Guest Post on Protagonize

Hey all, my third "guest" post for Protagonize has just been published, though with three posts I guess I'm more of an irregular contributor than a guest. ANYWAYS. It's on commenting, critiques, and fluffy kittens. Seriously. You'll probably have to read it now.

You can find the post here, on the Ptag Blog.

photo by jonathanb1989

Becoming a Book Worm, Again

Books were a constant companion growing up, and I read a lot throughout grade school. As I grew in age my books grew in length, and soon I was lugging 500 page behemoths to bed. I also did a lot of re-reading, to the point where said 500 page behemoths have been pored over three or four times now, and some of my favourites have been read cover to cover more than five times. A little excessive, but what'd you expect?

Once university hit, though, things changed. Big time.

Reading transformed quite suddenly from a pass time to a chore, from leisure to studies. If I was to read five or six academic articles a week - in addition to textbook readings - then there was no way on this good Earth you'd catch me spending my free time reading for pleasure. There's only so much the eyes can take.

Now that I'm finished, I've started to read for the sheer enjoyment of it once more. And this time 'round I'm testing new waters: eBooks.

My phone has an eReader built in, Chapter/Indigo's Kobo platform. I was skeptical of the reading environment at first, as the touch screen of a phone isn't nearly as large as a page in a paperback, but I've been pleasantly surprised. The convenience of the eReader is also a huge boon. I can squeeze in ten minutes on the bus. Fifteen minutes during breaks at work. A few more minutes at the cafe waiting for a friend to arrive. And then an hour or more ticks by sitting at home or outside. Rad.

I just finished up reading the second book of Kameron Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrypha, a trilogy of books set in the fictional world of Umeyama. It's of the genre I like to call Sci-Fantasy - technology is at a relatively contemporary level, although space travel has been achieved. However, this is bolstered by the presence of magicians, shape-shifters, and mutant strains of insects often fused with technology for human use. I'll leave the explanation at that, and let you check it out.

With the second book behind me, I'm eagerly awaiting the final piece of the series, "Rapture," out in the fall. There are just so many things I love about the style or Kameron's writing and the world that she has crafted. She takes significant influence from Islamic countries in the creation of Umeyama, which is very much refreshing from the Judeo-Christian basis of most Western fantasy. That's not to say Judeo-Christian influence is absent (in fact, I've established that the Ras Tiegan refugees might be descendants of French Catholics), but the incorporation of Islam, even if not explicit, is something I've never seen done and renders the entire series so much more novel. Then add in themes of national identity, gender roles, otherness, and personhood to make the Cultural Studies major inside of me do a little dance. There's just too much to love.

Music Monday: Born to Feel

Alright, this is gonna sound totally lame, but I'm basing this Music Monday entirely off of what Last.fm says was my most played song over the last week. Yah. I've honestly got nothing else for you, as I was working all day (and all weekend, for that matter), and today was a holiday. So content yourself with this.

I've said before that I love Lana Del Rey. I've said before that I love mash-ups. Well, this one here is a mash-up that includes "Born to Die" by Lana. Whoo!

Best of all, the entire album is free to download if you choose. Just head over to the Jane Doze's Soundcloud page.

Music Monday: Wordless

So I've been ever so slowly rewriting the first few chapters of Red King Chronicles over on Protagonize, a process that is taking a lot longer than I first imagined. So far, the edits have been rather minor in terms of the actual events, but have required complete rewrites of large portions of chapters. It's been fun, to say the least.

You might have guessed that I'm one of those people who require background music when writing. Well, that music does a lot to shape the tone of what I'm writing, so the playlist is very important. For this rewrite, and throughout the writing of RKC and a few other stories (cough Oracle cough, I've been listening to ambient music, but not only instrumentals. Delerium is a longtime favourite, and a lot of the vocalists they feature use sounds to convey tone and emotion rather than words. I've also recently discovered a budding artist by the name of David Maxim Micic. It's his music I want to feature today.

As with last week, I'm showcasing multiple songs. Below you should find the complete Bilo EP from the artist's Soundcloud, legally streaming. He's also got a few legal downloads floating around out there, but I haven't tracked them down. Of the four songs (or movements?) on this album, "IV" is definitely my most favourite. Take a listen and you'll soon see why!

Music Monday: Electra Heart

There is no one song for this instalment of Music Monday. This time 'round I'm showcasing an entire album.

Marina and the Diamonds' sophomore record Electra Heart dropped about a week ago, debuting at number one in the UK and Ireland. Looking at the state of pop music, it's easy to see why. Marina has a standout voice, though at times she can pull off a pretty close sound to Katy Perry. It's a break-up album, like Adele's 21, but many of the songs are bass-driven electropop dance anthems. Yah, that's about the best way to describe what's going on here.

I'm also happy to report that we play one of the songs at work, which really isn't too much of a surprise seeing as it was the Gap who introduced me to Marina and the Diamonds in the first place a few years back. As kitschy and inappropriate as it can be sometimes, the Gap really does do a good job staying on top of the scene with its soundtrack.

Anyway, Marina is nice enough to stream a few of the full tracks from Electra Heart on her Soundcloud account. You won't get to hear one of my favourite off the album, though: "Living Dead." For that, hit up iTunes or your favourite record store - online or off - and pick up the full album.