ABOUT RAR: For those of
you new to this site, "RAR" is Rick Alan Rice, the publisher
of the RARWRITER Publishing Group websites.
Use this link to visit the
RAR music page, which features original music
compositions and other.
ATWOOD - "A Toiler's Weird Odyssey of Deliverance"-AVAILABLE
NOW FOR KINDLE (INCLUDING KINDLE COMPUTER APPS) FROM
AMAZON.COM.Use
this link.
CCJ Publisher Rick Alan Rice dissects
the building of America in a trilogy of novels
collectively calledATWOOD. Book One explores
the development of the American West through the
lens of public policy, land planning, municipal
development, and governance as it played out in one
of the new counties of Kansas in the latter half of
the 19th Century. The novel focuses on the religious
and cultural traditions that imbued the American
Midwest with a special character that continues to
have a profound effect on American politics to this
day. Book One creates an understanding about
America's cultural foundations that is further
explored in books two and three that further trace
the historical-cultural-spiritual development of one
isolated county on the Great Plains that stands as
an icon in the development of a certain brand of
American character. That's the serious stuff viewed
from high altitude. The story itself gets down and
dirty with the supernatural, which inATWOOD
- A Toiler's Weird Odyssey of Deliveranceis the
outfall of misfires in human interactions, from the
monumental to the sublime.The
book features the epic poem"The
Toiler"as
well as artwork by New Mexico artist Richard
Padilla.
Elmore Leonard
Meets Larry McMurtry
Western Crime
Novel
I am offering another
novel through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing service.
Cooksin is the story of a criminal syndicate that sets its
sights on a ranching/farming community in Weld County, Colorado,
1950. The perpetrators of the criminal enterprise steal farm
equipment, slaughter cattle, and rob the personal property of
individuals whose assets have been inventoried in advance and
distributed through a vast system of illegal commerce.
It is a ripping good yarn, filled
with suspense and intrigue. This was designed intentionally to
pay homage to the type of creative works being produced in 1950,
when the story is set. Richard Padilla
has done his usually brilliant work in capturing the look and feel of
a certain type of crime fiction being produced in that era. The
whole thing has the feel of those black & white films you see on
Turner Movie Classics, and the writing will remind you a little
of Elmore Leonard, whose earliest works were westerns.
Use this link.
EXPLORE THE KINDLE
BOOK LIBRARY
If you have not explored the books
available from Amazon.com's Kindle Publishing
division you would do yourself a favor to do so. You
will find classic literature there, as well as tons
of privately published books of every kind. A lot of
it is awful, like a lot of traditionally published
books are awful, but some are truly classics. You
can get the entire collection of Shakespeare's works
for two bucks.
Amazon is the largest,
but far from the only digital publisher. You can
find similar treasure troves atNOOK
Press(the
Barnes & Noble site),Lulu,
and others.
Candidates for Cool (cont)
Suzi Chunk &
Groovy Uncle: Glenn Prangnell and Suzi Chunk team
for a retro-guitar thing.
King Khan and
the Shrines: Garage rock and psychedelic soul
from Quebec by way of Berlin.
The New Trocaderos:
The New England/L.A. contingent is said to sound like "mid-70s Dave
Edmunds all hopped up on stimulants".
Kurt Baker: Leftovers founder has
evolved from Pop-Punk to Power-Pop.
Mahalia Barnes & The Soul Mates:
Aussie singer, and daughter of Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes (Cold Chisel),
started as a child singer and evolved through studio work to become a
band leader.
Ingrid Olava:
Norwegian was a backup singer for Madrugada, until EMI Music Norway reps
heard her live performance and saw star potential.
The Dahlmanns:
Another Norwegian outfit, this duo does Power-Pop and everybody in the
band is a Dahlmann.
The Cherry Drops:
Retro-Pop.
The Dollyrots:
Los Angeles Bubble Gum-Punk.
Alt Nation
Perspective
Saint Motel:
L.A. band has been described as "Dream Pop" and "Indie Prog".
Elle King:
Comedian Rob Schneider's daughter.
Night Riots:
Proving there is life in Central California.
Death Cab for
Cutie:
There is something incredibly reassuring in the way Ben
Gibbard and company keeps doing what they do.
Florence and the
Machine:
English rock machine is fluent in many machine languages;
Heart language in this case.
In
the Valley Below: We have been featuring L.A.
singer-songwriter Angie Mattson for years. She seems to have
found herself as Angela Gail in this duo with Jeffrey Jacob.
Vinyl Theatre: Proving that Milwaukee can produce
more than just the one thing, boy-band pop from the shores
of Lake Michigan.
Walk the Moon: This band is currently saturating Alt Music
playlists with "Shut Up and Dance".
So can any of
this be described as meeting your definition of cool?