Writers and Their Soundtracks

End of an Era

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 15:51:00 -0700

Well, it's time to retire the Writers & Soundtracks podcast. It's a relic of a time gone by, and I'm switching hosting services and no longer have a place for the files to live.

I hope you enjoyed the episodes! It would be fun to do a podcast again someday. In the meantime, visit me at https://www.juliekrose.com!

A trip down memory lane...

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Thu, 5 May 2016 05:43:00 -0700

This podcast series was first broadcast in 2008, and it was enormous fun.

A whole lot has changed for me (and the other writers!) in the intervening years, but I'd venture to say our love for music and writing hasn't.

So, take a trip down memory lane with me: get a glimpse into the creative process of some of your favorite writers and learn about bands/songs/albums you might not have known before.

I'd love to revive this podcast in the future, with actual live interviews next time around. It's unreal how much technology has changed since 2008, so I think it could be much more easily done, and a lot of fun.

Enjoy!

Writers and Their Soundtracks: Wrap Up

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0800

Well, thanks for coming along with me on this fun journey! I lied, I'm not doing a podcast for this final entry - time just got away from me, thanks to doing NaNoWriMo this month.

We had 19 participants (myself included) in this series, and I'm grateful to them all for their time and their insights, and for sharing their music.

So, because I'm a geek for analysis, here's a wee bit:

37% use the soundtracks/playlists they noted to actually write their stories to

63% use their soundtracks/playlists to get inspired, but can only write in silence, or to some other kind of music

The most common bands across the soundtracks were:

Bruce Springsteen (3)

Nine Inch Nails (3)

Sigur Ros (3)

The Clash (2)

Apocalyptica (2)

Radiohead (2)

Tori Amos (2)

Jeff Buckley (2)

I hope those of you who have been following along have had as much fun as I have. It's been fantastic to be exposed to so many new bands, and I'm very grateful to all of the authors who participated!

If you haven't had a chance, do take a few minutes to peruse the websites of the authors who have participated in this series; their websites are all listed off to the right.

My own playlist

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0800

Update 11/23/10: this podcast series was broadcast in 2008; please check out all of the soundtracks of the fantastic writers listed over to the right -->

So, first, thanks everyone for indulging me with my own playlist for this penultimate Writers & Soundtracks podcast.

This playlist is for my first novel, THE PILGRIM GLASS. It’s the story of an artist (Jonas), a priest (Dubay), and a photographer (Meredith), and the restoration of a stained glass one summer in Vézelay, France. This is no ordinary glass, however; it has a strange, almost hypnotic effect on them, changing them in positive and destructive ways.

The first half of the playlist is really for Jonas, the second for Meredith.

London Calling - The Clash
Jonas listens to this on his way down to Burgundy to start the restoration job. It’s an image that’s really emblematic of the dichotomy of his character – listening to this harsh song about hopelessness and anarchy while driving through beautiful countryside on his way to complete a delicate, artistic restoration of stained glass.

Swamp Thing - The Chameleons
Jonas has a strong vein of anger and frustration just under the surface; this song captures those feelings really well.

Around the World - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Jonas has a thing for the Chili Peppers. I think the funk and drive of the music taps into the sensual, erotic side of his personality that he usually accesses only through working with color and glass.

Fibre de Verre - Paris Combo
The nature of glass. I couldn’t find a more ideal song for Jonas. I mean, come on: it’s about glass, and it’s in French. Doy.

The Lark Ascending - Ralph Vaughan Williams
See, the thing about Jonas is he’s prickly, but he really wants to soar. He just doesn’t trust himself.

Warning Sign – Coldplay
Jonas ought to be seeing what’s beginning to happen with Meredith, that she’s being really rather strange and frightening, but he ignores the warning sign because, shit, here’s someone he actually likes and doesn’t annoy the crap out of him – and who puts up with him.

Out of the Woods - Nickel Creek
I think this is a song for all three of them – Jonas, Meredith, and Dubay. Even the pilgrim. It’s all about emerging from isolation, which is appropriate for them all.

Theft, and Wandering Around Lost - Cocteau Twins
Again, in a lot of ways, the idea behind this song can apply to all three of them.

Taking the Veil - David Sylvian
Another song for Meredith, and for the pilgrim. The feel of this song is just right for the story overall as well.

Mercy - Prefab Sprout
A poignant song for the climax of the plot. Paddy McAloon’s voice is so beautiful and yearning, this song gives me shivers every time I listen to it.

First and Last Waltz - Nickel Creek
The tone of this song is just perfectly evocative of the feeling of the story overall – slightly off, ethereal and earthy, wistful, ultimately hopeful.

Over the Hillside - The Blue Nile
Just because I love The Blue Nile so much. Paul Buchanan’s voice is like an aural representation of Jonas’ personality – angsty, rough, soulful, hopeful.

When I’m writing, I have to listen to music instrumental music, or lyrics in languages I don’t understand. Otherwise, I get pulled in and very distracted. I love listening to soundtrack music while I’m writing; my friend Chris made the best soundtrack mix CD, and as depressing as the movie’s theme is, the soundtrack from World Trade Center is fantastic. I also listen to medieval chant and I’ve been listening to a lot of west African music lately as well.

Who would I want to do the soundtrack if THE PILGRIM GLASS were ever made into a movie? I don’t know. I’d really like to just have the songs noted above, but if I were forced to have an actual soundtrack…hrm.

I really like Patrick Doyle’s soundtracks – his work reminds me of Vaughn Williams and Elgar – but I don’t think it’s right for this story. Robin Guthrie would be perfect, however. A former member of the Cocteau Twins, he has some really amazing solo albums and worked with Harold Budd on the eerie, beautiful, evocative soundtrack for the movie Mysterious Skin. He would be really ideal. A gorgeous, representative song from Guthrie, I think, is Fountain. Incidentally, Robin Guthrie, along with Gregorian Chant, was pretty much all I could listen to while writing my third novel.

Next week? The final podcast in the Writers & Soundtracks series.

Author Interview: Elizabeth Chadwick

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 4 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0800

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I'm an award-winning writer of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages and just about to have my seventeenth novel, THE TIME OF SINGING, published in the UK. In the USA I have recently agreed a deal to have two of my novels published – THE GREATEST KNIGHT and LORDS OF THE WHITE CASTLE.

I began by writing near the historical romance end of the genre and have gradually moved along the line to mainstream historical fiction, telling the life stories of people who actually lived in the Middle Ages. I guess I'd be on the same author page list as Sharon Kay Penman, Philippa Gregory, and Anya Seton.

As far as my personal writer's journey goes, I have been telling stories since I was old enough to talk. My earliest memory is of being three years old and making up a story one light summer evening when I'd been put to bed. I wasn't sleepy, so I opened out my handkerchief and I made up a story about the fairies printed on it. It's quite a vivid memory. I loved adventure stories as a child, both the historical kind and the ones that covered myth and legend. I loved folk tales from around the world and the ancient stories such as the Illiad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid. If I hadn't taken to writing historical fiction (after falling in love with a tall, dark handsome knight on a TV programme when I was fifteen), then I'd probably have taken to fantasy writing instead. Indeed, I still have a slight yen to rework some of the Scottish Border Ballads into new branches!

Tell me about the story for which you’ve created a soundtrack.
I create soundtracks for all my stories; it's an integral part of the writing process, so I guess I'll go with my most recently completed novel, THE TIME OF SINGING. This is about a twelfth-century lord called Roger Bigod whose father, through treachery, lost the trust of King Henry II. The latter razed the family castle at Framlingham and took away many of their lands. After his father died, Roger had to work his way back up fortune's ladder. While at court doing this, he met Ida de Tosney. She was King Henry's young mistress (reluctantly so) and had borne him a son. She and Roger got together after a few hiccups and married, but that didn't mean they left their problems behind. Far from it. Roger was still struggling to regain his inheritance and Ida was grief stricken over some things in her past (not to give the plot away). Her sorrow, combined with Roger's long absences on business for the Crown meant that their relationship was in danger of foundering. Both had to fight battles on several fronts - physical, political, emotional. The history of England at this period is woven into the story of Roger's and Ida's struggle.

What is your playlist?

1. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS - Apocalyptica
This is an instrumental that runs as a general theme throughout the novel. The bittersweetness of the tune and arrangement are perfect for starting out Roger and Ida's story.

2. THE PROMISED LAND - Bruce Springsteen.
This is the hero's viewpoint as he faces up to his father. His feelings of desperation and anger. His grit to do something about the situation, especially the last verse. 'Gonna be a twister to blow everything down, that ain't got the faith to stand its ground.'

3. PRAYER OF THE REFUGEE - Rise Against.
Roger burns his bridges on the eve of a battle.

4. THE MONSTER IS LOOSE - Meat Loaf.
The battle of Fornham.

5. BEAUTIFUL GIRL - INXS
King Henry sets eyes on Ida de Tosney and her vulnerable innocence is irresistible to him.

6. THE MAN WITH THE CHILD IN HIS EYES - Kate Bush
Ida encounters Roger at court for the first time.

7. A GOOD HEART - Feargal Sharkey
Roger is attracted to Ida but wary because she is the King's mistress

8. SWEET SIXTEEN - Billy Idol
King Henry's relationship with Ida and having to let her go

9. LOVE IS ONLY A FEELING - The Darkness
Roger's feelings towards Ida in the long term

10. ETERNAL FLAME - The Bangles
Ida falls heavily for Roger

11. SWETE SONE - Mediaeval Baebes
Ida's grief at a certain particular leave-taking

12. INEVITABLE - Anberlin
Roger and Ida's wedding night. 'I want to be your last first kiss' is so romantic. A wonderful, poignant song.

13. SLOW HAND - The Pointer Sisters
Ida's feelings towards Roger in the first days of their marriage

14. YOU BURN FIRST - Alexisonfire
A jousting scene with vicious family conflict. I love the building angry menace in this. In a very warped way it kind of reminds me of Ravel's Bolero!

15. LIGHTNING CRASHES - Live
The birth of Roger and Ida's first son - Hugh. The mingling of angst, sorrow and over-arcing joy.

16. JEALOUS GUY - Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music
Roger's jealousy over Ida's past

17. TURN, TURN, TURN - The Byrds
Roger rebuilding his life and his family's prestige.

18. CHINA - Tori Amos
Relationship troubles

19. JUST LIKE THAT - Monique Brumby
More relationship material

20. FORTRESS AROUND YOUR HEART - Sting
The attempt at conciliation. This also ties in to the building of the new castle at Framlingham and the strains it has put on Roger and Ida.

21. SNOW - Grey Eye Glances
Ida in sad and thoughtful mood but with a glimmer of hope.

22. PLAY IT AS IT LAYS - Patti Scialfa
Life goes on and one has to make compromises.

23. KEEP THE FAITH - Bon Jovi
Roger trying to work a deal with his brothers. It's the slower version I'm using from the album 'This Left Feels Right.'

24. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS - Lucie Silvas
The grand finale from Ida's viewpoint and linking into track 1

25. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS - Metallica
The grand finale from Roger's viewpoint.

