David Byrne and Choir! Choir! Choir! - Heroes

"We can be heroes, just for one day...."

Now Reading: Why Vinyl Matters by Jennifer Otter Bickerdike

I've been reading yet another coffee table book as a follow-up to my previous blog post (Dust & Grooves by Eilon Paz). This current book is entitled Why Vinyl Matters: A Manifesto from Musicians and Fans, published in 2017 by ACC Art Books. And though not as large as that previous book on vinyl, this one is still fairly hefty at 10.75-inches tall, 9.5-inches wide, and about an inch thick, with 222 art-quality pages.

Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, the author, completed a PhD in Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths, University of London, and is currently the course leader and coordinator for Music Journalism at British and Irish Modern Music Institute in London. She's taken her love for music and vinyl and compiled this book of interviews, in which she typically poses the same questions to each of the interviewees. This allows the reader to be able to compare relative answers to each of the questions.

Here are some excerpts from a few interviewees on why vinyl matters:

"Punk and digital, to me at least, are antithetical. I can only project my own perception – but for me, punk is vinyl and cassette. It is the picture sleeves, the noise on the vinyl, the way you know the next song on the cassette because you have carried it with you and played it so many times. Punk is analogue. It is real. Would you rather hear the first album by The Clash on LP or CD? One is real, the other is, at best, somewhat trite. On the other hand, do you really want a Beyoncé LP? Why? What do you hope to get when you pull the album out from its sleeve, a coupon for a free Pepsi? Some music is merely an advertisement for what music can be. It never escapes the enclosure of its commercial goals, nor does it seek to. The people who appreciate this music are happy with their streaming or other wretched sound-delivery systems. Punk, like rock, is an analogue, real-life experience, so you want analogue playback."

—Henry Rollins,

Musician; Writer; Radio and Television Presenter; Spoken Word Artist; Actor

"Five or six years ago, I was shopping for some old jazz. I got this Louis Armstrong box set. You can't get that shit anywhere else but on vinyl. The only place it exists is at the used record store. They don't make those albums anymore; they're not online. So as a result, I have all these songs that I've never heard before! Not only does the music sound cooler, but some artists only live on vinyl."

—Mike Burkett (aka Fat Mike),

Vocalist; Bassist; Label Owner and Founder: Fat Wreck Chords

"I've always had a very diverse taste. I've always been able to listen to reggae one moment, classical the next, country and western, hip­ hop, grime. I think that all started because of that very diverse but small collection of albums that my mum and dad had back in the 1960s. Now I actually own those 25-or-so albums, because my mum gave them to me a few years ago. I own the first record I ever heard in my life. I own the albums that inspired me as a toddler, because there were only two TV channels back in those days, so the radio and the record player were the world. The fascination, even back then, of putting a record on and putting the needle in, was a big thing for the family. It meant that you listened to the same album two or three times in a day sometimes. It's just nice to own those actual albums that formed my taste as a toddler."

—Clint Boon,

Keyboardist; Vocalist; Songwriter; Presenter; DJ

"I felt that music had become a free or cheap commodity. People are not paying for music. Instead of people recognising how powerful and important it is, it has become the backdrop – it's the backdrop to my night out, it's the aural accompaniment while I work. There is no real focus on it.

...

With Classic Album Sundays, I wanted to make music the focus. I wanted to provide a space where people would not do anything else – working on their computer or their phone. They would just be listening. Just like books and films, albums have influenced culture, politics and societies in other ways. Speech patterns. Humour. It goes beyond influencing other bands. Fashion, film, art, comedy. Music can influence all of these disciplines, just like great books can. We could argue that The Beatles have been as influential as Shakespeare. I felt that the album needed to be treated like the great novels: you can't just pick and choose chapters – you have to study the whole thing as an entire piece of work.

...

You can really hear the difference if you train your ear. That is not to say that every piece of vinyl sounds amazing, since so much of it is made poorly. But when you get a great record that is recorded properly, mastered properly and pressed properly – and then you play it on a proper system – it's like nothing else."

