Benjamin Sperduto's Blog
December 17, 2016
"The Walls of Dalgorod" ebook on sale this weekend for $.99
Curiosity Quills Press is running a special holiday promotion this weekend on fantasy ebooks. For today and tomorrow (December 17 & 18) you can pick up fantasy novels like The Walls of Dalgorod for $.99. Since the sequel, Mirona's Law, is coming in April, now is a great time to read the first book and get up to speed on the world of Rostogov! If you enjoyed the book, please be sure to take a moment and leave a review on Amazon. It really does help lift the book's profile!
While you're at it, check out other fantasy novels from Curiosity Quills Press (just click the image below). The sale only lasts two days, so check it out now before the weekend's over!
While you're at it, check out other fantasy novels from Curiosity Quills Press (just click the image below). The sale only lasts two days, so check it out now before the weekend's over!
December 3, 2016
The Story Behind "Roses for Leviathan"
Last week I recorded and released a new Morana's Breath album entitled
Roses for Leviathan
. I'm really excited about the way this album turned out, and I think it's the best work I've done so far. While the actual recording process came together remarkably quickly over the Thanksgiving holiday, the genesis of the project goes back to my recent trip to Europe.
My dad and I took a two week cruise in the Baltic Sea over the summer, and we visited several countries that once made up the Soviet Union. I was struck by how much of a physical presence the Soviet era still has on former communist states. When you look around Moscow, for instance, you're confronted at almost every turn with crumbling apartment high rises from the 1970s and decaying monuments from a long abandoned ideology. You don't have to imagine what it was like to live there in the Soviet era because you can still see the same buildings everywhere, most of them in pitiful states of disrepair. Things get more surreal when you visit the Baltic states like Estonia and Latvia. There the Soviet construction is an intrusion, a physical echo of an era in which an invading force tried to reshape an entire peoples' way of life. Sure, the Estonians have done a better job of maintaining those apartment high rises and given them a fresh coat of paint, but you're still left with the impression that they've merely dressed up the boot that once weighed down upon their necks.
You can feel the weight of that oppression everywhere you go, almost as if it's contaminated the air you're breathing. The Soviet Union may have collapsed twenty-five years ago, but walking around a place like Lithuania makes you feel it might as well have been twenty-five hours ago.
It was this feeling that gave birth to Roses for Leviathan.
Most Morana's Breath albums start with a vague thematic idea. Beyond the Nebula, for instance, is a "space" themed collection, with all the songs trying to convey some impression of a cosmic vastness. The theme is usually quite simple, but expansive enough that it can encompass a variety of musical ideas. For every previous album, the theme was concrete enough to dictate the general sound and feel of the songs.
Roses for Leviathan is different. While I had a good idea of what an album called bones of the earth would sound like, this new album proved open to interpretation and much more difficult to pin down. I knew it had to evoke the discomfort of living under an authoritarian state, but I also wanted it to offer some measure of hope. The title didn't offer a lot of help this time around, so I had to keep going back to the way I felt visiting those sites around the former East Bloc. More so than previous albums, Roses is the result of several organic, spontaneous performances. While this has always been a fundamental aspect of my electronic music, in many instances I just didn't know what I wanted a song to sound like, so I had to tap into my memory and play what "felt right." Several tracks turned out very differently from what I envisioned when I sat down to record them, but I think they all came about to their final state in a very authentic fashion that seems true to the experiences I wanted to capture.
As I've done with previous albums, I jotted down a list of potential track titles when I came up with the idea for the project. A few of these titles changed from when I wrote them down in my cruise ship cabin, but most of them made it to the final product. One of those titles, "Roses for Leviathan", was inspired by a picture I snapped behind Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square:
The album cover actually came together long before I recorded the first song. While I was sifting through photos I took during the trip to find an image I could use for the cover of the album Cybergothic, I kept coming back to a photo I'd taken of the Holocaust memorial in Berlin. Something about that image perfectly captured the sense of totalitarian repression I wanted to explore, so I played around with the picture until I ended up with what ultimately became the album cover. The more I looked at it, the more I realized that Roses for Leviathan was a perfect title for the project, even if I hadn't recorded a single note yet.
Unlike previous Morana's Breath albums, each track on Roses could very easily merit its own blog post with a detailed analysis of ideas and themes I wanted to convey. I think it would be better, however, to let the music stand on its own and allow listeners to come to whatever conclusions they wish. If you decide to give Roses for Leviathan a listen, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it.
Purchase a digital copy of Roses for Leviathan
My dad and I took a two week cruise in the Baltic Sea over the summer, and we visited several countries that once made up the Soviet Union. I was struck by how much of a physical presence the Soviet era still has on former communist states. When you look around Moscow, for instance, you're confronted at almost every turn with crumbling apartment high rises from the 1970s and decaying monuments from a long abandoned ideology. You don't have to imagine what it was like to live there in the Soviet era because you can still see the same buildings everywhere, most of them in pitiful states of disrepair. Things get more surreal when you visit the Baltic states like Estonia and Latvia. There the Soviet construction is an intrusion, a physical echo of an era in which an invading force tried to reshape an entire peoples' way of life. Sure, the Estonians have done a better job of maintaining those apartment high rises and given them a fresh coat of paint, but you're still left with the impression that they've merely dressed up the boot that once weighed down upon their necks.
