New Taylor Swift Video

So, a few things.

First of all, quick update on the writing, because I've been posting a lot of "fluff" lately and I don't want any readers to think I'm off the wagon as far as progress on book 5 is concerned. I'm not! Progress on Dawnrise continues to go well; I'm currently working through Part II of the novel (of four parts). I'm hoping to cross the midpoint threshold before May is out, and then get the rest of the book done in June. So far, I'm feeling very confident about the book. It's a bit surreal to be ending the series I've been working on pretty exclusively for the past six years, but it's awesome, too.

(Also, brief side note, I'm hoping I have some more stuff to announce relatively soon. I've got a number of balls in the air in regard to future projects after the Chaos Queen Quintet, and I'm hoping one or more of them finds a nice home very soon.)

Secondly, Avengers: Endgame was, just, WOW. I'm still sort of reeling from it, but my first impressions are that it was a worthy "ending" to the franchise. Or, at least, to the first four phases of the MCU or whatever. I'd honestly be happy if they called it here, but they're not going to kill they're golden-egg laying goose, you know? Anyway, I thought it was very good. I might post more thoughts on that here later, and it's possible my opinion will change (my opinion of Star Wars VIII went from "that was pretty great!" to "this is not as good as I thought it was" to "this is a dumpster fire of missed opportunity occasionally spattered with great moments" each time I watched it, so all bets are off I suppose). But, right now, I thought it was incredibly well done.

Ok, and now for the whole reason I'm writing this post.

Taylor Swift is back, ya'll!

Okay, slight context: I'm a reasonably hardcore swiftie. Been a fan of her music since Fearless, been a fan of her fan community (seriously they're a bunch of Sherlock Holmesian detectives over there, just spend some time in the TS subreddit if you don't believe me) for slightly less time. I'm not going to go into the details of the how's and why's as to why I like Taylor Swift and her music (I mean, is that even necessary?), but, you know, it's just an FYI thing. That's one of my corners of geekdom, if you will (the subject of a blog post I've been meaning to write for a while, actually, and one I might even get around to one day).

So. TS fans have been going nuts over the past couple weeks (past couple months, really) at all of the alleged hints and clues that TS may or may not have planted (some she definitely did), and it all led to the midnight release of "ME!," her new track and music video. (I was initially worried when I heard the track featured Brandon Urie of Panic! at the Disco--that band is hit and miss for me, and even their hits have never been that memorable imo--but he nails his part, his voice is perfect for the track, and it blends well with Taylor's.

It's pretty great, honestly.

Clearly the era of TS7 will take a brighter turn than TS6 (Reputation), which I'm okay with. I love me some darkness, and while I loved a lot of aspects of the Reputation era, this is certainly more true to form for her. My main criticism of Reputation was actually that TS occasionally seemed...uncomfortable in the darkness. When she did it well it was awesome, but sometimes it felt a bit forced. Either way it was a step out of her comfort zone, which I think is praiseworthy, and for the most part she nailed it, but I'm excited to see what she'll do as she comes back to a more familiar tone--and how she changes and innovates it, hopefully.

Yikes. This is just scratching the surface of my TS fandom, and I'm going to leave it there for now. One day I might write a big long thingy about how I feel towards all of TS' discography, but that is not this day.

Today, let me just show you this:

New Audiomachine Album: Exogenesis

A new Audiomachine album came out recently, so of course I've been all about it. I've been a big fan of Audiomachine for a number of years, now--they're basically my go-to writing music. I'm partial to Audiomachine's music particularly for fantasy/sci-fi writing. Their tracks are innovative, interesting, but also untainted, as it were (I love movie soundtracks, for example, but sometimes find it difficult to write with them playing in the background because they just make me think of the films). Audiomachine tracks are often used in trailers, and I'll usually recognize one when that happens, but by then I've usually listened to the track dozens of times, and don't mind the association, because it's already been more associated with whatever I'm working on than anything else.

So, long story short, check out Audiomachine if you're a fantasy/sci-fi author looking for writing music (or if you just want to listen to cool, epic tracks). They're awesome, and Exogenesis is no exception. In fact, it's my current soundtrack as I write book one in my new trilogy :-).

The Hymn of Acxiom

I randomly came across this song on reddit and now it's been playing on repeat for me as I write the new novel (because, you know, AI). I think it's cool.

Also, it's introduced me to Vienna Teng, whose music I've been enjoying in general, as well.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Theme: Epic-ized

I mean, does this really require an explanation?

Hope ya'll had a great weekend.

