Showing posts with label Peter V. Brett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peter V. Brett. Show all posts

Sunday, February 17, 2019

2019: February 17th - New Perturbator!!!



New track from Perturbator, who had previously stated he was done with the synth wave thing. This is definitely something different, and I'm hoping only one facet of what will be a widely different adventure for the musician, who is perhaps just as equally ambitious as he is talented. A good thing, for sure.

As for pre-orders, there's nothing listed on either the Perturbator or Blood Music bandcamps yet, but when I find something, I'll be sure to post it here.

Back in 2006, Scottish write Alan Campbell messaged me on myspace - remember that? - and, having noticed I talked about the work of China Mieville a lot, asked if I'd heard of his debut novel, Scar Night. Set in a city that hangs on massive chains above a bottomless pit, I really didn't need to read any more than that to seek the book out. Thus, my love of Campbell's Deepgate Codex series was seeded. Four books and five years later, I saw an announcement for a new novel and series go up, Sea of Ghosts: the Gravedigger Chronicles, Book One. Only problem was, for years I could not seem to get the book in the U.S.

At some point Sea of Ghosts fell off my radar, and remained obscured to me for some time. Now, a few weeks ago, I finally ordered a copy and, having received it yesterday, began reading it. It's good to be swaddled in Campbell's lush, fantastical prose again.


There's not a lot of fantasy I like, primarily because, from my experience, most of the genre is made up of authors who love Tolkien and want only to write inside his tropes. Hence, no matter how many people I drive mad with my resolve, I will never read or watch Game of Thrones. I'm sure they are excellent, but Knights and Dragons are most assuredly not my thing. It's been done to death. Mieville's take on fantasy - where everything is his own creation -  is more my taste, and I'd add Campbell and Peter V. Brett as similar contemporaries. Campbell's Deepgate Codex plays with the textures and aesthetics of Steampunk, for example, but never feels the need to limit itself by those aesthetics, preferring instead to incorporate them into the author's own unique world-building ideologies. And with his undermining explorations of the tenants of religion, political power, and military intelligence, Alan Campbell's aesthetics always engage and expand my own imagination, and quite often make me smile. I'm excited as pie to be back in one of his worlds again.

Playlist from 2/16:

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
David Bowie - Station to Station
Beastmilk - Climax
Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil
Red Rider - As Far As Siam
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome
Pink Floyd - Animals

Frankie Goes to Hollywood? You mean, like Relax? Yep. How did that happen? Well...

Two nights ago K and I watched Body Double for the first time. I LOVED this flick; possibly my favorite De Palma film, or at least right behind Carlito's Way. Body Double is early, macabre thriller De Palma, and its tone is compelling and unapologetic for turning the camera's eye on a protagonist that is as seedy as he is well-intentioned. In the film, there's a sequence that utilizes pretty much the entire track Relax, and seeing it I remembered encountering the LP Welcome to the Pleasuredome on the shelves of a thrift store back in the oughts. The album art and design was involved, and I remember thinking it looked as though this band I only knew the one track by - a track I liked very much - may have had ambitions on a level similar to groups like early Genesis, or Pink Floyd. I'm not sure why I didn't buy the record that day in the thrift, but I'd always meant to get around to listening to a full album by Frankie, partially just because I don't know that I've ever spoken to anyone else who had.

So, spurred on by Body Double - a film I really can't say enough good things about - I used the good ol' Apple Music to listen to Pleasuredome yesterday. Verdict? Hmmm... not sure. Ambitious? Yes. Nobly so? Maybe not. Bloated with its own regard? Probably.

I may get back around to re-engaging with Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Welcome to the Pleasuredome some day, but in the meantime I'll still crank Relax whenever I hear it. Like now:



Card of the day:


I'm hoping this points to being back to all cylinders, and not the fact that in order to finally extricate this damnable flu, I need the help of a trained professional. I'll know by the end of the day, I'm sure.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Peter V. Brett's The Skull Throne



Whoah! I've been so immersed in writing my own book for so long that I have seriously fallen out of any semblance of contact with what my favorite authors are doing. First, a week or two ago I realized that Irvine Welsh has another novel coming out in in the U.K. next week* and now I see via a message on Goodreads that the forth book in Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle hit the stands on March 31st!

WHAT???

Crap - after wolfing down book three, The Daylight War back... oh my, was that two years ago already? - I swore before the next one fell into my hands I would re-read the entire series to refresh myself.  Well, that did not happen and I have been once again caught unprepared and unaware. That however, will soon be remedied.

I talk about how I met Mr. Brett here - he actually gave me a copy of the first book in this series, The Warded Man and I am forever grateful to him for it.

.............

*I still haven't read his last one! I have never been this behind on Mr. Welsh's novels

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Joe Hill's NOS4A2


I received a nice advance copy of Joe Hill's NOS4A2 today. I am VERY much looking forward to reading it, as Hill's Heart-Shaped Box is one of my favorite books of recent years (and Horns is pretty damn awesome too! Can't wait for that movie starring Daniel Radcliffe). I'll be posting opinions on the book soon enough, however I also have my brand new copy of Peter V. Brett's The Daylight War - purchased in stunning hardcover the day of release (today) from my favorite local bookstore The Book Frog. Mr. Brett's stuff became DOR or 'Day of Release' level for me after the other two books in the series (which I speak about here) blew me the F--k away!!! But of course now I have an especially tricky conundrum - which to read first?

Choices, choices choices...

Friday, February 1, 2013

Peter V. Brett's The Daylight War



Will be released on February 12!!! Nice. I've fallen behind a bit in my reading. It's funny how no longer working at a bookstore impedes my knowledge of what's going on with my favorite authors (not that I miss retail - I DO NOT). I knew the third book in Brett's quintet was coming out in 2013, I just wasn't sure when. Imagine my surprise to look it up and find it's in a little over a week! Soooo cool. You can pre-order a copy here, or you can go to your local bookstore and buy it (if you're in the Southern Los Angeles area I recommend The Book Frog).

I talk about how I met Mr. Brett here - he actually gave me a copy of the first book in this series, The Warded Man and I am forever grateful to him for it.