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Remember how I said things were getting less crazy? Well the spirits heard me and said, "HA! THINK AGAIN!". Anyways, short (and later than usual) issue this time. Thanks for tuning in.
A quite well put together young capsule that I think is a nice addition to geminispace.
This is a pretty cool capsule with a number of different things to discover. Of note are the two choose your own adventures you'll find in the games section.
A new http/s to gemini gateway software. One feature I found pretty neat is its ability to serve ZIM files as gemtext. For those unaware ZIM files are the offline archive format used by Kiwix to make things like wikipedia and tons of other sites available completely offline.
It's an HTTP to Gemini gateway written in python. Was just so tired of switching between Lagrange and qutebrowser and having to turn on and off Javascript to avoid the garbage of the "modern" web. The focus of levior will be on performance and producing clean gemtext.
Subtitle: smolZINE Editor's Half-Assed Book Recommendation
I'll be straight with you. I was about to toot this out on the fediverse but decide hey, why not massage it a little and make it a piece for smolZINE since it's a light issue? Walkaway by Cory Doctorow has been on my reading list for a while. Because I'm short on sit down time, highly distractable and terrible about stretching myself thin trying to do too many different things I enjoy during my limited leisure time. A couple times I got started and didn't make it past the first chapter. Then I even bought a hardback physical copy of the book back in winter and did the same thing. Fourth time was the charm for me and wow I'm really enjoying this book. The basic premise is a near future "dystopia" (that feels less and less fictional by the day) where the divide between the utlra-rich and everyone else has become rather stark and people start just...walking away. Leaving the status quo societal systems behind, walking into the wilderness and making their own way. Trying to make a better way. There are a lot of different ideas and themes in this story that really bring up moral and ethical questions that are quite interesting to consider. The characters are lovable, some despisable and some both. Part hopeful sci-fi or maybe part cautionary tale but also fun and uplifting.
When I finally gave it enough attention to let it hook me oh boy did it. I'm not quite finished with it yet but close enough that I don't see any way the ending could ruin it for me. From the first two chapters to about the one third mark I was clearly enthralled but by the halfway point I was obsessed. You know the feeling when you are hopelessly addicted to a good book and just counting down the seconds until you can get back to those pages? I'm at the point now where I'm shirking the things I should be doing or even things I like doing because I'm so into it. That's my way of saying yeah, read this book.
- kelbot
by carriunix
♜ . . . . . . ♚ ♟ ♟ ♟ . . ♜ . ♟ . . ♞ . . . . ♗ . . . . . ♝ . . . . . . ♗ . . ♛ . . ♙ . . . . . ♙ ♙ . . . . ♕ ♙ ♖ . . . . ♔ ♖ . White (♙) mate in 4.
by kelbot
To play Stinky Pinky you will need to read the two descriptions below. They each describe a word and the two words rhyme. Example: 1. Smelly, 2. Finger; Answer: Stinky Pinky. Get it? You can email your answer to the address found at the bottom of each smolZINE to confirm if you are correct. The first to answer wins...uhhh I haven't figured that out yet so my congrats will have to do for now.
1. Mammal with stripe
2. Failure
Please consider taking part in making this zine better and more diverse by contributing your thoughts and finds. If you are interested in contributing a short article or capsule picks email me at: smolzine (at) cyberbot.space.
If you have any feedback or just want to discuss anything related to gemini or smolZINE hit me up at the above email or ping me on the fediverse at kelbot@retro.social and/or use the #smolZINE tag.
Thank you to the following geminauts for their contributions to this issue of smolZINE.