You can feel the weight of that oppression everywhere you go, almost as if it's contaminated the air you're breathing. The Soviet Union may have collapsed twenty-five years ago, but walking around a place like Lithuania makes you feel it might as well have been twenty-five hours ago.
It was this feeling that gave birth to Roses for Leviathan.
Most Morana's Breath albums start with a vague thematic idea. Beyond the Nebula, for instance, is a "space" themed collection, with all the songs trying to convey some impression of a cosmic vastness. The theme is usually quite simple, but expansive enough that it can encompass a variety of musical ideas. For every previous album, the theme was concrete enough to dictate the general sound and feel of the songs.
Roses for Leviathan is different. While I had a good idea of what an album called bones of the earth would sound like, this new album proved open to interpretation and much more difficult to pin down. I knew it had to evoke the discomfort of living under an authoritarian state, but I also wanted it to offer some measure of hope. The title didn't offer a lot of help this time around, so I had to keep going back to the way I felt visiting those sites around the former East Bloc. More so than previous albums, Roses is the result of several organic, spontaneous performances. While this has always been a fundamental aspect of my electronic music, in many instances I just didn't know what I wanted a song to sound like, so I had to tap into my memory and play what "felt right." Several tracks turned out very differently from what I envisioned when I sat down to record them, but I think they all came about to their final state in a very authentic fashion that seems true to the experiences I wanted to capture.
As I've done with previous albums, I jotted down a list of potential track titles when I came up with the idea for the project. A few of these titles changed from when I wrote them down in my cruise ship cabin, but most of them made it to the final product. One of those titles, "Roses for Leviathan", was inspired by a picture I snapped behind Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square:
The album cover actually came together long before I recorded the first song. While I was sifting through photos I took during the trip to find an image I could use for the cover of the album Cybergothic, I kept coming back to a photo I'd taken of the Holocaust memorial in Berlin. Something about that image perfectly captured the sense of totalitarian repression I wanted to explore, so I played around with the picture until I ended up with what ultimately became the album cover. The more I looked at it, the more I realized that Roses for Leviathan was a perfect title for the project, even if I hadn't recorded a single note yet.
Unlike previous Morana's Breath albums, each track on Roses could very easily merit its own blog post with a detailed analysis of ideas and themes I wanted to convey. I think it would be better, however, to let the music stand on its own and allow listeners to come to whatever conclusions they wish. If you decide to give Roses for Leviathan a listen, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it.
Purchase a digital copy of Roses for Leviathan
November 1, 2016
Dark Horizons and Cybergothic
I can't really determine if this is "official" yet or not, but it looks like Dark Horizons, a dark science fiction anthology from Elder Signs Press, is available now on Amazon. The release date is still listed as November 15, but apparently you can order copies now. My short story, "A Small Plot of Land" is featured in this anthology.
Here's a short sample of the story:
Tarkin knew something was wrong when the sunlight hitting the northwest quadrant started to slither. The light strangled a few rows’ worth of the protein bulbs he planted a few weeks back. They sprouted prematurely, loosing prismatic spores in a puff of pollenated dust that settled upon the rest of the crop. Within a day, the spores sapped the color from everything they touched, turning most of the quadrant into a mottled, grey and black waste. The infection was probably already in the root system, leeching further nutrition from the soil. It would have to come up. All of it. Every bulb, every root, every trace of cultivation. The entire quadrant needed to be cordoned off from its neighbors and decontaminated. Weeks of tilling, planting, and irrigation would be lost, all on account of a blown fuse. “Fuck.” Tarkin managed to reroute the energy flow on the northwest generator to get the filtration shields back to full strength, but the workaround put a lot of strain on the primary fusion couplings. The power core would be running hot until he either replaced the damaged fuse or the microreactor melted down and vaporized everything in a two-mile radius. He probably had little over a week. Two if he was lucky. Tarkin kept the warpsuit on until he reached the house. Although he’d placed containment field stakes around the infected area, he worried that something else might have slipped through the perimeter along with the diseased light. Only the generator’s spectrometer shielding appeared to have failed, but he thought it best to not take any chances. His wife wouldn’t take the news well. Nayla had been counting on a new crop of protein bulbs to pay for the parts she needed to fix the crawler’s warpfield generator. The setback would doom them to at least another year or two of isolation, limited to contact with only the few meager settlements within walking distance. Another year without children.
Pick up a copy of Dark Horizons for the full story!
In other news, I recently released a new Morana's Breath album entitled Cybergothic. Inspired by my longtime fascination with cyberpunk fiction, the album works hard to put a distinctive spin on the classic dystopian future of mirrorshades, cyberspace, and urban sprawl. The album is available now on BandCamp, along with previous Morana's Breath releases.
