It’s no secret that music is a big part of many of my novels, from inspiring the titles to influencing the plots to being part of the story itself. I’m not alone in this, I’m sure. Recently my friends at Facebook’s Heroic Fiction League, Nathan Long and John R. Fultz, posted “playlists” of YouTube videos, songs that either their heroes … Read More
A special Halloween greeting
Here’s a special little Halloween treat for all my readers. [divider] [media url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSX_ugVxIEI”]
Announcing Time of the Season
So this year I’m trying something new: through the good folks at Story Vault, I’m releasing a three-story ebook chapbook for the holidays. It includes: “Cold Wind,” a Tufa story that updates us on Bronwyn and Craig from The Hum and the Shiver. “A Ghost, and a Chance,” in which Sir Francis Colby from Blood Groove crosses paths with the … Read More
George Lucas and Elvis: Echoes from 1977
Thirty-five years ago, two things that fundamental changed my life happened in the same summer. In May, Star Wars was released. In August, Elvis Presley died. The arrival of Star Wars turned the thing that everyone in my small town mocked, that had gotten me teased and beaten up, into the hippest thing in the world. Spaceships, aliens and robots … Read More
By Request: the Music I Grew Up With
After reading The Hum and the Shiver, musician Andrew Brasfield asked me, “What kind of music did you grow up on?” Given that music is such a big part of the Tufa mythology, and that almost every one of my other books has at least some musical element or inspiration, it seemed a valid question. Being from the rural south, … Read More
A new free song download
After the amazing response to the free download of Jennifer Goree’s song “The Hum and the Shiver” (still available here), I’m delighted to offer another freebie. “Pirate,” the song featured in the book trailer for Wake of the Bloody Angel, is now available on the novel’s book page. Scroll down a bit, and you’ll see the words FREE DOWNLOAD. Thanks … Read More
Special gift to fans of THE HUM AND THE SHIVER
If you go to the book page for The Hum and the Shiver here on my website and scroll down, you’ll see the words FREE DOWNLOAD. Click on the link, and you’ll get the entire song “The Hum and the Shiver,” as featured in the book trailer. If you’re curious, you can also go to this blog post and read about how Jennifer … Read More
The Music of the Firefly Witch
Back when I first wrote the stories that comprise volume one of The Firefly Witch tales, I also discovered the use of music to set the mood for writing. I know from talking to other writers that it’s a common thing now, and probably was back then–Stephen King blasted AC/DC when he was working, for example. But with no internet … Read More
Guest blog: Dale Short on the music of the South
Dale Short is the author of Turbo’s Very Life and The Shining Shining Path, and the host of “Music from Home,” which airs on Oldies 101.5 in Jasper, AL and is archived here. I was born in the middle of the woods near a coal-mining town in northern Alabama, and I grew up in church. Literally. Seeing as everyone in … Read More