturday-6th-september-ruby-con-our-40th-anniversary-celebration

Entry is free, they'll be selling goody bags to raise money for the charity, and I assume other fund-raising things will be happening.



Aug. 11th, 2025 09:00 pm

So Much for Switzerland

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[personal profile] kevin_standlee
While I was traveling to Seattle, Lisa was heading to Lucerne, Switzerland, where I had arranged for her to stay at a Holiday Inn Express in a suburb of that city. The location was good (only about 150 m from the station platform on the suburban rail line), but the property was not. It was the most expensive Express we've ever booked, and Lisa reported that room was tiny, had a bunch of gnats swarming on the windows, and was generally not a good room. They did acknowledge that Lisa could stay in the room (I'd worked that out with them by email in advance), but the housekeeper apparently kept coming to tell her she wasn't supposed to be in the room. After a few hours of this, she'd had enough, handed back the keys, and left. Unfortunately, getting back to Munich, while possible, took a long time and involved riding in the Chair car of a NightJet sleeper train (covered by the rail pass; she would have bought a compartment, but there were not available) to Salzburg and then a Dreaded Bus Rail Replacement service to get back to Munich. This morning, Lisa relayed to me the sad story.

The hotel acknowledged by email to me that Lisa had handed over the keys and left. I contacted IHG and complained about the room condition and the poor treatment she received. IHG says they are going to work to have all of the points I used to book that room refunded.

Holiday Inn Express is a decently good brand in the USA and Canada. However, our experience of those in Europe has been for the most part deeply disappointing, unlike all of the other IHG properties, like the Crowne Plaza in Ljubljana and the Holiday Inn (not Express) Heathrow Bath Road.

That's now two cases where Lisa had an unsuccessful sortie from Munich to what was supposed to be a multi-day stay but turned into an unwanted extra train trip. At least the train trips were all included in the cost of the rail pass. I think Lisa will be regrouping for a few days.

Kuma Bear reported a bit on the trip. He likes trains as much as we do, but maybe not this way.
Aug. 11th, 2025 11:09 pm

One Day At a Time

billroper: (Default)
[personal profile] billroper
We are getting closer and closer to K's departure for college on Thursday -- as well as Julie's return to Maine West on the same day. To say that the tide of chaos is rising from these events is to completely ignore the puppy in the room.

There is *no* way to ignore the puppy in the room.

Just ask Ruby.
ffutures: (Default)
[personal profile] ffutures
This bundle presents Ironsworn, Starforged, and Sundered Isles from Tomkin Press, which use Powered by the Apocalypse for solo and refereed games, with SF and fantasy settings included:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Ironsworn

 

So far I've only had a good look at the Starforged rules, which is a very nicely presented game although it does fall into a few common SF tropes - most notably the "jungle planet", "desert planet" idea where an entire world has only one type of environment, which seems just a little unlikely. The rules are more complicated than I like, but that's pretty common for games based on the Powered by the Apocalypse mechanics. Art is very good - I suspect that some AI is involved given the sheer quantity, but it's a lot less obtrusive than some I've seen, and the characters depicted rarely fall too deeply into the uncanny valley. Characters seem to be dressed appropriately for safety and the environment, and there are no chaos spiky shoulder pads which is generally a good sign.

Overall, this is surprisingly cheap for what you're getting, and I think it's well worth a look.
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


Ironsworn, Starforged, and Sundered Isles, tabletop roleplaying games of perilous fantasy, space opera, and seafaring adventure by Tomkin Press.

Bundle of Holding: Ironsworn-Starforged

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April 2020

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