Alas, Journeyman...

In attempting to figure out when the next episode of Journeyman would air--I hear it will not. The Man, sporting his peacock logo, has effectively canceled it. NBC can spout all the excuses it wants. Ratings, blah, blah, blah, writer's strike, blah, blah, blah--I ceased listening to "official" statements long ago.

NBC: Did you try to promote it more? Did you try airing it in a different time slot? Did you try--there's a million-and-one things to try! Do you think I'm going to now watch the junk you plan on substituting for it? Do you leave me any reason to turn on NBC at all? No thanks! I'll just use the timeslot to read.

Writers Of The Future: The Envelope Please...

It'll be announced here shortly: http://wotfblog.galaxypress.com

But from what I've pieced together, the waveform has collapsed thusly:

First Place: Erin Cashier
Second Place: Sonia Timms/Helbig
Third Place: Jeannette Cheney

Congrats!

Of course, the published finalists, if any, are yet to be determined...

Update per Sonia: the judges this quarter were Larry Niven, Tim Powers, Kevin J. Anderson & Nina Kikiri Hoffman.

Schrödinger's Cats Unleashed...

For no particular reason, here is a picture of my cats. The one on the left is named Katie. The one on the right is Niya.

Katie greets us when we come home by rolling on the floor. When the mood strikes her, she loves to play fetch. At best, she tolerates Niya's existence, though sometimes she goes way out of her way to bat Niya on the head.

Niya is good at figuring out how to open doors. When she feels that she's "won" at a game, she'll drag her toy round and round the room in a triumphant procession. If she's suspicious of a new object, she's quite adept at boxing it. Niya sometimes will watch TV for a few minutes and at times, I've had to accomodate her by not changing the channel if she seems interested in what's on. Niya's the copycat, emulating what Katie is doing.

Both love to chase ice around on the kitchen floor. Neither support my writing, but rather stand outside the office door and meow their heads off. If I let Katie in, she'll jump between me and the monitor. Katie prefers my wife and will beg for her to pick her up, or will jump in her lap when watching television. Niya will get in my lap when reading or watching TV, and put her head on my chest, but then, she'll do the same to my wife. In fact, though Niya doesn't spurn me, I think it's a matter of opportunity. If both my wife and I are available, she'll choose my wife over me. I suspect they view her as a mother figure and the supreme authority.

Adventures in Scifi Publishing returns on January 12th

Season 2 of Adventures in Scifi Publishing will begin with a big bang on January 12th. They will have Kevin J. Anderson and Sean Williams--then two weeks later, Terry Goodkind.

Go over to www.adventuresinscifipublishing.com and listen to the promo!

I know. That's over a month from now. Remind me to remind you...

Shallow Red

This is my chess program in action.

You've heard of Deep Blue, the terror of Chess Champions everywhere? Well, this it ain't. I never promised that it was pretty. Like Frankenstein, I never bothered making my creation look good. It was only a personal project. If & when I'd the chess engine well tuned, then I intended on going back and give it a slick front end.

Is it alive? Barely. It can be set to Human vs Human, Human vs Computer, Computer vs Computer.

It never allows the human to make an illegal move. On computer mode it tries to calculate the best possible move, reiteratively adding and subtracting different possibilities based on pieces that are in jeopardy on both sides, depending on the value of the piece. Unfortunately, such exponential processing can get out of hand. Thus, I can't calculate too many moves ahead. Even so, it takes, at least, half a minute. And even then, it makes some boneheaded moves sometimes.

Obviously, it was a work in progress. But I haven't touched it in over 4 years other than, importing the code into Excel and making a type of spreadsheet chess. And why would anyone do that? Because I could. To satisfy my inner mad scientist.

Schrödinger's Finalists

Since hearing my story was in the finals, I've had some sort of strange writing block. Instead of thinking about my next story(or writing it), I find myself easily distracted. It seeps into my dreams. On the up side, I was surprised by the number of well-wishing, not only from among the fellow finalists, but from other writers, and from those with no aspirations to write(those seem most satisfying of all).

In obsessing over my odds, I've created a fiction of sorts, backed by spurious calculations to help me sort it all out. In essence, eight stories sit in Schrödinger's Box, each in a superposition of states. When a measurement is made, by judging, then the superposition will collapse.

