I suppose that it's time for this username to materialize a journal somewhere within the Livejournal Riverworld. Nestled within my protected anonymous bubble, I've been reading livejournals from friends and acquaintances for several years. "Spacecrab" is a handle that I used for a long time on The Well, and it struck me as an appropriate carry-over personality aspect to bring here.

A longtime involvement in science fiction fandom -- writing/publishing fanzines and hanging out -- is the main source of my acquaintance with people on LJ. I've been hesitant about starting a journal out of fear that the naturally crabby aspects of my daily thought processes now overshadow entertainingly cosmonautical ones. But after receiving my third annual parcel of good advice on this issue from holyoutlaw at this year's Potlatch, I've decided to put my toe in the water.

Favorite current band: Donna The Buffalo (good musical offerings from whom can be found here. )

[June '04 update: The regular Donna streaming URL cited above is temporarily offline. But someone just posted a good live show here.]

If you're new to them, I recommend the Live from the American Ballroom CD, or higher bandwidth MP3 versions of song selections "Movin' On,""Rock of Ages," "Mr. King," "Tides of Time," "Family Picture." (Only the Realaudio files on the Funkyside link, above, stream properly. The MP3s download to temp files before playing, but it's worth the wait.)

Favorite current comic book: Kurt Busiek's Superman: Secret Identity -- a remarkable variation on an old theme. Kurt breathes in the WB Smallville remap of Clark Kent and exhales an Astro City-charged inversion of it.

Favorite current novel: Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn. The Fortress of Solitude is interesting, too -- a bit of Henry Roth's Call it Sleep mixed in with elements of Williams Vollman, Kotzwinkle, and Goldman. Lethem has had his share of criticism over the new book, which fills me with the urge to masquerade as Lionel Essrog (the tourettic protagonist of Brooklyn) and write a counter-review .... "Eat me, London Observer!" (This recent good-natured ribbing from one of Lethem's long-time stfnal comrades is also worth reading.)