Date: 2008-02-04 14:53 Subject: This bugs me, and more books Security: Public Tags: books, iain m. banks, itunes, joshua mowll, oisin mcgann, rant, writing, writing progress

Okay, this bugs me. Back, oh, years ago now, a band called The Dogs D’Amour put out a completely fantastic album called 'In the Dynamite Jet Saloon'. It was wonderful. Sleazy, catchy, spare and full of great songs. But this was back in the old days, before technology, so I bought it on a cassette tape. Cassettes don't last too well, and anyway, I don’t have anything to play it on anymore, even if it had kept its quality. Sadly, the album isn't available on CD, and I don't know if it ever was. So I thought I'd check it out on iTunes. And, yep, they don't have the album, but they did have an album called 'Unleashed' which had a bunch of the same songs. A compilation album, I assumed, so I bought my favourite songs from 'In the Dynamite Jet Saloon'.

Bad mistake.

This isn't a compilation. The songs have been re-recorded. I guess it’s a live album, although I don’t hear much of a crowd.

Man, I hate this. The original album was so good. This live album... isn't. Really isn't. They've completely lost the feel of the songs. They've lost the space and the sound. Why do bands do this? Why can't they have the original albums on iTunes? Why do we have to make do with third-rate, crappy live albums only?

I guess this is a reminder to listen to the 30 seconds excerpt before buying from iTunes again.

In better buying news, I've kept on my book-buying roll. I bought Iain M. Banks's new Culture novel, Matter. I think Banks is genuinely the best SF author working today. His stuff is brilliantly-written, smart, original and funny. He writes with complete freedom and confidence, and he seems to be able to do pretty much anything. (His non-SF stuff is pretty impressive too.) I started it last night, and it's everything I was hoping for so far.

I also bought Oisin McGann's Ancient Appetites. It's a YA fantasy/SF set in the Victorian era. I haven't started it yet, so I can't say much about it, but I'm looking forwards to it. McGann has been getting way better with every book, and this looks like his best so far.

I almost bought Joshua Mowll's Operation Red Jericho, which looks fantastic. It's exactly the kind of book I like reading and which I try to write. Full of adventure, outrageous ideas and fast action. The only reason I didn't get it was because the only copy the bookshop had was a battered one. I need to make another trip out soon, because my pile of unread books only just reaches the ceiling.

Now the obligatory updates:

'Dragons of Mars' progress:



February 20th target:



They are going to explode a boiler to destroy the machine. It's going to destroy the whole house. The clockwork robots will die. It's going to be sad.

These progress meters are turning out well. It's ages since I've written this much on a work day. Of course, it was helped by the fact that I woke up at 5 a.m. today (not by choice!)

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