We started unpacking Halloween stuff yesterday. We are going with a spider graveyard theme outside and Starwheel by Kammarheit as the background music. I don't know if you have ever heard this album, but it is scary as hell. I actually reviewed the album for Drops of Crimson a while back. It's some very atmospheric, …
The Last Pale Light in the West — Music by Ben Nichols Inspired by Blood Meridian
Ben Nichols, frontman for the Texas country/punk band Lucero, released a solo acoustic album The Last Pale Light in the West in 2009. It is an incredible work. It's a short album of 7 songs based on Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian. Each song follows a particular character from the book. The last song "The Judge" …
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Suspension of Disbelief: Not the Rubicon You Thought It Was
The more I study opera the more I learn about suspension of disbelief at least as far as writing goes, and the human propensity for engaging in it. Suspension of disbelief is a big thing in opera. It's a natural given you are to suspend a lot of disbelief so the opera can move on. …
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Ennio Morricone – Once Upon a Time in the West
Beautiful music about a beautiful genre. God, how I love the west and all its mythic power, along with its ability to define us as human beings, and help us find our true place in the universe. All good stories do this, but I think westerns have a special ability, and affinity, to tap into …
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The Ballet Giselle — Inspiration for “At the Center of the World”
It was this clip from the ballet Giselle (ostensibly about a dead woman dancing with her lover) that was the inspiration for my hard science fiction story "At the Center of the World" which was published by New Myths Magazine in their #16 issue. As you might expect, one of the main characters in my …
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I got a new guitar!
Last weekend I bought a brand new classical guitar. It's an Orpheus Valley Sofia handmade by Kremona, a small company in Bulgaria. Yes, you heard me right, Bulgaria. Kremona makes some beautiful instruments and I've got one! I've been practicing and playing with it. Wow. The sound is fantastic with deep and tonal quality. It's …
Hoover's Corner 