#mexican free taled bat
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Book 12, 2024
God I love Silvia Moreno-Garcia. "Gods of Jade and Shadow" is the third book of hers I've read and it did not let me down, while reinforcing that one of the things I love about Moreno-Garcia's writing is how uninterested she is in marrying herself to genre. She has themes and motifs she is interested in and revisits, but recognizes that the space she has to explore them is infinite.
Set in 1920s Mexico, teenaged Casiopea, resented and treated like a servant by most of her family, accidentally frees a Mayan death god whose bones were being kept in a chest in her grandfather's room. Inadvertently bound to the resurrected but depowered god, Casiopea seizes the unlikely opportunity for freedom and sets out to help Hun-Kamé find the pieces of him that are still missing and restore him to the throne taken from him by his twin brother.
The friend who was recommending it compared it to Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" and that is a good reference point, always being ware of how imprecision and marketing language can make that slide into "POPULAR THING BUT X" (my friend was not doing this, she is very wise and good of taste). A human in a tough spot becomes the guide/ally of a god on a road novel quest in a (comparatively) modern setting. But of course, Gaiman was not doing anything unique in placing figures from mythology into a contemporary setting, nor in his fundamental linking of human belief to mythology its shaping our gods (it's a recurring idea in the work of Terry Pratchett and probably stretches back to James George Frazer's "The Golden Bough", at least in the context of Euro-centric works).
Besides, it's understood that "American Gods" was essentially fanfic of Diana Wynne Jones' "Eight Days of Luke".
In some ways, the "American Gods" comparison undersells what "Gods of Jade and Shadow" is, because one of Moreno-Garcia's strengths is the sense of identity and drive and longing in her protagonists (Gaiman's Shadow is passive, witnessing and experiencing, but rarely doing). There's a ravenous hunger to Casiopea that I recognize from "Untamed Shore" and "Mexican Gothic", and I doubt it's coincidence that Moreno-Garcia, with her interest in colonialism in Mexico, sets all three of those novels in a time and place where the country and people are trying to shape themselves around historical European and contemporary American presences. It's a coming of age story and a story about identity, about how to adapt to change without losing what made you (and how you can share blood with someone while being fundamentally different and opposed). It's a hero's story (not in the Hero's Journey Call Reject the Call and all that), a questing story, a fairy tale.
It's really a perfect road novel buddy adventure with Casiopea and Kun-Kamé relying on each other and learning and growing together as they go from Casiopea's small town, eventually crossing the border into America. They encounter a few other mythological figures, including KAMAZOTZ THE GIANT DEATH BAT. Moreno-Garcia commits to the blood and bone and death of her chosen focus, complete with throat slicing and human sacrifices, without making a moral fuss about it, or indeed dwelling excessively on filling the reader in. There's a little glossary in the back, but Moreno-Garcia isn't interested in holding your hand and teaching you while she's trying to tell you a story. Imagine if you had to sit through an explanation of the Persephone myth every time it showed up in something fantasy adjacent.
Two things in particular caught my attention, distinguishing "Gods of Jade and Shadow" from similar books. The first is that the gods and myths present are entirely Mayan in nature, with one exception - Loray, a French demon, who came to Mexico with French colonialists and couldn't find his way back. There's otherwise no mention of other gods, other stories. Mexico is a country that has been colonized, its indigenous peoples suppressed by Europeans and their culture, but little of what they bring truly takes root in the new world.
The second is the matter of belief. In his Discworld novels, Pratchett presents gods being created and sustained by mortal beliefs. Gaiman similarly ties the vitality of gods and similar forces to their presence and relevance for humanity, in multiple works. Moreno-Garcia's gods are something deeper than their relationship with humanity, sustained by something deep in the earth of the country. Kun-Kamé is not weak because he is no longer worshipped in the Mexico of the 1920s, he's weak because he's had pieces of himself severed and scattered. He does not need Casiopea to believe to find them or to reassemble them; they're physical items and once found are part of him once more. That's not to say the gods are severed from humanity, but there's a sense of choice. Kun-Kamé's conflict with his brother is partially because of disagreement over how they should exist with and alongside the mortal realm, with Kun-Kamé seeing their time as being at an end, while Vucub-Kamé wants to flex their divine powers again and guide humanity back to the glory days of blood sacrifices. It doesn't even seem to be, necessarily, that this will materially change things for the gods. It's just something Vucub-Kamé wants. The divine conflict of the novel is ultimately a question with an answer balanced carefully between acknowledging the the truth of the past while also recognizing the futility in trying to return to it.
