Funk-N-Fiction

Today’s Words & Music Monday post features one of my favorite authors (and favorite people in general), Yasmine Galenorn. We’re helping to celebrate the release of the 7th installment of her The Wild Hunt series, Witching Hour: An Ante-Fae Adventure.

Yasmine loves music as much as I do, so this is a perfect way to introduce the book, and her writing.

My readers know that I write with music a good share of the time. Every book of mine that has come out since the mid-2000’s, has had a playlist in it, and seeing I have over sixty-five books out, that’s a lot of music. And every playlist is different. Now some songs will transfer through to each book in each series and there are a few that appear on almost every single playlist, but each series has a different tone, and so the nature of their playlists is, of course, different.

Almost every series I’ve written has also had what I call its “theme” song. It’s a song—or songs—that reminds me most of the mood of that particular series.

The two series I’m most currently focused on are my Wild Hunt series and the Whisper Hollow Series.

For the Wild Hunt, there are three theme songs—one for Ember’s books, and two for Raven’s books. For Ember, it’s Hymn To Herne by S.J. Tucker. And for Raven, the two songs are: The Beat Goes On by Cher, and The Devil’s Bride by Jay Price.

The world of Whisper Hollow is probably closest to the Wild Hunt in the songs that I connect with it. For that series, there are three: I Want to Walk You Home by Fats Domino, Coming For You Baby by Jay Price, and You Are the Wilderness by Voxhaul Broadcast.

When it comes to the Bewitching Bedlam series, the song Underwater Boys by Shriekback not only in captures the mood, but it was the inspiration for one of the characters — Fata Morgana. And Boys of Bedlam (an old folk song, the version by Spiral Dance) actually inspired the entire series.

For Fury Unbound, the songs that seem to encapsulate the series best is You Don’t Own the Road, by The Kills, Grind by Tangerine Dream, and Absurd, by Fluke.

My Indigo Court Series has one clear standout theme song—Half Light, by Low and tomandandy. In fact, when I heard it on the Mothman Prophecies, I knew that was the mood that the Indigo Court Series would have.

And lastly, for my Otherworld Series — now complete — the song was Believe, by The Bravery.

There are times I don’t listen to music, though. Sometimes I need silence, and sometimes, I listen to a type of instrumental music that seems to spur on my creativity. I listen to songs by Marconi Union that were developed with sound therapists to reduce anxiety, and they also seem to help me focus better on my work. I’m looking into more of this type of music. Neuroscientists say that certain songs not only calm people down, but they can help blood pressure, and breathing.

Music is a vital part of my life, I’m an audiophile. I love music and feel it into my bones. So it’s no surprise that it not only spurs on my writing, but that my characters tend to listen to a lot of music and you’ll see them talk about their favorite songs, or dance to them, in my books. 

I don’t just arbitrarily assign my characters their favorite music. I notice when I’m writing, characters will perk up with some songs and come through stronger, and since each character has a different personality, it’s no surprise to me that they like different types of music. The only music I’ve never had a character like is country music, and it’s probably because I can’t stand it myself, and all my characters are part of me to an extent.

New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance. She spent twenty years with traditional publishing, mostly in New York, and the past three years, she’s gone fully indie. In the past, she has written paranormal mysteries, and nonfiction metaphysical books. With over sixty-five books on the shelves, she is the 2011 Career Achievement Award Winner in Urban Fantasy, given by RT Magazine. 

She lives in Kirkland WA with her husband Samwise and their cats, where she collects daggers, teapots, and tattoos.  Yasmine is a shamanic witch, has been in the Craft since 1980 and has created her own tradition, and is considered an elder in the Pagan Community. Yasmine can be reached via her website at Galenorn.com.