Best of 2008 Picks -- Charles de Lint

My favourite thing about 2008 was our dog, Johnny Cash. We got him from the Humane Society at the tail end of 2007, so 2008's the first full year we got to spend with him and he can be a busy boy. Going for walks and playing with him as much as we do means MaryAnn and I have less time for some other activities, and like smokers wondering if they can smoke somewhere, when we think of going out, we're always wondering, can we bring Johnny?  

I'm not saying the resident Queen cat Clare is any less sweet than she ever was, but in terms of interaction she's more, 'Can't you see I'm sleeping?' or 'Yes, you may pet me for two and a half minutes, but then I really need to get back to grooming myself,' while Johnny's all 'What do you want to do now, yip yip, what do you want to do now?' The energies balance out in the end.

But if you mean my favourite media...

Some books:

The Born Queen - Greg Keyes (Del Rey); because he finished the series as strongly as he started and remembered throughout that high fantasy is supposed to leave the reader with a sense of wonder.

Raven - Allison Van Diepen (Simon Pulse); terrific new voice for the fantasy field from an author who's already proved her mettle with her YA books; one of the better outsider books I've read in years.

Society's Child: My Autobiography - Janis Ian (Tarcher); if you care at all about the sixties, creativity, overcoming huge odds, and music, you need to read this book. And listen to her music.

Another Life - Andrew Vachss (Pantheon); the 18th and final Burke novel brings it all to a satisfying conclusion leaving the reader to wonder what Vachss will delight us with next.

Church of the Old Mermaids - Kim Antieau (Ruby Rose's Fairy Tale Emporium, get it from Amazon.com); if this isn't set in the desert behind Terri Windling's Endicott West artist retreat, then it was inspired by it; uplifting, moving, charming, funny, and one of my all-time favourite books.

Pretty much anything by Patricia Briggs; I read a lot of her books this year and she never let me down.

Some music:

I've been mostly listening to old vinyl this past year: surf, rockabilly, Merseybeat, blues, folk, jazz--pretty much anything from the 50s & 60s. Sure it's not as convenient as digital music and CDs, but it's fun trawling through the thrift shops and garage sales for that special find, the covers are big and pretty, and even with the pops and crackles, the music sounds better. Some of its cheesy, most of it stands up really well. My tastes range widely, but if pressed, I'd have to say in the past few months it's been mostly guitar oriented music by the likes of Los Indios Tabajaras, Chet Atkins, Duane Eddy, Al Caiola, The 50 Guitars of Tommy Garrett, The Ventures, Billy Strange, Santo & Johnny, Jerry Cole...fun stuff by folks who could arrange as well as they played. And if you need it digital, you can do what I do with my favs: I rip the vinyl into MP3s and listen to them on my iPod.

But I continue to listen to contemporary music. Getting a lot of play this year are new albums by stalwarts such as Steve Earle, Fred Eaglesmith, Calexico, Giant Sand, Ian Tamblyn, Lynn Miles, Michael Franti, P!nk and Brock Zeman, as well as fresh (to me) faces along the lines of Amy MacDonald, S.J. Tucker, Shannon Lyon, Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Imagined Village, Lenka, Lisa Hannigan...

Oh, this is getting silly. All I'm doing is making a list. Let me just say that anyone who thinks they don't make good music anymore isn't paying attention. There's a wealth of it around and all you have to do is check out a few blogs, read some magazines, talk to your friends and you'll soon have a list of music to check out that will be much longer than your pocketbook can afford. Which is why I go to thrift shops and garage sales...