RED LIGHT BYTES: The Red Light Roundup (4-10-2024)
Classics, Deep Cuts & All-New Killers in Art & Entertainment...
Overview
Sometimes, the trouble with libraries is wanting everything shot straight thru your mind at once. That you have so many items of interest, but never enough time to enjoy them.
But on the other hand, that also means you have enough exciting new discoveries staring you in the face, just waiting to leap off the shelves and pop you one in the noggin with a fresh six-pack of ideas, straight outta Schenectady.
If you know, you know.
This is my private library (100% of the collection not seen here, more like 75%). Home to countless books, comics, motion pictures, television programs, music albums and more. It doesn’t take up two walls nor a basement floorplan, but it keeps me well fed and thinking.
Let’s start packing those shelves with a few things I’m looking forward to. We’ll front load the indie studs on this one.
Indie Spotlight: The Shadow Kingdom
THREE DAYS TO GO! In the world of pulp and fantasy fiction, few names stand taller than Robert E. Howard. In his short time on this mortal coil, the Texan writer forged a legacy that paved the way for sword-and-sorcery as a dependable vehicle for exciting entertainment. Paying the favor back is writer Randy Zimmerman, artist Russ Leach, and the fine folks at Arrow Comics by bringing to dazzling life one of Howard’s more under-appreciated creations in one of the landmark tales in all of fantasy.
You’ve heard of Conan (and may have spotted my Barry Smith-era Marvel back issues in my “Den”) and the sensational Solomon Kane, but the Atlantean warrior Kull often gets lost in the mix. No longer! For the barbarian’s debut in Weird Tales has been brought to dynamic life in graphic novel The Shadow Kingdom, a tale of crowns claimed and serpent-men slaughtered, in the days before Atlantis would come to kiss the ocean’s abyss. Leach’s art is a return to the punch and power of Bronze Age comics, and this first edition comes packed to the hilt with exciting features, including additional art, a foreword by the indomitable RazörFist, a presentation of Howard’s original text, and more!
Fortunately for cats like me who can’t rustle up the pesos at the moment, we’re in luck too! The Shadow Kingdom will be coming to mass market after fulfillment, but that still means you have 3 DAYS until those first edition delights are gone. Raise an axe to one of the best, and back this beast of a book!
Shoutout: Dudesbooks
Speaking of libraries, behold one of my favorite enthusiast projects to come along in a long time. Dudesbooks is a recent effort to unite old and new and over come the oldest struggle in modern publishing: the strange mysterious ways of the algorithm. Specifically Amazon’s.
The goal is curate across all styles and phylums of entertaining fiction, from SFF to adventure to crime, horror, and more, be they classics or contemporary, and itemize accordingly. He also provides links for ease of purchase once you find the book you’re looking for. It’s still a work-in-progress, and a bit of slow-loader thanks to its volume of content, but never have I seen such an extraordinary cataloguing of genre fiction this side of the ISFDB. Site owner Spherical_dude also does franchise roundups, gathering all known releases of characters and series like Judge Dredd and Dragonlance to help cut through the noise and let you know what’s available.
Show him some love, use those affiliate links, and join the Dudesbooks forums! Let’s fire up a fresh community over there and help the man help all of us find the fresh new indie fiction we love, and the classics that should fill our shelves!
Streetwise Caviar
Well that was nice while it lasted, huh?
Jokes aside, the workload hasn’t left much time to explore the latest and greatest in sonic sieges, so I’ll split the difference and shoutout a new album and a classic in this week’s musical aside.
Dropped back in February, yours truly was there at the listening party where Belfast’s own Alpha Chrome Yayo premiered his latest slice of eclectic electronica: the literally haunting concept album Home for Hitodama.
In the folklore of Japan, “Hitodama” are the souls of the dead made manifest as glowing orbs of light. Neither innately benign nor malign, the reason for these spirit’s appearances vary. The instrumental record explores this, sometimes hard-edged and metallic ways like album closer “Senjō no Bōrei (Battlefield Ghost),” sometimes in melancholic and more New Age-adjacent ways, such as personal favorite “Ku.” And sometimes, a wild combination of both, such as one of the lead singles, “Taro's Box (300 Years).”
Like all the best in ACY’s back catalogue, it defies genre and categorization, but remains consistent in one respect: it’s damn good music. Set some spirits free and grab this impeccable slice of spectral brilliance.
Alongside the beast of Black Sabbath and the planet-smashing Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple forms the final point in a holy trilogy of early metal acts that brought the hammer down on rock-n-roll in the age of peace and love. Few could ask for a better showing after a seismic lineup shift than 1974’s Burn.
A half-century later, and MKIII Purple savages with the best of them. Whether you worship the ground the great Ian Gillan walks on, lament the early departure of Rod Evans, or are in love with any other lineup, from Tommy Bolin to Joe Lynn Turner and beyond, there is no denying the raw, bristling power of this dynamite LP.
From the classic title track to the infectious “Sail Away” and “Might Just Take Your Life,” to blues metal classic “Mistreated,” it says it all when it takes two legends to replace one, and you still get a record that rocks this hard. Glenn “The Voice of Rock” Hughes and future Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale are amazing on mic, and the former on bass fits like a glove with the dynamic grooves of Ian Paice. Jon Lord’s classically-inclined keyboards and richly layered synths still hold their ground, and then, there’s the man in black himself.
Ritchie. Blackmore.
One of the tightest players in the game who melded the neoclassical with the rich bluesiness of old-time rock-n-roll. 50 years on, and this album never fails to sear your fucking face off with some blistering solos and electrifying lead breaks.
In short, Burn rules. Buy it, buy it again, and blast that shit to everyone in earshot. Quintessential heavy rock.
Conclusion
So there you have it, a few things for the road. Do some flea market hopping, some thrift store sweeping, make sure Mom and Dad don’t kick all the cool shit out of the attic, and you might find yourself with the problem I’m having.
But remember: of all the problems you could be having, a world of exciting and enlightening fiction at your finger tips is the best problem to have.
One last item: Star Wanderers
JD Cowan. Cirsova Publishing.
Eight tales of sword-and-planet escapades and cyberpunk mystery. Two heroes; one a knight, one a cop, both facing the many evils of the universe in their own ways. With two slabs of carefully crafted electronica by yours truly.
Coming Soon.
May God Bless You and This Force. Be seeing you.
ENDS NEXT MONDAY 4/14! The 365 Infantry Wildfire Sale! $0.99 eBooks, 25% off subscriptions, up to 30% off paperbacks and more. Use our Linktree to navigate the deals before we put ‘em out!
Nice collection of meaningful stuff. Although I didn't see any of my favorite movies on your shelves. :P
Maybe you had Dredd snuck in there somewhere.