2 Mello, "Magic Ruins Everything Around Me," and "Masamune Problems"

Just a friendly reminder that 2 Mello exists and he once mashed up the FFVI soundtrack with a Wu-Tang Clan album. My favorite track below.

Also, he's mixed the Chrono Trigger soundtrack with some Jay-Z lyrics, and that is awesome as well. My favorite track from that is "Masamune Problems" if you want to give it a listen.

There's cool stuff in this world!

New Audiomachine Album: ASCENDANCE

It's no secret that I'm a big Audiomachine fan, so whenever they come out with a new album, I'm all over it. Well, their newest collection, Ascendance, just became available on Apple Music, and I'm loving it. I'll have to give it a few weeks to be sure, but I think it's one of my top three or four albums they've released.

Some context: Audiomachine creates my favorite writing music. They make epic music (mostly for movie trailers), and it fits perfectly with an epic fantasy writer who loves to write with music in the background (me).

So, if you're a writer--especially a fantasy writer--and you like writing music, you should definitely check them out!

New Audiomachine Album

A new Audiomachine album just came out a few days ago!

If you aren't aware, I'm a big fan of Audiomachine--their albums are my go-to, all-purpose epic writing music. This new one, titled Volturnus, is my current soundtrack for revising book 3.

It's cool. Also, book 3 is going to be good.

#AuthorLifeMonth Day Whodunnit: Chaos Queen Theme

Back when we were working on the book trailer for DUSKFALL, we had some original music commissioned for the project, and the composer recently put it all together into a full theme and it is AWESOME!

Huge thanks to Mark Hoy for producing such amazing music, and to Garrett Gibbons at Cosmic Reach Media for putting together an amazing book trailer.

Check it out!

Here's a great track

So I recently came across the trailer for the first Dead Island video game. It's...wow. It's beautiful. Incredibly well-done. I've never played the franchise, but I remember not picking it up precisely because reviews were not great and it didn't turn out being a type of play style I particularly enjoy. But say what you will about the game...this trailer is objectively good, and in large part because of the soundtrack: a track called "Dead Island Trailer Theme" (what it lacks for in titular creativity it makes up for in quiet, emotional, escalating loops) by a composer named Giles Lamb. I've looked up some of his other stuff, and it's pretty good, but I have to say I love this track and I really enjoy this trailer. It's become a staple in my writing soundtrack. So I'm sharing it with you today. Enjoy!

#AuthorLifeMonth Day 7: Writing Music

Ahhhh, writing music.

Some writers cannot write while music is playing, but I, fortunately, am not of that breed. I usually avoid music with lyrics while I'm writing, but that is certainly not always the case. So, without further ado, let me share with you some of my absolute favorites when it comes to writing music.

Audiomachine

From their website, Audiomachine is "a boutique, motion picture advertising music collective, specializing in original epic music and bone crunching sound design for theatrical trailers, television commercials and video game advertising campaigns." Audiomachine is my go-to writing music. I own every single one of their albums, and I think each track of theirs has 50+ plays in iTunes (with the exception of their newest albums).

I love their music first and foremost because it is awesome—"epic" to say the least. It's powerful, atmospheric, and conveys a number of different tones that are all perfect for writing dark epic fantasy. But I also love their music because I don't really associate it with anything--while I'll occasionally recognize a track of theirs on a movie or video game trailer, most of their music is not on official soundtracks, but on their own albums. This means that, for all intents and purposes, their music is the soundtrack to my writing. That's how I think of it, anyway, and it's pretty cool to (pretend to) have your own soundtrack, I must say.

Their most popular album is Chronicles, and that is a great one, but my current favorites are actually Phenomena, Decimus, and Magnus: B-Sides. If you are a writer of fantasy of any kind, and you remotely like music at all, you NEED to check them out.

Max Richter

Did you see Arrival? Did you wonder what that gorgeous composition was that opened and closed the film? I did, and that's how I came across Max Richter. (That track from Arrival is called "On the Nature of Daylight," by the way, by Max Richter of course. You're welcome.) Richter's music is subdued and subtle, but impeccably composed and capable of moments of great power. When I want music that isn't quite as bold as Audiomachine, I go straight to Max Richter. I've particularly fallen in love with his magnum opus, Sleep--an eight-hour tour de force that I've now listened to many times over.

Soundtracks (particularly from Game of Thrones)

While I enjoy soundtracks to a lesser extent, they do provide some variety to my typical Audiomachine- and Max Richter-induced music euphorias. My favorites include just about any season's soundtrack to the television show Game of Thrones (Ramin Djawadi is incredible) and the Skyrim video game soundtrack (which is surprisingly atmospheric). Both are worth a listen.

