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You are here: Home / Archives for soundtrack sunday

May 21, 2023 By Skyla Dawn Cameron Leave a Comment

Soundtrack Sunday – “Breathe (2AM)”

We’re just over a week until the release of The Killing Beach. It’s only taken…well, almost six years since the first vague idea.

I’ve done everything I can, short of spending thousands of dollars I don’t have to advertise, to give it the best chance it can have. The reality, though, is that this is a huge upward climb and it’ll probably be years before I have any idea if these books go anywhere.

It’s hard for me to just let go, but that’s where I am–which is where Waverly Jones finds herself.

So prior to the full soundtrack going up in a couple of weeks, I give you the epilogue song from The Killing Beach.

Most of my books, I know the endings well ahead of time (often years in advance). It gives me direction while I’m writing, and even if I tweak them a little–Emperor’s Tomb was supposed to end with Livi at the funeral in Texas, until I finished the book and found all those threads I still had to bundle–it’s the glowing lighthouse I’m always reaching for.

TKB’s ending is one of the things that kept me coming back to the series again and again, no matter how many times I hit brick walls while writing it. It was crystal clear in my head and for whatever reason I heard Anna Nalick’s “Breathe (2AM)” on repeat for the scene–probably because I also heard Waverly repeating over and over, “Breathe. Just breathe.”

Waverly both starts and ends the book on the beach.

The beach that drew her home again, hoping to find the impossible.

The beach that ends up changing her whole world.

But you can’t jump the track, we’re like cars on a cable
And life’s like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button now

“Breathe” is a song about not being able to go back in time, and I think that’s why it stuck out to my subconscious. An ongoing theme of the series is that loss of time, knowing that it’s moving and you’re caught by the current. That hourglass it touched on again in an important scene in the seventh book (I can’t wait to talk about “Out of Sand” for that scene and its lyrics)

So I had both the original and the acoustic version of this on repeat, alternating as I finally, finally got to write the end of this book that I’d been excited about for so long, four years after I first started it.

The Killing Beach, Waverly Jones 1, releases officially on Tuesday May 30. There is one final week to claim your thank you gift.

Kindle – Kobo – iBooks – Nook – Payhip – Paperback – Hardcover

Signed paperback on Etsy – Hardcover Gift Box

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November 6, 2022 By Skyla Dawn Cameron Leave a Comment

Soundtrack Sunday – CHARON’S GOLD

Bishop Briggs – “White Flag“
More on that one here. Livi doesn’t have a white flag.

NerdOut feat. Divide & Halocene – “No Fear” (Shadow of the Tomb Raider)
NerdOut has a bunch of fun songs, and this TR one fit Livi’s journey here.
“On this road of mine I have walked alone//Left my soul behind, to dive into unknown//The blood is on my hands, but I can’t let it control//The choice to rise and to stand is all that I know//I’ve come so far//I’m not turning back//After all I’ve sacrificed//I have to wonder//What will I become//With no fear left in my eyes”

Ruelle – “Game of Survival“
This is basically Livi v Nostoi
“There’s no surrender//And there’s no escape//Are we the hunters?//Or are we the prey?”

Starset – “My Demons“

Ashes Remain – “On My Own“
“Bring me out//Come and find me in the dark now//Every day by myself I’m breaking down//I don’t wanna fight alone anymore”

Ursine Vulpine feat Annaca – “Wicked Game“
More on that one here. Liv and Iluka.

RIYAYA feat John Mark McMillan – “Hunter“
More on that one here.
This was on repeat for me when Livi runs the final way toward Pluto’s Gate (I wish I could share the scene in my head, it’s very dramatic with some epic shots and slow-mo)

Tommee Profitt – “With You ‘Til the End“
When Livi reaches the underworld and discovers she’s not alone. Pretty much the whole thing lyrically.

NEONI – “Giants“
I’ll let you guess about this one but it is both metaphorical and literal for Liv.
“Heaven and hell are waiting//Don’t need more motivation”

J2 feat Lola – “Somewhere Under the Rainbow“
The underworld.

Ruelle – “Madness“
Livi in the underworld, questioning her sanity.
“Feel the fury closing in//All resistance wearing thin//Nowhere to run from all of this havoc//Nowhere to hide//From all of this madness”

Lauren Daigle – “Rescue“
More on that one here.

Ursine Vulpine feat Annaca – “Without You“
Livi leaves someone behind in the underworld.
“You don’t have to be the brave one every time//I know you wanna make it right” and “We need a bit more time”

Sarah McLachlan – “Full of Grace“
Livi reaches the surface/heads home and speaks with Em.
Pretty much the whole thing lyrically.

Charon’s Gold is now available.

Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook | Smashwords | Payhip | Paperback

The complete list of Soundtrack Sunday posts are here.

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October 23, 2022 By Skyla Dawn Cameron Leave a Comment

Soundtrack Sunday – “Rescue”

I am really looking forward to National Not Working Another Fucking Weekend Month in November. (Of course, we know me; I’ll still be working, but at least it’ll be on my own stuff.)

So. Book is out on Tuesday! Having a total normal one here where I want to delete all my books and my entire presence off the internet. As one does.

It’s a very weird psychological thing going on that I was talking to a friend about this past week (she also had a new release) where we know 90% of readers are cool. We know this not because we hear from them but because we have access to sales numbers so we know how many of them are out there.

But that other 10% are so loud. The demands, the insults, and that’s not even covering the percentage hitting my site googling where to steal my books. So our brains do this protective thing where we automatically assume absolutely everyone is going to hate the book so it hurts less when we get yelled at, which makes trying to advertise it with feigned excitement exhausting if not entirely impossible.

