Eating Muffins in an Agitated Manner

Hava splurge on ebooks, and you don't even need that much money!

Want to try out some really good books ridiculously cheaply? Head over to Wizard's Tower Books, an ebookstore specialising on speculative fiction and run by the wonderful Cheryl Morgan. Give it a try, it is easy. The books are DRM free, and you can read them on any platform you like. I've got them on my phone, laptop and Jukka's iPad and they work swimmingly. I'll even give you tech support if this is your first time at the ebook rodeo.

There is a Finnish shopping spree thing today, which is why I will head on over there to get some more much needed reading materials, but first I like to recommend stuff that I already have, most of it bought from Wizard Tower Books.

1. Karin Tidbeck: Jagannath

I have read Karin's swedish collection of short stories "Vem är Arvid Pekon?", and fell instantly in love. To put it mildly, short stories are not my thing, but Karin's weird and wonderful stories instantly grabbed my imagination. There has been nothing this wonderful published in the genre for ages. Karin has translated the stories to English herself, so you get an authentic experience even with the english stories.

2. Sherwood Smith: Stranger to Command

OK, the cover is not inviting, I grant you, but inside is a great YAish growing up novel about a young noble who has to reorient his life when he goes to school to a neighbouring kingdom's rough military academy. I have a soft spot for school stories, and this prequel to Court Duel and Crown Duel (no previous knowledge needed, though) is a corker. The dynamics between character, the politics of the situation and the learning process of the students are all well depicted and there is even a dark menace lurking in the backround.

3. Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett: Point of Hopes, Melissa Scott: Point of Knives

These are the best fantasy detective stories I know. I love the world, I love the story telling and I am not let down with the mystery. The murders and other crimes are all solved within the rules of the fantasy world (which includes astrology, ghosts and alchemy), and the reader never feels cheated. Besides, Rathe and Eslingen are great detective team and their romance is wonderfully understatedly real.

4.  Lucy Sussex: Thief of Lives

Some of Sussex stories are so borderline genre that they aren't. But they are all interesting, well written tales of womens lives, relatable even when they tell about ancient Babylon or soulsucking vampiric writers. Again, even thought short stories aren't my thing, these were well worth the time.

5. Helen Merrick: The Secret Feminist Cabal

You know how fannish histories sometimes are a bit grandiose? Seven people have an argument and three of them go to another hotel room and you have a major fannish split? (I am exaggerating but not that much...) This isn't one of them. Merricks book is important, well written, engaging, thought provoking look at feminisms in Science Fiction through writers, fans, editors.

6. R.A MacAvoy: Death and Resurrection

One of my favourite writers returns after a painful illness with this well written story about an artist who dies for a bit, and finds he can travel the land between life and death. What I have always loved about McAvoy's writing is how she writes about big fantastical, life changing action stuff in a way that makes it seem real and even mundane. I believe her.

Also you can support editor Neil Clarke by buying his Clarkesworld magazines from Wizard Tower Books. It is a very good magazine, I appreciate especially because its commitment to great non-fiction articles about the genre (remember what I said about the short stories...).  I'd go for example for issues 70 (Ekaterine Sedia: The Exceptional Smurfette),  60 (Daniel Abraham: Another World: Assimilation, Multiculturalism and Me), 58 (Daniel M Kimmell: So This is the Way the World ended) , 44 (Ryan Britt: Stranger than Science Fiction: Into the Alternative Dimension of Mainstream Literature) or 31 (Joyce Frohn: Where Is My Flying Car? The Future of Personal Aviation)

So Click!

I do get out of the house, sometimes...

I have been a shameles Simon Rattle fangirl since late 1980s when he was the poster boy of English classical music, doing amazing work with the Birmingham Philharmonic City of Birmingham Symphony Orchastra. So when I got a chance to go to see and hear him with Berlin Philharmonic, I jumped at it. This was the first time I was in the new Musiikkitalo, and I have to say that while I still think that it is architecturally downright ugly on outside, and increidbly boring from the inside, the hall itself is excellent. The vinyard form works both visually, and more importantly acustically - at least with orchestral music and with an orchestra that knows how to use hall to best of its advantage.

The concert was divided in three parts. The Orchestra opened with Ligeti's Atmosphéres. It is an uncomfortable piece, abandoning as it does conventional harmonies for sound clusters that sound even more random and structureless than your average serial composition. Rattle and Berlin Philharmonic  segue straight from the long last fade of Atmosphéres to Wagner's ethereally romantic Lohengrin overture. It is an inspired idea, riffing off from Jurowski doing the same with Athmosphéres and The Rite of Spring. On structural level there is an interesting juxtaposition between the somehow motionless soundscape of Ligeti and Wagner's Grail theme moving through the orchestra from one group of instruments to another. On emotional level, there is a sense of relief and recognition when we move from something alien and disturbing (in a good sense) to familiar and intensly emotional. One could even draw thematic parallels as Lohengrin overture depicts something transcendental: the revelation of the Grail, and Atmosphéres is most famous as the soundtrack for Dave Bowman's equally transcendental meeting with the Monolith in 2001 Space Odyssey. Both pieces defenitely gained someting extra with the coupling.

The second part of the concert consisted of two pieces written for Ballet Russes in early 20th century. Debussy's Jeux was coreographed by Nijinsky, and Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé by Fokine. The lush impressionism of the works really brought out the colour and depth in the sound of the orchestra. Jeux has never been one of my favourites, I don't seem to be able to divorce the music from the idea of dance, and keep missing the movement to go with the sound when I am just listening it meandering onwards with very little structure. Though the Debussy was indeed expertly played, I enjoyed Ravel's second orchestral suite from Daphnis et Chloé with its evocations of nature and changes from almost hollywoody romanticism to primal rythms much more. The colours exploded from the orchestra, every note was exquisitely articulated, and everything was in perfect balance.

After the interval we got nearer the orchestras comfort zone with Schumann's 3 rd symphony. It was the first time I heard the piece, and really think it needs few more listenings to open properly. I loved the flow and the rich sound conjured by the orchestra. I have no idea if Schumann really meant to depict Rhein in this symphony nicknamed Rheinish, but for me the music did bring up images of a mighty river.

All in all, the night was challenging and sublime. It is so very nice when ones idols live up to their reputation. And though recording is never the same, you will be able to listen the concert in Yle Arena for the next thirty days. Have at it.