August 26 round-up

It’s been an August which saw severe drought across the UK, and wild fires raging in South Wales, so we went to bed with acrid fumes every night. Against this backdrop there are plans to build huge data centres in Cardiff which will use water, generate fumes and add to pollution. I mean, yeah, let’s prioritise AI over people.

We had a staycation this month – in the correct sense of that term in that we stayed at home, not just holidayed in the UK. We went to the Big Pit museum, where you can have a tour of a mine. It could be subtitled “capitalism is terrible”, because you gain a very real appreciation that the only consideration was the maximum extraction of resource for the minimum cost. You don’t need to build tunnels tall enough for people to stand, or allow pit ponies to go up to see light, or provide clean working conditions if you can get away with it. All during the tour I kept thinking that all of this extraction at the cost of human safety and comfort has a lot of echoes with AI. Glad we learned that lesson then.

On a more cheery note, it’s been like the old days with doing three online chats. Firstly, Clint Lalonde and I did a show for DS106 Radio Summer Camp, (I’ll blog this later), then I did a chat with my barber who shares clips on men’s mental health, and lastly I had my third appearance on the fabulous Gettin’ Air show with Terry Greene, talking about my new life as indie horror author.

Writing

My new book, The H-Index, is out on September 1st, so I’ve been engaging in some self-promotion. As an indie author you have to do this, but I don’t like it and I’m not very good at it. I mentioned in the previous post the various tools and platforms that can help. One fun thing I did do (well, I enjoyed it anyway) was to post a picture a day over on Instagram of a copy of the book with a relevant record (that I also own). Some of these are directly related, as in they are mentioned in the book, and others have a thematic relevance. Giving characters a musical taste is a convenient shorthand to their personality, but it can be overdone. Anyway, here are the ten records and my reasoning behind them:

• The Cure: Acoustic Hits. In the opening scene, the main character, Hazel, is driving to the writing retreat in West Wales where the action takes place. She is listening to this album in her car and thinking about the relaunch of her career that the writing retreat will afford.
  Of course, things don’t quite go as planned…
• Women in Revolt: Various. A collection of female punk bands. In the book, Becky is an early career researcher in folklore and feminism. She has a playlist titled “Righteously Angry Women”. I think the Slits would definitely be on that playlist. Becky is probably my favourite character in the book – smart, working class and sassy.
• Kate Bush: Hounds of Love. The novel is based around academics on a writing retreat where a confluence of events leads to the resurrection of an ancient bog demon, the Hen Wrach.
  So, Waking the Witch on this album is the ideal track. It also has a dislocated, other-worldly sound that reflects the manner in which the academics find themselves cut off from their normal environment.
• Radiohead: OK Computer. The academics in the book are all attempting to finish publications which will get them prestige. The H-index is a metric for measuring academic impact (and does double duty for the witch assessing the victims in the book).
  Fitter, Happier by Radiohead captures that metric, data goal based approach to life that drives so much of modern life.
• Florence and the Machine: Lungs. The main character, Hazel, a marine biologist is hoping to relaunch her research career at the writing retreat in the book. Dogs Day Are Over, a song of reinvention seems apt and she also has a cool dog, Sadie. Also, the woman leading the writing retreat, Lisa, is a keen runner, and I feel that this is the sort of track she might have on her running playlist.
• Boards of Canada: Music Has the Right to Children. In the book one of the academics is Nasir, a young AI researcher. He listens to Vaporwave music. I don’t actually own records of that genre but Boards of Canada have been labelled proto-vaporwave. Plus the cover has a spooky quality.
• Fleetwood Mac: Fleetwood Mac. The Hen Wrach witch in the book is based on a figure in Welsh folklore. The song, Rhiannon , by Fleetwood Mac is about Rhiannon from the Welsh myth of Mabinogion. She is a powerful, intelligent and wise Queen in the tales, described as “one of the great female personalities in World literature”.
  There aren’t that many modern songs about the Mabinogion, and one of the characters in the book is an expert in female representation in folklore so would definitely know of Rhiannon.
• PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Love. The track Down by the Water is a dark, brooding song full of menace. The old local fisherman, Gryff, tells a tale of mermaids stealing a child for revenge, which this song could soundtrack. Water plays a big part in the novel – the academics are cut off because of a flooded road, the witch arises from a bog and the sea offers a possible salvation.
• Oasis: Definitely, Maybe.The host of the writing retreat are a married couple, Teddy and Catriona. Teddy describes himself as a simple man, he loves rugby, a full breakfast and his wife. The song Live Forever is playing at a pivotal moment as he attempts to ford the flooded road that has cut them off.
• This Mortal Coil: It’ll End in Tears. Song to the Siren encapsulates a lot of the book, but I hadn’t appreciated that until I came to think of these posts. The witch emits an unnerving cry that the people hear before they know what is happening to them. It has a particular affect on Catriona, the host of the writing retreat. Also, the song is spooky, ethereal and like a summons from another world.

Books

For all the opinions (so many opinions!) about Nolan’s The Odyssey, it’s impact on the profile of Greek mythology has been undeniable. When we went to Hay during our staycation, just about every bookshop led their displays with various versions of Homer plus related works. The movie also led me to read Homer Haunted, a deeply knowledgeable journey through the various translations and interpretations of Homer’s classics. It teaches you a lot about poetry, the nature of translation and how each age takes what it needs from these works.

On a very different track, I’ve been on a music book riff this month. Peter Ormerod’s David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God, examines the influence of spirituality on Bowie’s work. Ormerod is very good at dissecting Bowie’s music, but overall the book had the strange effect of making me admire Bowie less. His much vaunted chameleon tendencies are intriguing when it comes to musical styles, but seem rather trite as he dips in and out of Christianity, paganism, buddhism, gnostism, the occult and fascism. The music it led to may be fascinating, but I don’t think pop stars are where to go to for insights into religion.

On the other hand, readers of this blog may be aware of my long-time appreciation of the band, Prefab Sprout. I feel that their admirers, such as Stuart Maconie, Richard Osman, Tim Burgess, are like members of a benign cult. We can’t understand why everyone doesn’t appreciate the genius of Paddy McAloon. We’re like the ancient mariner, stopping one in three and asking “have you come to the way of the great McAloon?”. So I was delighted that there is finally a good book about the group, Nige Tassell’s Truly Gifted Kids. Tassell is a fully paid up member of the Paddy Appreciation Society and the book is constructed around short essays that recount and explore different aspects of the group. Feel the love.

Vinyl

British trio, mary in the junkyard (yes, it’s lower case), released their debut album Role Model Hermit. Related to my book promo above, in our radio show Clint pointed out that this would have been an ideal title to associate with my previous book, The Recluse Rules. The album has echoes of Big Thief, Beach House and Wednesday, and the feeling of three people house-sharing and staying up all night arguing about their favourite Ben Wheatley film.

Album of the month though is definitely the new Phoebe Bridgers album, Lost Weekend. It’s only her third solo album, but she’s such a serial collaborator, with BoyGenius, Better Oblivion Community Center and working with a wide range of artists from SZA to Paul McCartney, that it seems part of a bigger discography. The indie singer-songwriter crafts a proper album, the sort that you want to listen to in its entirety, rather than a collection of independent songs. The Dinked edition vinyl I got is also a joy, with glow in the dark cover, beautifully illustrated lyric booklet and a UV torch that illuminates the credits for the “hidden” track on side D. Respect the format.