Craig Laurance Gidney's Blog, page 45

MUSES: The return of the mystical side of Natalie Merchant

The first show I went to at DC’s famed 9:30 Club, back when it was at 9th and F Street, was 10,000 Maniacs. They had just released their major label debut, The Wishing Chair. The front woman, Natalie Merchant, was a triple-threat, as they say in show business lingo. She had a lilting, beautiful voice; […]

Myth and Music: “Meremennen” by Autumn’s Grey Solace

The song “Meremennen” by Autumn’s Grey Solace has no known lyrics. Phrases emerge every now and then, like flotsam and jetsam, on the oceanic currents of the music. But for the most part, it is a kind of semi-coherent glossolalia: flowing and dissolving and pierce notes over a delicate arpeggio’d guitar and subterranean bass-line.  The […]

Myth and Music: The Scandinavian fairy-tale music of Norway’s Bel Canto

  Just the other day, I found some rare tracks from the Norwegian ethereal-wave band Bel Canto. Listening to them confirmed for me that Anneli Drecker has a simply amazing voice and it’s a shame that she is not as well known as she should be. She effortlessly melds the complex vocal gymnastics of Elizabeth […]

Washington Independent Review of Books interview/review gig

Check out the interview I conducted with debut novelist Kim Church (Byrd, Dzanc Books) over at the Washington Independent Review of Books. Church was my first author interview for WIRoB, and she was simply charming. I will be covering the Speculative Fiction beat from now on. Filed under: Book Reviews Tagged: author interviews, kim church, […]

Bereft in the DC Public Library System and Forthcoming Library Event.

My YA novel Bereft is finally in the DC Public Library system. Now is as good a time as any to announce that a library event is in the works for this spring/summer, to coincide with DC’s LGBT Pride Festival. More information forthcoming.  Filed under: Book Reviews Tagged: BEREFT, dc public library, Events

Samuel R. Delany Roundtable at the Mumpsimus

I’m participating in a roundtable discussion about the work of recently crowned Grand Master of Science Fiction Samuel R. Delany, which was organized by Matthew Cheney at his blog The Mumpsimus. I had the pleasure of taking a class with Mr. Delany back in the late 80s, and he also critiqued my early, jejune fiction. […]

Listen to me read an excerpt of one of the stories in Skin Deep Magic

Here is me reading an excerpt from “Psychometry, or Gone with the Dust,” from my forthcoming collection Skin Deep Magic. Filed under: Book Reviews Tagged: Fiction, gone with the dust, mammy jars, skin deep magic

Race, magic, and Pinterest

I just submitted a clean-up manuscript of my forthcoming collection of dark magical realist fiction that deals with the matter of Race to my publisher. There’s horror, humor, and history in these tales. I have created some Pinterest boards that sort of point toward some of the inspirations. The Skin Deep Magic board features images […]

Existential Horror, 70s-Style in Richard Kelly’s ‘The Box’

I recently saw The Box, a movie by Donnie Darko’s director Richard Kelly, and starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. It was on TV, interrupted by commercials for inane things, so I didn’t get the full immersive effect. I don’t think it was a great movie, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was […]

Fairytale magic in chroma-key, green-screen and shoulder-pads: an appreciation of Faerie Tale Theatre

Back in the 80s, when everyone was wearing neon headbands and parachute pants, I was obsessed with Shelley Duval’s Faerie Tale Theatre. These were live action versions of classic tales, featuring all star casts and notable directors (like Tim Burton). Every weekend, I’d go to the video store and rent a VHS tape.   I […]