Strange Tales - musi nasa

Strange Tales - musi nasa by H.P. Lovecraft. Bilingual parallel text translation in English and Toki Pona.

Order print copy:

• https://www.lulu.com/shop/h-p-lovecraft-and-jeff-moe-and-d%C3%A9nes-sz%C3%A1nt%C3%B3/strange-tales-musi-nasa/paperback/product-w4ywvz6.html

ISBN 978-1-968646-10-3.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toki_Pona

Cover

Sample page

Releases

For PDF builds of the document, see releases:

• https://spacecruft.org/tokipona/lovecraft/releases

Upstream

Toki Pona

The Toki Pona translation by jan Tene is available at the lipu pona la. The version in the upstream repository is CC by SA NC. The version in this repo is CC0 (public domain).

• https://lipu.pona.la/a/jan_Tene/

English

The original English versions of H. P. Lovecraft's short stories are in the public domain.

• https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Famous_Fantastic_Mysteries/Volume_12/Number_3/The_Music_of_Erich_Zann
• https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Weird_Tales/Volume_2/Issue_3/Dagon
• https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Weird_Tales/Volume_31/Issue_2/From_Beyond
• https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Avon_Fantasy_Reader/Issue_10/The_Statement_of_Randolph_Carter
• https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Weird_Tales/Volume_3/Issue_1/The_Picture_in_the_House

archive.org also has copies as the stories appeared in Weird Tales.

• The Music of Erich Zann
  • https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV05N05192505/page/n27/mode/2up
• Dagon
  • https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV02N03192310/page/n23/mode/2up
• From Beyond
  • https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tales_v31n02_1938-02_slpn_Corrected/page/n99/mode/2up
• The Statement of Randolph Carter
  • https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV05N02192502/page/n149/mode/2up
• The Picture in the House
  • https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV03N01192401/page/n39/mode/2up

Scans of original manuscript.

• The Picture in the House
  • https://repository.library.brown.edu/viewers/mirador/bdr:425260/

Fonts

Copy the .otf and/or .ttf files to ~/.fonts/.

Fell Types

The Fell Types are originally by John Fell (23 June 1625 – 10 July 1686).

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fell_(bishop)

The types were recreated in a computer font by Igino Marini.

• https://www.ikern.space/about

The fonts are under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1. The font files are widely available across the Internet in a variety of versions and formats. The OTF format is preferred, as I think it will work better with LaTeX microtype. Here is one location that has OTF and a recent version.

• https://everythingfonts.com/fonts/tag/fell-types
• https://everythingfonts.com/font/im-fell-dw-pica-pro-regular
• https://everythingfonts.com/font/im-fell-dw-pica-pro-italic

Also available in the Wayback Machine:

• https://web.archive.org/web/20230318050745/https://iginomarini.com/fell/the-revival-fonts/

Hopfer Hornbook

Hopfer Hornbook was originally designed by Daniel Hopfer (c. 1470 – 1536).

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Hopfer

Staffan Vilcans created the digital version.

• https://www.interface1.net/fonts.html

The font is also widely available on the Internet and under a free license.

Romantique Initials

Drop caps are Romantique Initials (believed to be) by Marwan Aridi.

• https://aridi.com/about-marwan-aridi/

Freely available on the Internet, such as:

• https://www.fontspace.com/romantique-initials-font-f1711

The license description reads:

"Possessor is granted license to do anything at all with this font, including but not limited to unlimited use, unlimited copying, decompilation, modification, redistribution, with the single exception that no use shall be made of this that is illegal, immoral, or fattening."

Latin Modern

Latin Modern fonts by the Polska Grupa Użytkowników Systemu TeX are freely available in Debian. The fonts are derived from Computer Modern by Donald E. Knuth, creator of TeX.

• https://www.gust.org.pl/projects/e-foundry/latin-modern/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth

OCR-A

The ISBN in the interior pages is in OCR-A. OCR-A is a font designed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in the 1960s.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCR-A

The version used was designed by John Sauter and is in the public domain.

• http://sourceforge.net/projects/ocr-a-font

It is available in Debian.

OCR-B

The ISBN font below the barcode on the back cover is OCR-B. The font is freely available and in Debian and TeX Live.

Nimbus

The ISBN font above the barcode on the back cover is Nimbus Sans condensed. The font is freely available and in Debian.