Sigur Rós

I've talked about Sigur Rós before, and they are easily one of my all-time favorite bands. The only problem with listening to Sigur Rós while writing, however, is that sometimes I get too into the music. SR creates the type of music in which you need to fully immerse yourself to fully appreciate. I like listening to them when I'm brainstorming and world building, and sometimes when I'm outlining, but I rarely listen to them when I'm full-on composing (unless a song of theirs fits perfectly the scene I'm writing, which has actually happened on a few occasions).

So, if you haven't listened to Sigur Rós, they are an absolute must. They are one of the true sources of beauty in this world. Buy an album of theirs, turn up the highest-quality stereo or headphones you own, turn all the lights off, find a comfy chair, and let their music take you.

Journey

So, speaking of the Hero's Journey, I was totally at a Journey concert the other day...

My wife works for this great tech company called Qualtrics, and they had this big conference summit thingy last week, and part of it included them hosting a Journey concert (to say they treat their employees and customers well is an understatement). So, Raych and I went to that, and it cool. And look! Videos:

"Separate Ways" is certainly not a bad way to start:

"Lights," with some very literal accompaniment:

"Faithfully," perhaps my favorite Journey song:

And of course what song could you end with but "Don't Stop Believin'":

It was a fun thing.

In other news...well, there is a lot of other news. Stay tuned for updates.

Favs of 2012

So I've been meaning to do this the past few years I've had a blog, but my posting has been so sporadic that I've never gotten around to it.  I tried to limit these selections to things that were actually published/released in the calendar year of 2012.  So, without further ado, I present to you some of my favorite things of 2012:

Movies

The Dark Knight Rises deserves a spot in this list, certainly.  Overall I thought the film was quite strong.  A bit pretentious, a bit too big for its britches, but Tom Hardy was a brilliant Bane (even if his character's motivations made little to no sense), Anne Hathaway was a more-than-decent Catwoman, and the movie had a relatively positive ending which made my wife happy if nothing else.  In my opinion, the previous installment in the trilogy is by far the best of the three, but this one was very good, indeed.

Marvel's The Avengers was the other major superhero film this year, and honestly, I think, although I'm still not entirely sure, I preferred it to DKR, if only slightly.  (You can tell how strongly I feel about that.)  Partly because I'm an incorrigible Joss Whedon fanboy, partly because...well, actually, the Joss Whedon thing might be the main reason.  But really, the dialog of The Avengers was top notch--perfect for Robert Downey Jr.--and it was a well-crafted story.  A perfect mix of comedy, action, and drama, as Joss Whedon is prone to produce.  I'm very much looking forward to the next installments, assuming they'll also have Joss's hand in them.

Lincoln, and not the Vampire Hunter one.  Thank Daniel Day Lewis in an unparalleled performance for this one.  The film was interesting, and there was some admirable acting to be had all around, but, wow...Daniel Day Lewis is Lincoln.  It seems silly to say that about a historical figure who passed away more than a century ago that no one alive can legitimately recall memories of, but, well...it's true.  Give him the Academy Award and get it over with, already.

Pitch Perfect was this year's Easy A (although the jokes weren't ever quite as good, in my opinion), with a sprinkle of Glee on top.  In other words, it was easily my favorite comedy of the year.  Great arrangements of the music--I really wish Beca's remixes were available on some kind of soundtrack--and great singing.  Anna Kendrick really surprised me here, but see more about that below.  (Far, far below.)  Rebel Wilson also pulled through with a hilarious performance (but, then again, when doesn't she?).  And, of course, there was profuse exposure to both vomiting and the "Aca-" prefix.  What more could one aca-ask for in a comedy?

But despite all the amazing films I've seen this year, I have to say that Les Misérables takes the cake for overall favorite.  For me, this was the best version of the musical I could imagine.  Which is strange when, musically, none of the performers produced stand-out versions of their respective songs (with the clear exception of Eponine; Samantha Barkes' version of "On My Own" is by far the best I've ever heard).  Some of the singing was, honestly, downright mediocre.  But what did absolutely blow me away was the emotion with which the characters performed (thanks in large part to the unique method of filming the musical).  The portrayal of the guts of this film is completely unparalleled on stage or otherwise, and for good reason; the stage isn't exactly the best place to get up close and personal with actors and their characters, after all.  That said, I tend to value strong characterization over powerful music, which is why this version of the production wins out overall for me, and why I'm pretty sure it's my favorite movie of the year.

