I was saddened to hear that Little Richard passed away this weekend. He was an amazing man, a force of nature, a testament to wildness–all the superlatives about him are true.

That’s why, when I wrote an urban fantasy short story about a record collector who exorcises possessed houses, I worked Little Richard’s music into the story.

Now, I’m faced with a quandary. I agreed–months ago–to do the reading for the audio version for the web site myself. I put it off, and it’s now due in a week. But reading it will require me–at least for a few moments on the page–to imitate Little Richard’s singing voice. If Paul McCartney couldn’t pull it off, I sure can’t, but I can do a reasonable enough impression to make the reading work.

The thing is, now that he’s gone, I want to do better than a “reasonable enough” job.

Obviously, this is just me putting extra pressure on myself, partly because I’m sad that one of my heroes died. And there was no way to know the story’s release would coincide with this.

So, that’s what I’m doing now. Just trying to get the story to work aurally (even though the print version will probably be the main thing people access). It comes out in early June from Metaphorosis and I’ve planned a few little promotional posts between now and then.

Source: Associated Press/AP File