#Spooktober 2 – The Surprising

October 2, 2023

I know this opinion might be unpopular with music connoisseurs, but I liked what Deep Purple did with their 2017 studio album Infinite.

My favourite track has to be “The Surprising”, and it’s a perfect feature for this Spooky Season with its haunting atmosphere, its mythical and biblical echoes. With the narrative voice intruding into the music, I often connect it with another track of the same album, “On Top of the World”.

It wasn’t quite the curse of Tutankhamen
Or the kiss of death from Judas in the night
And it felt so far beyond the blue horizon
Tempting me with transports of delight
And then the devil took my hand and said
Come along with me
There I was, wide awake and dreaming
Reaching out for something in the sky
But I could not control that trembling feeling
Everything I want is slipping by
And then the devil took my hand and said
Something you should see
I never knew what happened to my nightmare
Everything went dark that August day
And the eclipse was on the other side of somewhere
But I was on the upside of afraid
And then an angel took my hand and said
Come along with me

books and literature

The Wandering Earth

The collection is extraordinary and spans from grand feats of sci-fi imagination (the titular story) to humorous tales such as the one in which a writer called Cixin Liu becomes homeless after spending all his money and energy on a grand saga called The Three-Thousand-Body

March 8, 2026 9:00 am

books and literature

Weird Sisters

Well, this was a fairly unusual read for me in this period, I’m more in my sci-fi era, but good things come from good friends who gift you books you wouldn’t have bought: they usually help you discover something cool you didn’t know. What I

March 6, 2026 9:00 am

books and literature

SciFi Friday — In the Year 2889 by Jules Verne (1889)

[Redactor’s note: In the Year 2889 was first published in the Forum, February, 1889; p. 662. It was published in France the next year. Although published under the name of Jules Verne, it is now believed to be chiefly if not entirely the work of

March 6, 2026 1:00 am