James Nicoll Reviews

December 2021

23 works reviewed. 13 by women (57% ), 10 by men (43 %), 0 by a non-binary author (0%), 0 by authors whose genders are unknown (0%), and by 8 POC (35%)

Year to Date

260 works reviewed. 141.5 by women (54%), 110.5 by men (43%), 5 by non-binary authors (2%), 3 by authors whose gender is unknown (1%), and 103 by POC (40%)

Grand Total to Date

2008 works reviewed. 1,124 by women (56%), 840 by men (42%), 26 by non-binary authors (1%), 18 by authors whose gender is unknown (1%), 574.75 by POC (29%).

Chart after cut. Short version, total numbers up slightly over previous years (save for 2015, which is an outlier), hit most of my goals for this year (in particular, reaching Review 2000), but I am a little disappointed I didn’t find time for more works by non-binary authors. That can be a goal for 2022.

I also didn’t quite get enough votes to be a Hugo finalist, falling short by five. That too can be a goal for 2022. 

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Thanks to my editor Karen Lofstrom for turning my word-salad into sentences and paragraphs and to my web person Adrienne L. Travis for giving me a place to post my reviews. All 2000 plus of them. 

Thank you to my audience of seven plus years! Thank you to all my patrons, on Patreon and here. And a big thank you to the creators everywhere who give me something to review..

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(What is Jólabókaflóðið?)

The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World by Charles C. Mann (2019)

In forty years, Earth’s population will reach ten billion. Can our world support that? What kind of world will it be? Those answering these questions generally fall into two deeply divided groups – Wizards and Prophets, as Charles Mann calls them in this balanced, authoritative,
nonpolemical new book. The Prophets, he explains, follow William Vogt, a founding environmentalist who believed that in using more than our planet has to give, our prosperity will lead us to ruin. Cut back! was his mantra. Otherwise everyone will lose! The Wizards are the heirs of Norman Borlaug, whose research, in effect, wrangled the world in service to our species to produce modern high-yield crops that then saved millions from starvation. Innovate! was Borlaug’s cry. Only in that way can everyone win!

Mann delves into these diverging viewpoints to assess the four great challenges humanity faces – food, water, energy, climate change – grounding each in historical context and weighing the options for the future. With our civilization on the line, the author’s insightful analysis is an essential addition to the urgent conversation about how our children will fare on an increasingly crowded Earth. 

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Time for the annual round of Hugo categories for which I am eligible. 

James Nicoll Reviews fall under Best Fan Writer, as do my Dreamwidth posts. 2021’s Hugo Award data was just released — it turned out I was just five votes away from being a finalist again. So close!

Still, I was rather low energy in 2020. 2021 was different. Today marks my 2000^threview on James Nicoll Reviews. The journey is its own reward. That said, Hugo nominations are also a reward and one for which I would be quite grateful.

My 90 or so 2021 Tor essays fall under Best Related. 

Young People Read Old SFF (now in its 5^th year) is a fanzine. Last year, it was nominated for an Aurora. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it was deemed worthy of a Hugo nomination in the year in which my Young People were reading their way through old Hugo Award finalists? 

Another way in which to encourage my reviews is to join my Patreon or directly commission reviews. With omicron sweeping the world (and our Provincial premier having apparently vanished to his cottage to wait the crisis out), it seems likely the theatres will close again. This means I will once again be dependent on writing income. Ah, well. At least I got to stand in a theatre again.

Onward to Review 3000! 

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Weapons & Equipment: Wondrous Items and Useful Goods for Runequest by Richard August, Jason Durall, Martin Helsdon, Erin Mcguire, Diana Probst, Jude Reid, Jeff Richard, Jared Twing, and Dom Twist (December 2021)

What’s Inside?

RuneQuest: Weapons & Equipment is an essential guide to a wide range of items, goods, services, training, magical items, and beasts for both players and Game Masters. 

Expand your Armory

A plethora of new adventuring equipment, as well as new close combat weapons, melee weapons and armor. Every type of hammer, spear, sword, and much more is detailed. Diversify your adventuring party with no character wielding the same statistics and rules.

Beasts of Glorantha

New and compiled rules for beasts of burden, mounts, and awakened animals. Prices and rules for warbeasts, exotic animals, and pack animals accompany stats for riding equipment and even mobile dwellings!

Lands & Holdings

New rules for land ownership allows your adventurers to expand their foothold in Glorantha. The book contains rules for the quality of land, prices of different dwellings, unique land features, fortifications, as well as developing and improving your land over time.

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Changer of Days by Alma Alexander (November 2021)

The child Anghara Kir Hama was forced to flee the kingdom she rightfully ruled, escaping the murderous wrath of her brother, the usurper, who would see her dead to secure the throne. But her years spent in a strange desert land — honing the miraculous power called Sight — have forever changed the young queen. And now it is time to claim what is hers. But treachery greets Anghara upon her return to a realm suffering under the cruelty of the bloodthirsty tyrant Sif. In the dungeons of her enemy, she awaits an inevitable death, robbed of the gift that set her apart from all others. Yet those who have sworn to defend her will not rest until their cherished queen is safe, including one whose noble heart belongs to her alone. For young Anghara’s remarkable destiny is greater than crowns and countries — greater even than the fearsome Old Gods who must stand down to make way for the Changer of Days. 

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Last Exit by Max Gladstone

Ten years ago, Zelda led a band of merry adventurers whose knacks let them travel to alternate realities and battle the black rot that threatened to unmake each world. Zelda was the warrior; Ish could locate people anywhere; Ramon always knew what path to take; Sarah could turn catastrophe aside. Keeping them all connected: Sal, Zelda’s lover and the group’s heart. 

Until their final, failed mission, when Sal was lost. When they all fell apart. 

Ten years on, Ish, Ramon, and Sarah are happy and successful. Zelda is alone, always traveling, destroying rot throughout the US. 

When it boils through the crack in the Liberty Bell, the rot gives Zelda proof that Sal is alive, trapped somewhere in the alts. 

Zelda’s getting the band back together―plus Sal’s young cousin June, who has a knack none of them have ever seen before. 

As relationships rekindle, the friends begin to believe they can find Sal and heal all the worlds. It’s not going to be easy, but they’ve faced worse before. 

But things have changed, out there in the alts. And in everyone’s hearts. 

Fresh from winning the Hugo and Nebula Awards, Max Gladstone weaves elements of American myth―the muscle car, the open road, the white-hatted cowboy―into a deeply emotional tale where his characters must find their own truths if they are to survive.

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