Honorable Mention:  The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey, was actually a pleasant surprise for me.  I have to admit that, at first, I was one of the haters.  I mean, come on--three movies?  Excessive.  But after seeing this first one, I might be a convert, and it comes down to the fact that I am such a fan of Peter Jackson's interpretation of Tolkien's universe--I know this is blasphemous, but I'm pretty sure I enjoy it more than the original universe itself--that I'll take any excuse whatsoever to journey back into that world.  This movie was just such an excuse, and honestly, I think I enjoyed it more than the source.  The creative licenses taken to make the story just a bit darker, to aggrandize the scale of things, was actually spot-on for me.  Some great acting here, of course.  Martin Freeman was born to play Bilbo Baggins.  I'm ecstatic to see more of Benedict Cumberbatch as the Necromancer (and Smaug?).  The film was far from perfect, though.  Formula-wise, it followed the key plot points of The Fellowship of the Ring a bit too closely.  While I enjoyed Thorin as a strong, darker character, he was a bit too Aragorn-like for me.  But, generally, a really good film.

Movies I haven't seen yet but might have easily made it on the list:  Silver Linings Playbook, Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, and Cabin in the Woods

TV Shows

30 Rock.  I just can't get enough of it.  Tina Fey is brilliant and hilarious, and I want to be her when I grow up.  Also, this show doesn't seem to have the severe decrease in quality that happens to most sitcoms in later years.  30 Rock is sitcom elite, in the same category as Seinfeld and Arrested Development.

Glee has a spot on this list, of course.  I've already written a lot about why I think this show is so great.

Breaking Bad is so dark and disturbing, and I love it.  Fantastic acting.  I've yet to see anyone chronicle one man's horrific downward spiral so well, in print or on the screen.  Except, perhaps, Joe Abecrombie.  But more on him later.

I voiced some brief thoughts about The Walking Dead a while ago.  And, honestly, my opinion of the show has only gotten higher.  It started out cool, but the cool factor was kind of it.  The second season was interesting, with some awesome story lines as well as some less-than-awesome ones.  But this third season...yeesh.  I don't know what they've done over there in that writer's room, but they've gotten it right.  Some stuff is still kind of overboard (I think it's difficult not to completely geek out and go overboard when dealing with the zombie apocalypse), but this may very well be my favorite show on television right now.

I was fortunate enough to discover Sherlock (via some vehement recommendations--almost threats, really--from my family) this year.  And this may be cheating somewhat, because I'm not sure any new episodes were actually aired in 2012, but who cares.  This show is amazing and I love it.  Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (a dynamic duo, indeed) are masterful in every episode.  Andrew Scott is a deliciously horrifying Jim Moriarty.  The episodes are smart, funny, and well-written.  I absolutely can't wait for the next series in 2013.  Rat, wedding, bow...

Books

I've read an uncharacteristically small number of books this year, and an even smaller number of books that were actually published this year, as you may be able to tell by the meager pickings below (a few of which are a bit of a reach, in my opinion, to be placed on a best-of list).  Nevertheless, here are the books I most appreciated from 2012.  Because I feel a bit sheepish giving books the short end of the stick, I'll post below my favorite selections from 2010* and 2011**.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  John Green, in my opinion, is perhaps the best YA fiction writer around, and The Fault in Our Stars is beautiful.  It's about teens with cancer, and it's simultaneously horrifying, touching, depressing, and funny.  Well, maybe not simultaneously.  It's all of those things at one point or another, how about that.  Green excels at snappy, realistic teen dialog, expressing genuine emotions without any feeling of cheesy-ness, and overall telling a great story.  This is my favorite book of 2012.

Red Country by Joe Abercrombie.  This may be a close second to The Fault in Our Stars.  Abercrombie delivers another solid fantasy novel, this time spiked with western gunslinging--er, swordswinging--goodness.  I hold fast with my belief that Abercrombie is one of the best fantasy authors writing right now.  His character development and portrayal is his strongest point, and the more I read from him, the more I realize how few weak points he actually has.  Red Country was awesome.  If anything, I would have appreciated something more of a variety of viewpoints in this book, and it went a little long in some areas, but overall was a top-notch book.

