Louder, harder, faster. That’s thrash metal’s defining credo in a nutshell. The heaviness of NWOBHM fused with punk rock’s DIY spirit and and anti-authoritarianism, hopped up on malt liquor and pseudoephedrine, dubbed onto a cassette tapes and played through the blown speakers of a Nissan pickup truck at maximum volume. For a while, from the early eighties until it peaked in 1991, thrash metal seemed like it would change the world.
Suggested literary pairings that accompany well the fine art of headbanging…
Book recommendations, vanilla and otherwise… with maybe a little bit of steam.
When did “vanilla” start to define the mundane, the ordinary, the conventional? After all, there’s nothing vanilla about the history of this rare spice. First cultivated by the Totonacs, residents of what is now Veracruz, Mexico, the tlilxochitl (“black flower”) is said to have first grown on the spot where Princess Xanat, on the lam with a forbidden lover, was beheaded, the vanilla orchids and vines sprouting from where her blood fell.
Like you, I’ve been watching the media circus surrounding Patrick Wensink’s Broken Piano for President and the world’s friendliest cease-and-desist letter. It’s been amazing watching a Bizarro title climb to the top of Amazon.com’s rankings, peaking just below the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (Note to Patrick: Next time, don’t forget to include ben wa balls in the book), not to mention the positive coverage in places like Boing Boing, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Time Magazine.
Just one recommended pairing this week, and you probably already guessed what it is.
It takes about an hour, sometimes more, to drive from Petaluma, where I live, to the Dogpatch district of San Francisco, where the massive warehouse warehousing the Night Shade Books office is located. Depending on traffic, and other motorists’ habits of driving like idiots, this can be a monster of a commute. So I fill my time as best I can, listening to music, catching up on short fiction, or checking out new and engaging podcasts.
There is grief, and there is sorrow, but there is also recovery. As the old adage says, time heals all wounds. And the conspicuous absence of dog was becoming deafening. So, coming up on three weeks ago, we adopted a dog. At the time, we didn’t completely realize we were adopting a dog.
Recommended literary pairings to help keep your favorite horn dog from becoming too hot and/or bothered:
