Archive for February, 2008

2 items.

American Gods

February 28th, 2008 | by alan

One of my favorite authors is Neil Gaiman.

He just released a free copy of his book American Gods

I don’t know how long it will be available and right now you have to read it online, but Neil wrote on his Blog that eventually he will be able to give it away in an electronic form.

The choice of which book to give away was made by vote on his Blog (”Which one of my books would you give to a friend?”)…I voted for Smoke and Mirrors…but apparently Gaiman fans do not agree with me.

While American Gods is certainly a great book, I thought it was slightly heady, and required some knowledge of mythology and folklore to enjoy, while Smoke and Mirrors is a collection of short stories. Gaiman’s strength lay in his ability to tell a diverse range of stories, and I think this skill is most apparent in his short story collections. His other short story collection  is called Fragile Things.

Regardless, I’m intrigued  by the idea of posting a book online, and I will be interested to find out how many people actually read it in that format.

As the due date approaches….

February 4th, 2008 | by alan

So here I am, six weeks away from the ultimate due date on my debut record. I’m writing the last few cues for Destiny Manifest, I’m recording frantically (I’m shocked by how good my mandolin playing is…however the pleasantness wore off quickly when I realized how bad my nylon string guitar playing has gotten…and you thought I was a bassist?…the bass tracks are SO easy comparatively), and I’m drawing scenes/revising the look of photos like a mad-man.

Interestingly, some of the compositions I’d planned to use for Destiny Manifest were written last year…and they feel alien to me, it’s like I’m trying to force two different composer’s work into the same film.

I’m very excited about the new material, and I’m not so happy with the older material…but I’ve decided that if I keep doing that (deciding the older stuff isn’t as good as the newer stuff) I’m never going to print anything.

As a result, this is coming out… and it’s coming out soon.

And I’m excited…but I’m more excited about the next one.