While, perhaps, there may be one Hugo-worthy story(not mine, obviously) that will outshine the rest, until it is measured--we don't know. And there is the likelihood that several are equal in quality and it might come down to subjective taste or even mood. Of course, professional writers are doing the judging, and as Gurney Halleck in Dune said, 'Moods are a thing for cattle and love play!' Obviously, they won't let traffic jams and finicky cats cloud their judgment.

The point is there is great uncertainty. But it is sane to keep in mind that there are a finite number of states the superposition can collapse into, accompanied by its own set of odds:

59.03% : Nonwinning, nonpublished finalist
03.46% : Nonwinning, published Finalist
37.50% : Third place
25.00% : Second place
12.50% : First place
03.10% : Gold

Discounting published finalists, there are 56 winning groups that could emerge from the quarter(if you include who-wins-what that would up it to 168 combinations). Pick from the 56 and there's only a 1.79% chance for that combination. The odds of any two, say two Virginians, both winning are 10.7%. But the good news is that that odds for a Virginian to win this year are 64.3%.

How will the superposition collapse? We will have to wait and see.

To be continued...

Writers Of The Future Q407 : Finalist!!!

http://wotfblog.galaxypress.com/2007/11/4th-quarter-writers-of-future-finalists.html

I feel I should say something insightful, something profound, but right now my mind is all a jumble. In fact, if I were the first man on the moon, those would probably be my words upon stepping out of the Eagle: "Um--uh--my mind is blank!"

Of course, there's only a 37% chance that my story will place first, second, or third. The judges will have to weigh my story's merits against 7 others. I am pleased to see a fellow Virginian among the finalists. It's a possibility, albeit a slim one, that we'll both be in the workshop and our stories in the anthology. Wouldn't that be a good way to represent Virginia!!!

Though I haven't yet made it, I have to say, crafting a publishable story isn't easy. It takes work and there are many dimensions of consideration. Style, characterization, plot, clarity, pace, suspense, ect, ect--and in SF&F there is the added burden of worldbuilding & making the unreal credible-seeming. This particular story went through 3 drafts. Then, since mistakes abound, two rounds of proofreading. Hours and hours of work over many months.

None of this would've been possible either without solid feedback, which I recieved from my wife and Paul Comstock, a fellow Hatracker, Critter, and Writers Of The Future semifinalist. Many thanks to them!

Incidentally, here's a link to Paul's site, which contains many helpful tips on writing:
http://www.paulallancomstock.com/

Realms Of Fantasy : The Envelope Please...

In late December, I sent “Foregleamer” to the Writers of The Future contest/anthology and the story placed semifinalist, one of the last cut from the potential list of finalists according to my critique from K.D. Wentworth. I revised the story per her feedback, as well as the critiques I recieved from Critters. In September, I cut it down to 9,800 words from 12,000, as painful as that was, and on October 1, I mailed it to Realms of Fantasy.

Today I received the results: The Yellow Form of Promise. Of course, had I recieved the Blue Form Of Death, I could have griped that Douglas Cohen, the assistant editor, didn't even give the story a chance--but, in all fairness, he read it and gave it many. And for his time, effort, and honest assessment, I thank him.

I am Geek--hear me type!

I should be rewriting the story that I'm planning on sending to WOTF for Q108, but I'm being a Murphy's procrastinator. I'll let my subconscious work on an attack plan for the revisions. Meanwhile...

I am a geek.

According to the Wiktionary, a geek is:

*A person intensely interested in a particular field or hobby, generally at the expense of broader social interaction.

According to Wikipedia:

*somebody whose reasoning and decision making is always first and foremost based on his/her passions rather than things like financial reward or social acceptance.

*A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who pursues skill...and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance.

*A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream.

*A person who rejects society, yet is involved in it — unlike and in contrast to a hermit.

*the particular interests of nerds are of practical nature...while those of geeks are often considered trivial but entertaining.

*a bright young man turned inward, poorly socialized, who felt so little kinship with his own planet that he routinely traveled to the ones invented by his favorite authors

I'm not too sure about the bright part. According to Tickle.com my IQ was 130, and, of course, that's as far an online tests can be trusted. A timed online test I took a decade earlier had me at 120. I tend to do well in what captures my fancy, while zoning in areas that don't. It wouldn't surprise me to learn I've been struggling with attention deficit all my life--in fact, I'm pretty sure of it. And for those of you that don't have that problem, thus less than sympathetic, it's not something that can just be willed away.

