alfreda89: (borrelia burgdorferi)
Anyone who watches certain films knows that much was made in the 1920s in gossip and the print press of the Pharaoh's or Mummy's curse, when many people died after opening King Tut's tomb.

Theories have been discussed for years--not a curse, surely, but what else in those ancient sealed chambers could have slowly killed any who entered? (And what if the ancient Egyptians intentionally left mold as a trap for grave robbers? That wasn't asked in these articles--but what if?)

This happened again in the early 1970s, when ten of twelve conservationists who entered a Polish King's tomb died weeks or months later. The same fungus was found in Casimir IV Jagiellon's tomb.

That pernicious something could have been the fungal mold Aspergillus flavus.

https://bigthink.com/the-past/mummys-curse-fungus-mold-aspergillus/

Now, it turns out this fungus may have attributes that will be an excellent treatment for some cancers.

https://phys.org/news/2025-06-toxic-ancient-tomb-fungus-anti.html
alfreda89: (Books and lovers)
We need #ShortStories & anthologies on our e-readers! Book View Cafe is delighted to offer a new collection by award-winning author Marie Brennan, THE ATLAS OF ANYWHERE.

*Seek out extraordinary lands . . .*

In THE ATLAS OF ANYWHERE, you'll find strange guardians overseeing fate-bound duels. A priceless stone on a journey toward a bloody destiny. A thief determined to steal a worthless treasure. In her second collection of worlds-spanning fantasy, award-winning author Marie Brennan takes you back to the world of her famed heroine Lady Trent, through the land of her Hugo Award-nominated poem “A War of Words,” and onward to seven other fantastical realms, filled with pirates, demigods, and murderous creatures of winter’s cold night.

#fantasy #ShortStories #HighFantasy #dragons #pirates #thieves #Judaism #Mesoamerica #StrongFemaleProtagonist

Take a look here: https://bookviewcafe.com/bvc-announces-the-atlas-of-anywhere-by-marie-brennan
alfreda89: (Blankenship Reeds)
I believe this link discount is good until July 12, 2025. The book is BARNBURNER by Sharon Lee
[personal profile] rolanni. I enjoyed the two Maine mysteries she did that I've read (I have the plain white cover ones, it was in the Olden Days). Plus if you are young enough that you never even heard of chat rooms or local intermediaries to the Internet? Here you go!

On list: See if other Sharon Lee mysteries happened. (I know about the Carousel Tides gang, but am behind on the short pieces.)

Note that this is 75% off retail price!

https://www.audiobooks.com/promotions/promotedBook/431003/barnburner?refId=198976
alfreda89: (borrelia burgdorferi)
I often say (in best short convention bio speak) that I don't read or watch horror, I live it.

This is not merely a joke--it's a statement of fact. I had to walk back the trail of Change to get to where biology started to change me. Then I saw the nightmares my system had hidden from me, way back then. So yeah--a touch of humor for you, and not a joke. Even the best fantasy reminds me that for the average human, I'm an Other. And always have been--I didn't fool anyone. (But of course some people find The Other attractive and exciting.)

Laura Elliott has spent a lot of time thinking about horror, how it's often written and used. Who is the monster--and why? How? Is there subtext (and in the best stories, it may be subtext all the way down.) She has found many horror tropes to be ultimately freeing and encouraging.

Here's her thoughts on the why.

https://crimereads.com/the-horror-of-a-border-laura-elliott-on-writing-the-abject/
alfreda89: (Books and lovers)
Now from Book View Cafe--DESCENDING FROM THE MOON by Steven Popkes.

*LeRoy Parkin had a secret: a project to raise the intelligence of chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and baboons to human levels.*

Some would say that wasn’t a very high bar. Fifteen years after he began, plagues – preventable but not prevented – broke the world.

Then the apes began discussing who they were, what they wanted, and what they should do next.

Popkes reminds us of the connections that both sustain & endanger humanity and the world around us.