A lot of things are lost in the course of "Gods of Jade and Shadow" and Moreno-Garcia acknowledges those losses, but never restores things to the way they were. It makes for a beautiful, engaging novel that is never soft. The grit and pain are important.
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My favorite fanfics are Nobody Dies (NGE), Crush (Gurren Lagann), and Reflections (Tales of the Abyss).
Austin has a large colony of Mexican Free Tailed Bats that live under Congress Avenue Bridge. Watching them migrate is a tourist attraction of sorts.
While Arachne cannot get drunk off of caffeine like a spider, being an absolute titan of a woman (6’3 at her smallest, much larger in Joro and Outer Forms) means she needs a shitton to feel anything.
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I a big fan of this young man
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Describing Fights, a Vital Skill!
It was a simpler time…
One quality I love about pulps and classic science fiction works is how much physical confrontation is in them. Whether it involves mech suits, killer drones, shooting, swords, fisticuffs, or wrestling, there was heaps of full-blooded action. And it’s seemingly simple, right? Just write about one man punching another! How hard that can be?
And yet, as with many writing skills that critics thumb their noses at, it’s a rare author who can do it effectively! What can we learn from the old masters, and what pitfalls should we avoid? Let’s look at a few different approaches;
Detailed Description-
Typically, this means specific listing of everything involved in the action scene, from the movements themselves to the surroundings to the state of the combatants. The author will describe the arc of the punch, how his right foot is positioned, the sweat greasing the fighter’s brow, the fluorescent light shining in his eyes, and many other details. Even a short, single encounter can be described over multiple pages. An example of this style is present in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. Here is a part, not even the whole passage, of an unimportant fight Bond engages in with an unnamed Mexican gangster at the beginning of Goldfinger;
The gesture of the hand slipping into the coat was so well known to Bond, so full of old dangers, that, when the hand flashed out and the long silver finger went for his throat, Bond was on balance and ready for it.
Almost automatically, Bond went into the ‘Parry Defence against Underhand Thrust’ out of the book. His right arm cut across, his body swivelling with it. The two forearms met mid-way between the two bodies, banging the Mexican’s knife arm off target and opening his guard for a crashing short-arm chin jab with Bond’s left. Bond’s stiff, locked wrist had not travelled far, perhaps two feet, but the heel of his palm, with fingers spread for rigidity, had come up and under the man’s chin with terrific force. The blow almost lifted the man off the sidewalk. Perhaps it had been that blow that had killed the Mexican, broken his neck, but as he staggered back on his way to the ground, Bond had drawn back his right hand and slashed sideways at the taut, offered throat. It was the deadly hand-edge blow to the Adam’s apple, delivered with the fingers locked into a blade, that had been the stand-by of the Commandos. If the Mexican was still alive, he was certainly dead before he hit the ground.
Bond stood for a moment, his chest heaving, and looked at the crumpled pile of cheap clothes flung down in the dust. He glanced up and down the street. There was no one. Some cars passed. Others had perhaps passed during the fight, but it had been in the shadows. Bond knelt down beside the body. There was no pulse. Already the eyes that had been so bright with marihuana were glazing. The house in which the Mexican had lived was empty. The tenant had left.
Again, keep in mind that this isn’t the entirety of the description, and is part of a flashback at the beginning, before the story truly begins! Now, I’ve read all of the Ian Fleming Bond books, and consider them enjoyable enough, but nothing special. That also applies to the fight scenes. The one above is serviceable and has a pleasing, poetic conclusion, but several details actively hinder a reader conjuring up the scene in his head, instead of aiding him. For instance, what the hell is a “crashing short-arm chin jab” and what does it look like? I was an amateur boxer and have never heard of such a strike! Right off the bat, the book’s description collides with my own mental vision of what Bond’s punch looks like after he stopped the knife thrust.
