Oh, and this is the book I am working desperately on finishing right now. Balancing on a tightrope above a canyon…
Fearsome Magics
All posts by Jonathan Strahan
Best of the Year cover art
And so, the final cover for the Best of the Year is here! The book itself will be with you some time towards the end of May!
Episode 180: Kelley Eskridge, Nicola Griffith, Hild, historicity and genre…
Battling the fickle beast that is Skype, this week Jonathan and Gary talk to Kelley Eskridge and Nicola Griffith about the recently released Nebula ballot and what it might say about SF today, Nicola’s recent novel Hild, Kelley’s novel Solitaire, science fiction as a way of reading, language, politics and a lot more. In many ways this episode isn’t so much a conversation, as what feels like the beginning of a long and interesting one to be continued at conventions and elsewhere in the future.
As always, our sincere thanks to Kelley and Nicola for making time to appear on the podcast and for being such interesting and engaging guests. Â As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast!
Episode 179: James Bradley, Garth Nix, Sean Williams and Australian SF
Faced with another relentless summer’s day in Perth and icy Chicago winter evening, Jonathan and Gary turn to long-time friends of the podcast James Bradley, Garth Nix, and Sean Williams, luxuriating in a cool Sydney summer afternoon, to discuss Australian fiction, young adult fiction, and the works of Neville Shute in a wide-ranging conversation that is only occasionally interrupted by the vagaries of Skype.
As always, our thinks to James, Garth and Sean, and we hope you enjoy the podcast!
High Hopes! – Four nights of rocking….
As readers of this blog know, I have just returned from Melbourne where I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for the 3rd and 4th time on the 2014 High Hopes Tour. There’s a lot to say about it, but here’s some stats on what I saw:
Four shows
- Perth 5 February
- Perth 7 February
- Melbourne 15 February
- Melbourne 16 February
Two album shows
- Born in the USA (Melb 15/2)
- Born to Run (Melb 16.2)
Songs played (total songs 117, individual songs 68, songs only played once across four nights 43, songs I’ll remember, 117)
| Badlands | 4 |
| Born to Run | 4 |
| Dancing in the Dark | 4 |
| Heaven’s Wall | 4 |
| High Hopes | 4 |
| Just Like Fire Would | 4 |
| Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out | 4 |
| The Ghost of Tom Joad | 4 |
| The Rising | 4 |
| Thunder Road | 4 |
| Death to My Hometown | 3 |
| Hungry Heart | 3 |
| Shackled and Drawn | 3 |
| Waitin’ on a Sunny Day | 3 |
| Bobby Jean | 2 |
| Born in the U.S.A. | 2 |
| Darlington County | 2 |
| Land of Hope and Dreams | 2 |
| Ramrod | 2 |
| Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) | 2 |
| She’s the One | 2 |
| Shout | 2 |
| Twist and Shout | 2 |
| Working on the Highway | 2 |
| Wrecking Ball | 2 |
| American Skin (41 Shots) | 1 |
| Atlantic City | 1 |
| Backstreets | 1 |
| Because the Night | 1 |
| Cover Me | 1 |
| Darkness on the Edge of Town | 1 |
| Downbound Train | 1 |
| Factory | 1 |
| For You | 1 |
| Frankie Fell in Love | 1 |
| Girls in Their Summer Clothes | 1 |
| Glory Days | 1 |
| Growin’ Up | 1 |
| Highway to Hell | 1 |
| I’ll Work for Your Love | 1 |
| I’m Goin’ Down | 1 |
| I’m on Fire | 1 |
| Johnny 99 | 1 |
| Jole Blon | 1 |
| Jungleland | 1 |
| Kitty’s Back | 1 |
| Light of Day | 1 |
| Lost in the Flood | 1 |
| Lucky Town | 1 |
| Meeting Across the River | 1 |
| Murder Incorporated | 1 |
| My Hometown | 1 |
| Night | 1 |
| No Surrender | 1 |
| Out in the Street | 1 |
| Pay Me My Money Down | 1 |
| Roulette | 1 |
| Save My Love | 1 |
| Seeds | 1 |
| Seven Nights to Rock | 1 |
| Sherry Darling | 1 |
| Spirit in the Night | 1 |
| The E Street Shuffle | 1 |
| The River | 1 |
| This Hard Land | 1 |
| Two Hearts | 1 |
| We Are Alive | 1 |
| Youngstown | 1 |
While some songs were more special than others (“Jungleland”(!), “For You”, “The River”), all had their charms. Songs that weren’t on my favourites list became better loved, and all were terrific. Â And those ten songs that appeared every night? They weren’t the same every night.
The thing with a Springsteen show, for me, is that no matter what you get it’s going to be special. I’m just happy I saw him now and got the shows I did.