Guilty Pleasures: Nick Cave

Nick Cave is the love child that in some alternate Bearded Spock universe was born to John Wilmot and Flannery O'Connor.  He's a different kind of "guilty pleasure".  He's a terrific writer, and very powerful, but the... er, vocabulary content... and the sheer gothicity of his writing mean that I can't recommend him to just anyone.

And (but?) Nick's straightforwardly sentimental songs are very powerful.  I loved "The Ship Song" when I first started listening to his stuff; from a more recent album, here's "Breathless".

(Not to share any spoilers, but the bunnies, like the sentimentality, work better because of the raw emotionality and gothic darkness of Nick's other work.)

Bonus: Bearded Spock.

What Is Steampunk? (Vintage Tomorrows)

Check out this trailer for an upcoming documentary.

Guilty Pleasures: Neil Diamond

In honor of Neil Diamond's recent announcement of his impending (third) marriage, I post a number by him.

It's not quite right to describe Neil as a guilty pleasure, because he's an amazing songwriter who has demonstrated real staying power and broad appeal.  When I was a kid, though, it was hard not to think of him as tacky music my parents and their friends listened to.

But then Rick Rubin got to Neil, and Neil got to me, with his album 12 songs.  Here's "Hell Yeah", from that album.  I will admit that this song had made me feel emotional more than once.

What Is Steampunk? (Modding)

A retrofuturistic visual aesthetic is an essential part of Steampunk, which in some ways is at its heart a fashion movement.  At WorldCon this year there were several sessions on "modding" your current-tech gear to make it more steam-y.  Here, courtesy of the interweb, are a few other examples of steampunk modding.

An MP3 player.

Mouse, USB drives, other.

A webcam.

And, er, a katana.

Self-Promotion

Great blog article / interview about author self-promotion.

Return to Exile Book Trailer

Enjoy.

Essential Classics: The Mabinogion

The Mabinogion is a collection of eleven old Welsh stories.  In the form in which these stories survive, they are medieval, and some of them are probably in fact medieval stories (two of them are very old King Arthur tales).  Some of the stories, the Pedair Cainc y Mabinogi (the "Four Branches of the Mabinogi"),  are likely older, and contain old Celtic myths in medieval cross-dress.

The Mabinogion is great in its own right, and is also a well to which many fantasy writers over the years have had recourse for inspiration and/or outright theft (see, in particular, Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain).  If you're stuck, you might do the same.