soundtrack sunday

Apr 26 2015

Soundtrack Sunday – SOULLESS Edition

SoullessRedux-sm It’s time for the Soulless soundtrack!

I really had to dig back for this, I wrote it in 2009 or so, one computer ago. I do recall I wrote huge chunks of it over a couple of days listening to a lot of Leonard Cohen but I don’t remember which songs in particular.

Bill Withers – “Ain’t No Sunshine“
Referenced in the book and what Rafe was humming in the epilogue (as Ani was “gone”).
Wonder this time where she’s gone//Wonder if she’s gone to stay//Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone

Eva Cassidy – “Ain’t No Sunshine“
I can’t NOT have an Eva Cassidy version of a song if I have the original.

Sarah McLachlan – “Fallen“
Heaven bend to take my hand And lead me through the fire

Evanescence – “Hello“
Don’t try to fix me, I’m not broken

Earlimart – “The World“
Oh, the world is all around us But have you noticed me?

Adele – “Make You Feel My Love“
I could hold you for a million years//To make you feel my love

Dr. John – “I Don’t Wanna Know“
And all around the cold is glistening//Making sure it keeps me down to size.

Willie Nelson – “Bird On The Wire“
Like a baby, stillborn//like a beast with his horn//I have torn everyone who reached out for me.

Eva Cassidy – “Time After Time“
If you fall I will catch you – I’ll be waiting

Ivan Neville – “Why Can’t I Fall In Love?“
This was the love theme for the book, what Rafe and Ani dance to.
I know she’s out there waiting//It’s time to fall in love//And let her know//Just how I feel//Give it up//Or give it all

Mar 15 2015

Soundtrack Sunday – REBELLION Edition

Lord, save me from male characters who make me listen to sappy music.

So anyway, I snagged a bunch of songs from the River soundtrack and built from there, so there’s some crossover. Without further ado, here is the Rebellion playlist, just in time for you to buy the novella now or read it briefly for free starting tomorrow.

Zoe Keating – “Lost“
I wrote a lot of the forest scenes to Zoe Keating’s Into the Trees. “Lost” also seemed appropriate for the first chapter called “Found”.

Jeffrey Gaines – “In Your Eyes“
C’mon, you knew this one would be on here.
All my instincts, they return//And the grand facade, so soon will burn

Lissie – “They All Want You“
And my heart breaks watching it takin’ its toll

Sheryl Crow – “I Shall Believe“
During the scene where he’s wrapping her hands up after the fight in her cabin (yes, that’s revisited in the novella).
That not everything is gonna be the way//You think it ought to be//It seems like every time I try to make it right//It all comes down on me//Please say honestly you won’t give up on me

BOY – “Drive Darling“
I’m smiling on the surface//I’m scared as hell below

Linkin Park – “Numb”
Daryl’s theme.
Every step that I take is another mistake to you

Chris Isaak – “Let Me Down Easy”
Don’t you hear my heart is calling//You don’t know how hard I’ve fallen for you

Max Frost – “Let Me Down Easy“
That there are two songs with this title is not lost on me.
Before the words are spoken//I know what’s on your mind//So now it’s in the open//Don’t wanna know, don’t wanna know why

Korn – “Alone I Break”
I wrote the book’s fight scene to this one.

David Usher – “Souring”
The opening of the chapter “Assimilate.”
Woke up thinking I love you//But I can’t say why

Ingrid Michaelson – “Can’t Help Falling In Love with You“
So take my hand, and take my whole life too

Twinbed – “Trouble I’m In”
Although this was on the River soundtrack (for a scene toward the end, where he says “No more words”), it was always a Daryl POV song.
You are the trouble I’m in

Lissie – “Hello“
I’ve been alone with you//Inside my mind

David Usher – “My Way Out“
The beginning of the fourth part, Belonging
And if I could remember//If I could find a place a time the space to see another way home//And if I could forget you//Maybe there’s no other way out

The Album Leaf – “The Light”
The final scene of the novella.

Fun fact #1: David Usher–or a teen version–is also roughly how I always pictured Daryl. *the more you knooow*
Fun fact #2: Daryl Marsden was named after a boy I liked in school like two decades ago, and I realized while writing this that I don’t even remember his last name. Clearly it was the love of the century.

Mar 01 2015

Soundtrack Sunday – DIAL V FOR VAMPIRE Edition

I ended up skipping the Damaged soundtrack as there wasn’t really anything new for Zara songs (other than “Titanium” by David Guetta ft Sia, both the original and this cover), so we go straight to Dial V for Vampire.

