B. Morris Allen's Blog, page 17
August 14, 2016
Songspiration – Dragons I Have Slain
Jon Lord was the keyboard element of Deep Purple, but also an accomplished solo artist. His output was irregular and uneven, but his album Pictured Within is excellent. Early one morning, after dropping my spouse off at the airport, I was listening to this song in the car driving home. I love the song, but when it came to the line “There are dragons I have slain”, I realized that it conflicted with my vegan philosophy. I...
August 7, 2016
Songspiration – Waiting for the Winter
This song by Tony Carey starts with the terrific line: “He knows that winter is coming, and he knows he won’t survive.” I loved the fatalist but determined feel of it. Carey’s version is about Jews in World War II. Mine is about a small group of survivalists facing a nuclear winter.
Planet P was the name under which Carey took on science fiction and political themes. This song was part of a several album...
August 2, 2016
The Definitive Gordon Lightfoot
The first thing to know is that Gordon Lightfoot is still alive, still making music.
The second is that I grew up listening to Gordon Lightfoot records, among many other things. Sundown was on a tape with Neil Diamond’s Stones on the flip side. Another tape had and Don Quixote and Summer Side of Life. Somewhere, we had Cold on the Shoulder. I listened to them all the time. Just so you know where I’m coming from.
Last, by ‘definitive’, I mean, the albums I own – which is a lot, but it’s not ab...
July 31, 2016
Songspiration – Autumn Mist
I loved this song growing up, and still do. I’d like to do an entire anthology of stories based on it, but so far haven’t been able to secure the rights. Still hoping. I wrote this store as a feasibility test of the idea. It tells what happened to Puff after the song ended.
July 26, 2016
Flocks of a Feather
Humans like to be different. More accurately, we like to pretend to be different. We like to pretend that our herd is better than the other herd, that it’s an elite herd. But not too elite, because that would be lonely, and we’re not very good at lonely.
I was at Westercon recently – a convivial gathering of people sharing a non-mainstream interest in science fictiony stuff. People with full body armor talking with those in business casual while they watch the mermaids in the pool outside. Al...
July 24, 2016
Songspiration – Drive Like Lightning…Crash Like Thunder
…Crash Like Thunder
I loved this title, and at first I thought of a solar system race, but that felt too much like Roger Zelazny’s Alien Speedway, so eventually it evolved into a story about alien conflict and tragic misunderstandings. But in a nod to Zelazny, I borrowed the style of one of his stories for the introduction.
July 19, 2016
More F@*%ing Titles
Remember the good old days? When you’d go to a film, and the titles consisted of “Title” and “John Wayne”, and then they’d get right down to the action?
“Wait!” you cry, “That was never true.” Butt out – this is my nostalgia. The point is that films these days have gotten ridiculous. Not only do the titles take up half the film – with another 45% reserved for the credits – they’re ridiculous.
It used to be – in my imagined good old days – that a film was directed by one guy (it was always a g...
July 17, 2016
Songspiration – Blind
This is the first real story I ever wrote. It’s a very literal interpretation of the song, though of course I invented my own science fiction-y interpretation of the backstory – a man trapped in his own mind, who manages to trap his therapist as well.
July 12, 2016
The Sober Cyclist
Portland is a trendy place these days. We’re so far ahead of the curve that we’re starting to circle back. The other day, I considered treating out of town guests by picking up vegan doughnuts at Voodoo Doughnuts – except it’s still so very trendy that the line was an hour long. For the record, Petunia’s Pies and Pastries is all vegan, with a lot less waiting, and a lot more choice.
One of the trends Portland is known for is beer – microbrews, craft brews, artisanal brews, you name a brew, we...
July 5, 2016
Bonfires and Illuminations
Foreigners look at our parade of clowns presidential race and claim they can’t figure us out. Let me make it easy – Americans like to blow things up. Just yesterday, we had Independence Day – when we celebrate our freedom from tyranny by scaring the shit out of animals across the country. I’m pretty sure that when John Adams said we should celebrate with “pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other”, he was r...