I've had pseudo-intellectual interests in technology and layman science. Ever since my father came home with the C64, I was hooked on programming. First with Basic 2.0, then with 6510 Assembler--later on it was C & C++. But, professionally, I ended up on the mainframe, and when I came home, the last thing I wanted to do was more programming.

Yeah, I've made a few side projects. Of course, I've done Tic Tac Toe--haven't we all? The code was surprisingly short and simple.

A couple years back I got 75% through a homemade version of Pacman, enough to get Pacman, Blinkey, Pinkey, Inkey and Clyde moving through the maze, with power pellets and dots. Yes, when Pacman ate the blinking power pellet, the ghost turned blue. Pacman could eat them, leaving their eyes wandering back to the ghost box and regenerate. Why not add sound, scoring, and a more rigorous routines for the ghosts? Because, I realized I could, and when I realized that, I'd finished what I set out to accomplish. To continue on would have little point.

In '03, I did a workable version of chess. You could play against another human, or the computer, or computer against computer. Of course, the computer made lousy moves. I tried refining and refining the reiterative routines, but there was only so much VB could crunch. In chess, things get exponential very fast. I rewrote the core engine in straight C to see if it would run faster, but I got sidetracked with other things. A couple years back, I did massage the VB code into Excel and refashioned it into a workable Excel Chess. But since then, I haven't touched it.

So most of my homemade programs have tended to be interesting trinkets, experiments as it were, and when I began writing I had little time for these diversions anymore. And, of course, technology marches on, faster and faster. You blink and you fall behind. I understand C++ has moved on to C# and VB has moved onto VB.NET. But I still miss the days of DOS 3.0, when I knew exactly what my PC was doing. Namely, only what I told it to. With Vista, I feel like a helpless baby. I hear you churning, hard drive--what are you doing?

Thus, I trend toward the trivial but entertaining(geekdom), rather than to the technical but practical(nerdom). My interests are definitly outside the mainstream. I reject many aspects of society and question the cultural norms--who says that until 11AM you eat one foodset, but after you eat another? If it's 6AM--give me my pizza! Oh--just not from a chain restaurant.

No, I am not being different for it's own sake, or because I think it makes me look cool. I'm not concerned about your acceptance. I'm not afraid that you'll stop interacting with me--it'll give me more time for my own pursuits.

Podcasts

As a gift, my wife gave me an ipod back in May. At first, I wondered what in the brane I'd do with it. My car has a CD player, so why do I need this trendy little device--this fad? Yeah, I dumped scores of albums onto it. I purchased a couple from iTunes. But, of course, there's only so many dozen times of listening to Spock's Beard or Mike Oldfield before once experiences music burnout.

And then I discovered the wonders of Podcasts. Rather late in the game, some may say. Others, like I was, may be hesitant to give this medium a try. I really believe podcasts have real staying power. It's great for the commute to work and back. It's great when doing the dishes and laundry. And the best part, like radio, many Podcasts are free, however, unlike radio you've more say about the content.

I listed some of my favorite podcasts in the Links. Of all of them, Adventures in Scifi has caught my fancy the most. Upbeat, sometimes to the point of lunacy, and yet not too over-the-top, they discuss what's happening in the world of SF&F, namely in reference to the written word. They interview authors. They discuss writing tips. As voracious readers of the books and mags, they know their stuff. And if you poke around the links listed on their blog, you will probably discoverer some other great productions as well.

Then there is Escape Pod, a podcast of pro and semi-pro SF&F short stories and novelettes. You'll find stories from the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Asimov's, Interzone, ect. If you're like me, your reading logjam is too backed up too catch all of the shorts, or perhaps the trope is not appealing, or an opening didn't grab. Here's a chance to listen to a story that you might not otherwise read.

Lastly, I want to highlight I Should Be Writing. Not as exciting as the other two, but very instructional. Lots of pauses to help make the listener think and absorb.

A wise man once said, 'Don't be the first to jump on a bandwagon--don't be the last.' If you haven't discovered podcasts, maybe it's time to give them a try. And if you discover a good one, let me know!

Progday 2007: Nemo

How did I find Nemo? Not bad, but the second coming of Ange they are not. It seemed basic drums, bass, keys, guitar with fair vocals. Nothing complex--nothing dramatic. At best, I'd say they qualify as okay French neo-prog.

Progday 2007: Advent

I wanted to like Advent. I really did. The ingredients were all there. They certainly had the skills and command of their instruments. They had the heavy influence of Gentle Giant and the more pastoral moments from Trick of The Trail/Wind and the Wuthering era Genesis. Instrumentally, they nailed the cover of Free Hand!

