The holidays are over, and everything can return to normal. Any minute now. Please.

After a few out of state trips, I'm back in the saddle…

A month or so ago, I said that I was torn between two stories: either a potential commercial project with lots of formulaic hooks and repeatability and Patterson-esque tummy-warmth; or a long, difficult, intellectually challenging book that will make enemies and enrage critics and probably cost me a bunch of the hair on my head? And remember how I said that I had chosen the easy book?

Yeah, I fucking lied. Well, not lied, exactly…I got fed up with that story. It wasn't fun to write. I was phoning it in. It was not interesting to me, so I quit and went back to the difficult story.

If you have read Amity, it's much, much different. The narrative voice will be familiar but of a different timbre, and the setting is about as far from the gritty streets of Las Vegas as you can get. More as the story develops.

And it is difficult…and it is going to take a long time…but I really like it. I like where it comes from, because it's a story designed to ruffle feathers and make the reader either hate the story for the message, hate me for telling it, love it for being honest, or hate themselves for not being honest. At least, I hope. If all anyone tells you about your book is that it was great, you haven't tried hard enough to tell the truth. IMHO. YMMV.

I guess I feel I didn't go deep enough with some of the material in Amity, and I hope to make up for it in this one. Argue it all you want, but books are art, and art should disrupt.

~~~

My final trip of 2010 was to San Diego, where I and my two daughters saw the Dresden Dolls in concert. Great show. The Gaslamp Quarter is full of nutjobs (real ones, not just zany, fun people…people with real mental illnesses roaming the streets ranting and screaming and chanting all hours of the day), which added to the mystique of the trip. (Also: I saw Neil Gaiman there…I just missed him at the merch booth, though)

I've seen YouTube clips, but it's really hard to capture the energy of a Dresden Dolls show. Brian Viglione, drummer/guitarist, has an amazing presence and talent; and, of course, Amanda Palmer is a great, powerful musician. They didn't leave a goddamn dime on the table that night. Nor did their opening act, Jason Webley. I've been known to be wrong about musicians before, and I was less than excited to drive 350 miles to watch an accordian player. But, I was dead wrong about that guy…he plays alone on  stage, alternating between a guitar and a squeeze box, and he rocked that crowd. Hard. I'm a convert.

As hard as it is to capture their energy live, I took a shot at it, using my brand-spanking new iPhone. This was (according to Amanda) the first time they have performed this song: I Am the Condor…it came out pretty good. Enjoy, and Happy New Year…