Music Review: Dreamland, Brent Spiner & Maude Maggart

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Dreamland
Brent Spiner, Maude Maggart
Get it from Amazon >>

I’ve always been a fan of audio dramas, and have fond memories of rainy winter Sunday evenings, when my mother would make soup or stew, and she, Ira, and I would sit around the kitchen table and listen raptly to the radio plays that were broadcast on the local NPR affiliate. Or maybe it was the Pacifica affiliate. Either way it was a nice break from worrying about heating bills, the merits of tanked vs. tankless water heaters, and any number of other modern subjects.

Knowing this, there is every chance that, had I known to look for it, I’d have fallen in love with Brent Spiner’s newest brainchild, Dreamland, a CD that is more than just music, but really an audio musical with a healthy dash of noir-style characters and settings, and some great American standards, performed by Spiner and his co-star for this production, Maude Maggart.

I’ll confess that, even though I’m not generally given to collecting autographs from actors, no matter how much I enjoy their work, I paid the extra $10 over the $19,99 base price of the Dreamland cd to have Mr. Spiner not only sign it, but also to add the phrase “To MissMeliss” in strong silver writing on the front, because I am that big a geek.

But I digress.

Dreamland is the story of one man’s dream. I’ve often said that I dream not just in technicolor, but in full surround sound with a studio orchestra and backup singers. Apparently, so does the protagonist of this story, because when we meet him he’s preparing for bed in a hotel room, and is asking for a 9:30 AM wakeup call.

For the rest of the 50-ish minute CD, we, and he, are living within the dream, and, as can happen in small-d dreamland, scenes transition abruptly, time is either stretched or compressed as needed, and songs are used to punctuate feelings, but also to further the storyline. At one point, our hero offers the heroine a lift, but instead of car, he has a train. Such is the stuff of dreams.

Spiner’s vocals seem richer and healthier than his previous disc, Ol’ Yellow Eyes is Back, which included similar types of songs. I especially liked “The Moonbeam Song,” and “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,” but everything was quite pleasing. Of course, he also wrote the script, so it makes sense that he would pick songs he sings well.

Ms. Maggart (who is also Fiona Apple’s sister), has a lovely voice, and it’s so refreshing to hear a female lead who isn’t an over-shrill soprano (though as a mezzo myself, I may be biased). Her “I Remember You” is sheer magic.

Many of the other characters in Dreamland were voiced by Mark Hamill (yes, that one), but you’d never be able to pick out his voice if you didn’t know ahead of time that he was part of the project.

In an age of wall-vibrating dance beats, it’s nice to spend a quiet hour listening to something like Dreamland, and enjoying music from a time when songs were so much more singable than they are now. The only thing missing from the audio experience, for me, was a rainy day.

Dreamland may be purchased at Brent Spiner’s website, The Real Brent Spiner, and he takes paypal.

Shelved

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While I’m on the subject of shopping for bookish things, instead of reading books, I should add that we’ve pretty much shelved the plan to make the library into a library, and are now shopping for bookshelves that will work in other rooms, which has become an important issue, since I hired a cleaning lady who starts on April 3rd, and she can’t vacuum my bedroom if the pile of books that stretches the entire length of the window is still there.

We considered using the free pass to one of those directbuy clubs to look at their stuff, but most of the bookshelves at formal furniture stores are a bit beyond what we can spend when you consider the amount of shelving we need.

I’ve decided that we should all be independently wealthy.
Who’s with me?

Sometimes, I Write Stuff, Too

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Entry cross-posted from my main blog, MissMeliss: Escribition.

…or at least links to them

As I posted, I’ve become more active in my favorite e-zine All Things Girl, and they’ve given me the title of Sr. Editor. The mid-issue update will go live on April 1st (no, really) but in the meantime I’ve got some stuff in the March/April edition already:

Sun Hats and Fresh Tomatoes is a brief nostalgia trip to my grandfather’s garden.

and I also reviewed the book

Midori by Moonlight, by Wendy Nelson Tokunaga.

As well, today Pink Nighties, a new erotic e-zine is having it’s launch, and I have two pieces in that, as well as a “senior editor” credit:

Chai is the first part of a short story that will be serialized there over the next several issues, and there’s also a
Product Review (bear in mind it’s a sex-positive, erotic fiction zine when considering that piece).

Enjoy!

