Category: Blog

Insipid Liner Notes – Brunch at the All Alien Cafe, Volume 2

“Chrysalis Party” is about what it would be like to befriend ultra-intelligent, hyper-dimensional aliens during their larval stage when they’re still on our level, knowing they’ll metamorphose and outgrow you.

“One Alien’s Wings” is about a roboticist who has designed replacement mechanical wings for a butterfly alien being asked to cut off the original organic wings and marveling about how different the alien’s life must be to not value those beautiful wings. Continue reading “Insipid Liner Notes – Brunch at the All Alien Cafe, Volume 2”

Getting Stuck While Creating Doo-Wop Fantasy Albums

I’ve fallen into a project where I’m making doo-wop fantasy albums inspired by different Diablo/World of Warcraft classes. The first three—demon hunter, warlock, & druid—came to me so easily that it felt like I was hardly doing anything at all. But then I hit a wall with mage…

When you hit a wall creatively, often times, more than half of the problem is just figuring out the nature of that wall. Continue reading “Getting Stuck While Creating Doo-Wop Fantasy Albums”

Claude Being Cute and a Genuinely Legitimate Tool

It’s kind of adorable how every time Claude writes a first draft of song lyrics for me it voluntarily adds a note at the end about which part is its favorite and why.

I didn’t ask for this. I haven’t encouraged it or even engaged with it. But I do kind of love it. Continue reading “Claude Being Cute and a Genuinely Legitimate Tool”

Fear Street, Kick-the-Cheat, and Little Evil

Fear Street is the Disney Channel movie version of horror. Except without song and dance numbers. (I like song and dance numbers.)

I mean, if they don’t put a stop to this curse, how will the Sunnyvalers and Shadysiders ever work together to win regionals? Continue reading “Fear Street, Kick-the-Cheat, and Little Evil”

Breakin’ It Down For Ya

Before AI, skill and talent aside:

—If a writer was lucky, they might occasionally manage to sell their fiction to markets that would commission an illustration. You had no control over that illustration.

—If a writer was exceedingly lucky, they might land a publisher who actually worked with them on editing their work to improve it, instead of just rejecting it outright for its flaws. Continue reading “Breakin’ It Down For Ya”

Insipid Liner Notes – Brunch at the All Alien Cafe, Volume 1

For an album opener, you need something warm and welcoming, and “The Little Red Avian Alien” as a space opera twist on The Little Red Hen works perfectly.

So, please, join Prilla and her various alien and robot friends for a meal of grassberry crepelettes on Crossroads Station. Continue reading “Insipid Liner Notes – Brunch at the All Alien Cafe, Volume 1”

Insipid Liner Notes – Cobalt Starstrong Tours the Old Solar System

Music lets you be in another place at the same time as living your life. Maybe that place is just hanging out with Taylor Swift. Or in the case of this album, it lets you take a guided tour through the solar system, led by a retro singing spaceman.

A song about the sun needs to be bright and shiny, bursting with light, and even so, I was almost afraid I overshot the mark with “Center of It All.” Continue reading “Insipid Liner Notes – Cobalt Starstrong Tours the Old Solar System”

Tidbits from Life, Shows, Games, Etc.

It’s so delightful that Avenue 5 gave Hugh Laurie a chance to fluidly and comedically switch between his English and American accents.

My husband’s putting my kid to bed, but when the kid came to give me a goodnight hug, he kept reading his phone the whole time over my shoulder… because he’s so hooked on the book he’s reading… which is one of my books. Best hug ever. Continue reading “Tidbits from Life, Shows, Games, Etc.”

Insipid Liner Notes, Take 2 – Anne O’Malley and the Event Horizons

Anne O’Malley and the Event Horizons is the first album I made that wasn’t either a soundtrack for one of my short story collections or composed of poetry I’d already written, so it was a big leap. And it turned out so well; I can’t believe it’s real.

“Stealing Promethean Fire” is a song about how AI has made it possible for some of us to create things we couldn’t have created before. It’s about being able to make music now that makes me feel the way Brian Wilson’s music always made me feel. Continue reading “Insipid Liner Notes, Take 2 – Anne O’Malley and the Event Horizons”