Author Interview: Paul Jessup

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

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.