New Decameron; New Penric Novella

The estimable Jo Walton and others have started something called the Decameron project, or New Decameron; many writers are participating, and one story is posted each day; you can read it for free, or become a sponsor and have the story and the author bio of the day emailed to you. The money paid by the sponsors goes in part to the authors, with the other half contributed to an organization aiding refugees in Italy. Some of the stories are extracts from larger works, and at least some have been published before.

Wednesday’s story was by none less than Lois McMaster Bujold, with the first section of a new Penric and Desdemona novella. Penric has been summoned by his brother-in-law to a fort where a number of troopers and some other local people have fallen very ill. So our hero has a problem, and since this is just the first section, I don’t yet know what his solution will turn out to be.

At least we can all look forward to reading a new Penric and Desdemona tale in full, provided that the real-world coronavirus doesn’t get us before complete publication.

Banana Pudding

Tonight I made a dessert which I haven’t had in many years, although I used to make it rather often: I took one and a half frozen ripe bananas, the juice of one lime, some extra water, a tablespoon and a half of turbinado sugar, some cinnamon and nutmeg, and a dash of spiced rum, and then puréed the ingredients in a blender.

It was good, although it might have been better with a dash of molasses, which I didn’t have around.