And that’s generally true of this approach. It can work for the right author, and the success of the Bond books is testament to that, but there is always the danger that over-describing will conflict with the reader’s own picture of the events. To use a painting analogy, there are too many brushstrokes, and it’s easy to get one wrong, as with the “crashing short-arm chin jab”.
More Focused Description-
Instead of describing everything, the author chooses to hone in on several particular features of the struggle. Fights can still be long, and there is plenty of detail on the key elements, but not all aspects of the fight are given attention. Consider, for instance, a portion of the combat in Howard’s Queen of the Black Coast;
Then something swept down across the stars and struck the sword near him. Twisting about, he saw it—the winged one!
With fearful speed it was rushing upon him, and in that instant Conan had only a confused impression of a gigantic man-like shape hurtling along on bowed and stunted legs; of huge hairy arms outstretching misshapen black-nailed paws; of a malformed head, in whose broad face the only features recognizable as such were a pair of blood-red eyes. It was a thing neither man, beast, nor devil, imbued with characteristics subhuman as well as characteristics superhuman.
But Conan had no time for conscious consecutive thought. He threw himself toward his fallen sword, and his clawing fingers missed it by inches. Desperately he grasped the shard which pinned his legs, and the veins swelled in his temples as he strove to thrust it off him. It gave slowly, but he knew that before he could free himself the monster would be upon him, and he knew that those black-taloned hands were death.
The headlong rush of the winged one had not wavered. It towered over the prostrate Cimmerian like a black shadow, arms thrown wide—a glimmer of white flashed between it and its victim.
Notice that the way in which Conan grasps for his sword, or the manner in which the winged one rushes towards Conan is described simply, and left up to the reader’s imagination. However, the physical characteristics of the antagonist, as well as the desperate, panicked nature of the situation are made abundantly clear to the reader. This particular battle is picturesque and poetic, and is a good example of why I like the approach. Those important details that the reader might not be able to imagine himself are given plenty of brush strokes, but the rest is done more minimally, as one can handle it without the author’s intercession. Of course, that doesn’t mean that merely adopting this style will yield instant success. One still has to know what is important in painting the scene and what isn’t, and be skilled in describing the former!
Terse Description-
Here, the author will only describe the minimal amount to convey the scene. Nothing more. Here, for instance, are three different action scenes from Philip Jose Farmer’s Rastignac the Devil;
As they left, Rastignac saw a cloaked figure slinking from the back door of the Ministry. Seized with intuition, he tackled the figure. It was an Amphib-changeling. Rastignac struck the Amphib with a venomous arrow before the Water-human could cry out or stab back. Mapfarity grabbed up the limp Amphib and they raced for the safety of the castle.
Within a minute the square had erupted into a fighting mob. Staggering, red-eyed, slur-tongued, their long-repressed hostility against each other, released by the liquor which their bodies were unaccustomed to, Human, Ssassaror and Amphib fell to with the utmost will, slashing, slugging, fighting with everything they had.
They began unloading the chests while Rastignac kept an eye on Lusine. He saw her run up, stop, say a few words to the Amphib King, then kneel and stab him, burying the knife in his jugular vein. Then, before anybody could stop her she had applied her mouth to the cut in his neck. The Human-King kicked her in the ribs and sent her rolling down the steps. Rastignac saw correctly that it was not her murderous deed that caused his reaction. It was because she had dared to commit it without his permission and had also drunk the royal blood first.
This might seem like it’s not nearly enough brush strokes. And yet, the story is thrilling and full of adventure! These short, violent scenes are plentiful, and each does just enough to allow one to picture what is going on. They are not poetic, but they are fun and action-packed, especially within the context of the rest of the tale. While it worked for Farmer and a few others, I consider this a very challenging style. It’s so easy to have one’s description end up drab and lifeless. It takes a great author to build the proper story around these scenes and maximize the minimalist description to create an exciting, vivid vision for the reader.