—Colleen Murphy,

DJ, Event Founder: Classic Album Sundays

"I also feel that about the Nick Drake album Pink Moon. In the '90s when I was touring with the Cocteau Twins, I used to have that on my iPod and on CD. I knew that record back to front. I listened to it on my headphones when I was travelling all around the US and around the world. I had only had the CD, but then they reissued the vinyl. I got a really nice system at home for the first time in a long while: lovely Hi-Fi, old Swans turntable, lovely old amplifier, and these KEF wooden speakers I bought off eBay. I got the whole thing for like £300. I set this beautiful system up, put this Nick Drake record on, and I was looking at the sleeve thinking, 'What have they done? This is a different record. I have never heard those instruments before.' I was literally blown away. I stood in the living room without any words, thinking, 'What is this?' It was exactly the same record, it was not remastered. It was the original, just a reissue of the original pressing. I think with vinyl, the stereo picture is just clearer, so you just hear things in a different place."

—Simon Raymonde,

Musician; Producer; Label Founder: Bella Union

"Vinyl has emerged as one of the first consumer products to prove its post-digital worth in a digitally distracted world. Digital natives are no longer satisfied with music access alone. Having a curated collection of music you own to cherish is now an aspiration for many young music lovers. A rich, eclectic, specialist collection of vinyl is emblematic of the owner's personal identity, ideals, and experiences. The disposable ubiquity of digital products teaches the value of scarcity, and of knowledge as a means to navigate endless choice. Suffice to say, vinyl rewards, educates, and conveys you better than most things acquired in life. This will secure its validity for decades to come."

—Stephen Godfroy,

Co-Owner, Director: Rough Trade Independent Record Retailer (originally opened in 1976)

"Vinyl is a sort of meditation. When you put a record on, it means that you have to be there to experience it because 20 minutes later, you are going to need to flip it over; it is not an ongoing soundtrack to your life, like when you are jogging, and you have music in your headphones. You are taking the time to actually experience the record in a way that the artist would hope and intend. That is the difference – a huge difference!

...

My daughter is 18; she loves a lot of great music. But she will never know what it is like to sit with five of her best friends and listen to Pink Floyd. Not that everyone needs that experience – but to me, that was like church. I was never a religious person, but I think a lot of people go to church so they can be with a crowd of people and do something spiritual together – and feel it – together. In the '60s and '70s, all of a sudden there was this experience of being able to go out and appreciate another person's music in a way collectively that I think was elevated. It spoke to human potential. It was not about some theoretical god, or some hierarchical, dogmatic programme. It was ultimately inspiring in a way that I do not think too much is anymore. It was such a unique club that we all belonged to when we understood the power of that stuff. Now it's ubiquitous. Everyone has their own little soundtrack to their lives going on through their headphones and their little Pandora."

—Marc Weinstein,

Co-Founder, Co-Owner: Amoeba Music; Drummer in many bands including MX-80, 10th Planet, Pluto, Savage Pelicans, The Mutants, and others

The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross (The Laundry Files Volume 9)

Indeed, much time has passed since I last posted about an editing project. Not because I haven't wanted to, but because the majority of the work I've been doing these past few months has been with individual authors. And since these authors' manuscripts have not been accepted for publication as yet, I feel it's not my place to comment publicly on said work.

Which brings me to my most recent project, which I can, in fact, write about: Just this past Friday I turned in the edited manuscript for Charles Stross's latest Laundry Files novel -- The Labyrinth Index -- to Tor Books/St. Martin's Press. The book will be published in October.

Book number 9... I have been working on the Laundry Files series since 2003, when I first acquired The Atrocity Archives -- which contained the 2005 Hugo Award-winning novella "The Concrete Jungle" -- for Golden Gryphon Press. A span of fifteen years, nine volumes, and four different publishers: as acquiring editor with Golden Gryphon Press (books 1 and 2), and then as a freelancer for the next seven volumes: Ace Books (books 3 through 7), Oribt UK (book 8), and this latest volume with Tor Books. Whew....

