The Ballad of Wilson Cole

Sci Fi Songs musician John Anealio has just posted his "The Ballad of Wilson Cole," inspired by the complete Starship series by Mike Resnick. You can here the song on his website from the link above (one verse per book), and the sheet music and lyrics are printed in the appendices of the latest and final, Starship: Flagship.Warning: The final verse is a little bit of a spoiler!

Robyn Hitchcock & Mervyn Peake

From an interview in the Village Voice with musician Robyn Hitchcock:

Tell me the name of a book you've read at least twice.

I've read The Gormenghast Trilogy. Have you read those? Mervyn Peake's The Gormenghast Trilogy. I recommend that to anyone who likes my stuff.

I was also struck by his closing thoughts:

You know, every artist wants to shake hands with the future. It's not just a question of the old ego in the present. It's a desperate attempt by your ego to feel that it will escape time.

Hitchcock, of course, contributed two poems to Fast Forward 1.A long time fan of his music, I highly recommend all his recent work on Yep Roc Records, particularly Spooked and the new retrospective Luminous Groove.

Bright Music

Wowed this morning to discover a song inspired by Bright of the Sky. John Anealio is a composer and singer-songwriter who has a fantastic website called Sci-Fi Songs. He's trying to merge his love of music with his equal devotion to sf and fantasy and art, and by my tour of his site, he's succeeding and then some. In his piece, "The Return of Titus Quinn," I think he captured the mood and the gestalt of the book wonderfully.

There is something riveting about seeing or hearing a story as interpretated in art or music; I've had that experience with Stephan Martiniere's artistic representations of my series. Hearing this piece of music reminds me how cross-inspirational the arts are. The terrain is strange and moving, almost as though something magical has occurred. I just love this!