Square Pig in a Round Hole-October 19, 2019

Posted on by kareneisenbreywriter

Square PigNaming 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 club listings for abundant source material!

Now we’re into the truly dark, wet days. I for one am grateful for bright leaves and clever band names to lighten the mood. This week’s top picks:

LáGoon

The accent mark makes it clear, this is no body of water, nor a mere oafish henchperson. It’s a really high-class oafish henchperson.

Racket Man

You don’t have to be Sir Elton to make a din.

Soft Cheese

Sprig

I probably would have picked either of these had they not been on the same bill, but together, they make a nice appetizer with a lovely garnish.

Via Combusta

Without even knowing this was some kind of astrological thing, I like how the Latin fails to obscure the meaning: the burning way. Evokes energy and danger.

 

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. Click the link to check out the first four issues and subscribe here for future issues.  (Or just follow the blog for your weekly dose of band names.)

Square Pig in a Round Hole-October 12, 2019

Posted on by kareneisenbreywriter

Square PigNaming 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 club listings for abundant source material!

I actually went to a show! To celebrate our anniversary, Square Pig and Spouse saw past honoree Prom Queen at The Triple Door. The old-timey nightclub feel was a perfect match for the retro-style music (and guitars). And it’s an easy bus ride from HQ, so we didn’t have to park or designate a driver. But if you’re looking for a bar band in a dive, we’ve got lots of that, too:

Circles Around the Sun

The orbital dance, counterclockwise and (not) in heels. Also, technically elliptical. The spouse and I have completed 33 of these since our wedding day.

Luna Moss

As green as the moth of the same name, flourishing in moonlight.

Moon Age

4.51 billion years, give or take 10 million. Thanks, Google, not what I was looking for. Perhaps a subset of the Space Age, back in my childhood when we were landing men on the lunar surface.

The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors

Groovy plus cozy. Comfort when your spiritual work gets weird.

Simple Minded Symphony

Self-effacing oxymoron (there’s nothing simple or simple-minded about a big orchestral work) built on a happy accident of homophony.

 

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, and other goodies. Click the link to check out the first four issues and subscribe here for future issues.  (Or just follow the blog for your weekly dose of band names.)

 

Square Pig in a Round Hole-October 5, 2019

Posted on by kareneisenbreywriter

Square PigNaming 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 club listings for abundant source material!

I’m taking a short break from fiction writing while a few trusted readers take a look at my latest novel-in-progress. My big accomplishment this week was making shelf space for my stash of my own books so I could get them out of boxes. (If you want a signed copy of any of these direct from the author, please let me know. I need to make room for Barbara and the Rage Brigade, which releases on November 19!)

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Enough shameless self-promotion! We’re really all here for the band names, and once again, the listings did not disappoint:

Before I Had Wings

The lack of punctuation leaves this open for interpretation: “I used to be grounded,” or “Back then, I could fly.”

Checkered Record

Vinyl FlooringAn unsavory past or my dream floor pattern. And it rhymes!

Criminal Hygiene

Scrubbing away all evidence, or grooming so impeccable it should be against the law.

Rat Paws

Considering the paws automatically makes the animal seem cuter. Remember Remi in Ratatouille cleaning his paws before eating or cooking? (The instigator’s description of themself as “29-year-old teenage lima bean” caught me off guard. In the mid-’80s I created a picture book about a family of lima beans on a picnic. Is this a descendant???)

Trashcan Sinatras

Alley cats serenade in a full moon’s spotlight. Rats clap their paws.

 

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, and other goodies. Click the link to check out the first three issues and subscribe here for future issues — #4 will be out soon.  (Or just follow the blog for your weekly dose of band names.)

 

Review: Itty Bitty Writing Space

Posted on by kareneisenbreywriter

Itty Bitty cover image

Itty Bitty Writing Space

Edited by Jason Brick & Dani J. Caile

Cover by Arthur Wright

Full disclosure: I am one of 104 authors in this wide-ranging flash fiction collection. It’s good company to be in.

This collection is like an assortment of quality chocolates: everyone will have different favorites but no one who likes stories will go away disappointed. With minimal commitment, readers can sample outside their preferred genres and might even discover a new favorite author.  I at first thought the book would be handy to fill brief wait times; at no more than three pages each, each story can be read in a few minutes. But it’s hard to stop at just one!