Build

To compile the LaTeX files to a PDF, run:

make

To clean out temp files:

make clean

To make the cover:

make cover

To make thumbnails for overview:

make thumbnails

To make signatures for local printing and binding:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_(bookbinding)

./bin/prepare_for_print.sh

Also see the Print section below for notes.

LaTeX

Various notes on LaTeX build...

Debian Trixie TeX Live version 2024.20250309-1 used.

Period ·

The · symbol is used upstream to mark the end of a sentence.

Put each Toki Pona sentence on it's own line:

s/· /·\r/

To make sure it doesn't hang on a line by itself, this subtitution is used:

s/ ·/\~·/

Misc regex

To quickly add \pend and \pstart:

s/^$/\\pend\r\\pstart/

Remove empty lines around \pend:

s/\n\\pend/\\pend/

Or like this:

s/\\pend\n/\\pend/

Quotes

In LaTeX, at least in the olden days, quotes had to be replaced with backticks. It appears XeLaTeX doesn't require this anymore, so no subtitutions are done.

Lulu

The book will be printed by Lulu, which can also distribute.

• https://www.lulu.com

There are various project forms to be filled out.

Start

• Print book.
• Publish Your Book: Lulu Bookstore.
• Project Title: Strange Tales - musi nasa
• Book Language: English. Toki Pona is not available. I opened a ticket stating Toki Pona is a part of ISO 639-3 (tok), and requested they add the language as an option. They said they passed the request on to the site developers.
• Book Category:

Copyright

• Title: Strange Tales - musi nasa
• Subtitle (optional): Bilingual Parallel Text in Toki Pona and English
• Edition (optional), drop down selection: Bilingual 'facing page' edition
• Edition statement (optional):
  • https://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/2xx/250.html
  • https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd250.html
• Contributors:
  • Original Author: H. P. Lovecraft
  • Edited by: Jeff Moe
  • Translated by: Dénes Szántó
• Copyright: 2025
• ISBN: I have my own ISBN
  • ISBN: 978-1-968646-10-3
  • Imprint/Publisher: Jeff Moe
  • Contact Informantion: Jeff Moe, address, etc.

Design

• Interior File Upload: Upload lovecraft-[VERSION].pdf git tagged version.
• Interior Color: Standard Black & White
• Paper Type: 60# Cream -- Uncoated
• Binding Type: Paperback Perfect Bound
• Cover Finish: Glossy
• Upload Your Cover: Upload cover-[VERSION].pdf git tagged version.
• Download Print-Ready Files, and review.

Details

• Description (required): This bilingual, parallel text edition of H. P. Lovecraft short stories features both the original English versions and their translations into Toki Pona.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20th, 1890 – March 15th, 1937) created the iconic Cthulhu Mythos and pioneered the genre of “cosmic horror”—a branch of weird fiction that explores the terrifying indifference of the universe’s supernatural forces towards mankind. Building on the legacy of gothic writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the fantasy worlds of Lord Dunsany, Lovecraft’s tales challenge the very nature of reality and humanity’s place within it.

His oeuvre is a vast and inimitable treasury of horror. Lovecraft continues to influence generations of writers, filmmakers, and game designers—from Neil Gaiman and Stephen King to John Carpenter and Ridley Scott. The cult classics of the mythos live on in books, films, comics, and countless video and tabletop games.

This anthology presents five stories of varying lengths—indispensable classics of horror literature alongside lesser-known but equally chilling and thought-provoking gems.

TODO

Lulu

• Contributor Notes (optional): XXX TODO XXX
• Table of Contents (optional):

kalama musi pi jan Eli San
The Music of Erich Zann
kala sewi Takon
Dagon
tan ante
From Beyond
toki pi jan Lanto Kate
The Statement of Randolph Carter
sitelen lon tomo majuna
The Picture in the House

• Lulu Bookstore Category: Fiction
• BISAC Main Category:
• BISAC Category 1 (required): FICTION / Horror
• BISAC Category 2 (recommended): FICTION / Short Stories (single author)
• BISAC Category 3 (recommended): FICTION / Occult & Supernatural
• Keywords (one required, 50 max):

supernatural
horror
lovecraft
cthulhu
cosmic
eldritch
lovecraftian
gothic
weird
mythos
existential
philosophical
bilingual
translation
conlang
constructed langauge
fantasy
scifi
short story
classic
anthology
occult
paranormal
dark
speculative
pulp
macabre
dread
Toki Pona
dual text
facing page translation
dual language
public domain
parallel text
fiction
monsuta
lipu
usawi
moli
pimeja
nasa
sitelen
jaki
ike
mun
ante