Here's a short sample of the story:
Tarkin knew something was wrong when the sunlight hitting the northwest quadrant started to slither. The light strangled a few rows’ worth of the protein bulbs he planted a few weeks back. They sprouted prematurely, loosing prismatic spores in a puff of pollenated dust that settled upon the rest of the crop. Within a day, the spores sapped the color from everything they touched, turning most of the quadrant into a mottled, grey and black waste. The infection was probably already in the root system, leeching further nutrition from the soil. It would have to come up. All of it. Every bulb, every root, every trace of cultivation. The entire quadrant needed to be cordoned off from its neighbors and decontaminated. Weeks of tilling, planting, and irrigation would be lost, all on account of a blown fuse. “Fuck.” Tarkin managed to reroute the energy flow on the northwest generator to get the filtration shields back to full strength, but the workaround put a lot of strain on the primary fusion couplings. The power core would be running hot until he either replaced the damaged fuse or the microreactor melted down and vaporized everything in a two-mile radius. He probably had little over a week. Two if he was lucky. Tarkin kept the warpsuit on until he reached the house. Although he’d placed containment field stakes around the infected area, he worried that something else might have slipped through the perimeter along with the diseased light. Only the generator’s spectrometer shielding appeared to have failed, but he thought it best to not take any chances. His wife wouldn’t take the news well. Nayla had been counting on a new crop of protein bulbs to pay for the parts she needed to fix the crawler’s warpfield generator. The setback would doom them to at least another year or two of isolation, limited to contact with only the few meager settlements within walking distance. Another year without children.
Pick up a copy of Dark Horizons for the full story!
In other news, I recently released a new Morana's Breath album entitled Cybergothic. Inspired by my longtime fascination with cyberpunk fiction, the album works hard to put a distinctive spin on the classic dystopian future of mirrorshades, cyberspace, and urban sprawl. The album is available now on BandCamp, along with previous Morana's Breath releases.
October 30, 2016
Now what?
Finally. It's done.
After four long years of frustration and anxiety, Blackspire is finished.
I've written about this novel a few times in the past. It's not too much of an exaggeration to call Blackspire the "white whale" I've been chasing after obsessively, often to the detriment to my physical and psychological health. I once joked on Twitter that everyone will know I've finished the book when I'm chasing after the pages in the street with a harpoon yelling, "From Hell's heart, I stab at thee!" There were long periods of time over the last few years when I could feel this book weighing down on me, refusing to let me feel a moment of satisfaction with any accomplishment so long as it remained unfinished. I've been working on it for so long that I almost can't remember my writing life before it existed. There were moments when I stopped working on it, moments when I believed it would never be completed, that it would be that glaring, failed project that haunted me forever.
And now, just like that, it's done.
I thought I would be happier about reaching this point, honestly. When I finished the first draft, I barely had time to think about it before I launched into the editing process. After I completed the editing and revising process a few days ago, I should have been able to celebrate the occasion.
But that hasn't really happened. Not yet, anyway. Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet. Or maybe I've simply transferred my anxieties surrounding the writing process to the publication process. After all, it won't do me much good to celebrate finishing the book if it never sees the light of day in print. While I would like to say I derive satisfaction as an author from simply writing something, that's not the case at all. I don't really trust my own judgement about anything I do, which leaves me depending upon external sources of validation. It's not a healthy thing, honestly, but I've just had to accept that I'm wired this way. For better or worse, publication matters to me. Simply writing the book isn't enough; I need to know that someone else thinks it's good enough to publish. So until I sign on the dotted line of a publication contract for Blackspire, it's going to be hard for me to get too excited about finishing it.
Maybe I should give some context for this book. I started Blackspire back in 2012, about six or seven months before The Walls of Dalgorod was accepted for publication. After finishing Dalgorod, I finally knew I could actually write a complete novel, but I didn't know if I could write one that anyone would publish. After writing the outline for a book I never started, I got to thinking about ways to subvert conventions in the fantasy genre. Specifically, I wanted to get away from stereotypical protagonists. Somehow, I hit upon the idea of a protagonist who literally shoveled shit. From there (and a dose of inspiration from China Mieville's Perdido Street Station), I started writing.
The problem, of course, was that I started writing without an outline, which meant I had no idea where the story was going.
That initial decision wound up causing me four years of anguish. In the time it took me to finally complete Blackspire, The Walls of Dalgorod was published, Mirona's Law was written and accepted for publication, and I recorded four albums of electronic music. Every time I started to make any headway on Blackspire during that time, some problem with the plot reared its ugly head and ruined any writing momentum I had. After finishing the first few chapters, I knew I was in trouble and needed to plot out where the story was going. Over the course of four years, I went through at least thirty variations of the plot, many of which never even managed to get to the end of the story before falling apart. Every five or six iterations, I thought I'd solved the puzzle, only to realize later that I'd created as many problems as I'd fixed. It was maddening. I probably spent more time bashing my head against that outline than I did writing all of Mirona's Law, which practically wrote itself by comparison.