I also love the cover, which manages to be completely adorable yet not at all childish: an itty bitty writer, hard at work on a tiny masterpiece.

Square Pig in a Round Hole-September 28, 2019

Posted on by kareneisenbreywriter

Square PigNaming 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 club listings for abundant source material!

The past two weekends were unusually packed, so a brief afternoon event and a few errands were about all the outside activity I could tolerate today. Just because I’m not going out to a show doesn’t mean I won’t talk up some great band names, though. Just look what I’m missing:

Bear Call

Making noise to attract bears rather than warn them away seems … ill considered.

Plague Vendor

I like this kind of wordplay, where changing a few sounds in a common phrase twists the meaning in an unexpected direction. Not just infecting others, but selling it to them. That’s a clever rat.

Sleep On It

Trash Boat

I might have chosen either of these anyway, but seeing them on the same bill created a funny picture. A garbage scow is an honest, hardworking vessel but probably not somewhere I’d want to sleep. But let me think about it.

Succubass

There’s a sex demon in the rhythm section! Not the player, but the instrument itself.

 

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, and other goodies. Click the link to check out the first three issues and subscribe here for future issues — issue 4 will be out in a couple of weeks.  (Or just follow the blog for your weekly dose of band names.)

 

Square Pig in a Round Hole-September 21, 2019

Posted on by kareneisenbreywriter

Square PigNaming 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 club listings for abundant source material!

Kiss cosplayer with St Rage

RCCC attendee cosplaying as a member of KISS, posing with The Gospel According to St. Rage

Last weekend, I traded band names for cosplayers at Rose City Comic Con in Portland, OR. I was there to help staff the Not A Pipe Publishing booth, so I didn’t see much of the rest of the con, but I enjoyed the parade of great costumes. We persuaded a few cosplayers to pose with our books. It was worth the trip for the photos!

 

Now I’m back on duty in praise of band names. This week’s worthies:

Doom Lagoon

Horror-themed vacation destination. The repeated “oo” sound is enhanced by the venue: The Blue Moon.

Mighty Thor with Wizard Girl

Mighty Thor posing with Wizard Girl

Fine

“Hey, everybody, we’re …” Introduction and reassurance in one neat package.

Grim Earth

This must be the world where Doom Lagoon is located. Or our future if we don’t get a handle on climate change.

The Middle Ages

Where you inevitably end up if you survive the rock & roll lifestyle past your 30s. Can’t stop now!

Super Sparkle

Shiny happy heroes! I’m assuming unicorns are involved, too.

Karen with 3 books

Yours truly, cosplaying as my main character Barbara, AKA St. Rage

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, and other goodies. Click the link to check out the first three issues and subscribe here for future issues.  (Or just follow the blog for your weekly dose of band names.)

 

Square Pig in a Round Hole-September 7, 2019

Posted on by kareneisenbreywriter

Square PigNaming 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 club listings for abundant source material!

Once again the listings came through with five terrific band names I had not featured before. After almost nine years, I’m thinking this will always be so. If they do come up short, I hope it is next week because I’ll be taking a break from blogging to help staff the Not A Pipe Publishing booth at Rose City Comic Con. If you’re there, too, be sure to stop by booth 1007, check out the wide array of science fiction and fantasy titles, meet some of the authors (including me), and play a fun game for discounts!

Without further ado:

The Good Weird

My people! Strange but not creepy or threatening, engaged in quirky activities most folks wouldn’t even consider but might like if they tried.

Kitten Forever

I have old cats, so I find this touching. Although kittens grow into cats in no time, they don’t outgrow their kitteniness. Even ancient cats don’t show their age until they’re ready to lay down that ninth life.

No One Lives

Spoiler alert for many horror films, Shakespeare plays, operas, and life.

Odds

I respect a small word with many meanings: chances (never tell me the …), scraps (… and ends), not divisible by two (1, 3, 5 …), some weird stuff (one hopes good weird).

Snailbones

I’m intrigued by this idea that an exoskeleton–a shell–is by definition the squishy thing’s bones. Also highly appropriate that they’re playing The Kraken. Mollusks gotta stick together.

 

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, and other goodies. Click the link to check out the first three issues and subscribe here for future issues.  (Or just follow the blog for your weekly dose of band names.)