Yes, I’ll be writing up something about Memorial Day weekend, which was a world of fun. But in the meantime, I wanted to write this down:

As I was driving around today, I listened to a couple of tracks by The Flash Girls on my MP3 player. Their music is/was a delightful blend of gothic folk that is really fun, with lyrics by luminaries like Dorothy Parker and Neil Gaiman. One-half of The Flash Girls is Emma Bull, who is one of my favorite writers. Her best book is War for the Oaks, a stories of a war between the Faerie courts that takes place in modern Minneapolis. It was through her writing that I found Boiled in Lead (my favorite Celtic-rock-and-whatever band) and Cats Laughing (another musical venture by Emma, which included author Steven Brust as well), among others. Emma was also one of the authors featured in the Borderlands anthology, a well-written exploration of what might happen at the border of Elfland and the mundane world, a sort of magical Tijuana, which served to introduce me to several other excellent writers: Ellen Kushner (whose Swordspoint is just gorgeous!), Will Shetterly (Emma’s husband), Terri Windling, and others.

So – I read and listened to all of these years ago. I decided to see what is going on these days. It looks like another Borderlands book came out that I need to track down, as well as another Flash Girls album. Ellen Kushner is still hosting Sound and Spirit, which is just an amazing anthology of music of all genres – and even has old shows available for listening online!

The most interesting thing, though was when I did some web searches to see what Terri Windling has been up to. This led to The Endicott Studio, a site devoted to mythic art – myth, folklore, fairy tales, and their use in contemporary arts. What an amazing site! From the Journal to the Bulletin Boards to the Gallery and Coffeehouse – so many of my favorite authors and artists are there, and there’s so much wonderful information and stories. It’s going to take me a while to read through all of it, but I’m really glad I found the site (and yes, this is me being a fanboy. Deal 🙂

Then there’s the capper: This weekend in Atlanta is Mythic Journeys – a collection of authors, academicians, philosophers, and artists discussing the role of myth in society and everyday life. Wow. Just wow. It’s a pity that registration starts at $475 for the weekend – this ain’t no SF convention, by any means! Still, it would be very cool to attend, even if half the discussion flew straight over my head (hey, I’m an engineer, not a philosopher).

So you see, this is what happens when you listen to an album you haven’t heard in a while!