Sunday, December 27, 2009

I'm alone with you tonight


The Sunnyboys were teenagers from north of Sydney, Australia who formed a band in '79 and in a flash were touring, famous and releasing their first record. They were incredibly talented and one of those cases of the exact right sound, crystallising the time & place. Very tight, melodic pop songs with beautiful Rickenbacker riffs and Hammond organ that still sounds new...their arc was short but so bright. I was madly in love with Jeremy Oxley, like every other Sydney schoolgirl.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

midnight is a place


Joan Aiken
was a British author who was known primarily for her children's books - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase series was very popular for years, first published in 1962 with a gorgeous cover by Edward Gorey:

She wrote many adult novels as well, in many genres from gothic thriller to mystery to supernatural. Her writing is a marvel of clarity and sly, sharp intelligence, as well as a wicked and playful sense of humour. She could combine elegance and tremendous human warmth with a shade of the sinister that stayed with you for days. Her titles are equally evocative: Black Hearts in Battersea, Voices in an Empty House, Midnight is a Place. But it's her short stories that show the sharpest edge, the highest polish.

Her short story collections are hard to find (I dug mine up on eBay) but well worth the search. Don't let the Puffin editions fool you. A Whisper in the Night and A Bundle of Nerves are full of nasty, beautiful wonders that will democratically haunt adult and child alike.