Games People Read About

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Hearing a couple of golfers mention Cobra golf gear in Starbucks the other day, made me think about the way sports are depicted in fiction. You don’t see a lot of novels where there’s a dead body draped over the front of a Zamboni, or where love affairs take place in the SkyBox of a major arena, but sports and games are often used in fiction. Here are some of my favorites:

  1. Harriet the Spy: Notebook Tag. The game in which you run around trying to knock people’s books out of their arms, until you are the last person left.
  2. The Dick Francis mysteries: Almost everything he ever wrote involved horse racing in some fashion, either because the protagonist was a jockey or trainer, or because a murder took place in the turf world. I used to read these like candy.
  3. The Harry Potter books: Who can resist the lure of Quidditch – I mean the notion of any sport played on airborne brooms is pretty cool.
  4. Sara Paretsky’s work: Hockey is prevalent in at least one of the adventures of V.I. Warshawski, and Paretsky always weaves in mention of the Chicago Cubs.

Your turn: If you’re reading this, tell me about some of your favorite uses of games and sports in fiction.

Technology and Magic

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Arthur C. Clarke, aged 90, died this morning at his home in Sri Lanka, and while I can’t say I was a total fan of all his work, how can you not mourn the passing of the man who said that “Any technology that is sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic” ?

The New York Times has a piece about him here, but it might require a login to read.

So many icons of the geek world have died in the last six months – Gary Gygax among others. I’ve never really been a D&D fan, but I recognize his contribution to a hobby my husband loves (a bit unhealthily at times.). Honestly, all this death is enough to drive one past addiction and right into drug rehabilitation.

As for me, I’m thinking tonight might be a good time to curl up by the fire with some vintage science fiction, as a sort of private memorial.

Party On?

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Last night, in the week hours, I received a note from Borders informing me that a local Waldenbooks was closing and that everything within (except magazines, electronics, and gift cards) would be discounted 40% on Saturday the 22nd.

Rather than choosing to be sad over a bookstore closing (it’s doing so because a big B&N is taking it’s place), I’m beginning to look at announcements like this one as somewhat akin to party invitations. The difference is that instead of going to a party to engage in stimulating conversation, dance, mingle, and maybe hook up with a person, I’ll go to dance around other shoppers, see what titles stimulate my imagination, mingle with other bibliophiles, and maybe hook myself up with something great to read. Or something I’ve always wanted. Like the OED, which is incredibly expensive and worth considering when discounted.

Except, of course, as often happens with parties, we have a previous engagement on a different end of town. (Actually in a different town altogether.

I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have to RSVP.

STTNG: Immortal Coil by Jeffrey Lang

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by: Jeffry Lang
published by: Pocket Books
published: February 2002

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I originally read Immortal Coil in eBook format on my laptop, sometime last year (I think), but somehow that format just doesn’t do it for me, so when I saw a copy of the actual paperback at Half Price Books, I had to grab it. After all, it’s an EmotionChip!Data story, and there aren’t many of those outside of fanfic.

While I’m not old enough to have watched the ORIGINAL Star Trek in first run, the re-runs were the only show that was allowed to routinely break the “no television before 5 PM” rule in my house, and since my mother was anti-television, I used to watch them on our old black-and-white after school when I was nine and ten. As I write this, I am suddenly remembering an add for a convention in 1979 or 80, in Denver. I was too young, at the time, to know what a con was, or I’m sure I’d have pestered my mother to take me.

I mention this because while, on the surface, this is a TNG story, Immortal Coil is also a sort of quasi-sequel to the TOS episodes “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” and “Requiem for Methuselah,” and while familiarity with them is not totally required in order to enjoy this story, it definitely helps. A lot.

This novel is all about android rights and the definition of sentience, and, more specifically, the distinction between artificial intelligence and artificial consciousness. It opens with Data returning to the Enterprise with the body of his deceased “mother,” Julianna Tainer, whom we know to be an android. He is dealing with overwhelming emotions, and Picard’s suggestion that turning off the chip would be a bad idea, when a call is received from Admiral Haftel – there’s been an issue at Galor IV, and the ship, and specifically Data, are needed.

What follows is part murder mystery (who tried to kill Maddox, who caused the disappearance of another, legendary and somewhat hermit-ish, cyberneticist?) and part romance (new Enterprise security officer Rhea McAdams has the hots for our Mr. Data, it seems) with a good bit of space epic thrown in.

