Seducer poem

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 3 Comments

I’ve put a “flash” (as in written really fast, minimal editing) poem – Medusa Medusa at the Undead Poets Society site. I couldn’t help riffing on the same ideas and cadence and have just “flashed” this one up too. I guess it’s kind of related to the UDPS one …

Sensual Medusa
would you accuse her
or bind her and braid her?
Could you mislay her
misplace her
disgrace

your well hidden
eyes,
mirrored, uncertain
uncoiling her lies
succumb to her treasure
between glistening lights
then
slice off her head
to put her to bed

These are both pretty loose and rough. Perhaps one day I’ll pull the pair apart and make something more worthy from the broken remains of both. So much writing to do …

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

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Carrie Ryan‘s young adult novel The Forest of Hands and Teeth is perhaps one of the most extraordinary works I’ve read all year. This horror novel is remarkably literate and astonishingly well-paced. Somehow Ryan manages to balance an unusual setting and circumstance – an isolated village – with conflicted relationships – Mary, betrothed to Harry, loves Travis his brother while Cass, Mary’s best friend, betrothed to Travis is keen on Harry (sounds straightforward, but really it’s not and it really adds an enormous level of tension to the book). And, though it’s amazingly well done, it’s a zombie novel, even if the word “zombie” is never used in the text. Actually, the unconsecrated, as they are known, provide a somewhat evil backdrop to the controlling religious order which governs life in the village. Be prepared – the novel is harrowing and intense and a great character and relationship study.

Cool – in checking out Carrie Ryan’s details, I’ve discovered there is a sequel, and a third book coming. Ryan’s also got some stories in anthologies which seem to be set in the same milieu (okay, actually, I think I’d like to see some of her writing set outside that – she’s such a precise and crafty wordsmith that it would be good to see what she’d do with other stuff. Like vampires).

Ghosts in the trees, ghosts in the hall – new Venus Vulture track on Reverbnation

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I’ve just uploaded a new track to the Venus Vulture Reverbnation page. This is a quirky thing, with a slight beat, an odd melody. I think I like echo too much, but perhaps that suits the ideas of ghosts.

I had a couple of tracks – Ghosts in the Trees, and Ghosts in the Hall – with a similar feel and similar sound, but neither seemed to really work. So I made this track by taking elements of each and creating a new mix.

Kora! Kora! Kora! – The Cabaret Voltaire Versions

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I’ve listened to Cabaret Voltaire since I was a teen – something about their slightly techno/slightly industrial feel really works for me. Their music is at once dark and uplifting. The main protagonists, Mallinder, Watson and Kirk have gone their own way, still making music in their own right, but Cabaret Voltaire continued, with some ambient music, and club disks and odds and ends.

Under the Cabaret Voltaire moniker, Richard Kirk has remixed the album by New Zealand band Kora with very distinctive results.

Kora is a New Zealand roots/reggae act. Four of the five members are the Kora brothers. Their self-titled album was pretty popular in New Zealand and around the world.

The remix album Kora! Kora! Kora! (steamable and available for purchase at the link) is less roots and more techno, with clear elements from the original. To all accounts it’s more popular with Cabaret Voltaire fans than with Kora fans (who probably want that reggae feel, more than is present here).

I love the energy and drive of the pieces, it’s great for rarking up my writing pace, kicking me out of slumber, and at the same time taking me back to the eighties, but keeping me current. Whew.

New Favourite Show – Modern Family

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Sunday night, 7.30pm, all new Simpsons. Yeah, still funny and engaging characters and I smiled from time to time. Then, 8pm, Modern Family, and I’m laughing out loud. Again and again. This is one of the few sitcoms without a laugh-track, which honestly helps make it funny. I so often get tired of soundtrack laughter, especially when things aren’t that funny (I’m meaning contrived one-liners, followed by that taped laugh). So, yeah, Modern Family is my new favourite show.

Then again, I watched Gary Unmarried and that’s got a laugh track, but the writing seems pretty supreme – the characters are entertaining and engaging, the situations clever and the one liners actually funny. Okay, I’ve only seen one episode, but got more laughs from that than the total cumulative number of laughs from Friends ever. Okay, I didn’t watch that many episodes of Friends, but still …

Writing furiously

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I have a few stories nearing completion, and one submitted today to a New Zealand print magazine. I am writing furiously at the moment, energised and enthusiastic. I have my YA novel draft ready on the desk to start working on, and looking forwards to the next tutoring deadline, just two weeks off.

Robot

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 2 Comments

Brain in slow meltdown, with nothing to report. Here’s a robot I doodled which shows the quality of my thinking right now. So much for a book review today.

Fluid Radio – taster

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I often sing the praises of Fluid Radio – an eclectic internet radio station from Experimedia in the UK with a couple of varied channels. Usually I listen to their mixes more than the radio stream – it’s cool having artists I recognise bringing some of their favourite tracks, whether their own or those of others, together in a honed set.

Something I’ve been listening to lately is the Taster – a mix of tracks from forthcoming projects on Fluid Audio. Best, I think, for listening to with the lights low, perhaps only with the light from your screen.

2010 Taster |Fluid Radio:

Sand under my toes, Dust in my hair – new 8min Venus Vulture track available on Reverbnation

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 1 Comment

My latest ambient excursion, and longest for a while, is now available for free download or streaming on theVenus Vulture page at Reverbnation. “Sand under my toes, Dust in my hair” goes through a number of changes. Really it’s an attempt at narrative through sound. The track begins with a walk along a beach at sunset, then the wind cools and picks up and we hurry along almost lost until finally descending into a cave in the cliff, just lit by the sliver of crescent moon. Well, that was the mood I was looking for. Perhaps you’ll hear something different.