Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 21

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...

20 Questions

(inspired by a conversation I had with the Ninja Girl)

Q: Is it alive?

A: Yes

Q: Does it extend mycelium fingers across the earth?

A: No

Q: Does it hail from the benthic depths of the sea?

A: No

Q: Does it live in the terrestrial wilds?

A: Yes

Q: Is it solitary?

A: No

Q: Is it ancient?

A: Can you clarify? Is that a life span question? Or are you asking a species question? Or something else?

Q: Is it knowing?

A: That seems like a whole different question, and I have no idea how to answer. Knowing compared ...

verdict on the pine-needle soda: buenísmo!

The concoction really came into its own a couple of days after my post (which was on February 2)! I drank the last of it yesterday--good and tingly, soda-rific with bubbles and all, and a good fragrance and flavor of pine. I definitely intend to make it again!

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Ice Merchants (dir. João Gonzalez) and Conservation of Caps

I stumbled across this short (14 minute) film on Twitter--it's apparently nominated for an Oscar. The first image was so arresting--a house held by bolts and ropes to the side of an icy cliff. A little boy swings over the abyss.

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The art is beautiful--I watched entranced. In the wordless story, a bereaved father and son have a set routine: every morning, they chip a brick of ice that the father has left out to freeze the night before. They put the pieces in a bag and parachute down to the town f...

Some thoughts on Nando's story: sitting quietly, listening

Before I talk about some of my own thoughts on "Mauko Meets a Monkey," I'd like to highlight some of the things other people have brought up:
cafenowhere talked about aspects of disability, what's considered a disability, and what needs healing (thread here );
sartorias saw parallels with Chinese storytelling (thread here );
wayfaringwordhack noticed common themes with the last story and mused on healing the land v. healing people (and then we got into talking about translation, storytelling, and...

Mauko Meets a Monkey: Short Story by Fernando da Costa Pires

I’m delighted to share with you a second story from Fernando da Costa Pires, this one dealing with the life of Mauko, who is born with a disability. Nando’s statement about why he wrote the story is below.

Ha’u kontente loos aprezenta ba imi istória ne’e, istória daruak husi Fernando da Costa Pires. Istória ne’e ko’alia kona-ba problema saúde defisiente. Imi bele lee kona-ba Sr. Nando nia intensaun iha “author statement" okos. (Ha’u husu deskulpa ba ha’u nia liafuan la loos iha Tetun.)

The story ...