Makes me nostalgic...

Imanaren are a Moroccan Berber band from the southern part of the country. Their debut album is available on Amazon as a download for less than 6 bucks. it's worth it, too, as they really nail the trance-out vibe and roll with it... Lots of oud, percussion and unison vocals. Sweet.

Mamihlapinatapei, anyone?

Here's a terrific article over at BigThink.com about relationship words that don't translate easily into English. What a blast. The Yagan word Mamihlapinatapei, for example, means: "The wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who desire to initiate something, but are both reluctant to start."

Awesome. I'm going to have to start using this word in everyday conversation. (Well... maybe every other day.) The article lists 9 more, plus a few observations about close-but-not-quite equivalents in English. It's a good time, take a look at it here.

The Avin Project goes live!

I've been working with a team of educational consultants to make The Gamble of the Godless available for English teachers and homeschoolers free of charge (as a pdf); the team has put together a slew of curriculum materials, all of which have been vetted and okayed by me, and all of which address Common Core State Standards for English. This is a tremendously exciting project for me, and if it flies, it will give me a chance to interact face-to-face with high school kids all across the country as they work on various projects inspired by the book. So I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens.

Take a look at the pitch here, on the Chronicles of Avin web site. You can even watch a video of me being slightly less than eloquent about the whole thing (sorry, I'm a little camera shy.) And if you're an English teacher (or homeschool parent), give me a shout via the attached application form.

Two more bloggers get behind Gamble

Ahoy, it was a busy weekend out there in book-blogger land, with both The Canary Review and Cheryl's Book Nook coming out swinging in favor of everybody's favorite unorthodox epic fantasy novel.

The Canary Review was slightly more gushing, remarking that "the author world-builds like a fiend" and characterizing the book as "a stellar example of an indie publication," which is awfully nice. The reviewer goes on to urge readers to "Explore the book and the world of animals/ See if you make it back alive" which is pretty snazzy IMHO.

Cheryls Book Nook is a briefer review that admits that the reviewer wasn't crazy about the story at first, but it got better to the point that "You will love it. Dave Maine has a winner in this tale and hopefully the beginning of many more." So that's pretty gushing too--thanks folks.

I urge you to take a stroll to either or both of these blogs and say howdy. It means a lot to these folks, who read and review out of nothing more than the love of a good story, and who'd be happy to have a comment or two.

Another Gamble review

The cool-headed and sensible Trace over at Croft Fantasy Book Reviews has decided she too is a fan of The Gamble of the Godless, citing its "good strong characters" and declaring that she was "fascinted by the various animal communities." There's a bit more, so feel free to go over and take a gander.

BTW, the Croft web site is an interesting place, filled as it is with reviews of fantasy and dark fantasy books, not to mention a wide variety of odds and ends (Season Two trailers for The Walking Dead, anybody?). So feel free to leave a comment, as I'm sure your interest is much appreciated...

And hey! We won't tell her she got the name of the book wrong, okay?

My new, new favorite band

Okay you know the drill by now: These guys ROCK.

Wooden Shjips (yeah, I don't understand either) playing  "Home." Check out the tricky Neil Young "Hey Mey My My" riff at the very beginning, before it deconstructs into 5:45 of droney, fuzzed out goodness...

Dumb video. Amazing song.

Remember hard rock? Ahh, those were the days. Here's a terrific song by a band called The Nevers, whose album Saint Bernadette was released recently and which I'll be reviewing on PopMatters.The video is dumber than a stick, so I recommend closing your eyes and enjoying the blissful rocking-out experience. It's almost like 1978 again...