But after a lot of work, I finally cracked the plot. Remarkably, despite featuring five point of view characters and several minor characters who all intersect at various points throughout the story before finally coming together for the climax, the narrative flows pretty well and "works," for lack of a better term. All those hours of feeling like I was juggling knives just to hold the plot together finally paid off, even when I decided at the last second that the best way to solve one of my biggest problems was to create an entirely new POV character with an entirely new and slightly complicated subplot.
One of the most interesting byproducts of this process was seeing how my writing has changed over time. When I sat down to revise and edit, I realized that Blackspire spanned almost my entire writing career. The earliest chapters were written after The Walls of Dalgorod was completed, but before that book went through the editorial process with the publisher. I learned a lot during that process, and some of those lessons were evident in Blackspire's middle chapters. The latter portions were written much more recently and feature even less of those old bad habits (although a few new ones cropped up along the way). While the early sections of the novel needed a lot of work, the editing became much easier as I went along because I literally became a much better writer along the way. This was most evident when chapters written for the new POV character appeared alongside some of those early chapters. I could still see the similarities in style, but there was an obvious improvement.
So where does that leave me now?
Well, for all the anxiety I'm feeling over the book's uncertain future, at least the damn thing is finished. There's a sense of relief that comes with finishing any project, and I'm no longer lying awake at night wondering if I'll be working on it for the rest of my life. On the other hand, knowing that the book was always waiting there for me to finish it provided some measure of creative predictability. If I didn't have anything else to do at any given moment, I could always work on Blackspire. Now that it's done, I need to find a new project to focus on.
The situation reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from the movie Finding Nemo. During the end credits, the movie cuts to the fish from the dentist's office escaping across the street and into the harbor. There's a long beat where they look out across the water and slowly realize that while they've escaped to the ocean, they're still stuck in plastic baggies. The blowfish then asks, "Now what?", before the scene cuts back to the credits.
So...now what?
I guess I'd better start figuring that out.
After four long years of frustration and anxiety, Blackspire is finished.
I've written about this novel a few times in the past. It's not too much of an exaggeration to call Blackspire the "white whale" I've been chasing after obsessively, often to the detriment to my physical and psychological health. I once joked on Twitter that everyone will know I've finished the book when I'm chasing after the pages in the street with a harpoon yelling, "From Hell's heart, I stab at thee!" There were long periods of time over the last few years when I could feel this book weighing down on me, refusing to let me feel a moment of satisfaction with any accomplishment so long as it remained unfinished. I've been working on it for so long that I almost can't remember my writing life before it existed. There were moments when I stopped working on it, moments when I believed it would never be completed, that it would be that glaring, failed project that haunted me forever.
And now, just like that, it's done.
I thought I would be happier about reaching this point, honestly. When I finished the first draft, I barely had time to think about it before I launched into the editing process. After I completed the editing and revising process a few days ago, I should have been able to celebrate the occasion.
But that hasn't really happened. Not yet, anyway. Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet. Or maybe I've simply transferred my anxieties surrounding the writing process to the publication process. After all, it won't do me much good to celebrate finishing the book if it never sees the light of day in print. While I would like to say I derive satisfaction as an author from simply writing something, that's not the case at all. I don't really trust my own judgement about anything I do, which leaves me depending upon external sources of validation. It's not a healthy thing, honestly, but I've just had to accept that I'm wired this way. For better or worse, publication matters to me. Simply writing the book isn't enough; I need to know that someone else thinks it's good enough to publish. So until I sign on the dotted line of a publication contract for Blackspire, it's going to be hard for me to get too excited about finishing it.
Maybe I should give some context for this book. I started Blackspire back in 2012, about six or seven months before The Walls of Dalgorod was accepted for publication. After finishing Dalgorod, I finally knew I could actually write a complete novel, but I didn't know if I could write one that anyone would publish. After writing the outline for a book I never started, I got to thinking about ways to subvert conventions in the fantasy genre. Specifically, I wanted to get away from stereotypical protagonists. Somehow, I hit upon the idea of a protagonist who literally shoveled shit. From there (and a dose of inspiration from China Mieville's Perdido Street Station), I started writing.
The problem, of course, was that I started writing without an outline, which meant I had no idea where the story was going.
That initial decision wound up causing me four years of anguish. In the time it took me to finally complete Blackspire, The Walls of Dalgorod was published, Mirona's Law was written and accepted for publication, and I recorded four albums of electronic music. Every time I started to make any headway on Blackspire during that time, some problem with the plot reared its ugly head and ruined any writing momentum I had. After finishing the first few chapters, I knew I was in trouble and needed to plot out where the story was going. Over the course of four years, I went through at least thirty variations of the plot, many of which never even managed to get to the end of the story before falling apart. Every five or six iterations, I thought I'd solved the puzzle, only to realize later that I'd created as many problems as I'd fixed. It was maddening. I probably spent more time bashing my head against that outline than I did writing all of Mirona's Law, which practically wrote itself by comparison.
