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Archive for October, 2013

Lydia Davis—“The Two Davises and the Rug” (Harper’s, September 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Flash Fiction, Harper's, Johnny Cash, Lydia Davis, Short Story, The Avett Brothers on October 21, 2013| 3 Comments »

harper septSOUNDTRACK: THE AVETT BROTHERS-“Open Ended Life” (2013).

AvettBrothers_CVR-560658fd89bf96b9dd1bf2b2be57013e64cb38cd-s1The folks at NPR love The Avett Brothers, and while I can see the appeal of their live show, their studio output just sounds like typical Americana to me.  Not bad by any means, but nothing all that special–honky tonk swing, occasional harmonica and expected harmonies.

The album was produced by Rick Rubin, which would have surprised me a few years ago but after his work with Johnny Cash it makes a lot of sense.

This song is a pretty rollicking good time (and the pretty ooohs are something of a surprise) especially by the end when everybody joins in–I’ll bet this is a hoot live.  The melody is certainly catchy.  I just want to like it more than I do.

[READ: October 1, 2013] “The Two Davises and the Rug”

Even though I recently complained about flash fiction, there is one author who does a very good job with it.  And that author is Lydia Davis.  She can generate an entire story out of a very simple concept . And while some of her flash fiction falls into that “it’s just a sketch, not a story” world, her longer short stories pack a lot in.

Like this one.  The entire premise of this story is that two people are interested in the same rug.  And they are both named Davis (bt are unrelated).

This Davis purchased the rug many years ago and has grown tired of it.  When her apartment complex has a sale for charity she puts in the rug and asks $10 for it.  But the sales people mark it up to $50 (it’s for charity after all).  No one buys the rug but another tenant across the way (also named Davis) is interested in it. But that Davis doesn’t buy the rug.  And when the sales is over this David takes the rug back home while that Davis wishes he had bought it.

The fun part of the story is that both Davises are indecisive.  So, this Davis wonders if she should sell the rug to that Davis and if so, for how much.  But if he really wanted it, maybe she should keep it, maybe it’s better than she realized.  And that Davis is unsure how well it will go in his house and he wonders if may be he could try it for a time first.  But this Davis is reluctant to give it up in case he really likes it or in case she really likes it.  And maybe she should give $50 to charity since she didn’t sell it.

And the story goes on like the, with insecurities running rampant. Fortunately it’s not a very long story (this is one instance where the short version pays off handsomely). And after we have gone through the various permutations, it may be hard for even us to know what those Davises should do.

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Tom Bissell–3 book reviews (Harpers, April 2013)

Posted in Alison Krauss, Austin Grossman, Benjamin Lytal, Book Reviews, Harper's, Rachel Kushner, Richard Thompson, School Library Journal, Set at School, Tom Bissell, Video Games on October 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

april 2013SOUNDTRACK: RICHARD THOMPSON-Electric (2013).

electRichard Thompson is remarkably consistent in his albums.  Especially his most recent ones.  The songs are all solid—both musically and lyrically.

Despite the name Electric, this album is no more or less electric than his other records.  Indeed, while this name may imply a much faster, heavier album, there are a number of ballads (and acoustic guitars) as well.  But if you like Richard for his amazing solos, you won’t be disappointed.

“Stony Ground” and “Sally B” are dark rockers (both mention gutters) with great fast solos.  “Treadmill” is one of RT’s class/money songs which are always spot on, even if he’s singing about sheet metal rather than playing guitar (great riff on this one too).

“Salford Sunday” is a more gentle rocker and “My Enemy” has a wonderful circular-feeling delicate melody and a gorgeous solo.  Both songs have female harmonies from Siobhan Maher Kennedy.  Indeed, Siobhan sings backing vocals on “Where’s Home” (an acoustic guitar ballad complete with violin solo), “Straight And Narrow” (a rocking song with aggressive guitars) and “Saving The Good Stuff For You.” “Good Stuff” Is a beautiful album ender, a sweet and tender ballad which I enjoyed even more live.