Orbit UK Edition

I'll share some of The Labyrinth Index story line with you, but not too much as I don't want to give away too many spoilers. I will say, however, that the blurb provided to Amazon and Barnes and Noble (and undoubtedly other booksellers as well) was based on an early draft of the novel, and a number of points within those blurbs are no longer correct or accurate. So I'm going to post the book blurb here, with the appropriate corrections/'changes:

The Lovecraftian Singularity has descended on the world, beginning an exciting new story arc in the Laundry Files series!

The arrival of vast, alien, inhuman intelligences reshaped the landscape for human affairs across the world, and the United Kingdom is no exception. Things have changed in Britain since the dread elder god N'yar Lat-Hotep [aka Fabian Everyman, aka the Mandate, ref: The Delirium Brief, book 8] ascended to the rank of Prime Minister. Mhari Murphy, recently elevated to the House of Lords and head of the Lords Select Committee on Sanguinary Affairs (think vampires), finds herself in direct consultation with the Creeping Chaos, who directs her to lead a team of unknown [at least to the Black Chamber] Laundry personnel into the dark heart of America to search for the President of the United States, and kidnap him if necessary for his own protection.

A thousand-mile-wild storm system has blanketed the Midwest, [there is no storm!] and the President is nowhere to be found. In fact, for reasons unknown [as yet], the people of America are forgetting that the Executive Branch ever existed. The government has been infiltrated by the shadowy Black Chamber [aka the Nazgûl, aka the Operational Phenomenology Agency, or OPA], and the Pentagon and NASA have been refocused on the problem of summoning Cthulhu.

Somewhere [in hiding], the Secret Service Presidential Protection Detail battle to stay awake in order to remember who the President is, and to stay one step ahead of the vampiric OPA dragnet that's searching for him.

So there you have it. The boldface (and the one strike-through) are my corrections to the original publisher's blurb, while the bracketed text provide a bit more detail than what was given. Any questions?

If you've been keeping up on the series, then you know that supersecret agent extraordinaire Bob Howard (the new Eater of Souls) has made few appearances in the past few volumes. And The Labyrinth Index is no exception. The primary narrator is Mhari Murphy, or should I now say Baroness Karnstein! And Mhari's main partner-in-crime, so to speak, on this mission into the dark heart of America is Detective Chief Superintendent James Grey (aka Officer Friendly), whom we last saw in The Annihilation Score.

Recall that the Prime Minister wanted a team of "blank-face" operatives.... Brains (of Pinky and Brains) joins the mission this time around, as does Reverend Pete Russell. And if you are a hardcore fan of the Laundry Files series, you may even remember sysadmin Janice Hill, one of the Scrum from The Rhesus Chart; well, she's part of the team, too, as is Derek the DM from The Nightmare Stacks. Last, but certainly not least, an alfär mage, one of the Host of Air and Darkness, plays a major role as well.

That's probably more detail than I should be providing at this point, but I couldn't help myself. This story is a real page-turner: it moves faster than RAF Concorde 302 Heavy with the President onboard! (Shush...don't tell anyone I said that!)

Now Reading: Dust & Grooves by Eilon Paz

I've been reading this coffee table book entitled Dust & Grooves: Adventures in Record Collecting, which was published by Ten Speed Press in 2015.

The author, Eilon Paz, is a photographer with a penchant for music. He put the two of these passions together and came up with D&G, a successful Kickstarter project, for which he traveled around the globe interviewing hardcore vinyl collectors—and photographing their massive vinyl collections. And the book is huge: 12 inches tall, 9.75 inches wide, and about 1.5 inches thick, with 440 pages of some of the most mouth-gaping photos of vinyl collections you will ever see!

Sheila Burgel

"[Record collecting] is a boys club, and if a woman can't play like the men, she's rarely encouraged to join in. Because in the record-collecting world, you have to meet certain criteria...you'd hardly be taken seriously as a collector with a small collection. Quantity matters. So does rarity. And your knowledge about what you collect. What girl wants to bother being held to such silly standards when we're already judged on just about everything else in our lives."
–Sheila Burgel, Brooklyn, NY

Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, bandleader for
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

"Records are time capsules. They're emotional, spiritual, energetically bound pieces of vinyl. They were cut with force and energy, not by a programmer."