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
Music has always exerted a strong pull for me. Right from the moment I wrote my first novel as a 15-year-old, I have used songs as a way of understanding my characters and for getting into and developing their emotional lives. Songs in themselves tell stories - frequently of deeply or strongly held feelings and I harness the resonances in lyrics and music as part of my creative process. I had popular music soundtracks to my novels long before film makers started using them regularly in blockbusters or on TV to sell cars and insurance!

People are often surprised to know that I use modern hard rock music (among others) to inspire my novels, but it's my opinion that society changes, not people. The lyrics in a song such as Cat Stevens' Father and Son are as relevant to the Middle Ages as they are today, juxtaposing as they do the impatience and fire of youth with the tolerance and knowing of maturity.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
I don't actually write to music. I listen to the music away from my PC screen and I know when I get an adrenalin surge in the gut that it's right for the novel. I will gradually lay down a soundtrack during the first draft of writing and I will listen to it over and over again around the house or at the gym - basically while doing mundane stuff. The above mentioned resonances will come into play and enter my subconscious where they join the general melange of ideas and creativity. When I come to actually write, they'll have been processed ready to take their part in the writing. My favourite music is melodic but hard rock - Anberlin, Seether, Fair to Midland, The Used, Springsteen, Counting Crows, AFI. However, my tastes are eclectic. At the softer end I love traditional folk with a modern edge such as practised by Show of Hands. The only things you won't find me listening to are opera and hip-hop/rap. Having said that I do like operatic rock. Meat Loaf's a favourite and everyone should listen to the album Oceanborn by Nightwish.

If THE TIME OF SINGING was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
Loreena McKennit would be good. I love The Mummer's Dance and I'd be happy with a background track like that. Although rock works well for me as a creative medium, I think a movie would need something a bit more fluid with a wistful historical feel.

To learn more about Elizabeth, visit her website.

Next week, I offer my own soundtrack and some thoughts on what I've learned during this series!

Author Interview: C.C. Humphreys

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:00:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I am an actor/writer/fight choreographer - though mainly focusing on novels these days. I began writing plays and had two produced, in London, Calgary, and Vancouver. But I always dreamed of being an historical fiction novelist. I had the idea for French Executioner in a gym when I looked ay my neck and thought how easy a target it would be for the executioner's sword. Six years later I began writing it... and a career was born!

I have written nine novels in eight years: six adult and three young adult. People read my work and say: Ooh, I can see the film! My acting background I suppose - big on visuals and character.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/ playlist for.
I used the following playlist as I wrote my latest novel, VLAD: THE LAST CONFESSION. I was at a retreat on the west coast of Vancouver Island, overlooking the pounding Pacific in a remote cabin and these tracks seemed to fit for reasons that are largely unexplainable. Taking me to other places, other times.

What is your playlist?
I call the whole thing after one song: 'Please read the letter.'

Love Her Madly - The Doors. Used to live in LA. Loved it, hated it. Same goes for her. This is love.

New York, New York - Ryan Adams. Ditto NYC

In These Shoes - Kirsty MacColl. Sexy, funny, great horn section.

Sultanas de Merkaillo - Ojos de Brujo. Parents lived in Spain. Wanted to be able to say I was into Acid flamenco. I am.

Nothin' - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. I love stories in songs. This is tragedy.

I'm Set Free - The Velvet Underground. Theme music that closed my first play. Set free to find a new illusion? Yupp!

Loose Change - Bruce Springsteen. An obscure track from the best storyteller.

Constellations - Jack Johnson. A stargazer/storyteller's song.

Nocturne in C Sharp Minor - Chopin. Heartbreak. And what cello!

Picture This - Blondie. Just because its my favourite ever romantic pop song. 'I would gve you my finest hour/the one I spent, watching you shower'

The Raggle Taggle Gypsy - The Waterboys. Explosive Celtic lust.

Seven Nation Army - White Stripes. One to march to.

Please Read the Letter - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Heartbreak again. The misunderstandings of love and the difficulties of words.

What does music mean to you? To your writing? What kind of music do you like to write to?
I use music as an escape from writing. I never write to music. That's why, even though I am immersed in 15th century Romania, I can escape to 20th Century LA with The Doors. Or I need to calm after a hectic battle. Chopin works!

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
The guy who did the music to 'Last of the Mohicans' [Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman]

To learn more about Chris, visit his website.

Next week, I interview author Elizabeth Chadwick

Author Interview: Alex Dally MacFarlane

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 7 Oct 2008 05:00:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I’m a 21-year-old British woman, I graduated from King’s College, London last summer with a BA in War Studies and History, and I now work as a Content Editor for Jane’s Information Group.

I’ve been writing for about ten years now, in which time I’ve amassed (and lost, sometimes) a lot of terrible juvenilia and, more recently, a novel (The Bone Queen) that I hope to submit to agents early next year. Two years ago I started writing short fiction. In that time I’ve sold stories to several magazines, including Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Electric Velocipede, Sybil’s Garage and Farrago’s Wainscot.  

I’m currently working on several things: revising The Bone Queen; starting a novel about a war between humans and the so-called “water-people” in an alternate world based on Thailand, told in the form of various texts from the world; and I’m writing some short fiction.  Most of my writing tends to the fantastical, with some science fiction in the mix. I don’t apply further labels; I find them a waste of time.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
I tend to have very few songs for a story, sometimes even one, not a whole soundtrack. Rather than give you the one song that I played a lot while writing The Bone Queen, I’ve compiled various songs that have either been mini-soundtracks or inspirations for three pieces of work. 
The Bone Queen is about the deal that Beth, a gunslinger, gets involved in with a story-figure, Kaili, who requests that she steal a necklace from the Bone Queen in return for the information that the Bone Queen can rid Beth of the angry ghosts following her. Meanwhile another gunslinger, Jeckel, pursues a monster that desiccates towns; and Imi, a Professor of Oral History, pursues an old tale about a man with carpets for skin. It has storytelling magic, a monster made of squares and other fun things.

The second piece of work is a short story, “Tattoos of the Sky, Tattoos of the Days,” published in issue 5 of Sybil’s Garage and free to read online. It’s about unhappiness and finding love.

Another short story is “An Orange Tree Framed His Body,” which is about an eighteen-year-old boy doing two things: participating in a violent rebellion against the government that’s killing the semi-sentient plumbing of the city, and facing the pattern of suicides in his family. The story is set in an alternate world with fantasy elements, but with a technology level among the elites of the society that includes cloning. I finished the first draft of it in early August; it was a difficult story to write, it pushed at what I’m able to do as a writer, so the first draft was not very good. I’m hopeful that I can edit it into something strong.

What is your playlist?
DeVotchKa - La Llorona
DeVotchKa - Charlotte Mittnacht (The Fabulous Destiny Of)
DeVotchKa - Tragedy
Cornershop - We’re in Yr Corner
Augie March - The Night is a Blackbird
Patrick Wolf - The Stars
Snow Patrol - You Could Be Happy
Augie March - Bolte and Dunstan Talk Youth
Augie March - The Baron of Sentiment

La Llorrona is the song that I often put on repeat to get into the right mindset for The Bone Queen. Something about it contains deserts, open spaces, a hint of the unusual. When not listening to just that song, I put on all my songs by DeVotchKa. Charlotte Mittnacht and Tragedy are two of my favourites. I also listened to Cornershop through some stretches.
The Night is a Blackbird inspired the opening of “Tattoos…”; it became the line “The night is a blackbird and it lives on Gemma’s arm.” The rest of the song didn’t do anything for the story, just that opening line. Then, a couple of months after I wrote it, the story was accepted for publication by Sybil’s Garage. If you take a look inside an issue of Sybil’s Garage, you’ll see that every story is presented with a song that it can be read ‘to the sound of…’ I spent the next half a year on-and-off thinking about what song I would choose. Though The Night is a Blackbird had inspired the story, it wasn’t a soundtrack for the story. And I hadn’t listened to anything in particular while writing it. I settled eventually on Patrick Wolf’s The Stars, because the words are appropriate -- there are stars on the wings of the blackbird on Gemma’s arm -- and, the more I listened to the song, the more I thought that its sound suited the story.
Snow Patrol’s You Could Be happy -- Now, this isn’t a very deep song. It’s about lost love: nothing remarkable. Except the sound of it, and just some of the lyrics -- You could be happy / I hope you are -- did something in my head, and the song fit with Au’s relationship (not a sexual one) with his father in “An Orange Tree Framed His Body”. The final lines of the song -- More than anything / I want to see you go / Take a glorious bite / Out of the whole world -- inspired how the story ended. I also listened to a lot of Augie March while writing this story; Bolte and Dunstan Talk Youth and The Baron of Sentiment particularly suited it.

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
Music can be an inspiration, an accompaniment. Music can make me stop and listen, think about something new or something in a different way. It’s something I need in my life, like flavoursome food and the countryside.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
Music with the right kind of sound.  
That doesn’t tell you much, does it? It’s hard to explain. I mean how the music feels to me -- something that comes from the notes played, the lyrics sung (if there are any) and how it makes me react in my head. It can be for just one song, or for all of a band’s music. I write to music with a sound that matches the story.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
I would love DeVotchKa to perform a soundtrack to The Bone Queen. Their music is very different to usual soundtrack music -- both orchestral compositions and pop music -- and I’d like that. Their music can be jaunty and whimsical, thoughtful and sad; they’d have no trouble capturing the range of moods in a story.

To learn more about Alex, visit her LiveJournal.

Next week, I interview author C.C. Humphreys.

Author Interview: Jason Erik Lundberg

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 05:00:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
My name's Jason Erik Lundberg, and I'm an American expatriate now in living in Singapore. Like many of the writers you've already interviewed for the podcast, my fiction tends toward the slipstreamy cross-genre variety, where elements of the fantastic reside either comfortably or uneasily alongside our conventional reality.

I'm the author of The Time Traveler’s Son (Papaveria Press), Four Seasons in One Day (Two Cranes Press, with Janet Chui), and over forty articles and short stories; with Janet Chui, I have also co-edited Scattered, Covered, Smothered and the newly available Field Guide to Surreal Botany.

My solo work has most recently appeared in Farrago’s Wainscot, Strange Horizons, Sybil’s Garage, Hot Metal Bridge, the Raleigh News & Observer, Text:UR – The New Book of Masks, The Third Alternative and Electric Velocipede; later in 2008, my writing will see publication in Polyphony 7, Subterranean Magazine, Tiny Stories, The Internet Review of Science Fiction, and other cool venues. My website and blog can be found at jasonlundberg.net.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
The story is called "memory39" and is actually the third part of my novel, but I'm hoping that it can also work as a standalone short story. It's about getting over a devastating loss, and the shinyness of new love, and living in a country that is not your own. It also works out some of what I've been dealing with in terms of the death of my good friend Jamie Bishop, who was killed in the Virginia Tech massacre in April 2007; the title is a direct reference to Jamie's art gallery website.

