The Cambias Digression

The Greatest Science Fiction Novel Ever (Part 1)

If you ask someone to name the greatest Fantasy novel, you’ve got a very good chance of hearing them say, “The Lord of the Rings, of course.” It’s a pretty safe bet. The Lord of the Rings was named the Greatest Novel of the 20th century — overall, no genre specified — in a British…

jamescambias

October 15, 2026

Books

Books, fiction, science fiction, science-fiction, Writing

Choose Wisely

A dispute has arisen and I’d like some feedback from everyone who reads my blog. It’s a simple question: Which would you rather have? A) $95,000.00 or B) A HIPPO SOFA! Really, is there any doubt?

jamescambias

October 2, 2026

Miscellaneous

Decorating, Furniture, Hippos, Home Furnishings

The Only Way to Fly

XKCD cuts to the heart of the matter:

jamescambias

September 15, 2026

Miscellaneous

Airships, Comics, Humor, Webcomics, XKCD

DragonCon Report

My science advisor was invited to participate in this year’s DragonCon, the huge SF and media convention in Atlanta, famed for the amazing quality of the costumes on display. Some have called it “Nerd Mardi Gras” and it’s not a bad summary. I tagged along, partly because Baen Books always has a pretty good presence…

jamescambias

September 12, 2026

Travel

Atlanta, Baen Books, DragonCon, Mexican Food, science fiction, Southern Food, Travel

What Good is a Brass Dragon?

I’ve been playing roleplaying games, including various editions of Dungeons & Dragons, since 1977. And in all that time, a question has been nagging at me, which nobody has been able to answer. Why are there Good dragons in the D&D Monster Manual? The first edition Monster Manual came out in 1978, and — as…

jamescambias

August 19, 2026

Games

D&D, dragons, Dungeons & Dragons, fantasy, Games, gaming, Monster Manual, Roleplaying Games, rpg

Glowing Review for Ishtar Deception

What it says on the tin. Paul DiFilippo reviewed The Ishtar Deception in Locus. Spoiler alert: he liked it.

jamescambias

July 19, 2026

Books, Writing

Books, Locus Magazine, Paul di Filippo, Reviews, science fiction, The Ishtar Deception

Vive La France!

A happy Bastille Day to all!

jamescambias

July 14, 2026

Uncategorized

A Major Leak!

Somehow the agents of the Lunar Republic have gotten their hands on an off-the-record interview with Sabbath Okada and made it public! A Deimos agent reveals key details about his training and activities. Read it here before Deimos hits the server with an RKV.

jamescambias

June 12, 2026

Books, Weblogs

Baen Books, hard science fiction, James Cambias, science fiction, spy stories, the billion worlds

This Summer’s Big Idea

I’ve got a guest post up at John Scalzi’s “Whatever” ‘blog, part of his series of other writers discussing the “big ideas” in their books. For this entry I decided to talk about my ideas for Venus terraforming — or, as I dubbed it in The Ishtar Deception, “cryoforming.” The capsule summary is that making…

jamescambias

June 4, 2026

Books, Science, Weblogs

Baen Books, hard science fiction, James L. Cambias, science fiction, terraforming, the billion worlds, The Ishtar Deception, venus

Paul Semel Interviews Me About Ishtar Deception

There’s a new interview with me up, at Paul Semel’s excellent paulsemel.com Web log. You can read the interview here. We talk about the book, how I came to write it, my influences, and some details about the Billion Worlds.

jamescambias

June 2, 2026

Books, Weblogs

hard science fiction, James L. Cambias, science fiction, science fiction spy stories, spy novels, spy stories, The Ishtar Deception, venus