So it hurts to say this: Their original compositions seemed to meander and oftentimes lacked any drive or energy. Nothing seemed to mesh. Worst of all was the lead vocals, performed by the founding keyboardist. While attempting what I believe is a GG-like alto tenor, his voice obviously wasn't up to task that day. Especially was this so during the cover of Free Hand. It pains me to relate how his voice seemed to crack and break, though to be fair, he seemed to have had problems with the mike. The performance of Free Hand should've been the most amazing cover ever. Everyone should've been ecstatic and rushed the stage. But, if the majority of attendees were like me, they cringed. If you are going to walk on hallowed ground, don't stumble!

Progday 2007: Skeletonbreath

Skeletonbreath were THE BEST OF THE FEST. A trio of violin, bass and drums--they sizzled! I was determined NOT to buy any albums from the performers this time around, attempting to save my money in order to buy ultrarare prog jems. However, I had to make this one exception. Louise only cost ten bucks, which I was happy to part with. I think they could've doubled the price.

I couldn't help contrast Robert Pycior with Indukti's Ewa Jablonska(as heard at Nearfest). Pycior delivers frantic lead violin, skillfully played, while Jablonska merely offered ornamental textures that probably anyone could have delivered given a few months training. Not to take anything away from Frogg Café's Bill Ayasse, but Robert Pycior obviously wins best fiddle--better than I've seen in a rocky context in quite a while.

Progday 2007: Qoph

Jim Morrison didn't die. He moved to Sweden and changed his name to Robin Kvist, eventually ending up in a bluesy hard-rock unit called Qoph. Hands down, Jim--I mean Robin Kvist was the best vocalist the entire weekend.

However, despite being from Sweden, Qoph didn't seem truly Prog. They didn't have the virtuosity, complexity, or sound. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that and I don't think they were trying to be. But then, one comes to a progressive festival primarily to hear prog.

Progday 2007: Frogg Café

I liked their complex instrumentals quite a bit, the blend of genres, and the addition of violin to the mix--not to forget, their great cover of King Crimson's Red. However, most of the time, I found the vocals grating, especially the "harmonies". Some groups should just stick to making great music rather than marring it with attempts at singing.

[[[If you noticed a discrepancy in the above photo (hint, hint: the violinist), it isn't because Bill Ayasse played through a transdimensional portal, but behind the speaker stack. The mishmash of one photo clip onto the other, well represents the vocal disharmonies.]]]

Progday 2007: Naikaku

From Japan, Naikaku's music consisted of two layers: A flowery melodic flute with an undercurrent of rocky guitar, bass and drums. The two layers blended quite well. However, to me, their set seemed overly long. Once, the top layer was taken away, my attention wandered in the heat. To their credit, from what I understand, they evidently were missing a member or two due to passport issues. Had they a full ensemble, I probably would have been raving.

Progday 2007: Oblivion Sun

Stan Whitaker and Frank Wyatt of Oblivion Sun were the biggest names at Progday, alumni of Happy The Man, giants of classic American Prog--and Virginia based at that! This was, for obvious reasons, my second favorite performance of the weekend. Bill Plummer(hidden by the left speaker stack), really floored me, taking the figurative Progday cake for best keys.

They played two HTM classics: Leave That Kitten Alone, Armone and I Carve The Chariot on the Carousel. For some reason, by Monday evening, my memory recalled Knee Bitten Nymphs in Limbo instead of Carousel. Unfortunately, the great outdoors really baked my brain with its oblivion sun.

Some say they are HTM on steroids, perhaps because the recent HTM album seemed rather feathery. To me, Oblivion Sun seemed like another permutation of HTM. Even in their heyday, they showed a lighter side half the time, almost "new age" by today's standards, before that wretched label came into existence. Energy is not always manifested as speed, but sometimes it comes like an imperceptible and unrelenting tide.

Style Weekly's Fifth Annual Fiction Contest : The Envelope Please...

Today, the results came back for my story, "Returning from the Grave", that I sent to Style Weekly's Fifth Annual Fiction Contest. While the story did not win first, second or third place, it did make it to the final round. This makes twice this year one of my stories came close, yet just didn't have that special something to push it over the top. While there is obviously room for improvement, I do feel I am making progress.