At times cheesy, at other times sweet, it’s a satisfying romp through the Trekiverse, which wraps up several loose ends in Data’s life.

The first time I read this, I went into it with some skepticism, because a Data romance is a very tricky thing – fanfic authors I respect have argued that he cannot have a plausible relationship. I disagree, but as much as I enjoyed this book for entertainment value, I find that the relationship between Rhea and Data was contrived, and the way Data was written didn’t…fee right.

Goes well with a glass of milk and thin mint cookies.

Upcoming Reviews at Bibliotica

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I’ve got a stack of books to read, enough that I seriously need to invest in new luggage just to cart them around the house when I’ve finished reading and reviewing, and I thought I’d mention them here.

In Science Fiction, I’ve got Immortal Coil, and also the Vulcan’s Soul trilogy, all from the world of Star Trek.

In Paranormal Romance, I’ve got the third book in the Gardella Vampire Series – I interviewed the author last month.

In Fantasy, I’m reading Kushiel’s Scion but that, like Kiss Me Kill Me, by Lauren Henderson, will be reviewed at All Things Girl just as Midori by Moonlight was.

And of course, in April, I’m going to be focusing on Jane Austen, beginning with Pride and Prejudice

Stay tuned.

V: the Second Generation by Kenneth Johnson

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By: Kenneth Johnson
Published by: Tor
Publication date: February, 2008

I was twelve or thirteen when the original V miniseries was broadcast, and a bit older when V: the Final Battle came out. At first, I wasn’t interested, but my step-brother got me into the show, and, because I gravitated toward underdogs even then, I’ll confess that I had a bit of a crush on Willie (played by Robert Englund). This was before I’d seen A Nightmare on Elm Street, of course.

When we were at the bookstore the other night, looking for a diet book I eventually chose not to purchase, Fuzzy’s eye was caught by the trade paperback version of V: the Second Generation, and knowing that I like the series, and have ALL the tie-in books upstairs in a box, he grabbed it for me.

I read it on Friday night.

I have been sort of following news of Kenneth Johnson’s career (also I was in high school with his niece), so I knew he had dropped out of being involved with the second miniseries, and had refused to be part of the short-lived weekly series, and that this book would ret-con most of that.

I was expecting it to be awful.

It was actually a pretty good story. In this version, which picks up twenty years after the original mini-series, which ended with Juliet Parrish and Elias sending a message in the general vicinity of enemies of the alien Visitors, the reptiles are controlling most of earth, 50% of the water has been taken into their mother ships (there’s a five-page description of the Pacific Desert and an image of the Golden Gate Bridge stretching across dry sand), scientists, called Scis, are living in ghettos reminiscent of the Jewish ghettos from Nazi Germany, and the Resistance is nearly dead.

As well, there are a bunch of alien-human hybrid children (all under the age of twenty), referred to as Dregs, who are caught between the human and alien cultures.

We are introduced to several new characters – Ruby, a hybrid 12-year-old adopted by Julie, Nathan, a member of the Visitor Friends (now called Teammates) youth group who was befriended by a fifth columnist, Jon, a brilliant hybrid living on the mother ship and working as a janitor, and Ted, the troubled teenaged son of Willy (which is how Johnson consistently spells Willie’s name, and which drove me nuts) and Harmony (the caterer/waitress from the movie).

Old characters are back as well, Julie, Robert Maxwell (but not his daughters), Willy and Harmony (who didn’t die, because Johnson ignores the second movie), and Martin (again, not dead) the fifth columnist. Mike is presumed dead.

And then there are the Zedti, an alien race who got the transmission and came to help…sort of.

If the novel felt more like a padded film script, well, it’s no secret that Johnson, who was the creative mind behind not only V, but also The Bionic Woman (the original), The Incredible Hulk, and Alien Nation is a great television writer, but not a novelist.

Still, with politics preventing SciFi from working with Warner Brothers to produce a movie version of this story, the book is better than nothing, and was a fun read that kept me occupied for an evening.

Also, there are some great Easter eggs in the text, such as Willy giving Jon a copy of Tenctonese Biogeometrics (the Tenctonese are the aliens in Alien Nation.

Goes well with: 80’s pop hits and a peanut butter sandwich.