I’m listening to CBC radio in streaming audio, and they just fired up “Taking Care of Christmas” by Randy Bachman, a sort-of parody of his own BTO song, “Takin’ Care of Business.” Oddly enough, it works without sounding too hokey or schmaltzy. Pretty funny, in fact. With the torrential rain and tornados we’re enduring today, Christmas is the farthest thing from my mind, but the song made me realize how close we actually are.
I’m heading off to Canada tomorrow to visit my mother. I’m sure the weather there will be more Christmaslike. Parts of Nova Scotia has had over a foot and a half of snow already, all in one day. I expect the temperature will be a little above freezing–but not much.
I had to spend a lot of time in a waiting room last night, so I picked up the new McSweeney’s anthology on my way out the door. I’d already read the book when I first got it a couple of months ago, but it seemed like good waiting-reading material. I think I like this anthology better than the previous Chabon-edited collection. Though the first one had one or two standout stories, this one seems to be more consistently good. No stories that I’d say are outstanding, but none that really didn’t work for me, either.
King’s contribution is Lisey and the Madman (pronounced Lee-see), which is an excerpt from a novel that he wrote after finishing The Dark Tower. The pov character is the wife of a famous writer; in my opinion, King has nailed the female voice. So much so, that I had to keep reminding myself as I read it that it was a Stephen story and not a Tabby one. Of course, the conspiracy theorists will say that Tabitha King wrote it (as has been postulated about some of King’s mid-90s books), but that’s poppycock. The story is also obviously and classically King. I hope he decides to publish the complete novel some day–I’d like to hear more, both about the dark force that the protagonist’s husband sees and about the protagonist herself.
I think I understand Peter Straub’s story better on second reading. This is the first China Mieville story I’ve read, and it’s an intriguing curiosity about wandering alleys that appear in unexpected places.