I was just watching this with the little one earlier this week. A little bit of weirdness for your weekend.
(1 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
Loading... From Mackey's wordless opera, "Orpheus Reborn".
(2 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)Loading... Our little guy has really been excited about music over the last few months. We've had a whole bunch of discussions about what is or is not music. So we've watched STOMP, found some hambone solos, listened to some ambient compositions, and some harshly modern classical stuff. Almost everything gets judged as "music".
I've been really surprised at how much he's into the atonal, non-melodic things. The kid loves all the KidzBop stuff as well, but pretty consistently he requests "that one where it sounds like nature" (John Luther Adams - The Wind in High Places).
Anyway, what music (or not music) are you listening to?
I heard a recording of this piece about eight years ago and loved it. It's been released on a couple of albums (including one by Eighth Blackbird), and every time I come across it, I like it again. It weaves between disjointed percussive notes and the full melodic totalist sound that Mazzoli does really well.
(4 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)Loading... The search function says no one has played Thee Oh Sees here? I feel like someone should rectify that.
(4 votes, average: 7.75 out of 10)Loading... Performed by Mariel Roberts and Ian Rosenbaum
(3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10)Loading... Performed by Saul Williams and Mivos Quartet.
Jace Clayton did an album where he applied his electronic manipulations to music by Julius Eastman - The Julius Eastman Memory Depot. I couldn't find any live performances from that album, but if you read this, you should give that album a listen. Every time I do, I realize again how much I like it.
Eastman was a queer black radical in NYC in the '70's, so his piece titles tend to be provocative. Fair warning.
(3 votes, average: 6.67 out of 10)Loading... This band always makes me think of driving in New Mexico and its big open spaces.
(3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)Loading... So far, 2017 has turned out to be the year of the comic book for me. Here's five series that I've been reading.
 Monstress |
This is my favorite new discovery of the year. It's kind of steampunk, kind of high fantasy with definite Asian influences and a dash of Elder Gods thrown in for good measure. It's a little gory, and a lot convoluted, but I've really enjoyed it. I've read through issue #10, and I'm struggling over whether to wait for the collections, or buy the issues as they become available. The art is really really good. Although the story seems like something you've heard before (orphan girl struggling against forces much greater than herself), there are plenty of factions and intrigue to keep it interesting. |
 Mooncop |
It's sparse and a little funny and a little sad. A policeman on the moon drives through his patrol. The moon is emptying out, but still there are just enough people around to create small stories.
It's not a big book, but you will be pulled in. |
 Trees |
I didn't really know of Warren Ellis, but reading this and the next series on the list, he has a pretty incisive way of world-building. Trees are alien spaceships landed without explanation that seemed benign until the end of volume 1. Volume 2 gets a little bit more into how governments and other systems are reacting to a threat they don't understand. Volume 1 was very good. Volume 2 I hope is building toward something else that's as good. |
 Injection |
Another Warren Ellis book. Another fantastic introduction to a new world. In an attempt to spur more global innovation, The Injection occurred, and now it has taken on a mind of its own. It sounds like its the singularity, but probably not in a good way. I was really into the first few issues of this, and I have another 3 or 4 sitting on my bookshelf to read soon. Ellis loves a dystopia that's not quite a dystopia yet, and he does it pretty well. |
 Paper Girls |
I have only read the first issue of this one, but it seems very cool. Set in the 80's, a group of four newspaper delivery girls are defending their routes from Halloween pranksters when they find a ... time machine? maybe? I don't really know yet, but when I get the chance I plan to keep reading. |
So, what have you all been reading? Comic book/graphic novel or otherwise?
Before I get to the somewhat traditional recap of the science fiction and fantasy awards from this year, I wanted to take a moment to recognize a book on the longlist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. I was furnished a copy of this by the editor (someone we probably all would recognize if she didn't go around in a trench coat and sunglasses all the time). It's a really affecting story and a gorgeous book (as much as any book about the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki can be gorgeous). If you don't believe me, you can read the review in the New York Times.
This year, all the sci-fi and fantasy awards actually got handed out, so there was improvement from last year. Some of my favorites, and lots of links, below.
SHORT STORY WINNERS:
Nebula and World Fantasy Winner - Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers - by Alyssa Wong - (link)
Just read it. The title kind of sums it up. This was a really good and deserving winner.