• Audience: General/Trade Adult fiction and nonfiction
• This Book contains Explicit Content: checked
  • Contains extreme / offensive / explicit language

Pricing and Payees

• Set Price: Revenue Goal
• Revenue Goal: $0.00
• Currency: USD
• List Price: Automatically generated, keep defaults
• Your Estimated Revenue: $0.00

Final Review

• XXX TODO XXX

Bowker ISBN

Bowker Publishing Services is the exclusive agent (monopoly) for assigning ISBNs in the USA.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._R._Bowker
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN

The ISBN for the paperback of Lovecraft will be:

978-1-968646-10-3

The form on their site has the following form details to fill out.

Book Cover Image

To create the cover image for Bowker (must be JPG), run this:

convert -density 300 lovecraft-cover-$(git describe --tags --dirty).pdf -crop 50%x100%+1642+0 img/front_cover.jpg

Front Cover

Title Information

• Book Title: Strange Tales - musi nasa
• Subtitle: Bilingual Parallel Text in Toki Pona and English
• Describe your book: This bilingual, parallel text edition of H. P. Lovecraft short stories features both the original English versions and their translations into Toki Pona.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20th, 1890 – March 15th, 1937) created the iconic Cthulhu Mythos and pioneered the genre of “cosmic horror”—a branch of weird fiction that explores the terrifying indifference of the universe’s supernatural forces towards mankind. Building on the legacy of gothic writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the fantasy worlds of Lord Dunsany, Lovecraft’s tales challenge the very nature of reality and humanity’s place within it.

His oeuvre is a vast and inimitable treasury of horror. Lovecraft continues to influence generations of writers, filmmakers, and game designers—from Neil Gaiman and Stephen King to John Carpenter and Ridley Scott. The cult classics of the mythos live on in books, films, comics, and countless video and tabletop games.

This anthology presents five stories of varying lengths—indispensable classics of horror literature alongside lesser-known but equally chilling and thought-provoking gems.

• Original Publication Date: 2025
• Current Language: Toki Pona is in the drop down checklist, so it isn't an option. I submitted a request to Bowker to add Toki Pona to the list.
• Translated Title: <blank>
• Copyright Year: <blank>, since it is in the public domain (?)
• Library of Congress Control Number: <blank
  • Info: https://www.loc.gov/programs/cataloging-in-publication/about-this-program/
  • According to this, "The following are ineligible: ... Translations except Spanish".
  • https://www.loc.gov/programs/preassigned-control-number/about-this-program/scope/

Authors & Contributors

• Contributor 1:
  • Individual
  • First Name: H. P.
  • Last Name: Lovecraft
  • Biography: XXX
  • Function: Original Author
• Contributor 2:
  • Individual
  • First Name: Dénes
  • Last Name: Szántó
  • Biography: <blank>
  • Function: Translator
• Contributor 3:
  • Individual
  • First Name: Jeff
  • Last Name: Moe
  • Biography: <blank>
  • Function: Editor, Prepared for Publication by, Cover Design by

Medium & Format

• Medium (dropdown): Print
• Format: Paperback
• Format Details: Digest format paperback (XXX no "novella" format)
• Packaging Description: No outer packaging
• Trade Catalog: US open market edition
• Size Details
  • Weight: <blank>. XXX unknown.
  • Units (weight): <blank>. XXX unknown.
  • Number of pages: 126
  • Number of illustrations: <blank>. Can't be 0.
  • Carton quantity: <blank>
  • Size Units: Inches. Can't use Millimeters because values must be less than 99.
  • Length(1) (they mean how tall!): 8
  • Width(2): 5
  • Height(3) (how thick): <blank>. XXX unknown.

Subjects & Genres

• First Genre:
• Second Genre:

Other drop-down options to consider:

• FICTION_SHORT STORIES (single author)
• FICTION_HORROR_GENERAL

Sales & Pricing

United States

• Publisher: Jeff\Moe. XXX It won't let that field be changed, and "" is hard-coded in there. Though on the main page about the account, the "" isn't there, so it must just be how they do it (?).
• Publication Date:
  • Month: July
  • Day: 8
  • Year: 2025
• Title Status: Active Record
• Target Audience: Trade
• From Age: 18
• To Age: and Up
• Academic Grade From: College Freshman
• Academic Grade To: College Graduate Student
• Title Ship Date:
  • Month: July
  • Day: 8
  • Year: 2025
• Final Return Date: <blank>
• On Sale Date:
  • Month: July
  • Day: 8
  • Year: 2025
• Out of Print Date: <blank>
• Is The Title Returnable?: No
• Series Title: <blank>
• Series Volume: <blank>
• Book Price:
  • Set Dollar Amount
  • $: 4.71
• Currency: US Dollars
• Price Type: Retail Price
• Price Availability: Manufactured on demand (POD)
• Distributor: <blank> No options in the drop down. Should Lulu be added?
• Discount Code: <blank>