This one’s a bit bittersweet. Dial V‘s soundtrack also would’ve been Solace‘s (book six)–that’s how it’s labelled on iTunes for me and what I used when writing this novella. When I pulled it out to set up this draft post a month ago, the music made me nostalgic and I got that sad, “I want to write these books” feeling, and thought maybe, MAYBE, I could try swinging one book a year later despite the horrifically low sales because I so want to tell more of these stories.

Twenty-four hours later, Exhumed ended up on a piracy site.

So.

This is it for these characters. Solace will never be published; Dial V for Vampire will have to suffice as the only glimpse at Zara’s future.

Most of the songs lean toward sappy. Shut up, I CAN be girly sometimes.

Jake Coco and Madilyn Bailey (cover) – “Somebody That I Used to Know“
The opening chapters of DVfV was written to this one.
You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness//Like resignation to the end, always the end

Jewel – “Break Me“
I will let you undress me//But I warn you I have thorns//Like any rose

Pink – “I Don’t Believe You“
It’s like you’re the swing set and I’m the kid that falls

Within Temptation – “All I Need“
There’s a very specific scene in Solace with this one. And now I’m just making myself sad.
Do you still see//The heart of me? and also: Make my heart a better place//Give me something I can believe//Don’t tear me down//You’ve opened the door now, don’t let it close

E.S. Posthumus – “Unstoppable“

The Cranberries – “Linger“
You know I’m such a fool for you//You’ve got me wrapped around your finger

Lisa Loeb – “How“
I didn’t come this far for you to make this hard for me.

Two Steps from Hell – “After the Fall“

Two Steps from Hell – “Protectors of the Earth“
One of the themes of the, er, creatures Zara battles when she and Maximilian go looking for evidence at the apartment.

Sara Bareilles – “Gravity“
This was basically the theme song for Solace and every post-Exhumed Z/N meeting.
Something always brings me back to you//It never takes too long

Elijah Bossenbroek – “I Give Up“

Adele – “Lovesong”
The epilogue song for this one, and also what Z/N danced to at Alchemy Red.
Whenever I’m alone with you//You make me feel like I am home again

Bonus: Viral song

Andrew Belle – “In My Veins“
This was to be Nate’s book, the eighth, and this was a theme for it.
Oh, you’re in my veins//And I cannot get you out

So that’s it for this series of soundtracks until it’s time for Oblivion. I’m taking next week off and then it’ll be time for Rebellion.

Feb 22 2015

Soundtrack Sunday – EXHUMED Edition

Exhumed-Kindle When we last left Zara, she had fun kickass songs. Now…angst, angst, and MOAR ANGST.

It’s the Exhumed playlist.

Note: A lot of the standard Zara songs from the Bloodlines soundtrack also apply here but I didn’t want to repeat them.

Stone Sour – “Through Glass”
Crazy!Nate song
But no one ever tells you//That forever feels like home//Sitting all alone inside your head

Slipknot – “Snuff“
MOAR Crazy!Nate, specifically when he asks her to kill him.
So if you love me, let me go

Des’ree – “Kissing You“
Kissy song. For the first kissy scene stuff, where Nate says he remembers everything.
But watching stars without you//My soul cried

Ben Cocks feat. Nikisha Reyes-Pile – “So Cold”
Now we get to the angst portion of the soundtrack.
You caused my heart to bleed and//You still owe me a reason

Damien Rice – “I Remember”
MOAR ANGST. In all seriousness, it’s hard to beat this in terms of a song about the brutal pain of a breakup.
Nothing is taking me down//Except you, my love…

Michelle Featherstone – “Stay“
If I was sincere//Whispered my fears//Would you still be here?//Would you stay?

Linkin Park – “In The End“
When Zara goes to the farmhouse and starts throwing people out the window/blasting away with her shotgun.
Trying to hold on but didn’t even know//I wasted it all just to watch you go

Adele – “Set Fire to the Rain”
So we get real literal here as Zara…kind of sets a house on fire. Much of the book deals with betrayal, or perceived betrayal, and this song could’ve been written for it.

Flyleaf – “Breathe Today“
When [spoilers] bursts into Nic/Peri’s house and attacks Zara in the latter half of the book, this was my chick fight song.

How to Destroy Angels – “A Drowning”
There’s a chapter called “Drowning” in the book, IIRC when Zara’s breaking down and Ellie’s the only one who understands (since he can see from her POV)–I specifically had this song in mind
I don’t think I can save myself//I’m drowning here

Pocahontas Soundtrack – “If I Never Knew You“
Okay, STOP LAUGHING. I MEAN IT, SHUT UP. Yes, the chapter in the book with that title was named after this song and played in my head the whole goddamn time. Because Nate is a fucking SAP and is laughing because he gave me this as an earworm.