This was a first for me for three reasons:

First, being I that had to work within a 2000 word limit, it precluded me from writing a SF&F story. Therefore, I wrote a non-genre story. No speculative elements. However, I discovered that I did enjoy writing it. I got the same rush as I do for genre stories. Don't worry! I doubt I'll veer from SF&F.

Second, the viewpoint character was female. Being male, I've always shied away from the viewpoint of the opposite gender, however, this did not prove an obstable at all.

Third, since it was only 2000 words, and being non-genre had little exposition, I wrote it in a day's time, discounting the halfday of editing. Of course, had I spent more time with it, perhaps it would have placed!

Nearfest->Sunday : MAGMA

I was wowed by Magma twice in ’99, at Progfest, and then in LA. What do I think after Sunday night’s performance? WOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!!

After eight years and some personnel shifting, they’ve only gotten better, more refined, polished. Face it--Magma’s element has always been live, and with a few exceptions their studio efforts fell flat. My favorite Magma album, indeed one of my favorite albums of all time, is HHAI. But get this: Even without bassist Jannick Top or a violinist like Didier Lockwood, I’d say Sunday night was better than that. This concert ranks as one of the best I've ever seen, up there with seeing a reunited Yes in 1990 and ten years later, Il Balleto Di Bronzo and Happy the Man.

The vocals of Stella Vander, Isabelle Feuillebois, Himiko and Antoine Paganotti blended together well into an amazing space opera. And Christian Vander, besides being one of the best drummers in France, Earth or Kobia, has a great voice himself. James Macgaw, whom I saw Friday in One Shot, surprised at one point by adding blues licks to the Magma sound. The xylophone was a nice addition, skillfully played by Frederic D’oelsnitz. Yes, I’d say Magma is better than ever, tighter, more intense. They know how to build tension in the music until the fabric of space-time seems ready to unravel. I don’t think any studio or even live album (even of Sunday’s performance) could ever capture it. You’d have to be there, to hear, see, and feel the Zeuhl flowing through you.

Nearfest->Sunday : Pure Reason Revolution

There is at least one group every festival where I ask myself, “What are they doing here?” Despite the hype that was given Pure Reason Revolution, I quickly deflated. Just basic drums and guitars, very muddled vocals, and some electronic whizzing in the background. No virtuosity to be found anywhere. I gave them three songs, and then ducked out to catch an early dinner at Sal’s.

[Opinionated Rant On] Q magazine might believe this group is a missing link between Floyd and the 21th century. But then, since the late seventies, mainstream rock has only degenerated and regressed, going from punk to hair metal to grunge, from bad to ugly to unlistenable. Mainstream rock isn’t so much dead as undead, that is in zombie-land. So, perhaps Pure Reason is a missing link between Floyd and the zombie-zone, along with nominally prog groups like Porcupine Tree and Radiohead, but it’s not my cup of tea at all. If I wanted to listen to this type of stuff, I’d go to a mainstream or alt fest.[/Opinionated Rant Off]

Nearfest->Sunday : Robert Rich

Because of its minimalistic approach, ambient music isn’t really Prog per say--it’s an extract of electronic progressive, a descendent of Prog courtesy of Brian Eno. It ensconces most of the melody and complexity and focuses instead on exploring sonic permutations. Of recent, I’ve picked up some Steve Roach, and when I’m in a certain mood, ambient hits the spot--albeit with a feather hammer.

Californian Robert Rich provided a palate cleanser from the more-is-more-is-more performances. In the midst of a mad-scientist setup, he fiddled with the keyboards, played steel guitar and an electronic wind instrument. Above him, a movie provided a visual accompaniment. Instead of lulling me to sleep, I found myself becoming very engaged and attentive, especially toward the end.

Nearfest->Sunday : La Maschera Di Cera

During my festival hiatus, I've often wondered what happened to Finisterre. I’ve an album or two by them, and of course, I saw them at Progday ’97. My all-time unforgettable Progday moment was when their guitarist nailed the solo in Firth of Frith.

Finisterre’s bassist, Fabio Zuffanti, went on to La Maschera Di Cera, where Italian Prog lives on. Agostino Macor smacks wall-to-wall keys, pumping out mellotron and juicy analog sounds. Instead of guitar, at times the flute is the lead instrument, piped by Andrea Monetti. The vocalist, Alessandro Corvaglia, provided a strong vocal, reminding me of Deus Ex Machina’s Alberto Piras. At times, Fabio’s bass provided a heavier, rockier sound, making up for the lack of lead guitar. Italian prog is always a treat and they went on to provide my second favorite performance of the weekend.

