CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

Firstly, an apology. This weeks Top Ten does not contain the requisite minimum 7 minutes of quality electronica. In fact, I'm not sure it's got any electronica in it. I've let my reader down, I've let the tour down, and I've let myself down.

Anyway, this week the CSFF Blog Tour is featuring The Strange Man by Greg Mitchell, which of course means the Top Ten Strange Songs, specially hand-picked for you by, well, a strange man.

10. Bob Ponton: He Was A Strange man
The opinions expressed in this Top Ten are not necessarily those of the blogger, the CSFF Blog Tour, or anyone else.

9. Leonard Cohen: The Stranger Song
Now I'm not an expert, but I'm fairly sure our Len has written stranger songs than this.

8. U2: Stranger In A Strange Land
From waaaaay back when Bonio was a boy, from U2's difficult second album, which for some reason they decided to make about God.

7. Madonna: Beautiful Stranger
Yeah baby!

6. The Holland Dutch: Strange Man
Purveyors of fine melodic indie rock, apparently.

5. Thousand Foot Krutch: Stranger
That Canadian Christian rock outfit who did a Jesus-themed cover of EMF's Unvbelievable. Stranger is not on that level of genius, but then, what could be?

4. Mandrake Paddle Steamer: Strange Walking Man
Would it surprise you to learn that this is a psychadelic prog-rock number?

3. The Kinks: Strangers
I'm normally not that big a fan of Dave Davies' contributions to the Kinks' catalogue, but I like this one.

2. Topper: Funeral Of The Strange Man
OK, it's less than a minute long, and it's barely even music in the traditional sense, but I think that's why it entertained me so much.

1. Mean Creek: Strange Man
One of the more obscure tracks I Spotified up this week, a nice laid back piece of indie rock.

Your Spotify playlist is here, and while you listen to that little lot, wander round these blogs and find out a little something about the book, which is, after all, kind of the point of the exercise.

Noah Arsenault Red Bissell Kathy Brasby Grace Bridges Beckie Burnham CSFF Blog Tour Amber French Tori Greene Katie Hart Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Jason Joyner Carol Keen Inae Kyo Emily LaVigne Shannon McDermott Matt Mikalatos Rebecca LuElla Miller Gavin Patchett Andrea Schultz Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Jessica Thomas Fred Warren Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler

CSFF Blog Tour - The Strange Man, Day One

It is an important yet often overlooked fact that just a year ago, the strange and nebulous concept of the fantasy spectrum was introduced to this tour. I really should have got around to illustrating this concept in the last twelve months, but as you can probably tell by my somewhat sporadic blogging pattern (I use the word 'pattern' in its vaguest sense), I am not made of time.

Anyway, it is that time of the month again, so, having reverted to type and not done the homework, I figure I'll get the Spectrum out and dust it off. And then after a few rounds of Manic Miner*, write a blog post. Our subject this week is supernatural suspense novel The Strange Man by Greg Mitchell. So, without further ado, to the Blurb!

Dras Weldon lives in a world of horror movies and comic books. Twenty-two and unemployed, he is content to hide in the shadow of adolescence with a faith that he professes but rarely puts into action.

But when a demonic stranger arrives and begins threatening his friends, Dras is drawn into a battle that forces him to choose which side he is on. In a race against the clock, he must not only fight these evil forces but also somehow convince his best friend, Rosalyn, to join him--before she is lost forever.

Engaging and darkly humorous, The Strange Man is the first act of a trilogy that depicts a world where monsters are real and simple men and women must overcome their doubts and fears in order to stand against the unspeakable creatures of the night.

I was unemployed for while when I was 22. Don't remember anything like that happening to me. I guess I didn't read enough comic books.

Anyway: monsters and demons, comic books and dark humour... doesn't sound too bad really. This would probably sit nicely in the warm reds and oranges of horror and urban fantasy. But of course, you will want a less vague opinion of the actual book, so why not lurk, strangely, at some of these blogs:

Noah Arsenault
Red Bissell
Kathy Brasby
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
CSFF Blog Tour
Amber French
Tori Greene
Katie Hart
Bruce Hennigan
Timothy Hicks
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Inae Kyo
Emily LaVigne
Shannon McDermott
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Gavin Patchett
Andrea Schultz
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler

*Completely out of context retro gaming pun. Don't feel bad if you didn't get it.