What is your playlist?
There's no real story behind the connection of these songs to the story, other than they put in me in the right kind of mood to get down to work.

[Artist, "Song," Album]

01. Beck, "Broken Drum (Remix by Boards of Canada)," Beck Remix #1
02. Radiohead, "Everything In Its Right Place," Kid A03. The Dresden Dolls, "Coin-Operated Boy," The Dresden Dolls
04. Nine Inch Nails, "The Great Destroyer (Modwheelmood)," Y34R Z3R0 R3M1X3D
05. Doris Days, "To Ulrike M. (Zero 7 Mix)," To Ulrike M.
06. Erasure, "Take a Chance On Me," Hits! The Very Best of Erasure
07. Spoon, "My Mathematical Mind," Gimme Fiction
08. Foo Fighters, "Let It Die," Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
09. Oakenfold, "Faster Kill Pussycat," Faster Kill Pussycat
10. Nine Inch Nails, "Echoplex," The Slip
11. Saul Williams, "Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)," Saul Williams
12. Gorillaz, "19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)," Gorillaz
13. Filter, "The Only Way is the Wrong Way," The Amalgamut
14. Spoon, "Stay Don't Go," Kill the Moonlight
15. Dean Gray, "Doctor Who on Holiday," American Edit
16. Muse, "Knights of Cydonia," Black Holes and Revelations
17. Justin Timberlake, "What Goes Around...," FutureSex/LoveSounds
18. Radiohead, "Like Spinning Plates (Live)," I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings
19. Nine Inch Nails, "Right Where It Belongs (Soft Edit)," /With Teeth/ (Japanese V2)

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
It's difficult for me to write without some kind of music playing; I can do it, but as I say, it's difficult. The right music can put you directly into a scene, connecting with your characters on a deeper level than just the text on the page. It gets to you on an emotional level, tapping into your lizard brain to feel things incapable of being expressed in words. It's then my job to have to translate that Platonic level of experience, clumsily and incompletely, into written form. It's never perfect, but when it's done right, it can add new layers and nuances to a piece of text and give it much deeper meaning.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
I have fairly eclectic tastes; the playlist above was assembled to put me in the right mood for this particular story, and is not exactly representative of my more general listening preferences. As of this writing, I have around 6,100 songs on my iPod, and it's sometimes difficult to pick from it all. It all depends on what I can use to emotionally lock me into a scene; this might be Nine Inch Nails or Radiohead or Spoon, or it might be Beethoven or Holst or Kabalevsky.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
Trent Reznor, no question. The man is eighteen kinds of genius, and he's already shown in both his soundtrack work and his recent online release of the Nine Inch Nails album Ghosts I-IV that he has a phenomenal visual ear for this type of music. The man is one of my heroes, and I'd be honored to be associated with him in any way.

To learn more about Jason, visit his website.

Next week, I interview author Alex Dally MacFarlane.

Author Interview: Susan Higginbotham

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 9 Sep 2008 05:00:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I’ve been writing for years, off and on, but I never tried writing historical fiction until I re-read Christopher Marlowe’s play Edward the Second online and became fascinated by the historical background to the play. I began researching the reign of Edward II, and when I stumbled across the story of his niece, Eleanor de Clare, I knew I had to tell her story. Her story became my novel, The Traitor’s Wife, and her eldest son’s story became my second novel, Hugh and Bess: A Love Story. I’m now working on a novel set during the Wars of the Roses.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
The Traitor’s Wife, set in fourteenth-century England, follows the dramatic changes in fortune of Eleanor de Clare, favorite niece of the ill-fated Edward II and the wife of Hugh le Despenser, who’s believed by many to have been Edward II’s lover. Eleanor at various times in her life was a lady in waiting to Edward II’s queen, the wife of the most powerful (and most hated) man in England, a prisoner in the Tower of London, an accused thief, and the subject of litigation between two men who each claimed to be her husband.

What is your playlist?
Bedrich Smetana, “The Moldau,” from Ma Vlast. This piece is a musical depiction of a river, and it reminds me of Eleanor’s uncle Edward II, who enjoyed rowing and swimming at a time when both pastimes were considered far beneath the nobility.

Carl Orff's “Oh, Fortuna,” from Carmina Burana. The terrible scene where Eleanor’s first husband is executed always takes place to this piece in my head.

Edward William Elgar, Enigma Variation No.9: Adagio (Nimrod). A lovely piece of music that I associate with my novel, though I can’t really explain why.

Bruce Springsteen, “Rosalita” —for the scene where Eleanor elopes with her second husband.

Bruce Springsteen, “Dancing in the Dark.” This was a long novel, and I love the line in this song: “I’m sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book.”

There are others, but I would have to hear them on the radio to remember them. I should steal my daughter’s iPod.

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
I enjoy music a great deal, from rock to classical to truly awful pop, though I can’t say it has had a profound effect on me or my writing. It’s just something I like to have with me and that I would miss terribly if it wasn’t around.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
I don’t listen to music when I write fiction—I find that it negatively affects my concentration. Strangely, my day job with a legal publisher involves writing too, but there’s no creativity involved, so I don’t find the classical music I have in the background distracting. But with fiction, the only sound is my computer keys tapping.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
That’s a very hard question for me to answer, because with the exception of Marie Antoinette, most of the movies I’ve seen in the last few years have been comedies. Adrian Johnston did the soundtrack for the BBC miniseries “Our Mutual Friend” about a decade ago, which I really liked, and Patrick Doyle has done the soundtrack for a number of films I’ve enjoyed. But I had to go to the Internet Movie Database to get their names—I’m not at all au courant on these matters.

To learn more about Susan, visit her website.

Next week, I interview author Jason Erik Lundberg.

Author Interview: Jeff Sypeck

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:15:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I grew up in New Jersey and now live in Washington, D.C. I work by day as an editor and researcher, but I write about medieval history: my book Becoming Charlemagne: Europe, Baghdad, and the Empires of A.D. 800 was published by HarperCollins in 2006.

2. Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
Becoming Charlemagneretells the story of the coronation of Karl, King of the Franks, whom history remembers as Charlemagne. The book is short, almost novelistic in style, and intended for readers who have no prior knowledge of medieval history.
Charlemagne's coronation in the year 800 was one of the most important events in European history, but I've tried to put it in context by taking the reader to Rome, Constantinople, and Baghdad. I've also offered glimpses of medieval Jewish communities and the routines of ninth-century peasants.

3. What is your playlist?

(To get Jeff's playlist all in one convenient place, check out his iMix)

William Shatner featuring Joe Jackson, "Common People"
When you're holed up in an air-conditioned apartment writing an imaginative re-creation of the difficult lives of medieval peasants, only a force as powerful as William Shatner can keep you from taking yourself too seriously.

Fiona Apple, "Criminal"
I listened to this creepy song whenever I needed to write about Irene of Byzantium, the ruthless empress who had her own son blinded. Her power-grab and brief diplomatic relations with Charlemagne earned her an entire chapter in my book. Associating her with this song attributes to her a conscience that she probably didn't have in real life.

Gogol Bordello, "Start Wearing Purple"
This song appears to be about a mail-order bride, but I like to pretend it's about imperial politics. I get a kick out of hearing the band's wild Ukranian singer declaring "I know it all from Diogenes to the Foucault."

Neil Finn, "She Will Have Her Way"
The lyrics are deeply sad, but the music is sprightly. That contradiction is a nice little lens through which to view medieval history.

Thompson Twins, "The Gap"
Stop giving me that look. This song was on my mind as I wrote about medieval Baghdad because of its subtle message about globalization, intercultural conflict, and the need for increased East-West cooperation. Not buying it? Then just dance already.

Anna Nalick, "Satellite"
Although medieval people never had to worry that the star they wished on might turn out to be a man-made object, this pop anthem can, if you let it, evoke images of lonely monks and wistful Carolingian princesses.

Audioslave, "Cochise"
I have no idea what this song is really about, but it makes me want to go conquer somebody.

Toby Lightman, "Angels and Devils"
I first heard this one on the short-lived TV show "Wonderfalls." The song is actually about a woman who plans to ambush her cheating lover, but the angel/devil imagery and the singer's relentless sense of purpose reminded me of the conspirators who attacked Pope Leo III on the streets of Rome. That ambush set in motion centuries of history--and the second half of Becoming Charlemagne.

Colin Hay, "Overkill"
This song has nothing to do with Charlemagne, but it has everything to do with Charlemagne-induced insomnia, especially in its depiction of sleeplessly wandering the streets at night: "Well, at least there's pretty lights..."

France Gall, "Sacre Charlemagne"
There aren't many pop songs about Charlemagne; I take what I can get. France Gall was cute as a button.

James McMurtry, "Charlemagne's Home Town"
Although I discovered this one after the book was published, I was impressed that a singer could tie together such diverse subjects as Charlemagne, international travel, and long-distance relationships in a single country song.

Jeff Buckley, "Hallelujah"
I prefer this more sentimental cover to Leonard Cohen's original. Packed with images of sex, love, history, and religion, this song captures the intense wistfulness of bidding adieu to figures you've "known" for several years as they fade back into history's shadows.

If you're looking for an unusual creative challenge, try writing new verses to this song. It takes real effort to rhyme "hallelujah" and not sound completely ridiculous.

4. What does music mean to you? To your writing?

I rely on music for escapism. Writing is intense, lonely work, all the more so because writing about the Middle Ages pulls my mind far away from the generally amiable world in which I live. I understand why most writers need classical music or instrumentals to get them going, but I need rock and pop music--songs like those on my playlist--to bring me back to my senses.

5. What kind of music do you like to write to?

I'll often listen to music to get inspired, but I rarely write to music. Strange as it may sound, I write to the noise of television.

6. If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
If Becoming Charlemagne were made into a decent movie, I'd want the music to be reminiscent of the soundtrack to the HBO series "Rome," in all its moodiness and exoticism.

I've often joked that I'd settle for a Sci-Fi Channel original movie, in which case I'd want heavy metal all the way. Any adaptation is bound to be unrecognizable, so it might as well be highly stylized and fun.

To learn more about Jeff, visit his website Quid Plura?.

Next week, I interview author Susan Higginbotham.

Author Interview: Hal Duncan

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:00:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I'm a thirtysomething Scottish writer who's queer in a few senses of the term. I guess I write the sort of pulp modernist stuff that has people confused over which genre it sits in, with SF, Fantasy and Horror tropes all mixing it up with a very literary sensibility (I read too much James Joyce as a kid and way too muc William Burroughs). Thing is, I grew up with the default label for that -- books like Zelazny's ROADMARKS or Silverberg's THE BOOK OF SKULLS or Moorcock's CORNELIUS QUARTET -- being SF, but these days it seems to be more commonly called Fantasy... or cross-genre, or slipstream, interstitial, New Wave, New Weird, New Wave Fabulist -- I've sort of given up on all these labels. These days I just call it strange fiction.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
VELLUM was my first book, and the first half of a diptych, THE BOOK OF ALL HOURS, completed with INK. I think of it as kind of a "Cubist fantasy". The narrative is non-linear, with the story fragmented across this Moorcockian multiverse, the Vellum of the title, with the characters playing out their roles (or trying to escape them) across the various folds of the Vellum, in different incarnations.

The basic idea is that you've got a language called the Cant which allows humans to "write" reality on that Vellum. Humans who get themselves rewritten by the Cant basically become gods amongst men -- unkin. The downside of this is that you have one group of these unkin, the Covenant, who see themselves as angels of God, and they're basically building up to an apocalypse where they intend to wipe out all opposition. The heroes are rogues unkin who don't want to participate in this War in Heaven on either side; they remember what it is to be human and just want to live like the rest of us. It's basically about their struggle to survive as reality falls apart around them.

What is your playlist?

TV Eye, The Stooges

Hoppípolla, Sigur Ros

Tenderness and Scar Tissue, Five Seconds to Self-Destruction

Jumpin' Jack Flash, The Rolling Stones

The Green Fields of France, The Fureys

Fairytale of New York, The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl

The Wrecker and the Wrecked, Five Seconds to Self-Destruction

Search and Destroy, The Stooges

Anarchy in the UK, Sex Pistols

Nancy Boy, Placebo

I Wanna Be Your Dog, The Stooges

Goodbye You Fucking Thief, G-Plan

The Drama of Being With You, Five Seconds to Self-Destruction

Operation Jack Goes Boom, Five Seconds to Self-Destruction

If You Love Me, You'd Destroy Me, Aereogramme (& Hal Duncan)

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
I love music. Who doesn't? If I had the talent to actually sing or play an instrument I'd totally be in a band. It might not be a good band but, it'd be... enthusiastic, if nothing else. The poetry I write is pretty traditionally lyrical because I'm drawn to the musical patterning, I guess -- the rhythm and rhyme. Even my prose has a tendency towards the lyrical at times.

I've actually written a lot of songs -- lyrics and music that exists in my head (but that I don't, unfortunately, have any effective way of communicating to others, given my appalling singing voice.) Hell, I've got a full musical scripted as a libretto, all the songs -- duets, reprises, medleys, the full whack -- and it sounds great in my head. If I could play piano, write sheet music or something, I'd be well up for trying to stage it. But hey ho. The nearest I've got to actually making music is a collaboration with the band Aereogramme for the Ballads of the Book album that came out last year from Chemikal Underground, that and fiddling around on my own with Apple's Garageband software. That's where the Five Seconds to Self-Destruction stuff comes from actually; it's kind of a proper actual soundtrack to VELLUM and INK in the sense that the tracks were put together with the books in mind, scenes and characters. It may not be terribly proffessional at all, but sod it; I like it.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
I don't actually write to music at all, I'm afraid. It's too distracting, I find. I can't focus on my words with someone else's being sung in my ear. And even if it's instrumental music, my attention gets drawn away into it so I lose focus on the text. The thing is, voice is a big part of my writing, and if you're working on prose that has it's own rhythm, even a soundscapey post-rock track that matches the mood of a scene perfectly is liable to clash with what's going on in my head. I mean, if you're working out a sentence, you write down your first version, read it through, change a few words, read it through again, and repeat until it flows right. So it's like editing some piece of experimental music: record, rewind and play; rewind, cut here, splice there, and play; and so on. To me, it's like trying to edit one track with another track playing constantly in the background, and not being rewinded in time to the one you're working on.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
Oh, that's kind of a hard one. There's kind of two aspects to the sound I'd want to be there. I'd want the sort of soundscape thing you get from post-rock, from bands like Sigur Ros, Kinski, Aereogramme, Mogwai, G-Plan, mainly instrumental, shifting through quiet and loud phases, really complex and interesting. But at the same time, I'd want some of the three-minute, balls-out garage/punk blast-in-the-face quality you get from The Stooges or the Sex Pistols. I don't know if there's one band that could do that. Then again, Aereogramme's earlier stuff is pretty full-on guitar, so I reckon they'd be fucking awesome. And since they called it quits last year after their latest (and I think best) album, this'd mean they'd have to get back together, right? So, yeah, I'll go with them. They'd do a fucking awesome job.

To learn more about Hal, visit his blog Notes from the Geek Show.

Stop by next week for my interview with author Jeff Sypeck.

Author Interview: Paul Liadis

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:00:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I’m a 30 year old father to a 21 month old little girl, married, and I work as a computer programmer/database administrator for a university in Pennsylvania. My job deals with learning new technologies, applying and teaching others what I’ve learned as well as problem solving whatever problems may arrive. In addition to writing, I enjoy playing ice hockey and softball in my “spare time”.

My biggest writing accomplishment thus far in my mind is successfully completing NaNoWriMo this year. I had never come anywhere close to that level of daily writing output before and I may never again. It showed me that, you know what, maybe I can write a novel.

I’ve also been published in my local newspaper four times for their “reader generated” short stories. It was pretty cool to see my name and work printed in the newspaper and to have neighbors and co-workers tell me they enjoyed reading it.

I love to read, to write, and most of all make people laugh.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
The story I created a playlist for is a short story I’m currently working on. The story starts with a guy, down on his luck, heading out to the nickel draught night at his local bar. On his way there, he who he believes is an old homeless woman in an alley. The guy tries to get the woman to accompany him to the bar, if only to get her off the streets because it’s so cold outside. The woman refuses, but gives him a prophetic warning to mind his neck. Once at the bar the prophesy becomes reality.
The story is funny, a little dark, and includes vampire type creatures.

What is your playlist?
1. Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
2. People Are Strange – The Doors
3. Karma Police – Radiohead
4. Mo Money, Mo Problems – Notorious B.I.G.
5. I Believe in Miracles – Ramones
6. I Won’t Back Down – Tom Petty
7. You’re the Best Around - Joe Esposito (from tournament montage at end of Karate Kid, I could watch this 10,000 times in a row and my mood would be immediately lifted every single time -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fua0g13djo&feature=related)
8. The Throne Room/End Title – John Williams (from the Star Wars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
A good song can entirely change your mood, and even the way you view the world, if for only a few moments. I’ve found that hearing simply the first few notes of a particular favorite song from a certain period of my life can instantaneously evoke strong feelings and emotions in me. If I hear certain songs I listened to in college I get an instant smile on my face, even if I’m having a horrible day. That’s powerful.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
I have trouble writing music playing, especially music I like. So, I really don’t write to any music. If I were to, though, I suppose classical music or music in a language I can’t understand would probably work fine. I’m easily distracted I guess.

Thinking about it, I guess sometimes I do write to music. I often get songs stuck in my head, especially children’s songs (since that’s what we listen to most often now). The theme song to the Wiggles gets stuck in there pretty good. I bought my wife a CD by They Might Be Giants titled Here Come the 123s, and there is a song on there called Zeroes that’s about the number zero. This one has been haunting me for days. It’s a pretty good song, but has totally been playing in my head while I write.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
John Williams. Is there anyone better? He did Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and the Harry Potter movies.

If he wasn’t available, he he, I suppose it would be cool to have some obscure punk band (I think it’s against the law to be famous and punk anymore). I think that’s the type of music that captures the feel of my story (I hope).

Anything else you'd like to say about music and writing/creating?
About writing: Writing to me is very similar to computer programming, which is what I do to make a living. Computer programming involves a lot of problem solving, but I think writing does as well, only in writing we get to create the problems and the solutions. Also, both can be great fun when things are going well, and horribly frustrating when they are not.

To learn more about Paul, visit his website The Struggling Writer.

Come by next week for my interview with Hal Duncan.

Author Interview: Mandy Roth

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:00:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I’m an odd bird who found a home with writing paranormal. Yep. I said it. I think admitting it is really the first step to total acceptance.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
I’ll talk a little about DEMONIC DESIRES (from Ellora’s Cave) and the soundtrack I listened to for it. DEMONIC DESIRES centers around a group of demons, right hand men to Lucifer, who broke ranks and saved lives rather than taking them. It’s the first book in the stories of the Lost Warriors redemption. The opening scene is a really dark, twisted sex one. My playlist needed to reflect this so I went with Danzig’s Underbelly of The Beast to kick it off. The story then takes a lighter note, introducing you to the characters out of their normal element. I brought in a good deal of Celtic flare for this because the heroine is a warrior from Valhalla.

What is your playlist? Why did you choose these particular songs?
I’ll give you a snippet of the list because there over 3500 items in it with 230 hours of play time… and this is JUST for DEMONIC DESIRES. I make a new list for every book.

Danzig-Underbelly of The Beast
Rob Zombie- Living Dead Girl (Naked Exorcism Remix)
Rob Zombie-Dragula
Prodigy—Smack My Bitch Up
Prodigy—Firestarter
Marilyn Manson—The Beautiful People
Marilyn Manson—The Dope Show
Marilyn Manson—Man That You Fear
Nine Inch Nails—Head Like a Hole
Nine Inch Nails—Terrible Lie
Nine Inch Nails—Closer
Smashing Pumpkins—Tonight, Tonight
Queensryche - Silent Lucidity
Stained - It’s Been Awhile
Silverchair- Wait Til Tomorrow
Faith No More – Epic
Billy Idol-- Eyes Without A Face
Stabbing Westward - Waking Up Beside You (Remix)
Gregorian-- Se Eu Fosse Um Dia O Teu Olhar
Gregorian-- Meditazione- Christus Factus Est
Danzig—Cantspeak
Massive Attack & Mos Def-I Against I
Pigeonhed - Battle Flag (Lo-Fidelity Allstars Remix)
Alice in Chains-- Man In The Box
Red Hot Chili Peppers-- Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Santana-- Put Your Lights On
Everlast-- Babylon Feeling
AFI-- The Leaving Song Pt II
Live-- I Alone
Disturbed-- Down With The Sickness
Rob Zombie -- The Lords Of Salem
Blue Oyster Cult—Don’t Fear The Reaper
Limp Bizkit-- Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)
Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
Katie Melua—Just like Heaven
The Cranberries—Zombie
The Cranberries—Ode to My Family
Triniti – Nocturne
Triniti-- Glen Of Imaal
Enya—Only Time
INXS—Afterglow
INXS—Never Tear Us Apart
Black Lab—Learn to Crawl
Back Lab—Keep Myself Awake
Led Zeppelin—Kashmir
Heart—Magic Man
Three Doors Down—When I’m Gone
Styx—Renegade
Andy Gibb—Shadow Dancing
The Corrs-- Brid Og Ni Mhaille
Trapt—Echo
When in Rome—The Promise
Twisted Sister—We’re Not Gonna Take It
Jay-z & Linkin Park - Numb/Encore
Alanis Morissette – Uninvited
Black Sabbath — Paranoid
Black Sabbath — Iron Man
Berlin - Take My Breath Away
DHT- Listen To Your Heart (Edmee's Unplugged Vocal Edit)

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
I don’t watch many movies or much in the way of TV. Music has always been a love of mine. I can still remember the day MTV came on air for the first time. I was six and it totally wiped the floor with Sesame Street. I watched faithfully from that day forward until they started on the reality shows. I had to put up a white flag then. Let the record state that I miss Martha Quinn. Oh, and MTV actually playing music.

To me, music is another form of escapism. It can set the mood for you or it can fix the mood you’re in. It’s what you make of it. I love all music, from classical to the rhythmic beating of Native American drums. You name it, I like it—Rock, Classical, Dark Metal, MallCore, Pop, Country, Jazz, Rap/Hip-hop, Foreign (I’m a huge lover of the Italian music scene), Oldies.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
I’ll make the playlist as I write. If I know I’m entering a really dark scene, I’ll incorporate that vibe into the playlist. When I’m coming out of it, I lighten the mood. I do have one rule, if a Bee Gees song cannot be incorporated into the mix then I’m doing something wrong. Yes. I do have playlists with AC/DC and The Bee Gees sharing airtime.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
I’d like to see Rob Zombie team up with The Cranberries (who can tell me where they are and if they’re still putting out records… I’d love to buy them). I think the collaboration would be odd but I’m betting it would work.

Anything else you'd like to say about music and writing/creating?
I have a lot of respect for anyone who can create music. It’s their story, put out there for the world to hear.

To learn more about Mandy, visit her website.

Next week, I interview author Paul Liadis, AKA The Struggling Writer.

Author Interview: Mark Teppo

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 1 Jul 2008 05:00:00 -0700

Edited to add 1/19/10: The follow up to Lightbreaker, called Heartland is coming out soon and true to form, Mark has posted a soundtrack. Check it out!

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I'm more of a long form writer than a short fiction guy. Farrago's Wainscot serialized my hypertext novel, The Oneiromantic Mosaic of Harry Potemkin, in 2007 (and the expanded edition of it can be found here), and the print arm, Farrago Press, will be putting out the sequel/resolution, Psychobabel, in 2009. In September, my first print novel will be out from Night Shade Books. Entitled Lightbreaker, it is the first part of Codex of Souls, a multi-book romp through Western esoteric thought and occult history in an urban fantasy setting. Both are ambitious projects for the early part of a writer's career, but they seem to be the way my brain wants to tell stories, and I'm going along with it.

I'm just a delivery vehicle for the Muse, really. Yes, that's my excuse. Though, honestly, I am at that point in my career when I still have a full-time job, and so I have the luxury of producing material that excites me foremost without necessarily being beholden to market forces. This is the way new writers find their way in, I think, by creating material that is filled with the passionate excess of their naiveté. Or, at least, that's the other excuse I keep using.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
Lightbreaker is divergent from the nominal definition of "urban fantasy." There are no werewolves or vampires, and the magick is based more in actual occult history and practices than Dungeons & Dragons rules. I've never been comfortable with the reliance upon vampires and werewolves as fantasy tropes because their historical definitions don't hold up well in a modern setting. They are predators, really, and we are cattle, and I could never quite world-build them well enough that humanity wouldn't have gotten their shit together and wiped them out. It's a blind spot for me, and I didn't try to make it work. Besides, I'm fascinated with mythology, magico-religious belief structures, and whatever it was that Aleister Crowley was really trying to accomplish with all of his writings. He was either a complete nut or he knew something special, and I think his efforts--like a lot of metaphysical and religious thought--are worth examining. If I can do that while providing an entertaining story with lots of sex and death, then everybody wins.

The book itself, in a few words, is the story of a guy, Markham, who has returned to Seattle, searching for a girl, Katarina, who, a decade ago, touched his soul and left it . . . damaged. What he stumbles upon when he gets to town is the girl's new friends, who are playing with very dark magick. These guys are a secretive cabal who are attempting to punch a hole through heaven, and make mischief with what they find. Markham must (to quote the marketing copy) "delve deep into his past, calling on every aspect of his occult training for there to be any hope of a future. But delve he must, for Markham is a veneficus, a spirit thief, the Lightbreaker . . ."

Just so everyone has some reference points. I am, after all, about to geek out on a bunch of songs no one has heard in reference to a book no one has read, and I'm going to try to do so without offering spoilers. Yeah, good luck with that, I know.

What is your playlist? (Why did you choose these songs?

01. "Our Solemn Hour" - Within Temptation
02. "Collide" - Detritus
03. "Missing Link (Screaming Bird mix)" - Curve
04. "Voiceover" - Darrin Verhagen
05. "Acidburn Aesthetic" - Stone Glass Steel
06. "." - Darrin Verhagen
07. "Black Star" - Peccatum
08. "Lethe" - Detritus
09. "Agnus Dei" - Shinjuku Thief
10. "Quest" - 302 Acid
11. "Greater Than The Sun" - Covenant
12. "Shadow Path" - Shinjuku Thief
13. "The Great Destroyer" - Nine Inch Nails
14. "With Small Shards of Glass" - E.P.A.
15. "Uthul Khulture" - Sephiroth
16. "Colorless" - Venetian Snares
17. "Heaven's Blade" - Coil
18. "Procession of Souls" - Shinjuku Thief
19. "Shroud (Exordium") - Fields of the Nephilim
20. "Straight To The Light" - Fields of the Nephilim

Playlist Discussion

1. "Our Solemn Hour" Within Temptation (The Heart of Everything)

I used to write trailers for my books--big splashy write-ups done in screenplay style where I threw together enough of the high points of the book that I could remember what it was all about six months later, and to give myself a thematic overview of what I was trying to accomplish. For a long time, Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" and Peter Gabriel's "The Rhythm of the Heat" were my go-to songs for trailers, but "Our Solemn Hour" is much more fitting for Lightbreaker. Especially the first big explosion of sound that kicks everything off. Yes, this is the way the world sounds.

2. "Collide" Detritus (Fractured)

The book starts with a bang, and it's chapter four before we even slow down enough to really introduce our characters, which is either going make readers love me for not boring them from the start or piss them off mightily. Detritus' "Collide" is a drum 'n' bass symphonic overture, and meshes nicely with a chase that starts in the woods, runs through a small town, and climaxes on the lower deck of a vehicle ferry.

3. "Missing Link (Screaming Bird Mix)" Curve (Blackerthreetrackertwo EP)

Toni Halliday's voice has always been something of an obsession for me--both in its husky weariness and its seductive allure. It's the voice of a siren who has grown tired of summoning men to their doom, but she knows no other way to find love. The "Screaming Bird Mix" was done by Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails fame), and he adds a layer of noisy guitars to an already caustic bombast. Markham's search for Katarina is a search for his missing link, and the combination of the relentless claustrophobia of the instrumentation and Toni's voice sums up the psychological history of his quest.

4. "Voiceover" Darrin Verhagen (D/Classified)
6. "-" - Darrin Verhagen (Zero-Stung)
9. "Agnes Dei" Shinjuku Thief (Medea)
12. "Shadow Path" - Shinjuku Thief (The Witch Hunter)
18. "Procession of Souls - Shinjuku Thief (The Witch Haven)

Darrin Verhagen has a number of pseudonyms, and so his presence on the soundtrack is heavier than it appears at first glance. His choral and orchestral work is superb, and his ability to blend ethnic instrumentation and pure noise anarchy are just the sort of sonic impact I'd love to have in a film. The tracks picked out for the soundtrack are more subdued, but no less powerful. Well, other than the E.P.A. track, but there's no way to soften that blow, really.

5. "Acidburn Aesthetic" Stone Glass Steel (Dismembering Artists)

Markham suffers from a bit of schizophrenia via a noise of voices that keep him company, and the "recontextualized" sound of Stone Glass Steel is fitting accompaniment. Phil Easter (SGS) builds his music by sampling and cutting from other works, building something new with elements that trigger other memories and associations in your mind. The mix of industrial noises, dark ambient drones, churning metal guitar, and atmospheric disturbances is schizophrenic enough, and the hints of nearly recognizable riffs from other artists is an added layer of identity confusion

7. "Black Star" Peccatum (Lost in Reverie)

This one will be more obvious in retrospect after reading Lightbreaker, but if you read Irhiel (the female voice) as Katarina and Ihsahn (the male voice) as Markham's shadow and the whole song as being told from Markham's view, then it all makes sense. Really. "I am the black star, hostess of your dead heart sun." Some relationships are just doomed, you know, just flat out doomed.

8. "Lethe" Detritus (Fractured)
10. "Quest" 302 Acid (005)

These two are mood music, downtempo tracks that try to capture some of the ghostly ambience of the book. The sort of thing you hear as backdrop during one of those rapid-time sequences in CSI where the team makes with the science and solves the crime. You don't want to cut this stuff because it's important to let the audience know that Things Are Being Done, but you certainly don't want it to drag by. A good bassline makes grunt work seem sexier than it really is.

11. "Greater Than The Sun" Covenant (Skyshaper)

It's the rolling rhythmic line that really gets me. There are several introspective moments through the book, and the persistent rotation of the world around Markham is mirrored by the looping motion of "Greater Than The Sun." The more I listen to this song, the more I realize it encapsulates Markham's journey through Lightbreaker, right down to the way the bass drops away as Eskil Simonsson sings the chorus, each recitation more fragile and naked than the last. And the title. Yeah, the title is perfect. So, in a nutshell, this is the book.

13. "The Great Destroyer" Nine Inch Nails (Year Zero)

Every villain needs a theme song, and this one is probably overly dramatic and heavy-handed, but the sonic breakdown into Autechre beat-fuckery about two minutes into the song is a great aural representation of what happens when you let a guy try to reshape the world in his image.

14. "With Small Shards of Glass" E.P.A. (Black Ice)

There is a scene in the book where the phrase "a chattering echo of a thousand knives being sharpened" is used. E.P.A.'s Black Ice is the power electronics CD of Darrin Verhagen's three-part Black | Mass. Yeah, it's an hour of howling, wailing feedback and noise. With subtle variations, of course. And the one "With Small Shards of Glass" seemed about right.

15. "Uthul Khulture" Sephiroth (Draconian Poetry)

And, when the world is burning down around you, what do you need? Apocalyptic drums and dark ambient monster noises. The fact that the band is called "Sephiroth" is just a bonus.

16. "Colorless" Venetian Snares (My Downfall)

This record is a departure from the drill ‘n' bass that Venetian Snares has been putting out over the last few years, and I think it's a fantastic new facet to his sound. "Colorless" is suffused with melancholy, but it's not quite despair. Not yet. It's mood music for the bleak part of the early morning when your protagonist has to face what he has done, and what he is about to do. "Our hands betray what we have done."

17. "Heaven's Blade" Coil (The Ape of Naples)

You can't write a book about magick (with a ‘k') and not have Coil on the soundtrack. That's like showing up to a secret furry convention without a costume. Everyone knows you don't belong. The trick wasn't a Coil song, but WHICH Coil song. The ephemeral fragility of "Heaven's Blade" is well suited for the penultimate scenes of the book.