Alison Kraus sings backing vocals on “The Snow Goose,” a slow, somber song–the kind of which RT does so well.  “Good Things Happen to Bad People” is so unfailingly catchy, practically an earworm, that if there were any justice, this song would have been huge.  It’s got a great melody, cool lyrics and a really rocking solo.  “Another Small Thing in Her Favour” is a mellow acoustic/country song.  The end of the album goes a little too mellow.  Even though I like the songs individually, as a record it kind of trails off, which is a shame since “Good Stuff” is such a beautiful song.

I enjoyed this album tremendously and hearing him play some of those songs live was a treat.

[READ: October 10, 2013] 3 book reviews

This month Bissell reviewed three novels.

grossmanyouThe first is YOU by Austin Grossman.  Bissell explains that this is a book about a middling video games company circa the 1990s (Grossman was born in 1969 so he knows the territory well).  Bissell really enjoys the philosophical attitude of the book, specifically the narrator’s thoughts on making and playing games, although he fears that some of the characters are rather two-dimensional (and can’t decide if this is a flaw or if it’s intentional since the book is about video games).

grossman soonBissell is largely very positive about the book although the excerpt he quotes about human duality and videogames was not terribly exciting to me.  However he casually raved about Grossman’s first book Soon I Will Be Invincible (which is a literary work about superheros) which I think I’d be more inclined to read. (more…)

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Tom Bissell–3 book reviews (Harper’s, February 2013)

Posted in Ben Folds Five, Biography, Book Reviews, Charlie LeDuff, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Culture Shock, Depression, Drugs, Eyes Wide Shut, Frederic Raphael, George Saunders, Harper's, Religion, The New York Times, Tom Bissell, War on October 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

febSOUNDTRACK: BEN FOLDS FIVE-The Sound of the Life of the Mind (2013).

bffThe first Ben Folds Five album in over a decade opens with a big noisy sound and then quickly shows the diversity of the band by pulling back and showing a mellow verse with Ben’s piano and occasional bass.  But then the chorus comes in and Robert Sledge’s bass is once again masterful.  While Ben is clearly the leader of the band, there is something about the BFF’s bass that is so notable.  And this album rocks in BFF’s unique way–rollicking piano, and noisy buzzy bass.

“Michael Praytor, Five Years Later” has some great harmonies (the kind that BFF do so well).  “Sky High” is the kind of social commentary ballad that Ben excels at. And the title track is a fast moving rocker that has more great harmonies.

“On Being Frank” is a Sinatra inspired song with strings.  While “Draw a Crowd” continues Ben’s humorous vulgarity in a very unexpected way: “if you’re feeling small, and you can’t draw a crowd…draw dicks on a wall.”  “Do It Anyway” the single, which inexplicably wasn’t huge, gets more and more fun with each listen–to scream along with “OKAY!” is very cathartic.

“Hold That Thought” is one of those mellow but speedy numbers that I love from Ben.  And when then bass plays that high solo bit near the end (oh that bass), the song kicks into new levels of excellence.  “Away When You were Down” is another string-filled mellow song.  The final track “Thank You for Breaking My Heart” reminds me of “Boxing”, a mellow piano ballad which is, obviously, heartbreaking.

This is a great return to form.  There’s some heavy rockers and some pretty ballads. It’s nice to hear the Five back together again.

[READ: October 5, 2013] 3 book reviews

This month Bissell reviewed three books.

The first book is a biography of Flavius Jospehus called A Jew Among Romans jar by Frederic Raphael (who also wrote the screen play for Eyes Wide Shut).  I had never heard of Flavius Jospehus but evidently without him we would have no historical accounts of time from around the beginning of the Common Era.  His writings are pretty much the only works that have survived.

And his story itself is interesting too. In 70 A.D. the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. This attack has had more impact on current life than can be explained.  Judaism lost the Second temple, Jewish Christianity soon disappeared beneath the waves of Gentile Christianity, even Islam was shaped by this because a Mosque now stands where the Second Temple was.  And nearly all modern forms of anti-Semitism can be traced back to this attack in some way.  Flavius Jospehus chronicled this time as a Jew in a reasonably impartial way (which led many to call him a traitor).  His books Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War are the sources for almost all of our knowledge of that era, including about Pontius Pilate. (more…)

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Lucy Corin–One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses (2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Death, Dogs, End of the World, Fire, Flash Fiction, Funny (strange), Godzilla vs the Smog Monster, Lucy Corin, McSweeney's, Oddities, Short Story, The Dismemberment Plan, Violence on October 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

corin SOUNDTRACK: THE DISMEMBERMENT PLAN-“No One’s Saying Nothing” (2013).

