Monday, September 25, 2023

New short story collection by Ann Leckie



Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction up for preorder at Amazon:
Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke award-winner Ann Leckie is a modern master of the SFF genre, forever changing its landscape with her groundbreaking ideas and powerful voice. Now, available for the first time comes the complete collection of Leckie's short fiction, including a brand new novelette, Lake of Souls.

Journey across the stars of the Imperial Radch universe.

Listen to the words of the Old Gods that ruled The Raven Tower.

Learn the secrets of the mysterious Lake of Souls.

Today's news and jokes





Historians are racing to document shipwrecks in the Great Lakes before they're devoured by invasive mussels

AP:

The Great Lakes’ frigid fresh water used to keep shipwrecks so well preserved that divers could see dishes in the cupboards. Downed planes that spent decades underwater were left so pristine they could practically fly again when archaeologists finally discovered them.

...

The creatures have covered virtually every shipwreck and downed plane in all of the lakes except Lake Superior, archaeologists say. The mussels burrow into wooden vessels, building upon themselves in layers so thick they will eventually crush walls and decks. They also produce acid that can corrode steel and iron ships. No one has found a viable way to stop them.

"The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century" is $1.99 right now

at Amazon

(I just picked it up. Nominated for various 2022 prizes, here's how the Guardian's review starts, "From the mysterious monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey to the impossible spaceship in Arrival, one of science fiction’s favourite tropes is the alien artefact that defies human comprehension. Danish author Olga Ravn’s brilliantly unusual novel The Employees, which has been shortlisted for the International Booker prize, is an SF epic in miniature") 

3d-printable Night Trooper and Captain Enoch mask



Shop.

*Previously: Facemask that looks like you're opening and closing a mouthful of monster teeth

Sunday, September 24, 2023

I like the theory his chainmail is Stormtrooper dog tags

Today's news and jokes

"According to local folklore, Muckle Flugga and nearby Out Stack were formed when two giants, Herman and Saxa, fell in love with the same mermaid. They fought over her by throwing large rocks at each other, one of which became Muckle Flugga. To get rid of them, the mermaid offered to marry whichever one would follow her to the North Pole. They both followed her and drowned, as neither could swim"



If the Disney Starcruiser was Aliens-themed

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Poster for "Disneyland Grad Night '79" goes insanely hard

New Humble Bundle features Eerie Comics

Starts with three volumes for $1.

Today's news and jokes

"The trophy has a special ‘kiss me’ area located on the outside, with indicator lights which will flash when it is picked up to guide drivers to the right spot."



This week's best Warhammer 40k miniatures, custom action figures, and other hobby creations







Friday, September 22, 2023

Lots of just-revealed Star Wars, Marvel, and G.I. Joe toy preorders

HK-47, Shin-Hati, Dreadnocks, Helix, movie Sandman, and much more.



New Humble Bundle features narrative games including Tales from the Borderlands and New Tales from the Borderlands

Steam scores displayed.

Writing Prompt: The Expendables, but it's all villains

Writing prompt: Indiana Jones has met Sophia Petrillo

Today's news and jokes





(Their facebook page)



Captain Enoch (Ahsoka) custom action figure available for purchase

The head sculpt is available in various size, or you could order an assembled and painted 6" figure:



*See more custom toys.

Osaka's Great Peace Prayer Tower



"built by the Church of Perfect Liberty in August 1970...The cenotaph is dedicated to the souls of all war victims in history." More photos below:

Thursday, September 21, 2023

Rebel Moon action figures up for preorder

The latest Diamond Select toys just went up for preorder, including some Pacific Robot figures, and two figures based on Netflix x Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon.

Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati in Lego



*Previously: 3D-printable Baylan Skoll

New Humble Bundle features novels of "contemporary epic fantasy and science fiction"

Starts at three novels for $1

Here's the Wikipedia entry about the featured series.
The 20 books of the series describe the changing, often confrontational, relationship between the descendants of two technologically advanced cultures, representatives of whom have been marooned on a sparsely inhabited world and regressed to the level of the existing inhabitants' primitive technology. 

Tor's Summer 2023 Short Fiction Bundle is available for free download

Downloads in various formats. (If it's available directly at Amazon, for ease of adding to Kindle, I didnt see it.)

Some Marvel Legends "exclusives" up for preorder at the BBTS

Spider-Man Noir and more.

Today's news and jokes





After a slow start, "A Memory Called Empire" is a terrific tale of palace intrigue

It took me months to get through the first 20% of so of Arkady Martine's novel "A Memory Called Empire" (think Game of Thrones book 1 in an intergalactic empire), but I'm glad I did, and flew through the rest of the book. Available at Amazon,

3D-printable Harrow the Ninth sculpture



Files available for purchase, and also available at Etsy.

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

3D-printable files to make a Captain Enoch custom action figure head, and Captain Enoch miniatures

This Captain Enoch printable head is already available for purchase:



And these files for Captain Enoch and his troops will be available soon (creator's Patreon and shop):

New Humble Bundle features virtual reality games

Steam scores displayed

Today's news and jokes





Floating witches' hats and candles decorations

@jaszbirt #2023halloween #2023halloweendecor #witches #witcheshat #hangingwitcheshats #witchyheme #witchestheme #halloween #halloweendecorations #witchtheme ♬ Harry Potter (Main Theme) - The New World Orchestra


@sophielee8181 We start early in this witches house 🧙‍♀️🔮#halloween #halloweendiy #halloween2023 #spookyseason #fypシ #witchesoftiktok ♬ Season Of The Witch - Lana Del Rey

How to make your own animatronic toxic-waste vomiting skeleton

@bxbydxllxo Glowing throwing up skeleton DIY!🦴🎃👻 #halloween #halloweendecorations #halloweenastethic #spookyszn #homedecor #halloweenideas #halloweeninspo #halloweendiy #diyproject #diy #spooky #halloweenyarddecor #fyp #fypシ #foryou #foryoupage #spookyideas #skeleton #halloweenskeletondecor #ohio ♬ original sound - 🦇🕷️🕸️

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

The novel "The Spear Cuts Through Water" is $1.99 right now

at Amazon (I just picked it up):
WINNER OF THE IAFA CRAWFORD AWARD • WINNER OF THE BRITISH FANTASY AWARD • SHORTLISTED FOR THE URSULA K. LE GUIN AWARD • SHORTLISTED FOR THE IGNYTE AWARD

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Oprah Daily, Vulture, Polygon, She Reads, Gizmodo, Kirkus Reviews, The Quill to Live

OK, introducing a Stormtrooper that looks like this, and revealing he's played by Wes Chatham is enough to get me to at least give Ahsoka another try



(Going to be annoyed if it's a Noghri or whatever under there--Polygon theorizes it's a zombie army) (Disney's being pretty vigorous taking down short snippets of what you'd think they'd like to promote)

"Does the Pioneer Woman live on stolen Osage land depicted in 'Killers of the Flower Moon?'"



Here's the Wikipedia entry for the Drummond family (Oklahoma). And the headline is from the Oklahoman, yesterday.

New at Last Exit to Nowhere, Halloween-themed tees and sweatshirt

Shop

Today's news and jokes









Free files to 3D-print the Artemis from Telltale's game based on The Expanse

Designed by Tommy Spaminato, available for download here.



*Previously: Lego bookends featuring the Rocinante going through the ring gate

How to build your own miniature TARS

@hacksterio ♬ original sound - Hackster.io


Instructions.