Nearfest->Sunday : Indukti

I was hoping Poland’s Indukti would change my mind toward Prog Metal. In fact, I was open to it. And, at their best, they were reminiscent of an instrumental Anekdoten, but much crunchier.

Wawrzyniec Dramowicz’s drumming was this groups best feature, verging on the melodic. Piotr Kocimski and Maciej Jaskiewicz crunched away on guitar, providing power-chord rhythms, but little melody or dexterous soling. The violin provided for atmosphere, but Ewa Jablonska just gave one good solo toward the end of the set.

In the end, they did not change my mind toward prog metal. They just left my ears buzzing and my blood pumping with adrenaline. But then, any decent alarm clock can do that.

Nearfest->Saturday : Magenta

And what about England, where Prog got its start? There was Magenta, who hovered in the borderland between symphonic and accessible neo-prog. Chris Fry called to mind shades of Howe and Gilmore, at home with electric or acoustic guitars. Christina Booth had the most beautiful lead vocals all weekend--I couldn’t help but think of Annie Haslam, who it was said was somewhere on the premises. Rob Reed scorched the keys with fat, analog leads accompanied with organ sustains and flourishes of piano.

This was my wife’s favorite act of the show, so much so that she bought one of their CDs. Derivative, some say. Perhaps. But, maybe, they are just what is needed to draw fresh blood into the fanbase.

Nearfest->Saturday : Bob Drake

Bob Drake is part of the State's progressive prog movement(that is to say avant prog), descendents of Europe's Rock In Opposition legacy. He's been part of many groups I dig, such as Thinking Plague. He was joined by David Campbell on bass and drum master Dave Kerman.

To be honest, I wasn’t familiar with Bob Drake’s solo efforts. While he played guitar and briefly a purposely out-of-tune violin, I believe this was mostly a tongue-in-cheek experiment. Drake’s voice at times is a high alto, and often (like in 5uu’s) reminds me of what might have happened if Chris Cutler invited Jon Anderson to join Henry Cow instead of Dagmar Krause(like that would've happened!). Unfortunately, Drake's vocals seemed to have been mixed below the music and were very muddled.

Dave Kerman (whom I’ve seen drum many a time with both Present and Thinking Plague) stole the show. He had what looked to be a basic beginner’s drum kit, at least, to my untrained eyes. But he put IZZ’s two drummers to shame! But what else can you expect from someone called on to fill Daniel Dennis’s role as he did while touring with Present? When he drummed, it was amazing. To be frank, it was the only thing musically I enjoyed about the set.

Yes, Dave Kerman will fool you, with rinky-dink drums and coming out in a bathrobe and a pillow, sleeping on his kit through half the set. But when he turned his lamp on, it was time for business! Underneath the veneer of humor and the act of not taking oneself too seriously, is a fierce musician. A lesser drummer couldn’t get away with it.

Nearfest->Saturday : Nebelnest

France was again represented, this time by Nebelnest: Greg Tejedor on bass, Mike Anselmi on drums, Matthiue Sassier on guitar, and Oliver Tejedor on keys.

I’ve seen them once before, back at Progday ’99. My impression of them hasn’t changed since then. Instrumental space-rock with a bit of an edge. After a while, each piece starts to sound like the previous one. At least, to my ears. Perhaps, more discerning ears in tune to their vibe would disagree--feel free to do so.

Nearfest->Saturday : IZZ

From the States, IZZ had moments of sparkle and brilliance. Anmarie Byrnes and Laura Meade provided dual vocals, along with brothers Galbano: Tom (keyboards) and John(bass). However, I found the vocals somewhat muddled at times. Perhaps, it was a faulty mix, or perhaps it was where I was seated (way up in the balcony and all the way back, row EE, seat 11).

I was excited at the prospect of the band sporting two drummers, Greg Dimiceli on an acoustic set and Brian Coralian on a half acoustic, half electronic kit. Still, while they each gave a fine performance, I didn’t feel this mesh of two drummers added that much.

What did impress me was that Tom Galbano, rather than having rack upon rack of keyboards(not that there’s anything wrong with it), only had one. Instead of proving to be a handicap, he showed how amazingly versatile he could be with just one set of keys, getting the most use from his instrument. When, at one point, brother John joined him on keys--well, let's just say Chopsticks it wasn’t!

