A Workaround for a Toki Pona Font-Display Issue

I think I’ve found a workaround to my font issues in the ebook version of the Toki Pona translation of The Lonely Little Fridge! I’ll be able to put out an ebook after all!

The book is put together with Toki Pona text, with both latin letters and a Toki Pona script called sitelen pona (“good drawing”), in parallel. The sitelen pona text is actually regular latin text with a special font applied, which changes its appearance drastically.

The sitelen pona text was not appearing properly in the ebook version. And only in the ebook version. Text in PDFs for print appeared properly, even though both ebook and PDF were exported from the same InDesign file!

The text with the problem. The letter o is still visible in the sitelen pona text (top line) in this screenshot taken from the ebook version.
The text without the problem, in this screenshot taken from the PDF version.

Figuring what was actually going on is a tale of exploration into strange new places…

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Toki Pona translation off to be checked!

A page from the Toki Pona translation.

I just sent the interior of the Toki Pona translation, complete with text and pictures, off to the translator to be checked!

Once that it okayed, I will assemble the book files, create the ebook, and make them ready for uploading to IngramSpark! Then we only await the printer’s e-proof.

Meet Our Translators!

I am very grateful to the people who have offered to translate my texts or check my translations.

Esperanto: Detlef Karthaus

Detlef Karthaus diplomiĝis pri tradukado ĉe Laurentian University. Li esperantigis kelkajn romanojn: nome “Demian” kaj “Sidarto” de Hermann Hesse; kaj “Dudek kvar horoj el la vivo de virino” de Stefan Zweig, ĉiuj tradukitaj el la germana. El la angla, li tradukis “Telenio” de Oscar Wilde. Dum multaj jaroj Detlef estas korektanto de la 10 leciona “Free Esperanto Course” por anglalingvanoj.

Detlef Karthaus has a degree in translation from Laurentian University. He has translated several novels into Esperanto: “Demian” and “Siddhartha” by Herman Hesse, and “Twenty-four hours in the Life of a Woman” by Stefan Zweig, all translated from the German. From English, he has translated “Teleny” by Oscar Wilde. For many years Detlef has been a moderator of the Ten-Lesson Free Course for English-speakers.

Portuguese: Joe Bazilio Costa

Joe Bazilio é artista multimídia e mora na pequena cidade de Formiga, no interior de Minas Gerais, Brasil. É autodidata em artes, além de músico profissional, poeta, desenhista gráfico, fotógrafo e cineasta. Foi o realizador dos filmes na língua Esperanto, Gerda Malaperis e La Patro.

Joe Bazilio is a multimedia artist and lives in the small town of Formiga, in the interior of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He is self-taught in the arts, as well as being a professional musician, poet, graphic designer, photographer and filmmaker. He was the director of the Esperanto-language films Gerda Malaperis and La Patro.

Klingon: Michael Lubetsky

Toronto Dabbogh chut qeSwI’ ghaH may’Iq’e’. pIj bo’DIj qaDDaq ‘ap DIlwI’pu’ ‘oS ‘ej chut Ho’DoSmey pIm HaD ‘e’ tIv. bo’DIjDaq qum qaDbe’DI’, bridgeQuj, Holmey HaD, ‘ej HatlhDaq yIt ‘e’ tIv. tlhIngan Hol yejHaD vInDa’ ghaH ‘ej Hoch patlhmoHmeH qaDmeyDaj’e’ Qapta’mo’, po’wI’ patlh bajta’. ghItlhvam DI’ta’mo’ tlhIngan Hol po’wI”a’ DeSDu’, tlho’qu’.

Michael H. Lubetsky (may’Iq) is a lawyer living in Toronto whose practice focuses on tax litigation and who has a particular interest in comparative law. When not in litigation against the government, he likes to play bridge, study languages, and go hiking. He is a member of the Klingon Language Institute and has passed all their certification examinations, earning the rank of po’wI’. He thanks master Klingonist Jackson M. Bradley (DeSDu’) for checking thie translation of The Lonely Little Fridge.