Stop by and read a sample! #books #SFF

https://bookviewcafe.com/bvc-announces-descending-from-the-moon-by-steven-popkes/
alfreda89: 3 foot concrete Medieval style gargoyle with author's hand resting on its head. (Default)
This story (with its long title) came out as a bonus if we pre-ordered NETWORK EFFECT, which I did. And now Tor/Reactor offers it freely to you to read.

I really enjoyed it from Ayda's POV, seeing what SecUnit is and means to her, its confidence in its own realms.

https://reactormag.com/home-habitat-range-niche-territory-martha-wells/
alfreda89: (Cat Magic)
Another chance for Northern Lights tonight. It's a G4, so you might get naked eye viewing, if the smoke is not bad near you. (This is mostly for Northern Hemisphere North America. But with a G4, who knows how far the CME will spread?)

https://www.spaceweather.gov/news/g4-severe-conditions-observed
alfreda89: (Winter_Mette's Glogg)
One of my siblings found this recipe, and it is marvelous.

Our extended family likes them better than the gluten types. :)

https://smashedpeasandcarrots.com/gluten-free-baked-apple-cider-donut-recipe/
alfreda89: (Peppermint Peach Tree)
I needed a sanity check today, and Kari Sperring shared this video on another platform.

If you need a break desperately, go watch the owls watch you, and the critters play.

https://youtu.be/qem5N8mkVgA?si=IVwxaXzO9NLatqUv
alfreda89: (We the People)
Playing with the theme because I realized I don't post here because I can't read the grey text and the LED screen on this newer MacAir is BRIGHT.

So let's try this for now. Depending on how today goes, there may be abrupt social media changes coming.

In the meantime, stress won't help our candidates. Have a video of capybaras enjoying a zoo hot tub, with children delighting in their existence and the sound of running water. I recommend setting the audio at 25% or so unless you speak Japanese and want to hear the comments at the zoo.

https://youtu.be/YokhOsUkhFU?si=0e_Iqfw-_WJ33US2
alfreda89: (Blankenship Reeds)
Sea otters, who constantly search for food, are bringing local crabs under control on the California marshland coasts. It is slowing erosion.

Here's an article on it.

\https://apnews.com/article/sea-otters-crabs-erosion-california-3e48a74972319bbdbc1333e3f5437637
alfreda89: (Books and lovers)
Things have been. . .confusing, at best, here. New treatment, and not handling air quality well. I don't know why, but winters here are very bad for me with VOC air quality. An app I picked up was showing experimental VOC numbers that made a lot of sense for how I feel. But the problem remains--where to go in a country with not enough housing? (This is not a problem unique to the US, but I only see myself leaving if I feel the current situation isn't good for an older woman.) Sigh.

I have spent stolen moments this week with the small book DIARY OF A WITCHCRAFT SHOP by Liz Williams and Trevor Jones. I remembered Liz's posts about the Cat & Cauldron years ago, and thought this would be primarily humor.

But turns out it's gentle humor. Part memoir, part examination of living in an old tourist town that has symbolic/mythic meaning for multiple religions--all framed by the pagan year as signposts as we move through the natural calendar. You may discover that pagans are as varied as any other umbrella over religion, and you will also discover that every face is a story, most of them interesting.

It is charming, beautifully written, and has been well worth my visit there. I know I'll pick up the second one, as well as other books by Williams and Jones. It can be found anywhere NewCon Press books are found.

http://www.newconpress.co.uk/info/books.asp?authorID=3
alfreda89: (Books and lovers)
I just finished UNCANNY VOWS by Laura Anne Gilman, and it is *wonderful.*

Packed with tight channels of magic reaching into a wary world, the people touched with just enough of the uncanny to protect humans from it--even when not trusted themselves. Mystery, history, fully realized secondaries. Great sibling relationship!

Read this one for award nominations. (Go find the first one, too.) #HistoricalFantasy #Magic

(No, that's it. I gushed for paragraphs last time. This time? Go read the blurb.)
alfreda89: (Winter_Mette's Glogg)
They have done it for centuries. Their costumes are traditional, and look as if they may vary slightly between villages. Children through elders can participate. Some villages look like they are all men dancing, while others welcome girls, or may have had women dancers all along.

