Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 21

making uí (fariña)!

Last year, when wakanomori and I went to Amazonas, one thing I really loved was fariña, a preparation of cassava made by grating it, then roasting it. After returning home, I found a great video on the making of it among the Tikuna (I wrote about it here ; the entry had screenshots from the video). And I knew that was something I really, really wanted to participate in if I ever got the chance.

And I did get the chance, and it was (a) just like the video and (b) lovely, and (c) I made a great fri...

World's smallest Coca-Cola bottling plant (maybe)

Among a bouquet of interesting links offered by conuly was one on the economics behind why soda cans in Hawaii are slightly differently shaped from soda cans in other parts of the United States. The video is here , but it comes down to the fact that Hawaii is an island, so most of the inputs for manufacturing have to be shipped there; that, and the fact that because soda is mainly water, it's most economical, in terms of shipping cost, to make it very close to its market--rather than, say, ship i...

Wednesday reading

Putting off the Amazon posts because it's Wednesday and I actually have two books to report on, which I read in airports. They're both novellas, Malka Older's The Mimicking of Known Successes and Nghi Vo's The Empress of Salt and Fortune. The former is newly out this month; the latter has been out for quite a while but I only just now got to it.

I'm a fan of Malka Older's: her stories are full of interesting ideas that the characters talk about in interesting ways. This one was billed as "cozy Ho...

Back from the Amazon

I have so much in my head that the words pile up behind... my mouth? or my typing fingers? jostling to be first to come out. So before I try to say anything, I'll just share two clusters of photos, first an assortment of four I shared on Facebook (but you guys here get more context!)

( The Facebook Four )

And here is a lower-water, higher-water comparison. The first photo is one I took in July, when we went when the water was low, but not as low as it gets. The second is a photo in the same spot t...

Nando answers questions about his stories

I created these questions are based on comments people left in response to Nando's two stories, but especially the more recent one, "Mauko Meets a Monkey." If they sound a little stilted, it's because it's my translation back into English of what I sent to him--I'm not good enough in Tetun to ask highly subtle, highly nuanced questions. You'll see that his replies are sort of adjacent to the questions rather than direct answers, again, most certainly due to my inability to express myself adequa...

Nature trails and picture books: a post with two parts

The first part is an appreciation of a nice display of a great picture book, Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History, by Vashti Harrison, in a beautiful setting, the Silvio Conte Nature Trail in Hadley, MA.

The second part is a querulous complaint about a similar but poorly done nature-trail-storybook display.

( Little Leaders picture book display )

( the querulous complaint )

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amigurumi

Still not ready to make the Nando post, so I'm sharing something cute instead:

The ninja girl has taken up crocheting amigurumi! I don't play video games, but this is apparently the player character from a game called Cult of the Lamb. Cute lamb with a bell around its neck, a zig-zag-edged red cloak, and an Eye-of-Sauron-type crown!

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ETA: ironymaiden has kindly explained the nature of the game way here .

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miscellany

If I wait to have a chance to write about any of these properly, I'm likely to write about none of them, but if I list them here, then maybe I'll come back and do it?
Nando has responded to the questions I sent him, questions that were gleaned from people's responses to his latest story. I will definitely be sharing his answers at some point, but I can't do it right now.
I might write a cordyceps story. There is an awful lot of cordyceps fiction out there recently. But I might add to it. In hono...

The Secret River, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, illus. by Leo & Diane Dillon

I was alerted to this beautiful story and its beautiful art by this entry of osprey_archer 's. She calls it a beautifully dreamy fairytale, and it is.

When hard times hit the little Florida community where Calpurnia lives, she sets out to catch fish for her father to sell, "so that hard times will be soft times." Mother Albirtha, the wisest woman in the community, tells her to follow her nose to get to a secret river, where she catches fish upon fish. She shares fish with increasingly scary anima...

Three ideas for foiling AI spamming of SFF zines

According to Neil Clarke of Clarkesworld (as quoted in this Guardian article), there are get-rich-quick schemers out there who are encouraging people to submit AI-generated stories to high-paying, highly regarded venues. Clarkesworld has seen an increase from an average of 10 to over 500. As a consequence, Clarkesworld has closed submissions.

Another venue said it would only accept submissions from known authors.

That’s a terrible blow for up-and-coming writers and ultimately for the whole ecosyst...