Description Reminiscent of a Hollywood Movie or Video Game-
This is a common pitfall for many newer works, and one I’ve mentioned before in my columns. Reading the scene, it’s ripped wholesale from a generic Hollywood CGI blockbuster or a popular first-person shooter. There is no imagination, just the same scene millions have seen on a screen. Not only is this dull and uninspiring, it always makes me wonder why I’m bothering reading this instead of playing the game or watching the movie, instead? I read books for something different and unique, not a watered-down version of what other mediums are offering. Avoid this, regardless of one’s style of description!
Describing Fights, a Vital Skill! published first on http://ift.tt/2zdiasi
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Walling Off Wildlife
The Trump administration pushes forward with plan to wall off wildlife.
While the president continues his bombastic border wall talk and the administration and Congress argue over funding for this monstrosity, construction equipment is already moving in, land is being cleared and people and wildlife are being displaced in the borderlands of California and Texas.
By Hook or by Crook
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already waived a host of environmental and other laws in order to expand the border wall along a 15-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego, California. Defenders, along with a coalition of national conservation groups, sued to stop this unlawful overreach of the authority provided by Congress in the Real ID Act of 2005.
Similarly, in Texas the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have started clearing land, taking soil samples and conducting tests in areas where they plan to build new border wall – often without even notifying the landowners or the public of their actions. This was the case when the managers of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, discovered industrial mowers stripping vegetation from their land and imperiling more than 200 species of butterflies.
Now, CBP is trying to conceal efforts to build a 60-mile extension through the area that includes two national wildlife refuges and important habitat for the endangered ocelot and jaguarundi.
In a letter recently sent to a select group of stakeholders earlier this month, CBP requested comments on the proposed construction of 60 miles of border wall that would cut through parts of the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, the National Butterfly Center and the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. The letter appears to be a dubious ploy to claim that the agency is fulfilling its obligation to “seek public comment,” while not actually making the public aware of their plans. Perhaps even they realize what a terrible idea it is to construct a barrier through these sensitive habitats and critical wildlife corridors that support countless species of wildlife, including more than 500 species of birds, 300 butterfly species and 1,200 plant species.
A Tale of Two Refuges
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge
Few places in the Western Hemisphere exhibit such a diversity of flora and fauna as the lower Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, home to the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. While small in size, the Santa Ana Refuge contains an abundance of neotropical songbirds, raptors, mammals and reptiles, including the nine-banded armadillo, Texas tortoise, Mexican free-tailed bat. It is also home to more than 400 bird species, more than 300 species of butterflies –half of all butterfly species found in North America – and more than 450 varieties of plants.
The refuge also provides habitat for at least eight species protected under the Endangered Species Act, including the highly-imperiled ocelot and jaguarundi. With fewer than 50 left in the United States, the refuge is essential to ocelot recovery.
Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge
Comprising several units along the Rio Grande, the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge helps protect a crucial link between coastal and river wildlife corridors. The various refuge units are located at the nexus of four climate zones – tropical, temperate, coastal and desert – and at the confluence of the Mississippi and Central flyways, making the region one of the most diverse conservation areas in North America. The Lower Rio Grande Valley is home to more than 700 vertebrate species, 300 species of butterfly and at least 18 threatened or endangered species, including the highly-endangered ocelot and jaguarundi.
The Lower Rio Grande Valley refuge complex conserves Mid-Delta Thorn Forest, a rare forest type that provides habitat for an array of small mammals and birds and serves as a key hunting ground for the ocelot. As the thorn forest has continued to diminish over the years, ocelots have been forced to cross open fields and been exposed to more dangers from vehicular traffic and predators. Further degradation of this crucial habitat from wall construction could prove devastating to the dwindling U.S. population of ocelots.