But after a lot of work, I finally cracked the plot. Remarkably, despite featuring five point of view characters and several minor characters who all intersect at various points throughout the story before finally coming together for the climax, the narrative flows pretty well and "works," for lack of a better term. All those hours of feeling like I was juggling knives just to hold the plot together finally paid off, even when I decided at the last second that the best way to solve one of my biggest problems was to create an entirely new POV character with an entirely new and slightly complicated subplot.
One of the most interesting byproducts of this process was seeing how my writing has changed over time. When I sat down to revise and edit, I realized that Blackspire spanned almost my entire writing career. The earliest chapters were written after The Walls of Dalgorod was completed, but before that book went through the editorial process with the publisher. I learned a lot during that process, and some of those lessons were evident in Blackspire's middle chapters. The latter portions were written much more recently and feature even less of those old bad habits (although a few new ones cropped up along the way). While the early sections of the novel needed a lot of work, the editing became much easier as I went along because I literally became a much better writer along the way. This was most evident when chapters written for the new POV character appeared alongside some of those early chapters. I could still see the similarities in style, but there was an obvious improvement.
So where does that leave me now?
Well, for all the anxiety I'm feeling over the book's uncertain future, at least the damn thing is finished. There's a sense of relief that comes with finishing any project, and I'm no longer lying awake at night wondering if I'll be working on it for the rest of my life. On the other hand, knowing that the book was always waiting there for me to finish it provided some measure of creative predictability. If I didn't have anything else to do at any given moment, I could always work on Blackspire. Now that it's done, I need to find a new project to focus on.
The situation reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from the movie Finding Nemo. During the end credits, the movie cuts to the fish from the dentist's office escaping across the street and into the harbor. There's a long beat where they look out across the water and slowly realize that while they've escaped to the ocean, they're still stuck in plastic baggies. The blowfish then asks, "Now what?", before the scene cuts back to the credits.
So...now what?
I guess I'd better start figuring that out.
September 19, 2016
Dark Horizons anthology available for pre-order and a new Morana's Breath release!
Dark Horizons, a new dark horror anthology from Elder Signs Press, is now available for pre-order on Amazon. The anthology is slated for release on October 1st and features my short story entitled "A Small Plot of Land." This is actually one of my favorite short stories that I've written, so I'm VERY excited to see this anthology in print. Pre-order now to make sure you get a copy!
In other news, I released a third electronic music album for Morana's Breath last week entitled Beyond the Nebula. You can purchase digital copies from the Bandcamp website, and if you buy all three Morana's Breath albums, you can save 35%.
That's about it for the moment, but I'll have more details about a pair of new anthologies from Curiosity Quills Press soon. I also just received the latest proofs for Mirona's Law, the sequel to The Walls of Dalgorod, so more I'll have plenty to say about that as we inch closer to next spring's release date.
In other news, I released a third electronic music album for Morana's Breath last week entitled Beyond the Nebula. You can purchase digital copies from the Bandcamp website, and if you buy all three Morana's Breath albums, you can save 35%.
That's about it for the moment, but I'll have more details about a pair of new anthologies from Curiosity Quills Press soon. I also just received the latest proofs for Mirona's Law, the sequel to The Walls of Dalgorod, so more I'll have plenty to say about that as we inch closer to next spring's release date.
September 5, 2016
"There Will Always be Dragons" Audio Podcast
I recently had the great fortune to place one of my previously published short stories, "There Will Always be Dragons," with the audio fiction podcast
Gallery of Curiosities
. As an added bonus, the editor, Kevin Frost, asked me if I would like to do the audio recording for the story myself. It just so happened that I'd auditioned to serve as a reader for the podcast around the same time I submitted my story, so the whole situation worked out rather nicely.
It was a strange experience reading my own work aloud. When I auditioned for the podcast, I read a short story by another author, so it was fairly easy to distance myself from the material and just focus on the reading. Reading my own story, however, proved incredibly nerve wracking. I second guessed every passage and piece of dialogue, worrying that it sounded completely ridiculous when read aloud. It's difficult enough for me to be objective about my own writing, so this added layer of personal involvement was quite a challenge to overcome.
But I think it was all worth it in the end. Hopefully I'll have the chance to record additional podcasts in the future and release more of my stories in audio format. You can check out the podcast in a number of formats:
Gallery of Curiosities iTunes feed
Gallery of Curiosities Soundcloud feed
Gallery of Curiosities Stitcher feed
Gallery of Curiosities Google Play Music feed
Direct MP3 download from Gallery of Curiosities
However you choose to listen, I hope you enjoy the experience. If you listen on one of the above feeds, please take a few moments to leave a review as it helps direct more listeners their way. Also, be sure to follow Gallery of Curiosities on Twitter and Facebook (or subscribe to one of the aforementioned feeds) to keep up with their latest releases!