IDismembermentPlan_CVR-a71cdf7d3b8dde6270c3a01bb56278949eddb5fa-s1 thought I knew The Dismemberment Plan, but I must have them confused with someone else, because this song doesn’t sound anything like what a band called The Dismemberment Plan ought to sound like (which is noisy and chaotic and probably death metal).  This song has big vocals, organ and piano.  Nevertheless, it is rather raucous and is quite fun (and has what sounds like a drill sound effect in the beginning and middle).

Lyrically, the song is odd–“If you press the space bar enough, cocaine comes out.  I really like this computer.”

But it has a very fun devil-may-care, throw in everything attitude that I really like it.  The entire album was streaming on NPR, and I’m looking forward to hearing more from them–including their back catalog work, to see if they ever sounded like what I thought they sounded like.

[READ: October 1, 2013] One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses

I was excited to get this book because I thought the title was quite intriguing (and the crazy way the cover is cut out was also interesting).

There are four “stories” in the book.  The first three are about twenty pages each while the fourth is over 100 and is comprised of the titular 100 apocalypses (I didn’t count them).

“Eyes of Dogs”
This story contained marginalia (which is sort of like footnotes but not attached to anything specific). In this story a solider meets a witch and she tells him how to get money—climb down a hole and encounter three dogs.  He must wink at the first, blink at the second and hold his eyes closed for the third.  The story seems to be going along sensibly like a fairy tale but then it grows introspective and stops.  I was disappointed in this one.

“Madmen”
This story was utterly bizarre and yet by the middle of the story the bizarreness was explained and by the end I enjoyed it very much.  The premise of this story is that when children grow old they are given a madman to take care of (it is told matter of factly which makes you have to wonder if madman is code for something else.  When boys reach a certain age and when girl;s have their first period (which is an unfair division of genders) they get to go to the asylum and pick which madman (or woman) they want to bring home and care for.  The bulk of the story is at the asylum with the girl “interviewing” the candidates and her mother being mad at her choices.  Ultimately the story turns onto a nice moment between the girl and her dad, who may or may not have married his own madman.  As I said very weird, but satisfying.

“Godzilla versus the Smog Monster”
This was the most “real” of the four stories and it was my favorite.  A fourteen year old boy is watching “Godzilla vs the Smog Monster.”  He found the unlabelled video of it in his father’s sweatshirt drawer and assumed it was porn.  He’s bummed that it turns out to be this Godzilla movie.  In a parallel story, when the boy goes to school his class is watching live footage of California burning—and this burning is uncontainable.  The whole state is slowly engulfed in flames.  This fire, which seems to be some kind of attack obviously changes the minds of everyone in the story, including Sara, a girl who Peter thinks is pretty but who never talks to him.  But when she crashes her car in front of his house, he helps her and they go for a ride to a cave.  Images of the smog monster crop up in interesting ways.  Things get weird and less tangible, but because the beginning was so real it made the ending okay.

“A Hundred Apocalypses”
So this selection disappointed me because it proved to be 100 (I assume) flash fiction pieces.  And I have more or less come down against flash fiction these days.  Especially the kinds of stories that make an interesting “sketch” but aren’t really stories The other problem is that all 100 seemed to be about “apocalypses” which is a useless words when tossed around so much and which loses all meaning when there are 100 that seem to be about actual apocalypses.  Or something.  I also just learned that apocalypse means un-covering or revelation, not really the end of the world, but whatever.

There were probably 6 out of the hundred that I really enjoyed.  Sadly, I didn’t mark them and I don’t remember which ones they were.  The rest were okay or worse.

I am ready for flash fiction to go away.  And I fear that my beloved McSweeney’s is one of the prime generators of the genre, so perhaps they could knock it off for a bit.

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Wittgenstein’s Halloween–a group read of David Markson’s Wittgenstein’s Mistress (1988)

Posted in David Markson, Wittgenstein's Halloween on October 17, 2013| 5 Comments »

[JOINED: October 15, 2013] Wittgenstein’s Halloween

witmisWittgenstein’s Mistress is a largely unknown book.  However, fans of David Foster Wallace should know of it as it was one of the books that DFW often recommended.  He even wrote a formal book review about it (which you can read here).

