Welcome Distractions
A better way to waste your weekend.
books | music | short stories | rambling
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This was a big week for new subscribers, I hope you don’t regret signing up for this immediately. Let’s see what we can do to hook you long-term:
This week I nominated two of the short stories I’ve published this year for Best of the Net awards. Zen by Kevin Light-Roth and In Love with Kenny Spokes by James Vella are two of the finest stories I’ve read this year and somehow I’ve been lucky enough to be the one to share them.
I felt like an impostor when I was doing it, and frankly I’m still not sure that my entries are valid. I don’t know why that’d be the case, but I don’t think of myself as an ‘editor’. I’m just a guy who has been lucky enough to have people trust him to share their stories. I’m an enthusiast, not an editor, but unless they tell me to scram, I’m going to promote the authors on my site however I can. If you want to trust me with your writing, reach out!
A couple weeks ago I shared a story called “Hey Man, Sweet Suburban” by Wade Harris in the Friday Shortlist. It’s a fantastic story, and the narrator’s voice reminds me of some guys from the small town where I grew up. Shortly after that, Wade Harris emailed me with a submission to Turn & Work. So yesterday I was proud to publish Cracked. It’s a short read, please check it out.
It’s Bandcamp Friday! Today you can support your favourite musicians by buying their music directly, and the platform forgoes its’ take, so the artist gets the full cut. I’m planning on making a few buys: Ganser, PALES, Rest Up, Adore and Ea Othilde. Downside? Canada Post is on strike so if I order an LP it may take a dog’s age for it to arrive.
One more thing: If you haven’t watched Halt and Catch Fire, you should. This week I wrote about an excellent comic book series by the co-creator of that show, and it reminded me how much I loved it. It’s top-notch drama with a great cast.
And now:
Off the blog: links you shouldn’t miss
It’s decorative gourd season, motherfuckers: This piece is from 2009, but it still makes me scream with laughter every time. Read it out loud.
The Publishing Industry has a gambling problem: this piece about how books are bought by publishers blew up the internet in the last week. Here’s a follow up piece by Zoe Whittall, whose book The Best Kind of People is a favourite. Here’s another take from Lincoln Michel.
Speaking of great television (seriously watch Halt and Catch Fire), this piece made me laugh: Is it time for cultural snobbery to make a comeback? (answer: no, and you’re weird for asking). Somehow these always come back to Kelefa Sanneh’s work.
I read a comic book this week (by the guy who made Halt and Catch Fire), and my kid is determined to make me a comic book guy. I’m resisting, but they sent me this piece about Watchmen (which I read years ago, but should revisit).
Rather than reinvigorate the genre, he wanted to enlighten readers to the limitations of the superhero genre. What he didn’t expect was the industry to embrace the gloom of Watchmen and continue that trend for decades. They completely missed his point.
Large Language Muddle: This piece in n+1 about how creatives should think about AI is one of the best I’ve ever read. It reminded me of Brian Merchant’s Blood in the Machine. Almost every sentence is quotable:
… resisting AI’s further creep into intellectual labor will also require blunt-force militancy. The steps are simple. Don’t publish AI bullshit. Don’t even publish mealymouthed essays about the temptation to produce AI bullshit.
Is there a middle ground between Bandcamp and Spotify? Rue Defense Tape Club looks at a new service called Coda. I’m not convinced, but the writer makes some great observations.
Operation Ivy gets Pitchforked. Even if you don’t know the band, this is a brilliant piece of music writing.
Someday I’ll see PALES play live. This week they released a video of a live performance of the entire EP they released earlier this year. It’s a killer performance, even if there are a couple too many old dudes up front.
What got your attention this week? Got a hot take on something? Hit reply and let me know.
On the Blog
Listening:
Toronto’s Rosewater Park is one of my favourite artists of the past year.
Australia’s great Daisypicker makes folk-grunge that you’ll love
Ea Othilde’s chamberpop psychedelia is killer stuff from Oslo
London’s Sandhouse reminds me of Garbage a little.
The Setlist: This is a weird mix. Lots of moody, unusual genre mixing here.
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify.
Reading:
Out of Alcatraz is the comic book by the Halt and Catch Fire guy. It’s brilliant.
Murder in Retrograde is a self-published cyberpunk noir that’s quite good.
These Memories Do Not Belong To Us is a sci-fi story collection that didn’t really work for me.
The Shortlist: The Turn & Work Original “Cracked” By Wade Harris, and nine other short stories. Read ‘em here.
Something I should read or hear? Send it my way
Next week: I have another new short story coming on Thursday, and two new Backstories on Tuesday and Thursday. This week’s new records include Gen and Pijama Land, plus another artist called Blue Deputy. Plus a book called Sympathy Tower Tokyo, which I finished yesterday and can’t get out of my head.
What have I missed? What are you listening to?
-hugh
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