It was a strange experience reading my own work aloud. When I auditioned for the podcast, I read a short story by another author, so it was fairly easy to distance myself from the material and just focus on the reading. Reading my own story, however, proved incredibly nerve wracking. I second guessed every passage and piece of dialogue, worrying that it sounded completely ridiculous when read aloud. It's difficult enough for me to be objective about my own writing, so this added layer of personal involvement was quite a challenge to overcome.
But I think it was all worth it in the end. Hopefully I'll have the chance to record additional podcasts in the future and release more of my stories in audio format. You can check out the podcast in a number of formats:
Gallery of Curiosities iTunes feed
Gallery of Curiosities Soundcloud feed
Gallery of Curiosities Stitcher feed
Gallery of Curiosities Google Play Music feed
Direct MP3 download from Gallery of Curiosities
However you choose to listen, I hope you enjoy the experience. If you listen on one of the above feeds, please take a few moments to leave a review as it helps direct more listeners their way. Also, be sure to follow Gallery of Curiosities on Twitter and Facebook (or subscribe to one of the aforementioned feeds) to keep up with their latest releases!
August 16, 2016
"Under a Brass Moon" Steampunk Anthology Available Now in Paperback
Some of this news is a bit belated, but I spent a couple weeks out of the country over the last month and wasn't able to keep pace with announcements (more on that trip later).
The Kindle version of Under a Brass Moon, a steampunk anthology from Curiosity Quills Press, was released in late July, but the paperback version became available just this week. Edited by Jordan Elizabeth, author of the Treasure Chronicles series (also published by Curiosity Quills Press), the anthology is quite a tome and features stories by nineteen authors. You can pick up a copy of either version from Amazon.
ORDER PAPERBACK VERSION
ORDER KINDLE EBOOK VERSION
My featured story, "The Iron Face of God," follows a private detective's investigation into the disappearance of a skyrail tycoon's spoiled son. The fictional city of Linton, a sprawling industrial metropolis crisscrossed by thousands of miles of elevated railcar lines and powered by an alien substance known as "voidstone," serves as the backdrop for the story. This was my first stab at the steampunk genre, and I so enjoyed it that I would like to feature the story's setting and characters in a novel-length work eventually (although maybe sooner if this story gets a lot of positive feedback).
Also, be sure to pick up a copy of Don't Open Till Doomsday , an anthology from PunksWritePoems Press, which features my short story "Mira." It's available now in paperback from Amazon. And if end of the world and dystopian fiction is your thing, you can also check out Dystopian Express from Hydra Publications, which features my story "The First Price."
I should have a few more announcements coming up in the near future as there are at least two more anthologies slated to appear before the end of the year that feature stories of mine. In the meantime, but sure to check out the music recordings I released under the name Morana's Breath. You can get the first two albums (In the Sky and bones of the earth) in digital format from Bandcamp. A third album is currently in the works, with some loose plans for a fourth as well. As always, I'll keep everyone posted.
The Kindle version of Under a Brass Moon, a steampunk anthology from Curiosity Quills Press, was released in late July, but the paperback version became available just this week. Edited by Jordan Elizabeth, author of the Treasure Chronicles series (also published by Curiosity Quills Press), the anthology is quite a tome and features stories by nineteen authors. You can pick up a copy of either version from Amazon.
ORDER PAPERBACK VERSIONORDER KINDLE EBOOK VERSION
My featured story, "The Iron Face of God," follows a private detective's investigation into the disappearance of a skyrail tycoon's spoiled son. The fictional city of Linton, a sprawling industrial metropolis crisscrossed by thousands of miles of elevated railcar lines and powered by an alien substance known as "voidstone," serves as the backdrop for the story. This was my first stab at the steampunk genre, and I so enjoyed it that I would like to feature the story's setting and characters in a novel-length work eventually (although maybe sooner if this story gets a lot of positive feedback).
Also, be sure to pick up a copy of Don't Open Till Doomsday , an anthology from PunksWritePoems Press, which features my short story "Mira." It's available now in paperback from Amazon. And if end of the world and dystopian fiction is your thing, you can also check out Dystopian Express from Hydra Publications, which features my story "The First Price."
I should have a few more announcements coming up in the near future as there are at least two more anthologies slated to appear before the end of the year that feature stories of mine. In the meantime, but sure to check out the music recordings I released under the name Morana's Breath. You can get the first two albums (In the Sky and bones of the earth) in digital format from Bandcamp. A third album is currently in the works, with some loose plans for a fourth as well. As always, I'll keep everyone posted.
July 12, 2016
Don't Open Till Doomsday and New Music Available Now
PunksWritePoemsPress has recently released their sci-fi anthology
Don't Open Till Doomsday
, which features my short story, "Mira." The anthology was originally supposed to feature both sci-fi and fantasy stories, but they trimmed back the scope just a bit during the editorial process. My story is more in the fantasy realm, but it has a distinctly apocalyptic flavor that easily fits the anthology's theme. You can pick up a physical copy today from Amazon by clicking the cover below:
In other news, I've recently started up a new ambient electronic music project called Morana's Breath (more on that name in a moment). What started out as an experiment has quickly morphed into a more ambitious undertaking, resulting in two full length albums: In the Sky and bones of the earth. More music will be coming by the end of the year, so be sure to follow @moranasbreath on twitter for the latest updates. I've released both albums digitally on Bandcamp, where you can download the whole album or pick and choose from individual tracks. Simply click on the album covers below to check them out:
So, the name.
