Rosenbaum writes of "Amelia": "The song could serve as the soundtrack for the novel, or the novel as recommended reading post-'Amelia.' (Indeed, what about a series of essays that pairs great novels with a playlist of kindred songs?)"

I'm happy to announce that something very much like this is currently in the works. Time's Arrow Press is working on starting a new series called "The Eclectic Dialectic," inviting essayists, poets, and fiction writers to respond in creative ways to a single classic album. Rather than the "33 1/3" book series, which is limited to just one author writing directly about one album, this series will feature several authors and will give them much more freedom to explore the nature and extent of the music's inspiration.

There may be a poem or story that connects to the feeling or tonality of a song, a story that gives a sequel or prequel to the story in a set of lyrics, new lyrics to instrumental tracks, etc. Basically it's literature that is in the same *key* of the music, not necessarily literature that is *about* the music. As Rosenbaum says, it would be perfect "recommended reading for after" listening to a favorite record.

The first three books in the works are "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys, "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis, and "The Doors" by the Doors. We're also going ahead and collecting good stuff for future volumes, so if you have something that you think would work well for some other classic album, we'll be happy to take a look. (I'm open to suggestions about a volume on Mitchell's "Hejira"....are you listening, Mr. Rosenbaum?) If you're interested, please visit Time's Arrow at www.timesarrowpress.com for submission guidelines. (The Eclectic Dialectic series isn't up yet on the web page because it is still in the works, but consider this a sneak preview. Early birds, etc.)

Thanks,
Allen Michie
Director, Time's Arrow Press