Brown Revolution

Alarm erupted through population of the city as the number of vehicle/building collisions evolved from coincidence to rash. It would be months, before anyone realized that the brown trucks simply had become jealous of the townhomes and rowhouses which flaunted their colors of beige and burgundy and burnt sienna.

Short Fiction - April 2013

I enjoy reading speculative fiction short stories from around the web. (Truthfully, I fantasize that one day I will be able to write a story that is compelling enough to be published... sigh...)

I am neither a critic of fiction nor am I a particularly sophisticated reader. I can only tell you what I have enjoyed and sometimes, maybe even, why.

Here are a few standouts from the past month. (Note: I certainly do not read all short stories that are released each month. So, if you found some recent ones that you think really stood out. Let me know! I’d love to read them!)

The Weight of a Blessing by Aliette de Bodard

One line summary: A mother must say goodbye to her soon-to-be-banished criminal daughter. This story haunted me for some time after I read it. I enjoy stories that do that. If you visit her blog, I guarantee that you will come away hungry.

Here are two lighter stories that were both quite fun, but then again, you know, mermaids and fairies. How can you go wrong?

Mermaid’s Hook by Liz Argall

One line summary: Mermaid, in a fit of compassion, decides to save a drowning man. And here the author gives us a little background on her inspiration for the story.

The Fairy Library by Tim Pratt

One line summary: A victim of the recession gets a new job opportunity in a dream library. A longer story, but I was left smiling and content at the end. And here is an interview with the author.

Pussy Riot Update - April 2013

Note: Sorry! I had planned on embedding these videos directly into the post. Alas, some research apparently is necessary. So, unfortunately, this month I will have to use only links to the non-youtube videos. (grumble, grumble)

Mar 20:

Moscow City Court rules that the women’s punishment was “fair and proportional to the offense”.

Mar 24:
Pussy Riot member Kot interviewed on 60 Minutes.

CBS gushes about how rad they are to do this interview.

Some German Lingerie company jumps on a punk rock bandwagon.

Apr 3:

A court has ruled that Maria Alyokhina, who is currently imprisoned in the Perm region, should be transferred to a different prison because she has been in a isolation cell for more than 90 days. She apparently does not want to be transferred.

I’m not sure what is meant by an “isolation cell”. I believe that she still has to get out and work. I don’t think it’s what one might imagine (e.g. “The Hole”). I have no idea though. If it is a room to herself, I can certainly understand why that might be preferable. Regardless, she landed there because her cellmates threatened to kill her.

My thoughts:

1. I think that the German lingerie company IS, in fact, exploiting Pussy Riot. Is that ALL bad? I have a hard time seeing things in black and white. Everything is some sort of gray. Hopefully, a few more people are exposed to the Pussy Riot story. Hopefully, some will visit the website posted at the end of the video. Hey! Wait a second! I am exploiting Pussy Riot too, in order to get eyes to MY blog, aren’t I? Hm...

Oh, well. Go to http://www.freepussyriot.org

2. If CBS were really “rad” maybe they should do a story on Barrett Brown. I mean, nothing like the Pussy Riot case would happen in the USA, right? (Aaron Schwartz) Right?

Thank the gods for Glenn Greenwald...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/21/barrett-brown-persecution-anonymous

Fresh Music - Cheyenne Marie Mize

I came upon Cheyenne Marie Mize on NPR’s preview of 100 SXSW 2013 acts. I’m going through their list alphabetically by song title. And so, “Among the Grey” was one of the first songs that I encountered. I was floored. She rocks! 

The song made me think of Throwing Muses. Wait! That tells you nothing more than the fact that I am (not) late-80’s hip. To apply such a label to Cheyenne Mize would be suffocating. Then again, I feel her entry in Wikipedia is equally confining. Wikipedia lists her as a folk singer-songwriter. No doubt she fits that bill, but from what I heard, the categorization is seriously short-changing her talents. Beyond her talent as a multiple instrumentalist, her vocal strength will make you wonder why you are wasting time watching American Idol. She has it!

I found her youtube channel and went through a number of her songs. This song, “Call Me Beautiful” blew me away. Sparse, haunting, surreal, beautiful. I love it!

Recommended!!

Here is her official web site (tumblr):

http://cheyennemize.com/

Schedule - April 2012

Here is the schedule of the planned postings for April 2013:

01 Schedule

03 FreshMusic

05 PussyRiotUpdate

07 ShortReading

09 SurrealSentence

11 ThingsThatFly

13 HistoryLesson

15 ArcticSeaIce

17 AgedMusic

19 RedLightReading

21 NewsThoughts

23 NovelReading

25 AmateurShort

27 WeatherPhoto

29 ParanormalTourism

If you have any suggestions for content in these categories, please feel free to contribute by sending an email to

hollow

dot

well

at

gmail

dot

com

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Notes:

Welcome to hollowwell! This blog is about random things. There are a series of recurring topics. Hopefully you will find items of interest here.

Follow this blog! Tell all your friends and lovers! It’ll be fun! I promise! I’m going to stop yelling now!

-hollowwell

Okay.. Going to turn this puppy on...

Watch out! On April 1st, I plan on moving this blog into "active mode". I'm testing to see how the Schedule feature works...

words of the day

Strew: To scatter or spread untidily over a surface.  
Enlace: To wind about as if with lace.  
Enravish: To transport with delight.  
Sate: To satisfy to excess.