The book has sounded challenging if not difficult, and while I can’t say I was chomping at the bit to read it (even in my post about DFW’s review of the book I said I wasn’t compelled to read it), but I have always sort of assumed I would.

It felt daunting although when I saw that it was only 240 pages, some of that daunt went away (I don’t mind reading a big book, but a big dense daunting book is another thing, at least at this time–because I have just started John Sayles 900+ page book A Moment in the Sun).  So when I saw that this group read was starting up and I decided it was pretty much now or never. (more…)

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Diane Williams—“Living Deluxe” (Harper’s, June 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Black Sabbath, Diane Williams, Fuzz, Harper's, Huh?, Queens of the Stone Age, Short Story, Ty Segall, Unreliable narrator on October 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

 harper juneSOUNDTRACK: FUZZ-“Sleigh Ride” (2013).

fuzzHow can some 3 minute songs seem like they take a long time and others feel like they are about a minute long.  “Sleigh Rode” is one of those songs that is over before you know it.  With a big old fuzzy guitar riff opening the song it sounds straight out of classic rock.  Then the verses come in with faster riffing (like a less heavy Black Sabbath) and a sleazy kind of vocal.  It reminds me of a more garage band/sloppy Queens of the Stone Age.

This is (yet another) band from Ty Segall. Robin Hilton from NPR says that Segall had put out some 6 solo albums and is in a half a dozen bands as well (and he’s only 26).  he normally sings and plays guitar, but he plays drums in this band.

While I don’t actually know anything else by him, I really enjoy this piece of fuzzy distorted sleaze pop. and may need to see what he is other releases are like.

[READ: September 20, 2013] “Living Deluxe”

Diane Williams wrote Vicky Swanky is a Beauty which I did not really like.  It was experimental and flash fiction which I am growing to like less and less.  This short piece (which is actually longer than anything in Vicky Swanky, I believe), is from a collection in progress.  I’m not sure if that means that this is finished or not (it’s hard to tell with her).

This story deals with a woman who has taken money from her mother (and sister and brother) because her mother “knew I needed to be a person with flair” (I liked that line).

The thing about the rest of the story is that the narrator acts like a five year old telling a story.  The details that are added are not necessarily relevant to the story.  So we get two paragraphs on a man sneezing, a few paragraphs on her cat, and a couple of paragraphs about Leonard da Vinci.  These details might be relevant to the story.  But interspersed with these details are things that impact the taking-money storyline—that her sister took something that was hers (the Da Vinci bit is about a present she gave to her sister). (more…)

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Pearl Jam interviews (and new album)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Carrie Brownstein, Danny Clinch, Funny (ha ha), Judd Apatow, Kiss, Mark Richards, Pearl Jam, Political Humor, Short Films, Steve Gleason, The Who, Van Halen on October 15, 2013| 1 Comment »

[WATCHED: October 11, 2013] Pearl Jam interviews

lightning bowlToday is the release date for Pearl jam’s new album, Lightning Bolt. I have heard two songs from it (the fast and furious “Mind Your Manners” and the gorgeous “Sirens”) and I’m quite excited to hear the whole thing.  For the release of the album, Pearl Jam has decided to do some interviews.  But not with the usual suspects.  Rather, they have done four exclusive interviews with surfer Mark Richards, NFL player Steve Gleason, all around awesome lady Carrie Brownstein and director Judd Apatow.

The Mark Richards interview is available in excerpted form here.  I’m not sure how long the whole interview is.  But from the edited down video, we see that he interviewed all five of them for a bit (and then Stone, Jeff and Mike) and then Eddie.  A surfer seems like a reasonable person t ask them about their music and they clearly feel very comfortable with him.  (The video above is about 5 minutes). (more…)

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Jay Kirk–“The Shining Path: Room 237 and the Kubrick cult” (Harpers, June 2013)

Posted in An American Werewolf in London, Canadian Music, Essays, Harper's, Helmet, NASA, Room 237, Stanley Kubrick, The Shining, Voivod on October 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

harper juneSOUNDTRACK: VOIVOD-Kronik (1998).

kronikVoivod in the E-Force era released two proper albums.  But they also released their first live album and this hybrid collection. So at this point, there were almost more albums with this in retrospect least popular lineup of the band.