Walls Of Jericho – “No Saving Me“
When Zara’s dragged out of “sleep”, while in the dungeon of the Court’s building.
How long will I take to bleed//These is no saving me//How far will you go to hold on

E.S. Posthumus – “Ebla”
Basically the entire final climax of the book had this song playing in the background for me.

Mumford & Sons – “I Gave You All“
This was originally my epilogue song when I pictured the end of the book.
I never meant you any harm//But your tears feel warm as they fall on my forearms

Mika – “Happy Ending“
This ended up being the actual song I listened to the most while writing said epilogue, however.
This is the way you left me//I’m not pretending//No hope, no love, no glory//No Happy Ending//This is the way that we love//Like it’s forever//Then live the rest of our life//But not together

“9 Crimes” Bonus:

Damien Rice – “9 Crimes“
This should be fairly obvious given that it’s the title of the novella. I also listened to it a lot while writing Exhumed, but it was the theme song primarily for Nate’s story. (He actually makes me listen to a lot of Damien Rice. I don’t mind.)
It’s the wrong time//She’s pulling me through//It’s a small crime//And I’ve got no excuse

“Sunrise” Bonus:

Elvis Costello – “She“
I include it here because it also takes place during Exhumed, but when I wrote Nate’s short story, “Sunrise”, there’s a reference to this song too. It’s what Nate was creepily singing while painting bloody windows on the walls.

Feb 15 2015

Soundtrack Sunday – LINEAGE Edition

Lineage-Kindle What does Peri like to listen to when she’s brutally killing someone? The answer might surprise you. Read on for my Lineage playlist.

Godsmack – “I Stand Alone”
This has been Peri’s theme for as long as I can remember. It’s dark. It’s violent. It’s about being used as a pawn by others and realizing, well, that you stand alone.
Make me believe that this place isn’t plagued by the poison in me//Help me decide if my fire will burn out before you can breathe

Utada Hikaru – “Devil Inside”
Peri generally hates J-pop…unless she’s being particularly violent. All of the fight scenes in Lineage were written to J-pop. I have no idea why, she apparently likes the contrast. Specifically, the scene midway through where she’s trailing demon magic through the city and sees the kid being grabbed as a sacrifice–that was when she first specified “PUT ON THE J-POP, BITCH.”

Evanescence – “My Immortal”
I don’t think you can write a book about someone grieving as deeply as Peri without including this song. Of course, Peri is so self-absorbed she has no idea that this is how Nicolette feels about losing Annalise.
If you have to leave//I wish that you would just leave//Your presence still lingers here//And it won’t leave me alone

X Japan – “Forever Love“
The only reason there’s a soft romantic acoustic song on this playlist is because it was played at Peri’s wedding (prior to the book, and therefore prior to her being a socipathic demon merc we all know and love).

Jonatha Brooke – “What You Don’t Know“
Try to remember, try to forget//Those yesterdays bleeding through

Apocalyptica – “Farewell“
Peri contemplates suicide and picks up the gun in Zara’s apartment after she escapes Bravo Division (and blows everything up).

Linkin Park – “Breaking the Habit“
This is basically Peri’s song about being a terrible, unhappy person doing awful things and…well, perhaps not breaking out of it, but at least contemplating change and maybe not killing herself.
Memories consume//Like opening the wound//I’m picking me apart again

Florence + The Machine – “Falling“
Because falling’s not the problem//When I’m falling I’m in peace//It’s only when I hit the ground//It causes all the grief

Apocalyptica – “Worlds Collide“
The climax of Lineage was written to this.

Utada Hikaru (U2 Cover) – “With or Without You”
It’s back to Utada for my Peri/Nic theme. Although it’s too sappy and Peri would never admit it, yes, absolutely, this was their theme while writing.
See the stone set in your eyes//See the thorn twist in your side//I wait for you

Beck – “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime”
An epilogue song, and one that encapsulates Peri by the end of the book, IMO.

Soundtrack Sunday – SOULLESS Edition

Soundtrack Sunday – REBELLION Edition

Soundtrack Sunday – DIAL V FOR VAMPIRE Edition

Soundtrack Sunday – EXHUMED Edition

“9 Crimes” Bonus:

“Sunrise” Bonus:

Soundtrack Sunday – LINEAGE Edition

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