Yes, I know it's similar to the title of my upcoming book, Mirona's Law. In fact, you might even recognize that "Mirona's breath" is a frequent curse used by characters in The Walls of Dalgorod . Truth be told, Mirona, the Rostogovian goddess of death and winter, is closely based upon Morana, a pagan Slavic goddess associated with (you guessed it) death and winter. When I adapted numerous Slavic deities for Rostogov's pantheon, I changed the spellings slightly just to give them a different flavor and set them slightly apart from their historical basis. When I was trying to think of a name for this music project, my wife suggested "Mirona's Breath." Since the albums really aren't specifically aimed at people familiar with my writing, I thought it best to change the spelling back to one of the accepted transliterations (of which there are several) to avoid any confusion.
In other news, I've learned that Mirona's Law, the upcoming sequel to The Walls of Dalgorod , is tentatively scheduled for release in April of 2017. And don't forget to mark July 28 on your calendar for the release of the Curiosity Quills steampunk anthology Under a Brass Moon, which features my short story "The Iron Face of God." There are a couple more anthologies in the pipeline, so I'll be sure to provide details as they become available.
In other news, I've recently started up a new ambient electronic music project called Morana's Breath (more on that name in a moment). What started out as an experiment has quickly morphed into a more ambitious undertaking, resulting in two full length albums: In the Sky and bones of the earth. More music will be coming by the end of the year, so be sure to follow @moranasbreath on twitter for the latest updates. I've released both albums digitally on Bandcamp, where you can download the whole album or pick and choose from individual tracks. Simply click on the album covers below to check them out:
So, the name.
Yes, I know it's similar to the title of my upcoming book, Mirona's Law. In fact, you might even recognize that "Mirona's breath" is a frequent curse used by characters in The Walls of Dalgorod . Truth be told, Mirona, the Rostogovian goddess of death and winter, is closely based upon Morana, a pagan Slavic goddess associated with (you guessed it) death and winter. When I adapted numerous Slavic deities for Rostogov's pantheon, I changed the spellings slightly just to give them a different flavor and set them slightly apart from their historical basis. When I was trying to think of a name for this music project, my wife suggested "Mirona's Breath." Since the albums really aren't specifically aimed at people familiar with my writing, I thought it best to change the spelling back to one of the accepted transliterations (of which there are several) to avoid any confusion.
In other news, I've learned that Mirona's Law, the upcoming sequel to The Walls of Dalgorod , is tentatively scheduled for release in April of 2017. And don't forget to mark July 28 on your calendar for the release of the Curiosity Quills steampunk anthology Under a Brass Moon, which features my short story "The Iron Face of God." There are a couple more anthologies in the pipeline, so I'll be sure to provide details as they become available.
June 20, 2016
"Under a Brass Moon" Anthology Cover Art and Author Event
Under a Brass Moon, a sci-fi steampunk anthology from Curiosity Quills Press, is slated for a July 28 release. My short story, "The Iron Face of God," is featured in the anthology and I'm pretty excited to see it in print. The story follows a private investigator's search for a wealthy industrialist's missing son and exposes her to a dangerous religious cult obsessed with the mystical nature of mechanized technology. This was my first stab at a steampunk story and I was very pleased with the way the story turned out, so much so that I plan to expand the setting into a novel at some point.
Here's a preview of the anthology's awesome cover. I've been consistently impressed with the cover artwork and production values from Curiosity Quills Press, and this one is certainly another winner.
In other news, I received the first round of corrections from the editor for Mirona's Law, the sequel to The Walls of Dalgorod, this morning. Hopefully, I'll be able to get through them in the next few days and send the manuscript back for the second round. As soon as I have a release date, I'll be sure to make an announcement here.
Lastly, for anyone living in the Tampa Bay area, I'm going to be making an appearance with several local authors at an event sponsored by the Hillsborough County Public Library. Read Local: Local Authors Meet N' Greet will take place on Tuesday, June 28th at the North Tampa Branch Library (8916 North Blvd.) from 5:30-7:00 pm. I'll have copies of The Walls of Dalgorod and a few copies of the Coven anthology available for sale, so be sure to stop by if you're in the area.
That's about it for now! I'm hoping to have a firm release date to share soon for the Don't Open 'till Doomsday anthology from PunksWritePoemsPress. As always, check back here for details!
Here's a preview of the anthology's awesome cover. I've been consistently impressed with the cover artwork and production values from Curiosity Quills Press, and this one is certainly another winner.
In other news, I received the first round of corrections from the editor for Mirona's Law, the sequel to The Walls of Dalgorod, this morning. Hopefully, I'll be able to get through them in the next few days and send the manuscript back for the second round. As soon as I have a release date, I'll be sure to make an announcement here.
