Episode 05 of the “Beyond Language’s Reach” podcast: “Unthawed”. As with previous episodes, I read a piece of my writing before playing some music directly inspired by it. This time I do so on guitar, and once again the music is completely made up on the spot. When improvising, I try to get into my head and heart the feeling the piece of writing gave me, and then just run with it, see where it takes me. “Unthawed” is a short snippet of a longer story that is yet to be published. The clan’s leader, who here is the point-of-view character, is named Crio, and as you may have guessed, there are some rather complex clan politics at play. The other main character introduced here is Crio’s granddaughter, Dalba. On the knife-edge of survival itself, they face a seemingly insurmountable series of challenges, but they are determined to greet these hardships together and with strength. In the piece of music I improvised after reading “Unthawed”, I inadvertently incorporated a small phrase, toward the end, from a tune I wrote a while back called “Mudgee”. Someday I’ll record it, and you’ll be able to hear the similarity. For those of you interested in watching the video version of this episode, I have posted it on YouTube, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVSLwBkcqeY It is worth a watch, if for no other reason than toward the end, you get to see a couple of cameows by Oreo and Arya. They are such cuties Also, THANK YOU for subscribing! You have my gratitude. I will continue to post the bulk of my content for free, but if you would like to support and encourage me further in my creative endeavours (from which I am trying really really hard to make an income!), I invite you to upgrade to a paid subscription using the button below. I have activated a permanent 90% discount on annual, monthly, and group subscription plans, which means that for only about 5 bucks (US$5.00) per year (or AU$7.50 per year), you can help me keep going with my writing & music efforts. In addition, you will get exclusive access to my short stories and serialised book chapters as I publish them. Currently I’ve posted two short stories, and will be posting the first book chapter soon! Thank you for your time :-) Get full access to Otherspect at otherspect.substack.com/subscribe
