Naming a band is an act of concentrated creative expression. Square Pig in a Round Hole exists to reward five favorite band names each week. Winners are (usually) listed alphabetically.

Selection is wholly unscientific and subject to whim, with a bias toward wordplay, humor, and local flavor. In most cases, I won’t know anything about the bands at the time of selection. Thanks to the Seattle Times nightlife listings for abundant source material!

(Until live music returns, I am curating retrospective posts from past material. Dates indicate when the band was originally featured.)

SQUARE PIG IN A ROUND HOLE PANDEMIC EDITION #37

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is almost over–I’ve got about 26,000 words on a lively and engaging wizard fantasy that I look forward to developing further. In other literary news, my flash-fiction ghost story, “She Kept the House,” will be included in an anthology of 100 stories by 100 authors, titled Worth 1000 Words. The already-successful Kickstarter to fund the project goes for 4 more days, offering flash fiction lovers the chance to pre-order the book and get some bonus swag.

The literary theme on the blog will continue for two weeks, there are just that many goodies. I’m even including a couple of bonus names this week. As ever, wash your hands, wear your mask, maybe read a book or ten, and if you are able, please buy these bands’ music and merch while we wait for a better day.

Mandroid Echostar
(May 14, 2016) Now we enter the realm of pulp sci-fi. I imagine this character was Buzz Lightyear’s delinquent roommate at the Space Ranger Academy who dropped out and became a smuggler or spaceman of fortune.

Marley’s Ghost 
(May 14, 2016) Identical in structure to Casca’s Dagger [featured earlier this month] but referring to a character rather than a prop — the first of four spirits intent on Scrooge’s redemption. If it were up to me, Marley would get promoted to Heaven for this act.

Peace Mercutio
(January 1, 2011) I’m just a sucker for a good literary allusion.

Pickwick
Trespassers William
(December 18, 2010) These two both get the nod for literary allusions to a couple of favorite books. Music and books go together like books and music.

The Pro-nouns
(April 4, 2015) Is this name standing in for the actual name of this band? The hyphen suggests nouns that have given up their amateur status. (This also reminds me of two siblings who swapped genders; I suggested they start a band called Pronoun Trouble. They have yet to take me up on it.)

The Raven and the Writing Desk
(April 26, 2014) Classic X and the Y structure meets literary reference! The English majors go wild.

One last thing before you go: I share highlights from this blog in my quarterly author newsletter, The Storypunk Report, as well as news of what I’m writing and reading, upcoming events, and other goodies, including “Wizard in the Mosh Pit,” an exclusive short story just for subscribers. Click the link to check out the first eight issues and subscribe here for future issues. (Or just follow the blog for your weekly dose of band names.)