They take their charge seriously. It is an act of faith, and I think community.

I hope they continue to dance away evil spirits from their neighbors.

Kukeri Dancing
alfreda89: (Winter_Mette's Glogg)
"Cooking is as creative a process as writing, as the authors of Book View Café demonstrate in this first ever BVC cookbook.

"Featuring over 150 recipes, from drinks and appetizers to salads and main courses to desserts, each introduced by its author, this compilation is good reading as well as good eating."

The first link will take you to the ToC of author's choices from their recipe hordes. The second link goes straight to the bookstore, because of course you need a new cookbook. Yes--there will be a print edition, but we are not food artists, so the cover will have to speak for our work.

OTOH we might end up with some cooking videos. We are forever an eclectic group!

https://bookviewcafe.com/bvc-announces-bvc-eats-recipes-from-the-authors-of-book-view-cafe-edited-by-marissa-doyle-and-shannon-page/

https://bookviewcafe.com/book/bvc-eats-recipes-from-the-authors-of-book-view-cafe/
alfreda89: (Books and lovers)

Well, Eel did buy Deadbird and has killed it for useful information. 

I am still on Facebook, and there's a private list for posts connected to politics & pandemic. We don't really discuss much. We blurt out "Oh, thank dog, someone else thinks that is crazy/dangerous/omg" and so on. I am progressive, so if you aren't, follow the feed, you will be happier.

Have also experimented with a couple other social media sites. I drop by Mastodon and BlueSky. Neither of them have anything remotely as successful as Dreamwidth's spam and OMG blocking team. So they may survive, or they may sink under Bad People swarms. We can and do block with gusto on both sites. They have very different vibes. I don't post identically at them. I do share BVC book launches there.

For anyone who has heard me talk about moving. It's gotten more complicated, and right now I have no idea how I would travel except sleeping in my car. But the air quality for chemicals that are not being officially measured will probably determine where I go.

Be kind to each other. Take care of yourselves.

alfreda89: (cat animated)

Here I am sharing speeches again. T. Kingfisher, who is also Ursula Vernon, writer of quirky fantasy, appallingly scary contemporary horror, and bestselling children's books, just won the Hugo for her novel NETTLE AND BONE, a wonderful fantasy if you love the kind that starts like a fairy tale and then veers onto the off-road track at 100 mph.

She's been fighting the battle of Bob, her name for a tumor that SHALL die, thank you very much. Bob is horrified by her treatment and we're all hoping things keep going extremely well.

In the meantime, Ursula and Mur Lafferty and loved ones had a tiny Zoom party while struggling with streaming from China and Worldcon.

Here is her version, and her acceptance speech.

Remember--there is almost always light at the end of the frog!

alfreda89: (borrelia burgdorferi)

...you should go over and read it.

Because she says the things we have been thinking for a long time. But there wasn't any point in speaking about it. Because we knew exactly where that got us.

"We" being all the people NY Publishing didn't acknowledge read SFFH. (My mother turned me onto SFFH. That "only 14 year old buys read SF" crap has been going on for a long time.)

Martha's Dreamwidth--

https://marthawells.dreamwidth.org/620264.html

alfreda89: (Tea -- the universal cure (ask the Docto)

This is NOT about joining an Instance on Mastodon I.E. setting up your account, as you might at Dead Bird or Facebook. This is about setting up an actual Instance over there. (If you don't know what an instance is yet, you have some work to do.) There are all sorts of laws, worldwide, about liability and running servers on the Internet.

As a co-founder of Dreamwidth, this person is one of the few who can speak on this topic with a lot of knowledge. But when she tossed this up, she didn't CUT it, and it's a monster post. So here's the link, if this topic interests you.

I am all about Risk Management, which is one of the reasons I am still here. And thinking about closing my own web site and just doing essays on Dreamwidth.

denise.dreamwidth.org/91757.html
 

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