A Decisive Blow to Wildlife
The construction of an impenetrable wall through these refuges would fragment riparian habitats, block migration corridors for rare migratory birds and imperiled species, degrade and destroy habitat, and disrupt nesting, breeding and foraging by countless birds and other wildlife. Levee walls, which are proposed for at least 28 miles along this route, can trap wildlife and drown animals during severe flooding events.
Both refuges serve as important migration corridors for animals like the ocelot and jaguarundi, who travel back and forth from Mexico to the U.S. These rare cats would be cut off from crucial habitat affecting their dispersal and their potential to establish new resident populations in the U.S. The noise from increased vehicle traffic and lighting along the border wall could also greatly impair these animals’ ability to hunt and alter the behavior of their prey.
No Longer the “Land of the Free” for Wildlife
A border wall offends our core American values – freedom, equality, justice and the preservation of our natural heritage. For wildlife in the borderlands, a wall would set back decades of conservation success in the region.
We are the guardians of these imperiled animals and at Defenders we are fighting to make sure they have a voice and can continue to recover and prosper in our country. The illicit and secretive actions by the current administration would have disastrous consequences for wildlife.
Tell CPB and the administration that you oppose any border wall construction that would destroy vital wildlife habitat on our national wildlife refuges and public lands.
Defenders is committed to protecting human communities, wildlife and habitat threatened by a border wall. We have joined a diverse coalition of conservation, human rights, civil rights, religious and other groups to mount substantial opposition. Please join us in this important fight.
The post Walling Off Wildlife appeared first on Defenders of Wildlife Blog.
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Sets 1-10 Summary
Liked Songs: 5743/10040
Included Artists: 109
Top 250 Countdown Playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/user/rhwilk/playlist/52LRdhsUpXPxCZlX503NLL
Top Artists (by Top 250 influence):
Pink Floyd (10.999)
Rush (5.584)
Art Blakey (3.959)
Alice in Chains (3.867)
Arctic Monkeys (3.840)
AC/DC (3.777)
Andrew Bird (3.448)
Andrew Jackson Jihad (3.421)
Aretha Franklin (3.380)
Band Of Skulls (2.412)
Audioslave (2.355)
B.B. King (2.274)
Arcade Fire (2.169)
Albert King (2.136)
Aerosmith (2.127)
Bad Religion (1.952)
A Perfect Circle (1.739)
Bad Company (1.495)
Attack In Black (1.186)
Alvin Lee (1.178)
Ahmad Jamal (1.123)
Badfinger (1.095)
Ayreon (1.076)
Alt-J (.941)
Andre Previn (.936)
Archive (.891)
Arlo Guthrie (.854)
Andromeda (UK) (.849)
Astrud Gilberto (.814)
Al Di Meola (.782)
Babe Ruth (.768)
Barrett Strong (.719)
Acroma (.699)
Barry McGuire (.692)
Argent (.655)
Andrea Bocelli (.615)
Antonio Carlos Jobim (.612)
Andrew Lloyd Webber (.599)
Angra (.554)
Anberlin (.533)
Andy Timmons (.528)
ABBA (.433)
Adele (.404)
Al Stewart (.38)
Arlen Roth (.338)
Anthony Gomes (.305)
Alabama Shakes (.294)
Avenged Sevenfold (.279)
AFI (.217)
An Endless Sporadic (.194)
10cc (.176)
Astronautalis (.154)
Ananda Shankar (.147)
Armageddon (’70s) (.144)
Art Farmer (.135)
Andromeda (Sweden) (.128)
American Football (.119)
Anti-Flag (.092)
Altamont (.078)
Atomic Rooster (.069)
Barenaked Ladies (.058)
Apocalyptica (.047)
ASHES dIVIDE (.031)
? and the Mysterians (.004)
Complete Top 250 List (by ranking):
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5) - Pink Floyd
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