Example Images

To generate the cover PNG for this README:

convert lovecraft-cover-$(git describe --tags --dirty).pdf img/cover.png

To generate the sample page PNG for this README:

pdftoppm -png -f 8 -l 9 lovecraft-$(git describe --tags --dirty).pdf tmp/sample
convert +append tmp/sample-008.png tmp/sample-009.png img/sample.png

Print

HOWTO print the document locally, and bind into a book.

Note, this isn't just how to print the document. This is how to print it so it can be bound into a book. For instance, depending on the size of the "signatures" (section/gathering), page 24 won't come after page 23. It may be next to page 9 or whatever. This is because they get folded in the center, and then stuffed in the middle. If there are multiple signatures, this gets more complicated. XXX I'll 'splain better later. XXX

psbook

Build document, then create signature files from that.

make
make signatures

Printing & Collating

1. Print all odd sheets Documents are coming out text face down with top of the page on the right hand side of the printer, facing front of printer In print preview it shows top on right-hand side. NOT REVERSE

2. Print all even sheets in reverse Load paper face down, with top of page on left. In print preview it shows top on left-hand side.

This is actually ok as it makes a number of nice small signatures. I think will need to be put in reverse order after print job finishes, so perhaps print even sheets in reverse first, then odd normally (?)

On duplex printer, print lovecraft-[VERSION]-32-sigs-2up.ps two-sided "Short Edge".

The Spine

O=hole

----------------------------------------------------------
--O---inside---OribbonO---inside---OribbonO---inside---O--
----------------------------------------------------------

Drill holes in the signatures at these points (in cm): 0.75, 5.55, 6.85, 11.45, 12.65, 17.55

Numbers derived from: { .75cm top margin + inside 4.8cm + 1.3cm ribbon + inside 4.8cm + 1.3cm ribbon + inside 4.8cm + .75cm bottom margin = 18.5

Need holes at each distance in second column. 0.75 0.75 4.8 5.55 1.3 6.85 4.8 11.65 1.3 12.85 4.8 17.75 0.75 18.50

Holes per cm: 0.75, 5.55, 6.85, 11.65, 12.85, 17.75 }

Spine Brace

18.5cm X 7.6cm ( 3.05 + 1.5 + 3.05 )

Narrower spine! 18.5cm X 7.5cm ( 3.05 + 1.4 + 3.05 )

Binding

• https://mostlymaths.net/2009/04/easy-paperback-book-binding-how-to.html/

TODO

• Need a good title, subtitle.

jan Tene

Questions:

• How should name be formatted/presented.
• Illustrations?
• Intro text?
• Cthulu-esque drop caps?

Cover

• After receiving Lulu proof, check cover colors (RGB vs. CMYK).

Main

• Update copyright page.
• Remove "XXX DRAFT NOT FINAL".
• Be sure PDF is of a tag (e.g. v0.5.0).
• Remove red zero, start counting print versions.
• The Music of Erich Zann has into paragraph before story in English.
• Need some end quotes around this: ona li toki e ni: "sina sona ala sona e ni? ni li \textit{kule loje laso nasa}". jan Silinka li kalama musi tan pilin mi. ona li awen toki e ni: "sina pilin e ni: sina ken ala lukin e kule ni. taso tenpo \textit{ni} la sina ken li ken lukin e ijo sin mute kin.

Misc

• Add git tag to pdf filenames.

Print

• Check ideal paper.
• Check margins.
• Check if too close/far from gutter.

Local Print

• Write docs on printing signatures.
• Write docs on binding book.
• Convert signature printing script to Makefile.

Translation

• majuna in sitelen lon tomo majuna / The Picture in the House.
  • https://sona.pona.la/wiki/majuna

License

The combination of the two texts into a single work in LaTeX and the resultant PDF is also placed in the public domain.

CC0 1.0 Universal

• https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

2025, Jeff Moe