Back when I first started reviewing music, James Beaudreau sent me three CDs from New York, beautiful artefacts from which sprang a lasting friendship. He's just released his first solo guitar record for decades, and it's a thing of strange, true beauty.

My old reviews of his work: https://olidabass.blogspot.com/2011/03/album-reviews-james-beaudreau-astral.html

https://jamesbeaudreau.bandcamp.com/album/workbench-recordings-vol-1

#jamesbeaudreau #workbenchrecordings #experimentalmusic #sologuitar #music

I enjoyed @annaleen ’s latest column in #newscientist It reminded me how weird it was to go out into the real world in the 1990s, after my upbringing in a feminist bubble, to discover that the battle for gender equality wasn’t completely done and dusted!

#feminism #wheresmyjetpack

I was a little underwhelmed by 'Earthsong', the final book in Suzette Haden Elgin's 'Native Tongue' trilogy. It's a light comedy, with little sign of the first book's formal and political radicalism. I enjoyed it, but I doubt I'll remember it.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/8a33ed04-4b94-40ec-95a9-e9e790ef8869

#sf #sciencefiction #suzettehadenelgin #earthsong #nativetongue #books #bookstodon @bookstodon

I was knocked-out by Marlon James's 'Moon Witch Spider King'—a stonking follow-up to the first book in the series. Dense, intricate language, wonderful worldbuilding, and no holds barred.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/4a407817-6de2-4706-9130-ee597893155f

#fantasy #marlonjames #darkstar #moonwitchspiderking #books #bookstodon @bookstodon

Just finished Michael Moorcock's 1993 'Stormbringer' omnibus. Much fun, occasionally profound—best story was the 1991 'Revenge of the Rose'.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/a883bec1-5e03-4f97-a1c4-0ae8a40baed7

#michaelmoorcock #elric #eternalchampion #chaos #stormbringer #fantasy #swordandsorcery #books #bookstodon @bookstodon

I've got a new favourite book! 'Black Leopard Red Wolf' by Marlon James is one of the best novels I've read, and the most accomplished contemporary fantasy book I've encountered.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/1af4a238-a80b-44f3-88aa-ae63a3024f20

#fantasy #marlonjames #blackleopardredwolf #books #bookstodon @bookstodon

A v. interesting article on Marvel's foundational era, which seems to confirm Alan Moore's hilariously vitriolic take on the US comics industry (c.f. 'What We Can Know About Thunderman' in 'Illuminations').

https://flaminghydra.com/a-swingin-surprise-or-two/

#marvelcomics #stanlee #ronwhyte @flaminghydra

I found 'The Kingdom of Gods' by N.K. Jemisin a beautifully crafted, thematically complex work of grown-up fantasy fiction.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/b401a34e-2ee7-4f66-b75d-75c3e1bee783

#fantasy #fantasyfiction #books #nkjemisin #theinheritancetrilogy #thekingdomofgods #bookstodon @bookstodon

I loved this sumptuous English language re-launch of Metal Hurlant, jam-packed with a mix of classics and new stories. Favourites were Moebius's 'Is Man Good?', James Stokoe's 'Red Planet Tomatoes', and Yuri Campos's 'Lacuna'.

#comics #metalhurlant #bandedessinée #humanoids #moebius #comicstodon