19. "Shroud (Exordium)" &
20. Straight To The Light" - Fields Of The Nephilim (Mourning Sun)

Mourning Sun was on the master playlist for writing the book, and it was always welcome when it showed up on the rotation. "Shroud (Exordium)" and "Straight To The Light," especially (and, really, the first is a long intro to the second). The way the sound builds across the breadth of "Shroud (Exordium)" to that final angelic chorus is just incredible, and I wish--every day--that I had the money to buy an obscenely huge sound system just so I could experience that progression in the bone-shaking way it was meant to be heard. The transition to "Straight To The Light," that opening guitar riff, is the end of the book, that instantaneous cut to black, and if it was up to me, the screen would stay black until the song was over before the credits ran.

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
It's critical. Both as a means of fueling the muse, and a means of adding texture. We are ultimately responsible for how the words make the scene work, and being able to find music that suits the intent and the impression of a scene enables me to better articulate what I'm trying to do and to find an emotional kicker to the text. Some film directors are more aware of the music than others, and they understand that it's another layer of meaning--much like the lighting and the framing of individual shots--and to poorly execute this layer is to dress the film shabbily. Ridley Scott, with Bladerunner; Michael Mann, with Miami Vice and Heat (really, the whole Miami Vice phenomena came out of marrying sound to visuals); David Lynch, with nearly everything he's done, but especially Twin Peaks; early Eric Serra, with some of Luc Besson's early films (The Big Blue, La Femme Nikita); Peter Gabriel's work for Birdy and The Last Temptation of Christ: these guys have all done great work marrying soundtracks to the visual presentations.

When I used to story-storm late at night, I would put on some film filled with eye-candy, turn down the sound, and put the headphones on. Total sensory overload, and every time I'd stop writing in my notebook and look up, my brain would have to parse the music and the visuals. It would always keep me off-balance, always seeing and hearing something not-quite-right but always exciting. Occasionally, I'd find marginalia in my notes that would record songs for scenes, pairings that worked well and left me with the germ of an idea.

Music, like film, is communicating via a different sensory avenue than the word, and frankly, we don't steal from it enough. We're happy to heist stylistic tics from other writers, but I don't think we pay enough attention to rhythm (or lack thereof) or visual cues in other media.

5. What kind of music do you like to write to?
Writing music is very different from soundtrack music. My primary writing space is the commuter train, and the music serves two functions: propelling me forward and drowning out the constant chatter of the other three people at the small table I'm sitting at. The playlist is noisy, metallic, and operatic: filled with things that are labeled Teutonic Industrial (Rammstein, mostly), Big Broken Beat (Clark, Detritus, Enduser), Rhythmic Noise (Tarmvred, Iszoloscope, Empusae, and Ah Cama-Sotz), Symphonic Metal (Within Temptation, Nightwish, After Forever, Sirena), Tribal Illbient (Monolith, Sephiroth, and This Morn' Omina), Black Metal (Fields of the Nephilim, mostly), and Industrial Angst (Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Otep, Die Warzau). The current playlist has about 700 songs, and I just let it spin on random.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
Either Darrin Verhagen or David Dando-Moore.

Verhagen writes these evocative film scores and dance company soundtracks that are a combination of ambient soundscapes, tribal raves, cataclysmic waves of emotional angst rendered as chaotic noise, and cinematic downtempo stuff. A lot of the first draft of the Lightbreaker soundtrack was huge chunks of his records, under his own name and his various aliases (Shinjuku Thief, Shinjuku Filth, E.P.A.). His work always evokes a lot of imagery and wild scenarios.

Dando-Moore records as Detritus, and his latest record, Fractured, is an smashing collection of Big Beat downtempo instrumentals that make Massive Attack look like a bunch of octogenarians noodling around with primitive tape loops. I wish Hollywood would discover him for the next Bond film, as his tracks would add an extra level of aural eroticism and bang 'n' snap to every scene.

I just watched Michael Mann's Miami Vice again the other night and was quite taken with how Mann used his soundtrack in place of actual scene sound. Having the right guy providing "mood music" can create an emotional impact of a scene that doesn't require words.

Anything else you'd like to say about music and writing/creating?
One of the ideas that I've never been able to figure out how to accomplish effectively is a series of novellas and EPs. Writer and musician produce an object that is a story with a soundtrack. You listen to one while you read the other. Brian Evenson did a spoken word disc for Ant-Zen a couple of years ago called Altmann's Tongue. He read from his stories and Xingu Hill and Tamarin made creepy dark ambient noises underneath. It's a very cool disc. But I'd like to separate the two a little more, and have the music be a pure soundtrack to the reading experience, and not marry it quite so closely to the text. Package it all up in an overly thick DVD case (CD on one side, short book on the other, much like the current PC game cases). I think both writer and musician, provided the pairing is good, could find fuel in the creative efforts of the other. That's what it's really about anyway: fuel for the creative engine.

Nicolas Chevreux at Ad Noiseam has just made available a PDF magazine to accompany Raoul Sinier's latest record, Brain Kitchen. Formatting aside, it's exactly the marriage of art, word, and sound that I was thinking about. Visit the Brain Kitchen.

To learn more about Mark, visit his website.

Next week, I interview author Mandy Roth.

Author Interview: Ekaterina Sedia

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:24:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I teach at a state liberal arts college (I'm a biologist by trade), and I write lots of fantasy and SF – both short stories and books. My third novel is coming out this June, and my fourth one – early in 2009, both from Prime books.

[Editor's note: Her novel A Secret History of Moscow was published in 2007. Ekaterina’s short stories have appeared in Baen’s Universe and Fantasy Magazine, and she is the editor of Paper Cities: The Anthology of Urban Fantasy.]

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
It's for THE ALCHEMY OF STONE, the novel comes out this month. It's really a love story with anarchy, automatons and gargoyles, and alchemy. I guess it could be classified as steampunk or clockpunk, and I think it is a good book.

What is your playlist? Why did you choose these songs?
Since it's a novel, I should probably list entire albums.

1. Vivaldi - Four Seasons
2. Tom Waits- Raindogs
3. Elvis Costello and The Brodsky Quartet - The Juliet Letters
4. Tom Waits - The Black Rider
5. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads
6. JS Bach - Well-Tempered Clavier (all of it)
7. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Boatman's Call
8. The Clash - London Calling
9. Henry Purcell - Te Deum and Jubilate

I chose these because I like them, and they all create a dense melancholy atmosphere. Plus, many of them are either about horrible love or decay, both of which feature prominently in the book.

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
I like it. I never became a connoisseur, but I do enjoy quite a bit of it. I worked in a record store at some point in my youth, and basically ended up grabbing whatever played in the store and sounded good to me. I prefer to write to instrumental music or no music at all, but occasionally I play other things, especially when I'm trying to get myself into a certain frame of mind.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
Instrumental and baroque – pleasant and not intrusive. Or, you know, really heavy industrial music. Depends on the moods and/or project.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
Michael Nyman, of course, although I do object to the notion that books should be made into movies.

To learn more about Ekaterina, visit her website.

Next week, I interview author Mark Teppo.

Author Interview: Catherine Schaff-Stump

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 3 Jun 2008 05:51:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
By day, I'm an English professor at a community college. I teach English Language Acquisition and I research pop culture and folklore. I've traveled extensively in Japan, and I took a Fulbright GPA to Russia in the summer of 2006 to study folklore.

As far as writing goes, I have two styles. One is poetic and mythic, the other is broad and humorous. People seemingly like both in Young Adult fiction, so that's where I've been finding most of my work right now. I have a novella coming out from the mystical Drollerie Press in 2008, Sister Night, Sister Moon and I have a YA novel coming out from Cats Curious in 2009, Hulk Hercules: Professional Wrestler, the first of the MYTHtery Kids books.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
I'm currently circulating another YA novel to agents right now - The Substance of Shadows, which is a book I've been writing since 2005. The story is about two cousins. One is a cursed demon binder who must fight his demon/familiar for his soul at age 16. The other is the son of an alcoholic abuser who belongs to the part of the family that wants to control the demons for their own purposes. The story follows these two boys through a custody battle, two demon trials, and how they manage to work together to save their family while on opposite sides of it.

What is your playlist?

"The Nile Source of Life" from the Mysteries of Egypt Soundtrack (ethnic arrangment)

"Letters from Hogwarts" from the first Harry Potter Soundtrack (John Williams)

"Starbuck Takes on All" from the first Battlestar Galactica Soundtrack (Bear McCreary)

"Children Running" from the Little Princess Soundtrack (Patrick Doyle)

"Exile" by Enya

"Roslin and Adama" from the second Battlestar Galactica Soundtrack (Bear McCreary)

"Kifa Uka" from the Vampire Princess Miyu TV Soundtrack (Composer Unknown)

"King Tutankhamen's Burial" from the Mysteries of Egypt Soundtrack (ethnic arrangment)

"Cursum Perficio" by Enya

"Mysteries of Egypt" theme from the Mysteries of Egypt Soundtrack (ethnic arrangment)

"Worthy of Survivial" from the second Battlestar Galactica Soundtrack (Bear McCreary)

hat does music mean to you? To your writing?
I come from a very musical family and in general enjoy singing and playing instruments, although I haven't studied how to play one formally since high school. Writing, when it works, is just like music. You can feel the flow and pitch of the scene. The right kind of music reminds you of scenes in your writing.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
That answer really depends on the project. For a project like Substance I prefer soundtracks or music with chanting. Other projects might demand music with lyrics. Often I don't write with music, but what will happen is I'll hear music that reminds me of what I'm working on.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
I'd have a hard time deciding between Bear McCreary, who may be the most innovative young composer in the US, and Yoko Kanno, who may be the most versatile composer in Japan. McCreary has a savage style that drives, while Kanno has a different feel every time she writes a soundtrack, which would make her perfect, because you'd get something original.

Anything else you'd like to say about music and writing/creating?
Listen to the rhythm as you write; fall into it as though you dance, and you'll find that there is next to no difference in writing and playing music.

To learn more about Catherine, visit her website!

Author Interview: Paul Jessup

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 20 May 2008 04:58:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I'm Paul Jessup, and my writing has appeared, and will be appearing in many venues, including PostScripts, Fantasy Magazine, and Apex Digest. In early spring 2009, PS Publishing is putting out a collection of my short stories called Glass Coffin Girls. I write strange stuff, weird stuff, usually stuff that breaks the molds.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
The story is called "A Word Without Ghosts" and it appeared in Fantasy Magazine in April 2008. It's a riff on Peter Pan and the Hare Bride fairy tale and Snow White/Rose Red fairy tale as well as a reversal on sleeping beauty/snow white. Plus all sorts of other weird stuff. It takes in all places and no places at once.