I’m several neuroses and a bag of feral cats in a trench coat, I know.

Anyway. Usually before a new book release I post its full Soundtrack Sunday playlist so I can link to it when I send out the new release announcements but no one ever clicks over to that, so I’ll worry about organizing it next week maybe. Today will be the last one specifically from Charon’s Gold. This time the song is “Rescue” by Lauren Daigle.

Warning: this will probably skew your YouTube recs to Christian music for a while

There’s a deeply personal scene late in the book in a chapter titled “Rescue” where I had this song on repeat–you’ll know it when you see it.

You are not hidden
There’s never been a moment
You were forgotten
You are not hopeless
Though you have been broken
Your innocence stolen

There’s this kind of amusing complaint in the readership who thought Solomon’s Seal was light popcorn fun and I guess didn’t get some of the undercurrents that were building up to get us to where we are now. (Which is cool! Not everything is for everyone, and there’s lots I could’ve done differently.) But you can’t have an adrenaline junkie character and not get to the root of where that comes from (or, at least, I can’t).

Yampellec’s Idol started really breaking down some of those coping mechanisms when Livi literally couldn’t run anymore, and Charon’s Gold is about getting right to the root of things and laying them bare.

I hear the whisper underneath your breath
I hear you whisper, you have nothing left

So while the book is about Livi rescuing someone else, it’s also about her rescuing herself. That’s the only real way out of hell.

There’s not a lot else I can say about it without spoiling everything, but some of you will get it and I hope that it helps you in some way.

And that, maybe, Livi will rescue you too, even if only for a minute.

I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It’s true, I will rescue you
I will never stop marching to reach you
In the middle of the hardest fight
It’s true, I will rescue you

Charon’s Gold is available on Tuesday.

Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook | Smashwords | Payhip | Paperback

The complete list of Soundtrack Sunday posts are here.

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September 25, 2022 By Skyla Dawn Cameron Leave a Comment

Soundtrack Sunday – “White Flag”

Today is exactly one month from the release of Charon’s Gold (Tuesday will be four weeks) and my paperbacks just arrived this afternoon.

Here it is on the shelf with my other shinies!

So let’s do another Soundtrack Sunday!

This is a song I put on a few Livi soundtracks, and I’ll probably always have it on them: “White Flag” by Bishop Briggs. It fits well in Charon’s Gold, though, because of Livi’s single-minded pursuit of justice and obsession with doing right by someone she’s lost.

Take a hit, shoot me down, shoot me down
I will never hit the ground, hit the ground
Playing dead, I’ll never do
Gotta keep an eye on you
Patience is wearing thin, paper thin
Promises broke again, what a sin
But it only feeds my energy
So don’t expect no sympathy

Okay so yes, I originally heard it in a commercial for SOTTR, but Livi gets some of her DNA from Croft. So here’s a Tomb Raider vid to go with the post.

Put an X on my chest, on my chest
But I’m still standing ’cause I won’t forget
The hell on earth you put me through
I’ll save myself in spite of you

Yeah, those lines are 100% about Marta. Who, spoiler alert, does make an appearance or two in this one.

One of the reasons I keep coming back to Livi is her strength and resilience, and knowing no matter how dark it gets, she’s going to keep getting up and driving forward, because the situations that would terrify normal people fuel her rather than freeze her. She’s my hero when I need it, because of what she’ll do for her found family when it counts.

Even if it means quite literally going to hell and back.

Oh, won’t wave my white flag, no
This time I won’t let go
I’d rather die
Than give up the fight

Liv won’t wave her white flag ever because she doesn’t have one.

Charon’s Gold releases October 25 and you can preorder the ebook now!

Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook | Paperback

All of my Soundtrack Sunday posts are now linked on a central page.

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September 11, 2022 By Skyla Dawn Cameron Leave a Comment

Soundtrack Sunday – “Next to Me”

Sunday is for doing housework at Chez Skyla, and it only ever gets done with a lot of music playing loudly for motivation. This one comes up often and I like to sing along badly to it.

Last time I did Iluka’s song for Livi; this one is hers for him. It’s on both the Charon’s Gold soundtrack and Yampellec’s Idol. (Haters can deal with it!)

And oh, stupid things I do

I’m far from good, it’s true

But still, I find you

Next to me 

Livi’s in a pretty bad place in the new book–where Yampellec was about her finding her existing coping mechanisms no longer helping her anxiety and depression, in Charon she’s found a new way of dealing: obsession. She’s driven in a way she hasn’t been before as it’s the only way to keep her guilt and grief at bay.

It’s messy.

There’s something about the way that you always see the pretty view

Overlook the blooded mess, always lookin’ effortless

And still you, still you want me

But for at least part of the time, she’s got Iluka by her side, who is always quick to diffuse tension and smooth things out, and who keeps seeing the best in her even when she can’t see it herself anymore.

So thank you for taking a chance on me

I know it isn’t easy

But I hope to be worth it

Afraid for his life but terrified to also let him go, Livi’s only other option at this stage of the story is go to it alone entirely–and I’m glad that, for a while, she doesn’t have to. Friend, partner, lover, and a big part of her journey as she goes to very dark places (quite literally, including the underworld)–she might not always have the words, but this is her song for him.

Oh, I always let you down

You’re shattered on the ground

But still, I find you there

Next to me

Charon’s Gold releases October 25 and you can preorder the ebook now!

Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook

Paperback coming in another week or two!

All of my Soundtrack Sunday posts are now linked on a central page.

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MEET SKYLA DAWN

Writer of urban fantasy, thrillers/mysteries, and horror. Fifth-generation crazy cat lady. Bitchy feminist. So tired all the goddamn time.

My characters kill people so I don’t have to.

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