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson.  While I have some serious reservations about Sanderson's The Way of Kings, this next installment in his Mistborn series was one of the best books I've read from him.  Sanderson sometimes has a tendency to wax a bit longwinded, WoK being the case in point, but this was an uncharacteristically truncated novel from him that worked out quite well.  The Mistborn world is still my favorite creation from Sanderson, and I loved seeing the continuation of it into a (yet another) fantasy western.  I'm very interested to see where he takes the rest of this series.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 Volume 1:  Freefall by Joss Whedon, Andrew Chambliss, Georges Jeanty, and Karl Moline.  How can I not love the comic book continuation of my favorite television show of all time?  Season 8 was good, if slightly outlandish, but this first installment of Season 9 seems to come back to what made Buffy great in the first place:  a girl with a calling who doesn't want it, and enemies who want to destroy all that she loves because of it.  Also: great dialog, funny one-liners, all the classic characters and then some, and so forth.  I'm very excited to see where Season 9 goes from here ("Where do we go...from here?" [little music notes]).

Other Stuff That Was Great in 2012

Red by Taylor Swift - Okay, I'm a Swiftie (is that a thing?).  I'll admit, it is weird how much I like Taylor Swift.  But hey, even I need some nice, wholesome (or angsty, relationship-heavy) media intake sometimes and Taylor Swift does the trick.  And you know what?  She's talented.  This isn't my favorite album of hers, I don't think, but it is very good.  She's yet to disappoint me.

The Heist by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis - This album renewed my faith in rap music.  I've been listening to rap since elementary school, since Bone Thugs N Harmony and Naughty by Nature, and while there are a few interesting rap artists still out there, the majority are auto-tuning songs about drugs, sex, and why they are so much better than all the other rappers out there.  Macklemore doesn't rap about that.  He raps about consumerism ("Wing$"), Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule ("Ten Thousand Hours"), same-sex marriage ("Same Love"), addiction and recovery ("Starting Over"), and how cool it is to be shopping at a thrift store ("Thrift Shop").  Oh, and Ryan Lewis knows how to drop a sick beat.  It's the freshest breath of air from the music industry I've had in some time, and easily my favorite album of the year.

Anna Kendrick continues to impress.  She was in Twilight, and that was whatever.  But then she was in Up in the Air, and that was really, really good.  And then she was in Pitch Perfect, and turns out she can sing, too.  Pretty awesome.  She's almost ousted Emma Stone as my favorite young actress.  Almost.  ("Young" actress as opposed to my favorite, er, regular actress, Natalie Portman [yeesh...glad she'll never be reading this], or my favorite actress of all time, Audrey Hepburn).

Anne Hathaway, while not my favorite actress by any stretch, belongs on this list only because there seems to be an unusual number of Hathaway Haters out there.  Haters gonna hate, apologists gonna...apologize.  That's right, I'm an Anne Apologist (see what I did there?  Hathaway Hater...Anne Apologist...yeah...).  She was a great Catwoman (one of the best in my memory, although admittedly there's not much competition there), a seriously-blow-my-mind-amazing Fantine (if she doesn't scoop up the Oscar for that one, I'll have an aneurism), and she's been very good in a number of other films as well, Rachel Getting Married being the first that comes to mind.  So, please, don't hate.  Congratulate.

John Stewart and Stephen Colbert.  I told my brother-in-law that I watch to Stephen Colbert to laugh, and John Stewart to stay vaguely informed (because, let's face it, regular news programs are just boring--although Anderson Cooper isn't half bad a journalist/reporter/whatever he is, if you ask me).  My brother-in-law replied that he also watch to Stephen Colbert to laugh, but he watches John Stewart to get angry.  Either way, both statements are pretty accurate.  If you watch Colbert, you're going to laugh.  And if you watch Stewart, you're going to be vaguely informed, and get angry (although whether it's at Stewart himself or the stories he covers will depend drastically on your personal politics).  Anyway, these guys are brilliant, hilarious, and our nation (or, at least, our late-night cable) would be less than it is without them.

Benedict Cumberbatch.  Sherlock in Sherlock.  The Necromancer, and Smaug, in The Hobbit.  The villain in the new Star Trek film (whoever it is...I'm still hoping for Kahn, but let's be realistic).  He's bad, he's British, and his baritone voice is a special effect in and of itself.  Seriously, just check out the trailer below.  It's ridiculous.  So, yeah, coolest actor around, basically.



And, well, that's it for me.  This was a crazy long post, so if any of you actually made it here, to the end, with me, kudos and congratulations.  You are probably my mother.  I accept that, and embrace it.  Thanks, Mom :-).


*  Top 10 Books I read (but were not necessarily published) in 2010:
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Best European Fiction 2010 ed. Aleksandar Hemon
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
On Writing:  A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

**  Top 10 Books I read (but were not necessarily published) in 2011:
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 by Joss Whedon and various other writers and artists
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka
Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver
The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
Feed by Mira Grant
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin