#adam selzer

[quadriviummuse]

Dr Mary Crowell Performs Just Dessert comic Book style

This video first appeared on Adam Selzer’s Time Travel Pub Crawl, “Drink Like the Dickens” on 12/24/2020. It’s about murder and was inspired by a D&D campaign.

[quadriviummuse]

Please, share the link to the Patreon post or the direct link to the YouTube to anyone you think might need some raucous mythological boogie woogie in their lives. Also, here is a little progress report on the virtual choir arrangement and a question asking what works best to help you learn your choral parts.

Hi all,

I meant to share this link a couple of days ago. The problem is when I share a YouTube link for a video that is scheduled (and isn't out yet) you get the weird grayed out YouTube face--and that doesn't change even once the video is published. (Although I can edit the post and fix it.)

Please, share the link to the Patreon post or the direct link to the YouTube to anyone you think might need some raucous mythological boogie woogie in their lives.

This is the song I recorded for Adam Selzer's tiki themed Virtual Time Travel Pub Crawl on his Mysterious Chicago Facebook Page. Adam Selzer does a lot of really cool tours, and has a Patreon!

Virtual Choir Progress Report And Another Question

I have finished the choral arrangement of "Sing Along Chorus" and I am just putting the lyrics into Finale. (I still have to arrange  the instruments using the piano accompaniment as a structure, but that can be edited separately.)

My question is how would you like me to prep your parts for practice:

1) Record myself and/or someone else (for tenor and bass  parts) singing them, so you can 'sing along'--See what I did there?

2) Record your part on a piano, so you can hear your notes?

3) Give you a MIDI choral voice to sing along? (It wouldn't sing words though, and it will sound weird. Trust me on this. But it might be easier to match pitch with than a piano.)

(Click on the link to answer there.)

[quadriviummuse]

Mary Crowell performs Truth on the Table (2020). This was originally included along with a performance of “Oh Milo” on Adam Selzer’s Virtual Time Travel Pub Crawl (part of his Mysterious Chicago series.)

[quadriviummuse]

(Dr.Mary.C.Crowell)

[vampireadamooc]

So... the Master of Microfiche, Adam Selzer, turned up a real life Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunt. True, Abraham was likely unaware of his participation in one of the most passive aggressive vampire "hunts" that I have ever heard of.

[brokenarrowlyrix]

the old part of town stops trying to keep up and just lets its wrinkles show on bartleby way, the town cemetery has put on its party clothes the fog wanders in and it stays in the street like it has noplace else to go and the crows tick around in the brown fields and roads and hide in the black chimney smoke - in the smoke they hide in the smoke they hide in the black chimney smoke

a couple of snowflakes came in with the rain my new coat is covered with leaves in the upstairs hall closet, a little blue ghost is singing soft operas to me she's a mezzo-soprano, she looks just like you she never gets up off her knees and the branches are all dressed like skeletons now they reach for the sky like the smoke - like the smoke they reach like the smoke they reach for the sky like the smoke

it's cold on the roof when the sour-sweet wind blows in from the north in the night i look for your face in the wet penny moon that flickers above in the sky i'll ask you to come and you'll send your regards and hope that i'm doing alright but the leaves never turn quite as dark as your hair for running away with the smoke - with the smoke away with the smoke running away with the smoke

i love you to bits, but talking to you is like trying to talk to the smoke - to the smoke they talk to the smoke i might as well talk to the smoke

[burrito-juice]

“Specializing is to settle, and settling into a retail or restaurant job is the same thing as dying” - Mc Hobo (Play me Backwards by Adam Selzer)

[susanmichelewrites-blog]

EXTRAORDINARY*, AKA, OH MY GOD PLEASE JUST READ IT: a book review

TITLE: Extraordinary*: *The True Story of my Fairy Godparent, Who Almost Killed Me, and Certainly Never Made Me a Princess

AUTHOR: Adam Selzer

GENRE: humor, fantasy

PLOT SUMMARY: Jennifer Van Den Berg is sort of famous, thanks to a book that was written about her life, Born to be Extraordinary. Born to be Extraordinary tells the story of Jen and her fairy godparent, who, according to the book, hooked her up with her one true love and made her a princess. The only problems are that: 1. Jen doesn’t particularly like being famous, and 2. Most of the book is a twisted account of the truth, or just outright made up. Jen is now taking it upon herself to set the record straight, and tell the truth. She’s not actually an orphan, nor is she actually a princess. The road to true love wasn’t nearly as simple as the book made it out to be, and the real story involved a lot more incidents where she was nearly killed. Oh, and her “fairy godmother” was a cigar-smoking, mean-spirited guy who, for whatever reason, seemed to really hate Jen’s guts.

FIRST THOUGHTS: If you know me personally, you’ve probably had me beg you to read this book before. While it certainly has its flaws, Extraordinary* is one of my favorite books of all time, and it’s woefully underrated -- then again, so is most of the author’s work. It’s a great feel-good book; a fun fractured fairy tale with a very witty, very clever main character who’s very enjoyable to read about. It has a great urban fantasy setting -- which was established in Selzer’s previous book “I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It,” but you don’t need to have read that one to understand this one. It’s a good, fast read, and perfect for when you need cheering up.

THOUGHTS ON PLOT: Talk about a title to suck readers in! From the cover alone, “Extraordinary*” promises a fun ride, and it delivers, twisting every fairy tale trope to its (sometimes) logical extremes. As stated above, this is a very quick read; the plot isn’t too hard to keep track of and it moves at a fast pace, most of the action happening over the course of a few days. But don’t let that make you think the plot is totally predictable! It definitely has an element of mystery to it, as Jen and her friends get caught up in a conflict between their childhood friend Mutual and his mega-strict parents... who happen to be vampires that expect Mutual to convert, whether he wants to or not. Oh, and Jen’s fairy “godmofo,” as he prefers to be called, informs her that if she doesn’t get a certain guy to kiss her at homecoming, she’ll drop dead. These two plotlines start off separate, but quickly entangle. One of the coolest things about the book is seeing all the pieces fall into place -- and, more to the point, watching as Jen realizes how everything connects. The solution to the mystery, while perhaps a bit obvious to some, did genuinely surprise me, so I won’t put any spoilers here. There is a romance, but it doesn’t feel pointless; it’s important to the plot, but it also avoids overtaking the story entirely. I never wanted to yell “go back to the good part!” The romance itself is very sweet and well-developed, and it feels very real. And, no love triangle! Huzzah!

8.5 / 10

THOUGHTS ON CHARACTERS: Jen has to be one of my favorite YA protagonists. She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s brave, and most of all, she feels so real. I doubt I was the only reader to share her fears of being merely mediocre, or worse, turn out to be a mean, hateful person, rather than the cool, extraordinary person she wants to be. She’s also surrounded by a great supporting cast -- childhood friend returned after several years Mutual, best friends Jason and Amber, the bitter, endlessly snide vampire Fred, mild annoyance Cathy, and the author of Born to be Extraordinary, Eileen. Then there are the book’s antagonists; Mrs. Smollet, a Victorian-era vampire who seems to have a permanent stick up her butt, Mutual’s parents, two vampires who won’t take “no” for an answer, and, of course, the fairy godmofo himself, Gregory Grue. Gregory Grue is easily one of the best parts of the book, being equal parts creepy and hilarious. We can’t help but laugh as he goes out of his way to make Jen’s life hell, until he turns around and does something so horrible, we’re begging to see him dead. His interactions with Jen make for some of the best (and funniest) dialogue in the book. While the book primarily focuses on Jen, and she makes for a very strong lead, the ensemble backing her is what elevates the book from good to great.

9 / 10

THOUGHTS ON WRITING STYLE: This book, like Selzer’s other work, is hilarious. By far the biggest draw of the book is how funny it is, with wry, snarky asides peppering Jen’s narration throughout. The book also does an impressive job of having dialogue that sounds like how actual teenagers talk -- albeit, with some places where the language is obviously cleaned up for publication. (It’s given a reason in-story, though, so I don’t mind.) It’s very easy to get sucked into the book; at least, it was for me.

9 / 10

THOUGHTS ON POLITICAL STUFF: In terms of gender representation, there’s a nice balance of male and female characters, and a female protagonist is always a plus. The author does a good job of falling into common traps of writing a female character, which is doubly impressive since the author is male. The female characters in this book are varied in personality, and each one has their own distinct role and purpose in the story -- none of them feel like Token Chicks. Unfortunately, while female representation is good, the book does fall short in other categories. No LGBT representation in sight, nor is there any mention of racial or ethnic minorities. I mean, I know the book takes place in the very-white Iowa, but still. It’s disappointing from what I consider to be such a great book otherwise. As far as YA representation I’ve seen, it’s far from the worst, but it’s also far from the best.

5 / 10

FINAL THOUGHTS: This review has probably gotten my point across: I love, love, love this book. I don’t consider it to be a pinnacle of literature, but it’s by far one of my favorites. It’s the book I reach for when I’m feeling down and need to cheer up, and I’d recommend it to anyone who loves a good fantasy, and a good laugh.

FINAL GRADE: 7.8 / 10