I’d say they started Saturday on the right foot.

Nearfest Preshow->Fusion Friday : Alan Holdsworth

Of course, England's Alan Holdsworth, from his time in UK, to his work with Bill Bruford, and his prolific solo output, is a legendary guitarist. And anyone who is a drummer or a drummer aficionado, or just into fusion, knows who Chad Wackerman is.

As expected, Holdsworth plays lots of sustains and cloudy chords while Wackerman and Jimmy Johnson provide some tight drums and bass.

Despite the caliber of musicianship though, the compositions started to sound a bit too similar toward the end. Then again, it was kind of late, with few breaks between acts. Still, it was good to see legends in person.

Nearfest Preshow->Fusion Friday : Secret Oyster

If there's something rotten in Denmark, it certainly isn't these guys. Secret Oyster’s performance was my favorite of the night. On keys, Daniel Fridell blew me away. Karsten Vogel played various saxophones and even doubled on keys at one point. The second to last piece ended with a smoking solo from Vogel. Besides the sax, my wife thought Claus Bohling’s guitar stood out.

I liked Assi Roar’s bass solo in the last act, punctuated with licks from Bohling.

Nearfest Preshow->Fusion Friday : One Shot

Hailing from France, One Shot's music ranged from soft fusion to honing a Crimson-like edge, but was surprisingly unlike Magma since three of the quartet are from Planet Kobia.

On guitar, James Macgaw sounded like a mix of Holdworth, Hackett, and Fripp. My wife thought drummer Daniel Jeand’heaur and keyboardist Emmanuel Borghi (playing seated with a two-keyboard rack) stood out. That's not to say, Philippe Buissonnet, on bass, was a slouch! By no means!

There were technical difficulties during the second piece, which they corrected before the third. No worries. Seeing how a band and their crew overcome and correct adversity only adds spice to the performance.

Those in the know were excited about their third piece, which was definitely their best.

The Wheel Of Time (Dream cast)

I've just finished the last volume in the Wheel of Time series, excluding the prequel (once I find where I misplaced A New Spring I'll remedy that). So, now I'll play my picks for the dream cast (if it ever became a movie).

Essential casting:
Character: Mat Cauthon
Actor: Dominic Monaghan
Why? Hands down, he was born to play the role. And though Mat and Perrin of the Two Rivers call up the mind of the duo of Merry (a role Dominic played) and Pippin of the Shire, Mat and Perrin turn out nothing like the two. Perhaps it is my imagination, but I've often wondered if screenwriters hinted at it. For instance, in the movie version of LOTR, Dominic's Merry is mischievous, quite like Mat. In Lost, Dominic plays Charlie, who at times like Mat plays the "bad boy with a good heart". Like Mat, Charlie comes near death as he is hung from a tree, and is revived from the brink.

Character: Moiraine
Actor: Kate Mulgrew
Why? Yeah, Voyager was an okay show at best. But Kate played a cool and collected leader. She did the best with the material she had. She has this air about her that screams Aes Sedai--only under a veneer of calm and sophistication.

Non-essential casting (actors that seem good for the roll):
Thom -- Ian McKellan (hardly an original idea)
Faile -- Lucy Liu
Morgase -- Meryl Streep
Elayne Trakand -- Bryce Dallas Howard
Aviendha -- Kirsten Dunst
Min Farshaw -- Sabrina Lloyd (remember her from Sliders?)
Egwene al’Vere -- Liv Tyler

Of course, I haven't thought out Rand and Perrin, much less Nynaeve or Lan or--obviously this is a fantasy cast in progress.

Q107 Writers of The Future: The Envelope Please...

In late December, I sent out “Foregleamer” to the Writers of The Future contest/anthology, the third story that I've sent there. The last two times, the stories placed in the quarterfinals, which meant that they were, “in the top 10--15% of all entries received for the quarter”. According to Kathy Wentworth, first judge and reader, "Quaterfinalist means that I did get all the way through it, and it had one or more elements that I considered well done: setting, idea, characters, plot, prose, voice."

Last week, while my wife and I were vacationing in NYC, the result rolled in. “Foregleamer” placed as a semifinalist. That, according to what I can gather, puts the story somewhere in the Top 20, though of course, NOT in the top 8. I received a page long critique on why it was one of the last cut from the potential list of finalists. I plan to absorb the critique, begin revising and mail it to another potential publisher.