Lastly, for anyone living in the Tampa Bay area, I'm going to be making an appearance with several local authors at an event sponsored by the Hillsborough County Public Library. Read Local: Local Authors Meet N' Greet will take place on Tuesday, June 28th at the North Tampa Branch Library (8916 North Blvd.) from 5:30-7:00 pm. I'll have copies of The Walls of Dalgorod and a few copies of the Coven anthology available for sale, so be sure to stop by if you're in the area.
That's about it for now! I'm hoping to have a firm release date to share soon for the Don't Open 'till Doomsday anthology from PunksWritePoemsPress. As always, check back here for details!
"Under a Brass Moon" Anthology Cover Art, Musical Happenings, and Author Event
Under a Brass Moon, a sci-fi steampunk anthology from Curiosity Quills Press, is slated for a July 28 release. My short story, "The Iron Face of God," is featured in the anthology and I'm pretty excited to see it in print. The story follows a private investigator's search for a wealthy industrialist's missing son and exposes her to a dangerous religious cult obsessed with the mystical nature of mechanized technology. This was my first stab at a steampunk story and I was very pleased with the way the story turned out, so much so that I plan to expand the setting into a novel at some point.
Here's a preview of the anthology's awesome cover. I've been consistently impressed with the cover artwork and production values from Curiosity Quills Press, and this one is certainly another winner.
In other news, I received the first round of corrections from the editor for Mirona's Law, the sequel to The Walls of Dalgorod, this morning. Hopefully, I'll be able to get through them in the next few days and send the manuscript back for the second round. As soon as I have a release date, I'll be sure to make an announcement here.
On a final note, I've spent a lot of time writing and recording music over the last two or three months. I started the arduous process of getting a band together, but I finally came to the realization that I couldn't do everything necessary to organize a band without compromising my writing. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough time in my life for both. As a compromise, however, I'm going to continue writing and recording music. I created a SoundCloud account to share what I've done so far if you'd like to check it out. Right now, there are two "albums" available.
The first is under the name Something About Grendel, which was going to be the name of the band. Loosely categorized as goth rock, the demo album is entitled American Haunting. It's a bit rough around the edges, but I think it gives a good idea of what I was going for. Just click on the cover below to check it out.
The second album is a purely electronic instrumental collection called In the Sky. Most of these tracks grew out of a burst of enthusiastic experimentation after I purchased a Korg MIDI controller. I was really excited about the way this collection turned out, so I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Click on the cover below if you'd like to take a listen.
Lastly, for anyone living in the Tampa Bay area, I'm going to be making an appearance with several local authors at an event sponsored by the Hillsborough County Public Library. Read Local: Local Authors Meet N' Greet will take place on Tuesday, June 28th at the North Tampa Branch Library (8916 North Blvd.) from 5:30-7:00 pm. I'll have copies of The Walls of Dalgorod and a few copies of the Coven anthology available for sale, so be sure to stop by if you're in the area.
That's about it for now! I'm hoping to have a firm release date to share soon for the Don't Open 'till Doomsday anthology from PunksWritePoemsPress. As always, check back here for details!
Here's a preview of the anthology's awesome cover. I've been consistently impressed with the cover artwork and production values from Curiosity Quills Press, and this one is certainly another winner.
In other news, I received the first round of corrections from the editor for Mirona's Law, the sequel to The Walls of Dalgorod, this morning. Hopefully, I'll be able to get through them in the next few days and send the manuscript back for the second round. As soon as I have a release date, I'll be sure to make an announcement here.
On a final note, I've spent a lot of time writing and recording music over the last two or three months. I started the arduous process of getting a band together, but I finally came to the realization that I couldn't do everything necessary to organize a band without compromising my writing. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough time in my life for both. As a compromise, however, I'm going to continue writing and recording music. I created a SoundCloud account to share what I've done so far if you'd like to check it out. Right now, there are two "albums" available.
The first is under the name Something About Grendel, which was going to be the name of the band. Loosely categorized as goth rock, the demo album is entitled American Haunting. It's a bit rough around the edges, but I think it gives a good idea of what I was going for. Just click on the cover below to check it out.
The second album is a purely electronic instrumental collection called In the Sky. Most of these tracks grew out of a burst of enthusiastic experimentation after I purchased a Korg MIDI controller. I was really excited about the way this collection turned out, so I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Click on the cover below if you'd like to take a listen.
Lastly, for anyone living in the Tampa Bay area, I'm going to be making an appearance with several local authors at an event sponsored by the Hillsborough County Public Library. Read Local: Local Authors Meet N' Greet will take place on Tuesday, June 28th at the North Tampa Branch Library (8916 North Blvd.) from 5:30-7:00 pm. I'll have copies of The Walls of Dalgorod and a few copies of the Coven anthology available for sale, so be sure to stop by if you're in the area.
That's about it for now! I'm hoping to have a firm release date to share soon for the Don't Open 'till Doomsday anthology from PunksWritePoemsPress. As always, check back here for details!