2112 - Rush
Highway To Hell - AC/DC
Nutshell - Alice In Chains
Respect - Aretha Franklin
Rooster - Alice In Chains
Us And Them - Pink Floyd
Back In Black - AC/DC
Money - Pink Floyd
YYZ - Rush
Them Bones - Alice In Chains
Show Me How To Live - Audioslave
People - Andrew Jackson Jihad
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 6-9) - Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Day After Day - Badfinger
A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left - Andrew Bird
Bad Company - Bad Company
Alice's Restaurant Massacre - Arlo Guthrie
Chain Of Fools - Aretha Franklin
Do Me A Favour - Arctic Monkeys
Three White Horses - Andrew Bird
Cochise - Audioslave
Train Kept A Rollin' - Aerosmith
Everyday I Have The Blues - B.B. King
Think - Aretha Franklin
Again - Archive
Big Bird - Andrew Jackson Jihad
The Girl From Ipanema - Astrud Gilberto
Moanin' - Art Blakey
The Outsider - A Perfect Circle
La Villa Strangiato - Rush
The View From The Afternoon - Arctic Monkeys
I Know What I Am - Band Of Skulls
The Great Gig In The Sky - Pink Floyd
The Hunter - Albert King
Would? - Alice In Chains
Money - Barrett Strong
Cut And Run - Attack In Black
Fuller Love - Art Blakey
Sweet Sour - Band Of Skulls
Eve Of Destruction - Barry McGuire
Return To Sanity - Andromeda (UK)
Echoes - Pink Floyd
Working Man - Rush
The Noose - A Perfect Circle
The Spirit Of Radio - Rush
Tom Sawyer - Rush
People II 2: Still Peoplin' - Andrew Jackson Jihad
Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles) - Arcade Fire
Shooting Star - Bad Company
21st Century - Bad Religion
I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
Con Te Partiro - Andrea Bocelli
E.T.A. - Art Blakey
A Night In Tunisia - Art Blakey
Orpheo Looks Back - Andrew Bird
Born Under A Bad Sign - Albert King
Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys
We're Only Gonna Die - Bad Religion
Dream On - Aerosmith
Fitzpleasure - alt-J
Dark Matter - Andrew Bird
Running Alone - Angra
My Body Is A Cage - Arcade Fire
Sun Rises Down - Acroma
Nobody Home - Pink Floyd
Poinciana - Ahmad Jamal
Sheep - Pink Floyd
Hey You - Pink Floyd
It's Only A Paper Moon - Art Blakey
Kyoto - Art Blakey
Sweet Sixteen - B.B. King
Light Of The Morning - Band Of Skulls
Truckers are the Blood - Andrew Jackson Jihad
Wake Up - Arcade Fire
Wells Fargo - Babe Ruth
Broken Things - Attack In Black
Cygnus X-1 - Rush
Cry For You - Andy Timmons
Ocean Of Noise - Arcade Fire
The Bluest Blues - Alvin Lee
Seasons Of Wither - Aerosmith
Mediterranean Sundance - Al Di Meola
Sail Away To Avalon - Ayreon
Day Sixteen: Loser - Ayreon
Boot Stamping On A Human Face Forever - Bad Religion
Feel Good Drag - Anberlin
I Remember You - Andre Previn
Rolling in the Deep - Adele
Pigs (Three Different Ones) - Pink Floyd
Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2 - Pink Floyd
Thunderstruck - AC/DC
Let There Be Rock - AC/DC
Like Love - Andre Previn
Fake Palindromes - Andrew Bird
Hold Your Head Up - Argent
Dr. Feelgood - Aretha Franklin
Still Take You Home - Arctic Monkeys
Whole Lotta Rosie - AC/DC
Hells Bells - AC/DC
Autumn Leaves - Ahmad Jamal
Race With Devil On Spanish Highway - Al Di Meola
Roads To Moscow - Al Stewart
When A Man Loves A Woman - Arlen Roth
R U Mine? - Arctic Monkeys
Please Come Back To Me - Albert King
Roadhouse Blues - Albert King
Something Good - alt-J
S.O.S. - ABBA
Darkest Before The Dawn - Anthony Gomes
Tema Jazz - Antonio Carlos Jobim
I'm Going Home - Alvin Lee
Walk This Way - Aerosmith
The Necromancer - Rush
Judith - A Perfect Circle
The Mexican - Babe Ruth
Ghetto Woman - B.B. King
Wave - Antonio Carlos Jobim
The Phantom Of The Opera - Andrew Lloyd Webber
Chains And Things - B.B. King
A Natural Woman - Aretha Franklin