–William Bensussen, The Gaslamp Killer, Los Angeles

"Questions like favorite album/artist/genre/label/cover are utter bullshit. People less consumed with music can easily give you those answers, but I (and those of my tribe) simply cannot, and that's just the way it is."

–Greg Casseus, Queens, NY

"Collecting records is like voluntarily becoming a historian or a chapter in a long book of musical histories."

–Rich Medina, Philadelphia

"Convenience and shortcuts [the quick click of an mp3] do not enhance pleasure. But take the time to dig out a record, put it on the turntable, sit back and listen...that's where the pleasure is. That's where the relationship with music grows strong; that's where the richness and depth are felt."

–Sheila Burgel once again:
with one of the largest collections of girl groups vinyl in the world

Stephen Hawking (January 8, 1942 – March 14, 2018)

"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die."

"It would not be much of a universe if it wasn't home to the people you love."

—Stephen Hawking

Remember That Guy....

Octavia E. Butler Quote

"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.
To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.
To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery."

~ Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents

Octavia E. Butler

(June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006)

Frank Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993)

"Scientists believe that the universe is made of hydrogen, because they claim it's the most plentiful ingredient. I claim that the most plentiful ingredient is stupidity."

~ Frank Zappa

Apocalypse Nyx by Kameron Hurley

If you've been checking in on this blog, even irregularly, you've observed that I haven't posted many updates, particularly as they relate to my editing work. It's not that I haven't been busy, but rather the majority of my projects recently have involved working directly with authors on their manuscripts. As these are not-as-yet sold mss., I'm not really able to write about them.

What I can write about is my latest project: Back in the day, between 2010 and 2012, I had the opportunity to work on three very unique novels -- God's War (a 2012 Nebula Award nominee for best novel), Infidel, and Rapture: the Bel Dame Apocrypha Trilogy, by new author Kameron Hurley. The three books were published by the original Night Shade Books (NSB) -- one of the best (though far from the brightest) indie publishers at the time. NSB was known, and recognized, for publishing new authors, who indeed were the best and the brightest: in addition to Ms. Hurley, other authors included Paolo Bacigalupi, Laird Barron, Bradley P. Beaulieu, Courtney Schafer, and Catherynne M. Valente, just to name five that immediately come to mind.

In 2014, Kameron Hurley sold her trilogy to British publisher DelReyUK. As part of the promotion for the release of these books, she wrote a new, original Nyx story (Nyxnissa so Dasheem, aka Nyx, is the protagonist in all three volumes), which DelReyUK published exclusively on their website. The story, "The Body Project," was my first opportunity to work with Kameron post-NSB. I wrote about the story in a blog post dated January 22, 2014. I don't know how long DelReyUK allowed the story to remain online (the link is no longer valid), but if you are a fan of Kameron's writing and haven't read this bold, new story, then you'll have another chance to snag it in the new year.

Some have called these stories "bugpunk" -- bugs are utilized in all types of machinery, and magic works through the use of bugs. Regardless of what words are used to describe these stories, Nyx is one female badass who puts mission first above all (and everyone) else.

"The Body Project" is one of five stories that will be included in Apocalypse Nyx, Kameron Hurley's story collection, forthcoming from Tachyon Publications in July 2018. The other four stories: "The Heart Is Eaten Last," "Soulbound," "Crossroads at Jannah," and "Paint It Red" were originally published online on Ms. Hurley's Patreon.

If you've read the trilogy, then you are familiar with the members of Nyx's team: Rhys the magician (sometimes of questionable skills), Taite the com tech, and Anneke (Anneke likes guns, lots of guns) -- and they're present in all of these stories as well. You'll also meet the newest member of the team: Khos, a shape shifter.

I've used a couple blah adjectives like "unique" and "bold" to describe these stories because the stories are so different that I just don't have the words to describe them! Here is Tachyon's promotional copy for Apocalypse Nyx:

Move over Mad Max—here comes Nyx.

Ex-government assassin turned bounty-hunter Nyx is good at solving other people's problems. Her favorite problem-solving solution is punching people in the face. Then maybe chopping off some heads. Hey—it's a living.

