07 January 2023

Comics, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Music/Podcasts

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Comics:

The Jet Saga:
Row Sky

I was at a John Streetz Alliance Comic and Craft event at Soundgrowler Brewery in December 2022 and I met Row Sky, among other creators I’ll be taking about over this year.

Row introduced me to the world he is creating through his words and comics. A world where superhero’s are just being discovered and exploited.

Here is what The Jet Saga is all about in Row’s words:

“Kevin is trying to find his self-worth in a world where heroes are now just becoming a thing. While a nation is being divided by inescapable change, Kevin is desperately trying to provoke change within himself.”

Go learn more about Row Sky and his comic at his website (there are trailers and art work).

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Fiction / Indie-Fiction:

The Deep:
Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes:

This was the first book I’ve read in 2023, and it was incredible. And the process and transformation of the idea and themes in the book cross several creative disciplines, Music, Writing, and Art.

The book has its roots in the Music of Drexciya, a Detroit based Techno duo. The story reimagines the horror of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade by posing the question, “What if the descendants of pregnant mothers thrown overboard created an underwater society?”
This theme was picked up by Daveed Diggs and his rap group Clipping. The idea was further explored and expanded by author Rivers Solomon in the book, ‘The Deep.” And to keep the idea and world building expanding, Abdul Qadim Haqq created a graphic novel: The Book Of Drexciya Volume One and Two

Back copy excerpt for ‘The Deep’:

“The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society—and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future in this brilliantly imaginative novella inspired by the Hugo Award nominated song “The Deep” from Daveed Diggs’ rap group Clipping.

Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one—the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.

Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities—and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.

Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past—and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity—and own who they really are.

Inspired by a song produced by the rap group Clipping for the This American Life episode “We Are In The Future,” The Deep is vividly original and uniquely affecting.

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Non-Fiction:

Robert McKee

Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen

I am continuing my journey and deep dive into the theory of story, and after focusing on structure, I am moving to dialogue.

Backcopy:
”Now, in Dialogue, McKee offers the same in-depth analysis for how characters speak on the screen, on the stage, and on the page in believable and engaging ways. From Macbeth to Breaking Bad, McKee deconstructs key scenes to illustrate the strategies and techniques of dialogue. Dialogue applies a framework of incisive thinking to instruct the prospective writer on how to craft artful, impactful speech.”

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Music/Podcasts:

No new Podcast to report: Still catching up on them all!

But on the Music Front, there have been several mentions in this post already, Drexciya, and Clipping, but I was gifted a subscription to Vinyl Moon by my lovely wife Georgia (atomicnumber14). And I did some organizing.

Vinyl Moon is like a mix tape on vinyl, but they create a multimedia experience, Art, Story and Music. I am excited to get new additions every month.

Also, I spent organizing my vinyl collection. I used my woodworking skill and laser engraver to make dividers for my LPs. I will do the same for the hundreds of 45s that I have. Maybe I need to get a jukebox.

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Okay, that’s where I’m at. I’ll try to update y’all every month on books, comics, and music (podcasts) that I’ve been digging! I’ll try to add some indie author reads!

Email me and let me know what you’ve been into and what I should check out! Or follow me online for more realtime updates: Jotham’s Social Links