Shadow On The Sun - Audioslave
Heaven On Their Minds - Andrew Lloyd Webber
No One - Andrew Jackson Jihad
Bat Country - Avenged Sevenfold
Incomplete - Bad Religion
Death By Diamonds And Pearls - Band Of Skulls
Always Alright - Alabama Shakes
Over Now - Alice In Chains
Cold Fame - Band Of Skulls
Baby Blue - Badfinger
Day Eleven: Love - Ayreon
Ahmad's Blues - Ahmad Jamal
Goodbye Blue Sky - Pink Floyd
Atom Heart Mother Suite - Pink Floyd
Miss Murder - AFI
How Blue Can You Get? - B.B. King
Impulse - An Endless Sporadic
Sweet Little Angel - B.B. King
Doesn't Remind Me - Audioslave
#1 Zero - Audioslave
Interstellar Overdrive - Pink Floyd
The Wall Street Shuffle - 10cc
As The Years Go Passing By - Albert King
Fearless - Pink Floyd
Distance - Andrew Jackson Jihad
When To Stop - Andromeda (UK)
Paranoid Eyes - Pink Floyd
Orbitals - Acroma
Xanadu - Rush
Run Like Hell - Pink Floyd
Is There Anybody Out There? - Pink Floyd
Buzzard - Armageddon
Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But... - Arctic Monkeys
Dat Dere - Art Blakey
The Aztec Suite - Art Farmer
Measure The Globe - Astronautalis
Have A Cigar - Pink Floyd
Dogs - Pink Floyd
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! - ABBA
Sagar - Ananda Shankar
(*Fin) - Anberlin
Morphing Into Nothing - Andromeda (Sweden)
Hate, Rain on Me - Andrew Jackson Jihad
Cast Your Spell Uranus - Argent
From The Ritz To The Rubble - Arctic Monkeys
I Never Loved A Man - Aretha Franklin
Dancing Shoes - Arctic Monkeys
Be Free - Argent
Fool - Archive
Die For The Government - Anti-Flag
Someday My Prince Will Come - Andre Previn
Skin Is, My - Andrew Bird
Danse Caribe - Andrew Bird
Overdose - AC/DC
Liar - Argent
Easter Sunday - Altamont
Rotten Apple - Alice In Chains
Honestly? - American Football
Rocker - AC/DC
It's A Long Way To The Top - AC/DC
Heartilation - Andrew Jackson Jihad
Groove Or Die - Andy Timmons
You Ain't Alone - Alabama Shakes
Left Hand Free - alt-J
Jailbreak - AC/DC
Brian Wilson - Barenaked Ladies
The Defense - Bad Religion
Devil's Answer - Atomic Rooster
Live Wire - AC/DC
Everything's Alright - Andrew Lloyd Webber
Beating Around The Bush - AC/DC
One - Apocalyptica
The Summer Ends - American Football
Year Of The Cat - Al Stewart
Off Key (Desafinado) - Antonio Carlos Jobim
Sprawl II - Arcade Fire
Why I Sing The Blues - B.B. King
And All Things Will End - Avenged Sevenfold
Devil's In My Den - Ahmad Jamal
Pigs On The Wing (Part One) - Pink Floyd
O Morro - Astrud Gilberto
The Stone - ASHES dIVIDE
Gone With The Wind - Andre Previn
Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 1 - Pink Floyd
Give My Regards To Broadway - Andre Previn
Jumpin' Jack Flash - Ananda Shankar
Careful With That Axe Eugene - Pink Floyd
Pet - A Perfect Circle
The Wondersmith And His Sons - Astronautalis
Measuring Cups - Andrew Bird
All I Ask Of You - Andrew Lloyd Webber
Epiphany - Bad Religion
Empty Form - A Life Once Lost
By-Tor And The Snow Dog - Rush
The Quickening - Bad Religion
Lay My Head Down - Band Of Skulls
The Music Of The Night - Andrew Lloyd Webber
St. Francis Reel - Andrew Bird
Tenuousness - Andrew Bird
Crescendo of Thoughts - Andromeda (Sweden)
6 to 8 - AFI
King Kong - Babe Ruth
Gershatzer - Atomic Rooster
Finding My Way - Rush
Winter - Atomic Rooster
Laughing At The Blues - Arlen Roth
When The Sun Goes Down - Arctic Monkeys
God Called In Sick Today - AFI
The Nile Song - Pink Floyd
96 Tears - ? and the Mysterians
I Stay Away - Alice In Chains
Border Song - Aretha Franklin
Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys
White Face, Black Eyes - Andrew Jackson Jihad
Chameleon Carneval - Andromeda (Sweden)
This Time Imperfect - AFI
Fake Tales Of San Francisco - Arctic Monkeys
Guilt: The Song - Andrew Jackson Jihad
Black Dog - Babe Ruth
Candle in the Wind - Andrew Jackson Jihad
High Hopes - Pink Floyd
The Sixth Extinction - Ayreon
The Sky Is Crying - Albert King
Spanish for Monsters - Andrew Bird
I Won't See You Tonight Part 1 - Avenged Sevenfold
Evil Twin - Arctic Monkeys
I'll Play The Blues For You - Albert King
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L. Ron Hubbard's Advice To Writers
L. Ron Hubbard, prolific writer and founder of Scientology, holds the Guinness Book of Records for most published works.
1. Just write. I used to put a roll of butcher paper into my typewriter and bang out whatever came to mind. I’ll admit it; sometimes even I thought it was a load of gobbledegook, but people bought it.
2. Remember: The purpose of writing is to transmit your unique experience of the world (or in my case, the galaxy) to another person’s brain. I always remained true to my vision, and look how successful I was! Today, thousands of people – Tom Cruise! John Travolta! David Miscavige! – share my very own mental outlook.
3. Aliens. If you’ve gone a bit overboard in creating your narrative and you’re struggling to find a way to explain it all, you can always fall back on the use of aliens. Never use a dream. Only lesser writers do this.
4. Don’t reveal everything straight away. Build suspense, keep people guessing and lead them into your fiction bit by bit. Do you think anyone would have stuck with me if I had started raving about a galactic overlord blowing beings up in volcanoes 75 million years ago, because there were too many Chevies on the road, straight off the bat?
5. Immersive experience. Try to keep people as immersed in your world as possible. If this requires imprisoning them in work-camps or herding them all onto a ship for a few months to look for buried treasure you may have hidden along the Mediterranean coast in your past life as a Venetian Prince, so be it.
6. Make your readers use their imaginations. For example, I make my readers bring their own (traumatic) experiences and constructed tales of past lives to my narrative, thereby making them more engaged in my fiction.
7. Superpowers sell. This is something even a lesser imaginative mind like Marvel understood. Part of my success is down to the fact that my tales hold the promise of healing powers, infra-red vision and ESP.
8. Have a Plan B. Writing is hardly a lucrative business. If you want to make real money, you’ll have to employ your writerly skills in other ways. I used mine to start a religion, but not everyone can do this. It’s not all about taking people on an intriguing journey and character arc (or bridge) with the promise of ever-increasing knowledge and fulfilment. You also need to be a genius who can communicate with intergalactic beings and control people’s minds.
9. It is important to construct your persona as a writer. So tell everyone you sank two Japanese submarines in the Second World War instead of accidentally shelling a Mexican island. This is something even a lesser writer like Hemingway understood.
10. Critics are fair game. If someone gives you a bad review, feel free to harass, blackmail or assault them, and poison their dogs.
11. The key to becoming as prolific, rich and influential as me…To access this advice, please complete a short test at scientology.org to check that you are adequately mentally competent to handle this life-changing information that will take you to the next level as a writer. Hurry. Your success and your future depend on it!
L. Ron Hubbard’s Advice To Writers was originally published on National Lampoon | The Humor Magazine Est 1970
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