Kronik, with the least inspiring album cover of all (the fact that Away doesn’t seem to have anything to do with it even calls into question the “realness” of the release) has eleven songs on it  The first three tracks are remixes.  It’s fascinating to hear these really really heavy songs remixed in a techno way.  I know by this time there was a lot of really heavy techno bands, so this isn’t totally unusual, and Voivod has been experimenting with industrial beats on the last two albums as well.  It’s just fun to imagine these as dance remixes and to speculate who these remixes were made for.  “Forlorn” sounds a bit like Helmet here.  E-Force’s voice is so manipulated as to be almost unrecognizable.  The solo section is also manipulated in a weird way, making this song sound, if not very different from at least somewhat different. There also appears to be some throat singing thrown on to the end of the mix.  “Nanoman” gets the royal treatment—skittery beats, sounds dropping out and a major techno drum beat placed on top of it.  “Mercury” is given a very fast electronic drumbeat but not much else.  But in this version it sounds very classic industrial.

The next three songs are outtakes from the E-Force era.  “Vortex” has a pummeling guitar riff and some massively screamed vocals.  “Drift” opens slowly with some spacey guitars and distant rumbles of drums.  After 90 second the screaming noise kicks into high gear.  “Erosion” has a some steady heavy sections in between the bludgeoning.  They basically all sound like the could have come from Phobos.

The next song “Ion” appeared on the soundtrack to Heavy Metal 2000 the movie and was unreleased until this album.  It has some very cool moments in it and is a little less brutal than a lot of their music from this era.  I rather like it.

The final four songs are live.  “Project X” and “Cosmic Conspiracy” are tracks from the E-Force era, and they sound very close to the studio versions.  I actually prefer E-Force’s voice here, as it is more natural sounding.  “Nuclear War” comes from the very first album. E-Force’s screams are not too dissimilar to Snake’s, although I miss Snake’s pronunciations.  But the music sounds better than on the album.  And then there’s “Astonomy Domine.”  This is the first live recording of the band (and the only song form the pre-E-Force era that’s on a live record.  So it’s exciting to hear them playing this more complex song.  The recording quality is not great, sadly.  But the problem (once again) is E-Force’s voice.  The first verse sounds fine, but as the song moves along he starts screaming a lot more.  And this song just doesn’t lend itself to screaming.  It’s shame.

So this collection is for die-hards and for people who love the heavier period of Voivod (which is not a majority I would guess).

[READ: September 30, 2013] Room 237

This article looks at The Shining, the film by Stanley Kubrick.  It briefly mentions the book by Stephen King, but only briefly.  And actually this article doesn’t so much look at the film as it looks at a film about The Shining called Room 237.  And, actually, Room 237 is more about the people who have obsessed over The Shining for years and who have come up with very detailed theories about the movie.

Some of the theories that these fans have (and which appear in the movie) include: (more…)

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Tom Bissell–2 book reviews (Harper’s, June 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Book Reviews, Clive James, Dante Alighieri, Death, Essays, Harper's, John Zorn, Memoirs, Stephen Rodrick, Tom Bissell, Translation, William S. Burroughs on October 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

harper juneSOUNDTRACK: JOHN ZORN-“The Dream Machine” (2013).

dreamThis is the title track to the third installment of instrumental albums by composer Zorn (as opposed to wild sax-player Zorn).  The new album is called Dreammachines.  Evidently this trilogy is somehow related to William S. Burroughs (sure, why not).  The first was called Interzone (and was three 15 minute-plus suites), the second was Nova Express (which was shorter pieces) and now Dreammachines (which is also shorter pieces).

It’s impossible to know what Zorn will throw at us next, but this song proves to be a beautiful jazz piece with the quartet of pianist John Medeski, bassist Trevor Dunn, vibraphonist Kenny Wollesen, and drummer Joey Baron.  It opens with a quick but pretty vibraphone melody.  The melody shifts keys but stays in the same pattern until the main melody kicks in.

