Bøger af Gerald Brennan

A selection of piano music by Gerald Brennan, including: SonatinaIlluminations on the I ChingToccata & Poem3 Miniatures3 PreludesChild's Song & Nocturnal Fantasy

-The Sinfonia Matrix is a practically infinite repository of music, from which the composer may extract countless performance versions for orchestras of any size up to 100 players. -This piece uses traditional music notation with no random or chance elements. -Performances from the Sinfonia Matrix draw attention to the significance of the individual voice within the community. Each player has his or her own part to play - the idea of a "1st violin section" or "horn section" playing music in unison is not a principle in performances from the Sinfonia Matrix, nor do traditional ideas of Harmony and Counterpoint apply. -Each part is related to every other as members of a family or community relate to one another. -Most parts are written within the realm of traditional tonality, but the organizational principle of the work is completely serial: In the 100 total parts, all 24 major/minor keys are represented 3 times, all authentic and plagal modes are employed once, along with the 2 whole-tone scales, pentatonic scales, and 12 full chromatic settings. -Each player's part is comprised of an 8-measure signature. -During performance, every 8 measures counts as an episode, and every episode is comprised of one of the practically infinite number of combinations possible among ensemble members. -Each episode follows another in seamless succession. -No combination is repeated. -When the specified number of episodes selected for performance has been executed, the performance ends. -Though it is theoretically possible to present a complete performance of the Sinfonia Matrix, it would take more than 1-septillion years to do so. -Therefore, performance versions must be extracted from the Sinfonia Matrix by the composer, each version specifically tailored for the requirements of that commission, based upon precise instrumentation, number of performers, and occasion. -Scores extracted for performance are distinguished by number and type of combinations designated for inclusion, tempo, number of movements, and most especially, by careful manipulation of individual dynamics and articulation.

- Past titles have a small but enthusiastic following--the author sometimes receives Facebook messages from random strangers gushing about the books.- Enthusiastically blurbed by one of the admins of the "Space Hipsters" Facebook group--a very active and well-run group with 19.5k members.- Well-researched (the author conducted interviews with astronauts, family, and crewmembers involved with the real program fictionalized here, and used a retired Space Shuttle flight director as technical consultant) while still being literary and lively

Pitching trades; planning on pitching to space-related podcasts (including "Space and Things") and publicationsTwo of the blurbists--one of whom is an admin of the "Space Hipsters" Facebook group--said this was the best book of the series.Much shorter and faster read than the most recent book in the series.Stephen Walker (author of Beyond) helped with research and is reading it for blurb consideration.Past titles have a small but enthusiastic following--the author sometimes receives Facebook messages from random strangers gushing about the books.Well-researched (the author tracked down transcripts of interviews with the relatively-obscure main character, and read a wealth of sources to reconstruct a Soviet lunar mission) while still being literary and lively

NEW EDITION FOR March 2023This book is intended as an introduction to the species of art music which bears the misleading appellation of Classical Music. It contains brief summaries of the most important creators in the artform over the past millennium, the forms it uses, as well as a recommendation for a core collection, notes on how to collect and where, how to stay current, and other topics associated with experiencing fully the art of what we have come to call Classical Music. It is not an encyclopedia (nor a music dictionary, which I recommend as an adjunct to this book.); it is a primer.The book shall be updated regulary (expanded features, new composers, technical details, new distribution schemes change quickly).

The social order is crumbling, and a northern Michigan man (John Wheelwright) flees disaster to find refuge with his family in the Upper Peninsula. But the U.P. has become a savage wasteland of criminals, resistors, and a paramilitary empire controlled by a sadistic colossus ("X" - Xavier Blount). When John arrives at the family farm he discovers that X wants his father's land, now, or total pillage will result.The novella is full of combat and romance set in the emerald jungle of the Michigan Upper Peninsula.

Song of Blood and Ashes by Gerald Brennan is a Vampire novel set in Ireland and Ann Arbor, Michigan. An ancient Vampire finally creates a protégé after centuries of searching for the one. Blinded by her beauty and innocence, his choice was unwise. She is desperately in love with a 'mortal' who does not reciprocate her affection. Her twisted and depraved appetites provoke a most horrifying catastrophe. A tale out-of-the-ordinary, and a unique addition to a timeless genre.

In late December of 1941, two parachutists dropped into occupied Europe on a mission to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, an SS leader whom one contemporary called "the hidden pivot" of Nazi Germany.Six months later, they succeeded.This is the definitive telling of this oft-forgotten story--its fascinating background, its thrilling climax, and its tragic consequences. It draws on diverse resources and influences, including Plato's Republic, Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, the writings of Czechoslovakian president Tomáš Masaryk, Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Švejk, Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon, and even Camus' The Fall and Bukowski's Ham on Rye. In doing so, it creates something wholly unique--a powerful meditation on the subjective nature of history, and on the ways we distort the past in order to preserve it as memory.

October, 1967. Yuri Gagarin sits atop a Proton rocket, ready to launch. After several turbulent years in the public eye, he's been chosen in secrecy to captain the Soviet Union's latest space spectacular: the first manned flight around the moon. The second story in the Altered Space series, Public Loneliness is a detailed and imaginative look at a country and a space program with a curious schizophrenia regarding publicity and secrecy. Based on extensive research, it's also a lively and literary story that references familiar classics (like Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea) and forgotten landmarks of Soviet socialist realism, while also touching on universal themes of adventure, alcoholism, heroism and shame. It's a compelling look behind the massive posters at the all-too-real man who led the human race into space.

May, 1970. After a one-month launch delay, Apollo 13 lands in the Fra Mauro Highlands of the moon¿and then the trouble starts.The first in a series of what-if stories from the golden age of space exploration, Zero Phase was written based on meticulous research, and with assistance from two Apollo astronauts: Dr. Edgar Mitchell, who visited the Fra Mauro Highlands¿and Captain Jim Lovell, who was supposed to. Dramatic, detailed, and finely written, this novella is a must-read for space aficionados and literary enthusiasts alike.The titles in the Altered Space series are wholly separate narratives, but all deal with the mysteries of space and time, progress and circularity. Each one is an ens¿ of words in which orbits of spacecraft, moons, planets, and people allow us fresh perspectives on the cycles of our own lives.

April, 1972. Three legendary astronauts embark on man's boldest space voyage yet-a yearlong mission to fly past our nearest planetary neighbor, Venus.Island of Clouds, the first full-length novel in the Altered Space series, is a gripping space epic based on NASA mission proposals from the late 1960s. Touching on literary and cultural influences ranging from Borges and Bukowski to Solaris and Star Trek, this story of exploration also offers a literary probing of the dark reaches of human nature: alcoholism, capitalism, authority, fatherhood, and the ephemeral nature of desire.Each entry in the Altered Space series is a wholly separate narrative, but all deal with the mysteries of space and time, progress and circularity. Every title is an enso of words in which orbits of spacecraft, moons, planets and people allow us fresh perspectives on the cycles of our own lives.