Her disreputable reputation has been well earned. To Nyx's mind, it's also justified. After all, she's trying to navigate an apocalyptic world full of giant bugs, contaminated deserts, scheming magicians, and a centuries-long war that's consuming her future. Managing her ragtag squad of misfits has required a lot of morally-gray choices.

Every new job is another day alive. Every new mission is another step toward changing a hellish future—but only if she can survive.

This collection will be the first time all five stories are available in print: nearly 75,000 words of "unique," "bold," "bugpunk," "badass" fiction.

Apocalypse Nyx will be published in July 2018 and is now available for preorder direct from Tachyon Publications, or Amazon, or your preferred bookseller.

Cambridge News

Editor Wanted Needed.... Today's issue....

In Memory of Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa

(Dec. 21, 1940 – Dec. 4, 1993)

Jared Leto's "A Day in the Life of America"

Thirty Seconds To Mars - "Walk On Water" Official Music Video

Virtually everything you are about to see happened on a single day in the United States of America, July 4th, 2017....


[Update 11/12/2017]: Read the complete text on how this video was made here.

[ENDED] Alien Contact Ebook $1.99

The ebook edition of my Alien Contact anthology is currently on sale for $1.99. I've verified the price on both Barnes and Noble and Amazon, and iBooks should also have the price set at $1.99. (I'm not an Apple kind of guy so I can't verify.) I'm also hoping that if you purchase your ebooks from other than these sources, the price will be the same as well.

How long this price will last, I have no idea. I'm just the book's editor. In fact, I didn't even know the price had dropped to $1.99 until I received a web mention on the book's title, via email, earlier today.

So, if you read ebooks and you've been on the fence about this anthology, now is the time to buy, as this is probably the cheapest ebook price you'll find (that's not a pirated copy!) for these 25 stories and nearly 170,000 words of hand-picked fiction.

Here's the complete table of contents:

Marty Halpern -- "Introduction: Beginnings..."
Paul McAuley -- "The Thought War"
Neil Gaiman -- "How to Talk to Girls at Parties"
Karen Joy Fowler -- "Face Value"
Harry Turtledove -- "The Road Not Taken"
George Alec Effinger -- "The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything"
Pat Murphy -- "Recycling Strategies for the Inner City"
Mike Resnick -- "The 43 Antarean Dynasties"
Orson Scott Card -- "The Gold Bug"
Bruce McAllister -- "Kin"
Ernest Hogan -- "Guerrilla Mural of a Siren’s Song"
Pat Cadigan -- "Angel"
Ursula K. Le Guin -- "The First Contact with the Gorgonids"
Adam-Troy Castro -- "Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl’s"
Michael Swanwick -- "A Midwinter’s Tale"
Mark W. Tiedemann -- "Texture of Other Ways"
Cory Doctorow -- "To Go Boldly"
Elizabeth Moon -- "If Nudity Offends You"
Nancy Kress -- "Laws of Survival"
Jack Skillingstead -- "What You Are About to See"
Robert Silverberg -- "Amanda and the Alien"
Jeffrey Ford -- "Exo-Skeleton Town"
Molly Gloss -- "Lambing Season"
Bruce Sterling -- "Swarm"
Charles Stross -- "MAXO Signals"
Stephen Baxter -- "Last Contact"

Twenty-six weeks before the book was published, back in April 2011, I began a blogging project that entailed writing about each of the stories, at the rate of one story per week, until the book was published. I made my target, too. During those weekly blog posts, I talked about the original publication of the story, my relationship (if any) with the author, how I came to choose the story, and I typically included some excerpts from the story itself. Except, that is, for those stories that I published in their entirety.

Now, nearly six years later, you can still follow -- and read -- those weekly blog posts on Alien Contact by beginning at the "Beginnings..."

Or, you could simply click on any of the links above in the table of contents.

Enjoy, while the price lasts!

The Wisdom of Dave Grohl

"So I just feel like there's a bit more of a relaxed confidence that comes with age. I mean, I never thought that I'd be doing this past 30 years old. And that was a long fucking time ago! But when I walk backstage now and see the fresh faces of all the new bands, and I'm the guy with fucking grey hair in my beard, I feel kinda proud. Proud that we're [Foo Fighters] still here. And I also don’t think that we could have made an album like Concrete and Gold without a little bit of grey hair thrown in there, you know what I mean? Because each album is like a rung on a ladder. And you just keep climbing."