Toki Pona: Abigail L.

mi jan Apikela · lili la mi awen lon lipu lon lawa · mi kama lukin e ni · ma lon la pona pi wawa kin li lon · mi wile sama jan lili · mi wile tawa e nasin mi lon pilin pona wawa pi monsuta ala

tenpo ali mi la· nimi en toki ante li pona tawa mi · lawa mi la toki Inli en toki Epanja en toki Kanse en toki Italija en toki pona li lon tenpo sama a

tenpo la · mi tawa sewi e kiwen· li lukin insa e nasin sama lon ijo ali lon jan ali · li toki wawa e sona musi · li tawa pona e pipi linja tan nasin seli suno

o lukin e nasa pona mi lon ilo Yutu (YouTube: Abigail Sarah) · sina wile pana e pali esun· e sona nasa · e sona pi tawa kiwen · e sitelen pipi suwi · la o toki a tawa mi lon ilo Siko (Discord: #9031)

After a childhood isolated in books and the recesses of her own mind, jan Apikela (Abigail) discovered that this world is even richer in beauty and love. She wants to live as fearlessly delighted as a kid (which isn’t everybody, in the grand scheme of things).

She’s always been drawn to poetry & languages, and these days thinks with some kind of hybrid of English, Spanish, French, Italian, and toki pona. She can be found rock climbing, pondering the fractal patterns of the cosmos, gesturing enthusiastically about the liturgical cycle of Chipotle, and saving worms from the sidewalk.

You can participate in the beautiful chaos of her life on YouTube (Abigail Sarah) — or reach out on Discord (#9031) with any freelance projects, random philosophical thoughts, climbing tips, or pictures of snails.

ISBNs and Versions

The Lonely Little Fridge is available as a hardcover, a paperback, and an ebook. Translations are ongoing. So far, here are the different versions (as of 2022-07-24):

English (released)

ISBN 978-0-9689795-7-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-9689795-8-7 (ebook)
ISBN 978-1-7778198-1-1 (paperback)

Esperanto (released)

ISBN 978-0-9689795-9-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-7778198-0-4 (ebook)
ISBN 978-1-7778198-2-8 (paperback)

Portuguese (released)

ISBN 978-1-7778198-3-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-7778198-5-9 (ebook)
ISBN 978-1-7778198-4-2 (paperback)

Klingon (hardcover and ebook released; paperback to come)

ISBN 978-1-7778198-6-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-7778198-8-0 (ebook)
ISBN 978-1-7778198-7-3 (paperback)

French (to come)

ISBN 978-1-7778198-9-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-7781804-1-5 (ebook)
ISBN 978-1-7781804-0-8 (paperback)

Toki Pona (hardcover released; ebook and paperback to come)

ISBN 978-1-7781804-2-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-7781804-4-6 (ebook)
ISBN 978-1-7781804-3-9 (paperback)

Useful books and Other Resources

Various writing, story design, comics, art, and animation books. The beginnings of a list…

The Understanding Comics series by Scott McCloud:
Understanding Comics
Making Comics
Reinventing Comics
A pioneering exploration of what makes comics tick.

Drawing People by Joumana Medlej
A book remarkable for its examination of different skin colours and body forms of people from around the world. Look in Joumana’s shop for the ebook.

Digital Prepress for Comic Books by Kevin Tinsley.
Goes into the details of preparing comics for print.

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How I Colour a Comic in Photoshop

This is how I build a colour comic in Photoshop.

Scan the original drawing.

I start by scanning a black-and-white drawing.

The drawing should be drawn with colouring in mind. Large dark areas are generally added during the colouring, so they should not be done as part of the black-and-white drawing.

The colouring style I describe here relies on using the ‘bucket’ tool to fill large areas; they can also be filled using brushes.

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Jacket text for “Red Rabbit! Red Rabbit!”

I am working through a series of exercises with Jackie on planning Red Rabbit! Red Rabbit!. Step 4 involves writing ‘jacket text’ for the story. This is the text that might appear on the back of the book, or on the front flap of a dust jacket. It’s a kind of marketing text intended to draw the readers interest.

So for, I’ve come up with this:

A hidden society of supremacists is trying to take over the world. They are outnumbered by the rest of us, yet they believe that their strength, intelligence, weaponry, and general cuteness give them the right to rule us all.  Yes, cuteness… for these supremacists are rabbits.

Years ago, Tom Johnson and his parents had fled the rabbits’ captivity to build a new life on the outside. Tom’s father had gone back in later to rescue other humans from the rabbits’ totalitarian nightmare… and never returned.

Now, Tom was in high school. But his earliest memories were of the safe predictable environment that the rabbits provided for their human guests. He remembered the rabbits’ soft fur and cute little voices, and their warmth and love… and he looked around at the harsh world of high school, the bullying and endless struggle, and he knew he had to leave.