Hugo and Locus Winner - Cat Pictures Please by Naomi Kritzer - (link)
Finally, an explanation for the internet's fascination with the feline.
SHORT STORY NOMINEES:
The Dowager of Bees - by China Mieville - I have Mieville's story collection (Three Moments of an Explosion) sitting on my bedside table, and I'm very excited to get into it. The title story and this one are both really really good. This one involves the presence of secret cards that can appear in any regular deck.
The Game of Smash and Recovery - by Kelly Link - Link is such a master of revealing just one more thing as you get further and further into the story.
Madeleine - by Amal El-Mohtar - The narrator remembers being someone else. And it keeps happening more and more often.
The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill - by Kelly Robson - Tiny aliens trying to keep their host alive.
NOVELLETE WINNERS:
Hugo Winner – Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang – (link)
A very cool idea, Beijing is three cities, each only active while the other two sleep, and travelling between them has dangers.
Nebula Winner – And You Shall Know Her By the Trail of Dead by Brooke Bolander – (link)
A kind of tech crime/virtual reality/love story? I don't know the best way to describe it except that it moves fast and is a lot of fun. Definitely worth checking out.
Locus Winner – Black Dog by Neil Gaiman –
Can I tell you a secret? I don’t like Neil Gaiman’s novels. On the other hand, I have consistently enjoyed his short fiction. “Black Dog” is a good ghost story where a traveler stumbles upon a town with more to it than meets the eye.
NOVELLETTE NOMINEES:
Our Lady of the Open Road - by Sarah Pinsker - A band on the road in a slightly more post-apocalyptic world than our own.
Another Word for World - by Ann Leckie - A recently anointed ruler is shipwrecked on an unfriendly planet. (scroll to the end of the linked post for a download link)
NOVELLA WINNERS:
Hugo & Nebula Novella – Binti by Nnedi Okorafor –
Standalone book. Very good. The main character is the first of her family/community to attend a university on another planet. The trip there is hijacked by an alien menace. An exploration of what is alien.
World Fantasy Novella – The Unlicensed Magician by Kelly Barnhill –
Standalone book. A 1984-like state has been rounding up magic children. Written in a very particular style (an affected, self-aware childlike tone) that made the world interesting, this still told an engrossing story.
Locus Novella – Slow Bullets by Alistair Reynolds –
Standalone book. A generational starship of war criminals, soldiers and settlers from the recently concluded space war begins to wake up. Reynolds is a pretty good sci-fi author, and he delivers some pretty good sci-fi here.
NOVELLA NOMINEES:
Penric’s Demon – by Lois McMaster Bujold – A country boy is unwittingly tapped as a vessel for a demon and the magic that comes with that. This might have been my favorite of the novella nominees. The audiobook is a brisk 4 hours and it tells a good story. Bujold has published two more in the series this year, which I keep meaning to check out.
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn – by Usman Malik – A story of multiple cultures and generations.
The Citadel of Weeping Pearls – by Aliette de Bodard – A space station disappeared years ago, and now it seems it might be possible to find it, visit it, or maybe bring it back. I'm just going to keep recommending de Bodard's short fiction every time I write one of these. This is in Asimov's SF magazine, whose stories sometimes appear and disappear online if you search them. I couldn't find it right now, but keep an eye out.
Guignol – by Kim Newman – Horror story revolving around a theater of the grotesque in Paris. This was terribly gory, but still did a great job of creating suspense and payoff.
The New Mother – Eugene Fisher – Genetic mutation and what it means to be human and to tolerate those on the other side of that line.
Honestly, this year there wasn't one story that I was over-the-moon excited about, which is kind of rare. Hungry Daughters and Folding Beijing were both really good, but I don't know that either rises to that level where I will remember them when I write a recap like this next year.
As far as novels go, I'm still working my way through the nominees there a little bit, but N. K. Jemisen's The Fifth Season is probably my current favorite.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik was also really good. A good old magic story.
I'm currently reading The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi and I'm not too impressed. It's like a re-setting of The Wind-up Girl. Which I don't mean as a compliment.
The thing I'm most excited to read from the nominee lists is K. J. Parker's Savages. I really liked some of Parker's novellas (A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong and Let Maps to Others), so I'm looking forward to reading this longer effort.
