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!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Author Interview: C.C. Humphreys
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
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
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Author Interview: Alex Dally MacFarlane
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Author Interview: Jason Erik Lundberg
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Author Interview: Susan Higginbotham
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Author Interview: Jeff Sypeck
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Author Interview: Hal Duncan
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?
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.
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.
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