1. Cooling - Tori Amos
2. Maid in Bedlam - New World Renaissance Band
3. My Uncle Dan McCann - Mick Maloney
4. Exit Music (for a film) - Radiohead
5. Bells for Her - Tori Amos
6. Erin's Green Shore - Mick Maloney

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
It's important- I need to listen to music while I write, it sets the tone, pulls me in faster and keeps me going as I plug away at the keyboard. It also makes writing easier- for some reason writing seems much harder when I'm not listening to music. Note, though, I cannot listen while editing. I need complete silence for that.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
All sorts, depending on what I'm writing. The tonal quality of the music needs to reflect the tonal quality of a story. If I'm going to do an Space Opera remix on Kerouac's On the Road, I'm going to pop in Miles Davis's E.S.P. and go to town. If it's going to be a moody surrealistic magical realism story, I usually pick Tori Amos or Nine Inch Nails. If I'm doing horror, it's got to be Aphex Twin or Skinny Puppy. If I'm doing renaissance fantasy it needs to be something like Lord of the Rings soundtrack or New World Renaissance Band.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
Hmm. Trent Reznor. He did an amazing job with Lost Highways and Natural Born Killers.

Anything else you'd like to say about music and writing/creating?
The two seem interconnected somehow. In my teenage years I was a musician, and was in the Sonic Youth inspired noise rock band, Recycled Mozart. Somehow, music has always been tied to creativity for me.

To learn more about Paul, visit his website!

Next week, I'll be interviewing author Catherine Schaff-Stump.

Author Interview: Lauren Dane

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 6 May 2008 05:00:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I’m Lauren Dane and I write erotic romance across several genres (contemporaries, futuristics, paranormal) as well as some straight romance and urban fantasy and post apocalyptic stories. I’ve been writing seriously since mid 2004 and I write for multiple publishers (Berkley, Harlequin, Black Lace, Samhain, Ellora’s Cave)

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
I’m just finishing up SENSUAL MAGIC, which is a paranormal erotic romance in a contemporary setting. My heroine is a witch bounty hunter of sorts and she’s in Las Vegas to hunt down a woman who’s embezzled quite a large amount of money from her boss. The human woman is the ex fiancée of the hero and that’s how they meet. There’s a lot of push and pull in this one, he doesn’t give in easy and she’s got a job to do but she’s just very self assured about him and what they’re feeling.

What is your playlist?
This particular sound track is a lot about Nell, my heroine, who she is and her general outlook. For some reason, as I started writing I just found myself listening to eighties and a bit of 90’s rock/heavy metal as Nell started to solidify in my head.

Sweet Child O Mine – Guns N' Roses

Rock You Like A Hurricane – Scorpions

You Got Another Thing Comin – Judas Priest

Welcome To the Jungle – Guns N' Roses

She Sells Sanctuary – The Cult

Fell On Black Days – Soundgarden

Living After Midnight – Judas Priest

No One Like You – Scorpions

Close My Eyes Forever – Lita Ford and Ozzy Osborne

Shout at the Devil – Motley Crue

Rainbow in the Dark – Dio

Nothing Even Matters - Lauryn Hill

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
I always write with music. Be it industrial, hard core, eighties alternative, classical, whatever – the music helps set the mood for that story, those characters, it helps me keep that mood in my head. Music is as big a love as writing but since I can’t sing or play an instrument, I figure I can listen to all my favorites and let that help inspire and keep me focused.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
All kinds! This particular story has this funky buttrock theme but I’ve had soundtracks heavy on Motown, some soundtracks of a single artist or band. I love music from so many genres, it’s just all about the story for me. The soundtrack for the contemporary I co-wrote with Megan Hart was heavy on sex laden dance music like Lords of Acid and Peaches.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
Oh man! Hmm, well you know I think Quentin Tarantino does a great job with his movie soundtracks but if you mean artist wise? I’d want it to be the ones on my list!

To learn more about Lauren, visit her website.

Next week, I interview author Paul Jessup.

Author Interview: Heather Domin

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:39:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Added 8/4/09: The book for which this playlist was created, The Soldier of Raetia, is now available for purchase! Congratulations, Heather!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I've been writing ever since I can remember. I was a solitary kid, and stories filled my head pretty much all the time. I kept it a hidden hobby for most of my life, as I was taught that books were for lazy free time and real life was for "practical skills." It wasn't until my late 20s that I realized what you do to earn a paycheck does not define what you are as a person, and now I feel somewhat comfortable calling myself a writer. Plus I don't have any practical skills.

As for my writing, I'm not sure how to describe it. I like the adventurous side of things, the epic side, but also how everyday people fit into that. I like the little stories within the big, but I still want the big. I love historical period pieces, and love stories, and sci-fi and fantasy and horror. I love the supernatural; even when I'm writing something realistic, I try to inject a bit of the spiritual into it. But mostly I love creating characters. I want to write characters that people cheer for or fall in love with or wish death upon. I don't want anyone to read something I wrote and say, "What a lyrical evaluation of postmodern existentialism" – I want them to read it and say, "Damn, that was a good story." I want to scare you, excite you, make you laugh or cry. I want to fill someone else's hours the way all those books filled mine.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
This list is for the historical novel I’m finishing, currently titled THE SILVER LINE. [Ed. note 3/13/09: The novel is now called Valerian's Legion: The Soldier of Raetia and can be accessed online here] It's the story of a young Roman soldier sent to learn from a general and the effect the relationship has on both their lives. There are several themes swirling around in the plot – coming-of-age, family, loss, belonging, militarism, violence, sex – and I needed songs for each of them. This is what evolved over time, and I'm sure it will evolve some more before it's all done.

What is your playlist? Please briefly explain why you chose the songs you did.

1. Evanescence - Bring Me to Life
I have a not-so-secret weakness for the first Evanescence album. Whenever I'm getting ready to write something emo, angsty, self-pitying and/or petulant, it sets up the mood perfectly. And it sounds great in headphones.

2. Björk - Foot Soldier
The lyrics are so fitting, and the sound is very dreamy and kind of otherworldly. Her voice is amazing. It's a short song, but it really expresses the limbo my protagonist is in at the start of the story.

3. Sting - The Book of My Life
It's kind of creepy how perfect this song is for my general; it's melancholy but not emo, introspective but not whiny. It's a very private song for a very private man -- quiet, not flashy, but still beautiful with just a hint of exotic.

4. Queen - Save Me
And if the last one is perfect for my general, this one is perfect for my soldier. It borders on desperation, but it has enough intrinsic grace never to fully succumb. I love Freddie Mercury so much, and his voice was perfect for this combination of plaintiveness and determination.

5. The Who - Behind Blue Eyes
They say you always fall in love with your villain, and boy did I fall in love with mine. Inside every sociopath is a misunderstood woobie who just wants a hug, even if it's to get a better grip on you for the knife.

6. Garbage - Nobody Loves You
I chose this one for its angsty tone. It's a pretty hopeless, jaded song, good for several points in the story. It kind of unravels in the end with Shirley's wailing, and I like that.

7. A Perfect Circle - 3 Libras
Maynard Keenan, patron saint of angst. The lyrics aren't as blatant as, say, Evanescence -- they express the same emotions, but with a darker, frightening feel. There's no candy here. When he howls "You don't see me at all", he's not whining – he's warning. It's creepy and awesome.

8. Dead Can Dance - The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove
I had to have a DCD song on the official list, so I chose this one for its frustrated lyrics and raw rhythm. Everything on Toward the Within is fair game, too. The mix of elements and cultures in their sound is amazing.

9. Sting - I Burn for You
I chose this one for its general mood than the specific lyrics, though the image of burning for someone else is used several times. Sometimes I'm not sure which one of my characters is singing this.

10. Enigma - Gravity of Love
aka The Sex Scene Song. Ambient techno that samples Carmina Burana? How can you not have sex to that? :D

11. Moby – Everlasting
I was listening to this album one day, and when this track came on I had a clear vision of a particular moment in the story, all slo-mo and dramatic like the climax of a movie. I'm laughing as I type this. I'm either a child of my generation, or I've seen one too many Ridley Scott movies.

12. Live - Lakini's Juice
This song has always struck me as very guttural, kind of tattered and dirty, kind of a mix between begging and declaring. It fits well with the battle scenes.

13. Sister Hazel - Sword and Shield
If my book were a movie, this song would be the end credits. I can't help it; I'm just a softie at heart.

There are a few more tracks and some background music, but that's the core list. And whenever I feel like I’m taking myself too seriously -- a frequent flaw -- I listen to "Don't Stand So Close To Me" by The Police. Always does the trick.

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
I don’t think I could say here what music means to me. I don't even know if I could articulate it. But in terms of my writing, music has always been entwined with my characters and stories. I've made soundtracks for just about every story I've ever written, or at least one theme song. I know I’m not unique in that. Nothing else can get me into the headspace I'm looking for like the perfect song.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
I usually use my playlists to get in the mood or to pass the time at work, that kind of thing. When actually writing, I need something with either no lyrics or lyrics I can't sing along with. For this novel that means stuff like Enya, Enigma, Adiemus, and especially Dead Can Dance. Parts of Moby's "Play" are really good, too. I don't generally use movie scores, because I end up daydreaming the movie instead of writing my story.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
Oh man. See, if my story were made into a movie today, being set in Ancient Rome, it would automatically get a patented Wailing Woman Soundtrack. But you know, there's a reason why everybody and their brother copied Gladiator. It was an amazing score, and Lisa Gerard's voice worked perfectly with the story and setting. I don't think I have enough knowledge to choose a composer. I'm greedy – I want a mix of everything. It worked for 300, right?

Anything else you'd like to say about music and writing/creating?
I'm a creature of habit. Like most writers I know, I have my own rituals, my ceremonies, my way of getting my head to the words and the words on the paper. Without music, it would be a hell of a lot harder to sit down in that chair.

To learn more about Heather, visit her website!

Next week, a soundtrack from author Lauren Dane.

Author Interview: Darin Bradley

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 8 Apr 2008 05:16:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I wear a number of different hats. I'm the founding fiction editor of Farrago's Wainscot and Behind the Wainscot (Paul Jessup now edits BtW for us). I also edit poetry and literary fiction for Drollerie Press.

I'm also an active critical scholar (I have an M.A. in Literature and Literary Criticism and a Ph.D. in English Literature and Theory)— my critical work has appeared in or is forthcoming from The Internet Review of Science Fiction, The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, and Membra Disjecta. I work predominantly on the confluence of contemporary cognitive theory and experimental speculative fiction.

I'm also a designer—I've done cover work for both Wheatland Press and Drollerie Press, and I do all of the Farrago design.

Primarily, though, I'm a writer. I prefer novels to short fiction, though I do both. My work typically addresses the "weird" as an operating metaphor for alienation, but I sometimes work with more straightforward, mythic themes. I'm fascinated by dissolution, decay, and the unstable nature of "self." My short fiction has appeared in or is forthcoming from Electric Velocipede, Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy, 3:AM Magazine, Diet Soap, Bewildering Stories, Polyphony 6, and The Porch. My novels are unpublished.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
AMARANTH, a novel, takes place in the very near future, when the international economic society collapses. When it does, an underground movement of Citizens' Television Band broadcasters is ready. Hackers, taggers, modders, and anarchists have all authored the rules for a new society in the gaps between establishment media. As people take new names and new identities to make their way to their own promised lands, to try to survive, the past becomes the present, and everything sane becomes everything macabre.

What is your playlist?
Because this "playlist" was designed to sustain the drafting of an entire novel, and not just a story, it's actually a list of albums rather than songs. My player shuffled them randomly while I was working.