~ Dave Grohl, Guitar World, 09/29/2017

Read the full interview with the Foo Fighters in Guitar World online.

On Protesting....

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible
will make violent revolution inevitable."

~ John F. Kennedy

For those who missed the eclipse on Monday, August 21, 2017

[Graphic courtesy of Kevin Heran via Facebook.]

My Precioussss....

[Courtesy of the "In Vinyl We Trust" Facebook group.]

We Could Be Heroes, Just For One Day....

The Bridge School Benefit Concert, October 1996.
Video courtesy of Shakey Pictures on Vimeo.

History

Book Received: The Delirium Brief by Charles Stross

Just the other day I received in the mail a complimentary copy of Charles Stross's The Delirium Brief from UK publisher Orbit. That's the Orbit cover pictured to the left.

The Delirium Brief is volume 8 in the Laundry Files -- and I have had the extreme pleasure (actually, an honor) of working on all eight volumes. The book will be published this month in both the U.K. and in the U.S. (Tor.com; cover pictured below). I sometimes find it difficult to believe that I began work on the first Laundry Files book in late 2001, and now, eight volumes later, I'm halfway through the year 2017....

If you are unfamiliar with the Laundry Files series -- or you haven't read all seven previous volumes -- and you'd like to jump right in on this new volume, then you'll need to do a bit of catch-up reading first. Begin by reading my blog post of January 9, 2017, in which I write about my work on The Delirium Brief, and provide some background on the volume, a few mini (very mini) spoilers (necessary), and let you know what you will need to read specifically to catch up.

But back to the book at hand. What was even more special than just receiving a copy of the book was the included note (following) from Joanna Kramer, Managing Editor at Orbit. I know I do a damn good job on all the books I work on, but I'll always -- always -- appreciate receiving kudos from those responsible for hiring me in the first place. So, once again, thank you, Ms. Kramer, for your kind words.

Figuring that possibly my own writing isn't sufficient to whet your appetite for a new reading experience, I try to include an appropriate book review in some of my blog posts. So, here is the May 2, 2017, Kirkus review:

THE DELIRIUM BRIEF

From the "Laundry Files" series, volume 8

by Charles Stross

Stross' Laundry Files series, of which this is No. 8 (The Nightmare Stacks, 2016, etc.), is a weird but effective mashup of Lovecraft-ian horror, espionage thriller, science fiction, and satire, centering around a top-secret British government agency devoted to fighting "the sort of thing you expect to meet in an episode of The X-Files."

In resolving the previous book's crisis, unfortunately, the Laundry's existence becomes public knowledge, so this time out combat sorcerer Bob Howard, the Eater of Souls, must appear on TV to offer the usual blandishments. Poor Bob and his equally scary wife, the newly minted auditor, Mo O'Brien, can't live together—her demonic White Violin tried to eat him, while Bob worries that he might absentmindedly eat Mo's soul while sleepwalking. As a senior member of staff, though, Bob no longer has to worry about his expense sheets. But an evil god from another dimension is moving to take over the American government, whose about-to-be-unemployed good guys warn the Laundry that the Rev. Raymond Schiller, whose followers are deliberately parasitized and enslaved by a godlike extradimensional horror known as the Sleeper in the Pyramid, is plotting a takeover of the U.K. government. Abruptly, the Laundry's staffers learn that their agency has been privatized and they're all out of a job. To combat Schiller, Bob will need his most powerful allies, freelance witch Persephone "Seph" Hazard, otherworld elf-queen Cassie Brewer, and Senior Auditor Armstrong. Series regulars will find the usual humor here much reduced, with a narrative cluttered with infodumps on civil service bureaucracy, while the tone has turned bleaker and far darker. There's little need to point out the obvious political aspects to all this. Some readers may not relish the new direction the series is taking, while others will ponder the underlying currents and conclude that it all makes perfect sense.

Stross still spins a heck of a yarn.

The Delirium Brief will be published next week, and is available from Amazon or your bookseller of choice.