I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: TWO INCH ASTRONAUT-”Little Short Guy” (2013).

Two Inch Astronaut made it into two segments of NPR’s Music section this week.  Yesterday was Lars’ pick, today is Robin Hilton’s.

This song has a very funny title which may have something to do with the lyrics (which I don’t really understand) or it may be because the song is less than 90 seconds long.

It begins with some slow chugging chords (and something about holding you hair back). Twenty seconds in, the song bursts forth with louder guitars and noisier vocals. Twenty seconds later, the third part of the song mellows things out some, with quieter vocals and chiming guitars.  But by the one minute mark the loudness is back.  And then the song ends.

Talk about packing a lot into a short song.  I don’t think it would sell anyone on the band, but I’ll bet it sounds great in the midst of the album.

[READ: June 27, 2013] “The Grimnoir Chronicles: Detroit Christmas”

This short story is a brief prequel to the content of Hard Magic.  In Hard Magic Sullivan refers to the twins that he captured and wonders if they count as one capture or two.  Well, here’s the story of that capture.

It has all of the features that I grew to love in the novel (I even read it as close to Bronson Pinchot’s voice as I could).  And while the story was satisfying, it didn’t have any of the supporting cast who really flesh out the story.  True, this story is exclusively about Sullivan so that point is moot.  But it’s clear that while Sullivan is the star of the story he’s not really the heart.

The story is set in Detroit, Christmas Day 1931.  And we see Sullivan in the middle of a huge battle with the Maplethorpe Brothers and their gang.  There’s Snowball, the man who can control the temperature (and get ice to shoot from his fingers.  And there’s Johnny Bones, the ringleader, so-called for his ability to stretch and de-form his bones into any shape–or sharpness–he wants.

The story flashes back to two days earlier, when a lady walked into his office.  Emily Fordyce is looking for her husband, Arthur.  He was a powerful healer and is believed to be murdered.  But she thinks that he was kidnapped, perhaps by a gang who needs a healer.  The pay she offered Sullivan was very, very good,so he took the case.

Sullivan calls on Bernie, a great Finder.  Bernie calls on his spirit Mae, who agrees to hunt down the body or parts of the body based on the blood sample that Sullivan gave him.  (The blood proves to be fake and the punchline of the wild goose chase is very good).

In the meantime, Sullivan follows a lead to the Purple Thugs, a rather feared gang headed by Isadore Horowitz (this encounter gives Sullivan a good opportunity to show off his Spiker skills).  Horowitz says he knows nothing about the missing man but he knows that the other gang in town, the Maplethorpes were in need of a healer recently.

As with all noir stories, Sullivan follows leads that go nowhere.  Until he gets to an auto parts store with suspicious characters in  it.   He calls the FBI for backup and then barges into the melee.  And the story picks up where it began, with Sullivan in some trouble.

The final pages wrap up the story in a rather surprising way.

This story proved to be a fun way to see some new Actives and to see some other people and types that Correia had thought of.  And all of the Magical scenes are very cool–clever and well thought out.  And yes, the battle scenes were cool too.

Naturally, it doesn’t compare to the amazingness of the novel (it’s a little Christmas present to fans), it’s still enjoyable (and fills in some history, too).   It’s available for free here at the Baen website.