[Note: most of these albums can be ordered from Malignant Records and/or Ad Noiseam.]

The albums (and artists) are

Ágætis Byrjun - Sigur Rós
Summer Make Good - Mum
Layering Buddha - Robert Henke
Kid A - Radiohead
Hail to the Thief - Radiohead
Simulations 2.0 - L'ombre
Aquifère - Iszoloscope
Distant Lights - Burial
Dummy - Portishead
Gun Aramaic - Muslimgauze
Gun Aramaic, Pt. 2 - Muslimgauze
Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble
Inquisition Symphony - Apocalyptica
Rock Action - Mogwai
Young Team - Mogwai
Happy Songs for Happy People - Mogwai
The Madlands Trilogy - Mad EP
Out from Out Where - Amon Tobin
Pure Language - Keef Baker
Strength in Numbers - Calla
Symbol - Susuma Yokota
Life Itself - Gooding
3X - Gooding
Trace - Gridlock

I chose these particular artists and albums because the novel I was working on is very bleak. There is only one arguably "happy" scene in the entire story (which is really more of a textual artifact than a story), and I wanted a writing environment that reflected the ambient solitude expressed in the text. Some of these albums are experimental "noise music," and others are simply wild audio recordings of vast, bleak places. I found writing some of the material both challenging and disturbing, and this playlist helped me echo that . . . troublesome nature of the project. It made for some somber writing periods, but they were all ultimately rewarding.

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
Honestly, music doesn't have a particular meaning for me. I enjoy it a great deal, and it's usually playing around me most of the time, sort of accompanying my misadventures, but I've never been the type to sit and only listen to music. I have a dilettante's appreciation and not an aficionado's.

That said, though, I have as much respect for the musical endeavor as I do the literary, or the artistic. A few years ago, I filmed and edited a documentary about a startup literary magazine called The Porch. A large portion of that story involved local musicians, who lent their talents to helping promote the magazine, and I came to see how very universal general artistic struggle can be.

As for my writing, music gets (perhaps unfairly) background shelving while I'm working. I play it while I'm writing, as I find that if I Hermetically seal myself in a silent, distraction-free writing environment, I tend to do more thinking and less writing. The literary endeavor is isolating enough as it is—music helps . . . vent that silent laboratory-feel for me.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
It varies from project to project, and it can surprise me every time, so I'm not sure I can formulate an answer to this one. Sometimes it's one-man-band banjo music, sometimes it's a cello suite, sometimes it's industrial. We'll see what happens on the next project . . .

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
Actually, if someone suffered the dereliction of sanity it would require to option and then produce a film version of Amaranth, I would hope it went un-scored. The resonant silence would go a long way toward conveying the narrative texture that would be absent in a film version.

Anything else you'd like to say about music and writing/creating?
Yes—I owe a great debt of gratitude to Mark Teppo, who introduced me to most of the artists who comprise the playlist above.

To learn more about Darin, check out his website!

Next week, we've got a great soundtrack from up and coming author Heather Domin. See you then!

Author Interview: Megan Hart

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 05:06:00 -0700

Writers & Soundtracks interview: Megan Hart

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
My name's Megan Hart, and I write a erotic fiction for Spice and erotic romance for Amber Quill Press and Black Lace books and also...Avon Red! Wow. My list is growing!

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
I make playlists for every book. Sometimes they overlap. My most recent playlist is for SWITCH, a novel I'm writing for Spice. It's about a young woman who finds a note in her mailbox that's supposed to be for someone else. More notes arrive, misdelivered, and each becomes progressively more erotic. She passes them on to the rightful owner, but discovers she really enjoys the contents.

What is your playlist, and why did you choose these particular songs?
The playlist is too long to recreate, and songs are added all the time, but a sample of the songs that "best" fit the story are:

1. "Whatever it Takes" - Lifehouse: there's an ex involved in the story, and he tries to win her back by saying he'll do whatever it takes.

2. "Sorry" - Buckcherry: Again, a theme of apologizing for past mistakes and trying to make amends

3. "Empty Chairs" - Don McLean: there's a line in it that goes "I know you said you'd go but until you did, I never thought you would." Fits the story, too

4. "It Ain't Me, Babe" - Johnny Cash and June Carter: it talks about how they're not right for each other

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
I have to listen to music while I'm writing. The perfect song can set the entire mood of the book. It helps me get into the right mindset -- when I put on that playlist, I'm in the story. And later, when I look over past playlists, just listening to one of those songs can take me back to where I was while writing that story.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
All kinds, everything from classical to heavy metal.

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
Hmm. Well...the only musical soundtrack composer I can think of off the top of my head is Christopher Lennertz (he did the Supernatural soundtrack) and I guess I'd like him. :)

Anything else you'd like to say about music and writing/creating?
My ipod and iTunes and music are integral parts of me and while I *could* write without them, it wouldn't be as much fun.

Thanks, Megan!

To learn more about Megan, check out her website!

Don't forget to check out next week's interview, when we chat with Darin Bradley.

Author Interview: A. J. Odasso

juliekrose@earthlink.net (Julie K. Rose) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 05:25:00 -0700

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
There are days when I feel as if I have the right to say I have a fledgling career as a writer of poetry and short fiction - but there are also days when I'd like to ask myself, "Who do you think you're kidding?" The more accurate way of answering this question, I suppose, would be to start at the ever-so-clichéd beginning. I started writing very suddenly at the age of 11, and I do mean very suddenly. The event was triggered by my best friend Elizabeth giving me a red-silk covered journal for my birthday. My early school years were marked by the habit of sitting alone on the bus, at either the very front or the very back, turned as far into the corner next to the window as I could. I'd watch everything go by and find my thoughts forming rhythmic phrases and verses based on what I saw happening, or what I imagined to be happening. In that red silk journal, for the first time, I started writing down those thought patterns. They turned out to be poems - and, later on, around the time I turned 15 or 16, prose. People are often shocked by how relatively late I came to writing prose, so it's almost a strange point of pride. My first poems were published in Strong Verse, a poetry magazine edited by Orson Scott Card and G. Michael Palmer, in late 2005. Since then, I've managed to accrue a number of credits in both U.S. and U.K. magazines. My first published short story appeared in last year's Ruins Terra anthology from Hadley Rille Books. I have some work upcoming for 2008 in Farrago's Wainscot, Sybil's Garage, and the Little Red Riding Hood anthology from Drollerie Press. Working on a Ph.D. makes doing what I'd like to do - that is, start working on a novel - quite difficult. I'm still waiting to hear back from Milkweed Editions about the fate of my first full-length poetry collection, Lost Books. I'm mostly just glad it made the final reading cut, as it were!

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.

Truth be told, I've mostly been writing poetry to music these past few months. My default tends to be Sigur Rós's ( ) - that's usually pronounced "Untitled," I think! There's something deeply primal about the instrumentation, and the words, which are words-but-not-really (the group's famed nonsense-language called "Hopelandic"), touch something in me that I can describe even less effectively than the music itself. This album is eight tracks of pure, sheer emotion. I remember the first time I heard it; I was still an undergraduate at Wellesley, and I happened to be at my work-study job in one of the campus offices. My boss was in the habit of playing music at a low volume, and ten seconds into the first track, I was in tears. Not everyone for whom I've played this album has reacted the same way, but a small handful have. In my experience, there are very few recording artists capable of such unique art.

What is your playlist? (list songs and artist)
This is a tricky question, given that I've just cited an entire album whose tracks have no titles! I might have to step back and give you one of my "default" playlists that's made up of a variety of songs from a variety of artists, but which I use in a similar fashion to ( ). I call this playlist my Gnosis Mix, not least because a lot of the songs included have either subtextual or explicit connections to gnostic Christian/ancient mystery-religion thought:

1. "Agnus Dei" - Rufus Wainwright
2. "Original Sinsuality" - Tori Amos
3. "Tiger" - Paula Cole
4. "Song to the Siren" - This Mortal Coil, feat. Elizabeth Fraser
5. "Galileo" - The Indigo Girls
6. "Dark Night of the Soul" - Loreena McKennitt
7. "The Promised Womb" - Dead Can Dance
8. "Emmanuel" - The Weakerthans
9. "Marys of the Sea" - Tori Amos
10. "Corpus Christi Carol" - Jeff Buckley
11. "Untitled "4 - Sigur Rós
12. "My Name" - Lhasa de Sela
13. "The Promise" - Värttinä
14. "Father Lucifer" - Tori Amos
15. "Sun in My Mouth" - Björk
16. "Hymn to Her" (live acoustic) - The Pretenders
17. "Full Circle" - Loreena McKennitt
18. "Toast" - Tori Amos

What does music mean to you? To your writing?
Anyone looking at this playlist for the first time would probably comment on the high volume of music from Tori Amos, and rightly so. She's been one of my favorite artists for a very long time (alongside some of the other suspects present on the list - Jeff Buckley, Värttinä, The Indigo Girls, Paula Cole), and I'd say this is because she's not afraid of putting her thoughts directly on paper...into the music, into the piano, whatever. She's often accused of being incomprehensible, but then, so is E.E. Cummings - and it just so happens that Björk's "Sun in My Mouth" is one of his poems set to music (and that he's one of my favorite poets). I love music that, in addition to reaching a deep and unsettling emotional pitch, has words (or almost-words) that I can absolutely savor. Granted, the music and musicianship are equally vital. If any of these songs were badly executed in performance, they wouldn't work for me. The other thing that these songs all share - at least I feel they do - is a deep sense of personal mythology, spirituality, and mysticism. I've been told that my work is suffused with just such a sense, and therefore it's not surprising that I'm drawn to pieces of music which are similar expressions of their artists' beliefs and sensibilities.

What kind of music do you like to write to?
Songs and albums that are contemplative, longing, and sparely emotional. I often get asked to put on something "more cheerful" when I'm entertaining friends! I sense a general fear of this kind of music, at least in the public/social majority. Why do so many people find it dangerous to feel so deeply?

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
I think one might find it difficult to turn, let's say, Lost Books into a movie. As for the short story in the Ruins Terra anthology - it's called "In Every Place That I Am" and it follows the rather colorful fates of an Egyptian priestess's various mummified remains down through the centuries - I'd probably look to someone like Lisa Gerrard, Ofra Haza, or Azam Ali. I have a real fondness for eastern-influenced music.

Anything else you'd like to say about music and writing/creating?
Music and writing have, happily, begun to intersect more concretely in my life - my husband James and I have been collaborating with Zac Orfanos, a Greek friend of ours working also on a Ph.D. here at my university (York, UK). He's a deeply talented musician and composer, and I've been writing lyrics for him for about a year now. As soon as we get moved into a new flat - which has a piano - we'll be able to begin recording our first EP. In the near future, if you see an obscure CD floating about bearing the name Wine-Dark Sea, that's us!

Thanks, A. J.!

To learn more about A. J., check out her LiveJournal.

Don't forget to check out next week's interview, when we chat with Megan Hart.