The Distress of the Sharp: The Metaphysics of C Sharp and Grease
About this audiobook
A metaphysical crisis occurs when the note C sharp mysteriously vanishes after being played perfectly by the pianist Jonathan Blenheim. The absence causes tonal collapse worldwide, leading to chaos in orchestras and triggering a bureaucratic panic at the Bureau of Eclectic Notation (BEN). The Bureau attempts to force the note D Flat into substitution, to be met with fierce opposition by D Flat. The narrative follows the adventures of the missing C sharp, which has been transposed into the viscosity of frying grease within Wotof Wongip’s chip shop, becoming a sentient sound that seeks resolution through “grease-touch” and memory. Ultimately, characters including Detective Fiddlefaddle, the Fryer Prophet Frank, and the adverbial entity Softly work to resolve the harmonic viscosity. Eventually the note is facilitated to make an imperfect, merciful return, and the crisis between pitch and substance is finally resolved.
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About the author
Otto Handley is a British writer with a background in sociology, having studied at the University of Manchester. He lives in Basingstoke with his wife, Amalietta, and their six children. Outside of writing, Handley pursues a range of eclectic interests, including speleology, orchid cultivation, and playing the lute.
Gregory Dwyer is a New Zealand–born Australian voice actor who spent twenty-four years working internationally in theatre, film, television, and radio before a hiatus of twenty-two years, eighteen of which were spent as a Forensic Crime Scene Examiner. Now he returns to performing as a voice actor specializing in audiobooks.