Variations on the theme continue until about 2 minutes in when Medeski gets a big piano solo and this sounds more like traditional jazz than most Zorn pieces.  Then there’s a very cool vibes solo.  It’s pretty standard jazz and it’s really quite beautiful.

[READ: September 20, 2013] 2 book reviews

Bissell reviews two books this month.

danteThe first is Dante’s Divine Comedy as translated by Clive James.  James has decided that since Italian is so easy to rhyme “For an Italian poet it’s not rhyming that’s hard,” rather than following Dante’s linked terza rima rhyme scheme, he chose the rhyming quatrain.  Bissell expects that academics and traditionalists will be very suspicious of the book because of that, but he says that for the average person (the average person who wants to read Dante, of course), it will be more fun and enjoyable.  Especially, James popularizes the book.  I have always resisted The Divine Comedy but this one sounds like it might be a bit more fun, and isn’t that what reading is all about?

magicalThe second book is The Magical Stranger by Stephen Rodrick.  When Rodrick was 13 his father died in a military plane crash.  His carrier was en route home when it was told to reroute to help with the hostage crisis in Tehran.  But his plane was destroyed.  The hardest part for Stephen was when he read that the accident was deemed “pilot error.”

This book is Stephen’s attempt to learn more about his father.  Through the course of the book, he discovers more and more unpleasant facts about his father—from the lies his father told his mother to a pilot who knew his father who calls his an asshole.  Bissell finds this part of the book very moving but not quite warranting a novel length treatment.

But there is a secondary story about the man who now commands his father’s squadron James Hunter “Tupper” Ware.  Bissell says that this part of the story is far more engaging (Stephen is a journalist and this section is more investigative).  Stephen more or less tries to live his father’s life through Ware, a man who finds the same level of difficulties in his job and his life as Rodrick’s father did.

This is definitely not the kind of book I would read, but for those with an interest in the military and pilots its sound like a good warts-and-all investigation.

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David Almond–Mouse Bird Snake Wolf [illustrated by Dave McKean] (2013)

Posted in Alternate Reality, Children's Books, Dave McKean, David Almond, Gods, Marc Almond, Soft Cell on October 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

mbws SOUNDTRACK: MARC ALMOND-“Glorious” (2001).

gloriousAll the time that I had been seeing David Almond’s name I had been thinking of Marc Almond.  I don’t know how common a name Almond is, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think that it is not a very common name.  Or to think that a singer might  become a writer.  However, looking at photos of David, it is clear that he is not Marc.

I knew that Marc Almond was the singer in Soft Cell (you know, “Tainted Love”–which I didn’t realize was a cover), but I haven’t followed him at all since then.  His name has cropped up on songs from time to time, so i knew he was still singing and that he sounded mostly the same (a bit more glammy).  When I did a search I found this utterly fascinating video.

Almond has always had a strong, powerful voice.  And as his solo career has moved along it seems to have gotten even more operatic.  He can hold long notes and he can really belt those notes out.

“Glorious” is no exception, with the chorus being a big anthem.  What’s interesting is that the verses which are fairly simple keyboard notes have a slightly minor chord feel to them giving the verses a vaguely sinister feel.  I don’t know if that’s intentional (I feel not given the big chorus, but I sense it).  Despite all of the bigness and the disco ball video, this song is surprisingly not that catchy.  It certainly has a fun chorus, but the music itself is not instantly hummable.

But I have to respect Marc for that elaborate costume.

[READ: September 29, 2013] Mouse Bird Snake Wolf

I’ve known David Almond for a while but I’ve never seen his children’s books before.  I got this mainly for McKean’s art, which is as weirdly beautiful as ever.

Almond has apparently written a few children’s books and I rather assume that they are all kind of dark and “older” like this one.

The story starts in a world long ago and far away with three children, the eldest Harry, the middle one Susan, and the young one Ben.  There were marvelous things in the world but the children felt that there were gaps–things missing.

Then we see the gods (I love that the world below is in vibrant color and the gods are in shades of gray).  The gods were so pleased with all of things they had created (and they were indeed wonderful) that they basically sat around on their clouds praising themselves, drinking tea and eating cakes.

But the children are unhappy with things–there’s too many unsettling empty spaces.  They shout their concerns, but the gods ignore them. Then, one by one, the children begin imagining things that ought to be there. (more…)

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