Nancy E. Dunne's Blog, page 20

Music Monday: This one's Blue...Monday

 Right, so I'm a child of the 80s. Anyone that knows me knows I wear my GenX with pride, and will even when I turned HALF A CENTURY OLD on Saturday. This song called out to my teenage years from an ad for a video game on telly and I couldn't stop until I found it. This is Em fighting the Shadow Guardians in Rift and [redacted because I cannot seem to avoid spoilers] in Storm, even before I wrote the part where [omg seriously?] that fits it so perfectly. I even had another traffic light moment, though I didn't cry this time. That could be due to the fact that [it's out in January, can you please just wait till then?] in the climactic scene, and this was just a fight. Who knows.

Anyway, let's finish this Nano month strong with a piece that could go behind so many of my fight scenes or just as a camera pans over the Oranian landscape...

Another Trip around the Sun...

I wanted to be an author, so I
stole a blue box and ran away. Apparently when my sister asked me what my plans were for my birthday and I said:

1. To tell everyone I'm 30.

2. To tell everyone I'm 45.

3. To completely ignore it and hope it goes away like I did on my 40th birthday when I was in the US and Simon was still in the UK.

None of those have worked. Somehow, I can figure out the mojo for selling a book, getting a dog to eat breakfast, and making the internet magically start working again at home...but I couldn't avoid the march of time. You can see a photo of one of my last, desperate acts here, but the chameleon circuit wasn't the only thing that wasn't working.

As of today, I am Sally O'Malley, FIFTY YEARS OLD.

Someone tell my brain that when it comes back from wherever it goes when I walk into a room and forget why. Someone tell my body that when the aforementioned brain decides we need to jump up from the couch and then BAM oh, that's what gravity is...

Most people pontificate on the occasion of a milestone such as this. Y'all five loyal Lettuce Readers should know by now that I'm not most people. I'm barely one people, though there are lots of people...and Qatu, and elves, and dragonkind and AI drones and Irish Fae running amok in my head. It's like a badly stitched TikTok in there on a good day.

So I will leave with this thought: I am eternally grateful to the village that has raised me up to this age, and I look forward to the second half of this life with all the excitement and trepidation that comes with being fifty years old.

That's right, I'm FIFTY. FIFTY YEARS OLD. And I like to kick, and stretch, and KICK. (Oh, Molly Shannon, I"m so sorry.)

Music Monday: More Mood Music

Let's start by saying that I am not the Beatles fan my partner is, not by a longshot. I know enough to know that there was a song at some point called Eleanor Rigby...but not enough to know that "All of the lonely people...." was a part of that song. This version is making the rounds on TikTok right now, and it is just lovely. A total soundtrack song - and when I listen to it, I can see Em and Lex in very heroic situations doing very heroic things that I can't talk about because of SPOILERS, SWEETIE. But this is definitely on repeat for Nano.

I will say, though that the theme of the song resonates with a novel written about escaping from a lonely existence in the real world to a game world...and finding out that it has its own challenges. "Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door/Who is it for?" makes me think of Maddie putting on the "mask" of Em and doing things that she can't do, but who is that for?

Eleanor Rigbyby The Beatles/arranged by Cody Fry
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in the church where the wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Father Mackenzie
Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working
Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
All the lonely people (all the lonely people)
All the lonely people (all the lonely people)
All the lonely people (all the lonely people)
Eleanor Rigby
Died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father Mackenzie
Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved
All the lonely people
All the lonely people
(Ah, look at all the lonely people)
(Ah, look at all the lonely people)
(Ah, look at all the lonely people)

Music Monday: I know, I know, he's dead...right?

So I discovered this song via a friend on FB and while I know the words and the song...this version is so Taeben it's ridiculous. I swear he's been on my mind so much lately that I think a backstory for him may be in the works. I mean, it isn't like he is going to show up in another Orana novel, right? (insert malicious giggle here)
But for now, enjoy the latest addition to my writing playlist. Here's hoping this doesn't bleed into my current NaNoWriMo...


You Are My Sunshineby The Dead South
The other night dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I bowed my head and I cried

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

I'll always love you and make you happy
If you will only say the same
But if you leave me and love another
You'll regret it all some day

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

You told me once, dear, you really loved me
And no one else could come between
But now you've left me to love another
You have shattered all of my dreams

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away
Please don't take my sunshine away

Signing Event! Carolina Renaissance Festival, 13-14 November 2021!

And speaking of my current Nanowrimo project...I will have copies of the first book in the series (plus the rest of my Orana novels and Proud Racer/Clobberpaws) this weekend at the Carolina Renaissance Festival. I'm participating again in a book signing/author meet and greet event with other local Fantasy and SciFi authors. Come out and see us if you're local!!

 

Music Monday: Lex and Em...and Alex

First let me say that this song is a total guilty pleasure for me because the movie it was written for is the same...and I know it is bad and problematic and all that and yet, I love it. So there. When I heard this in Stranger Things I was up and dancing around...in my head, at least. 
But for now, this song speaks to me of a woman trapped between real life and game life, and the men who may be a little of both. Now back to my Nano noveling!


"Twist Of Fate"
(from "Two Of A Kind" soundtrack)


Do we deserve a second chance?
How did we fall into this circumstance?
We weren't so straight and narrow
This is much more than we deserve

A higher voice has called the tune
Two hearts that lost the beat will now resume
The gift of life extension
By divine intervention

It's gotta be a strange twist of fate
Telling me that Heaven can wait
Telling me to get it right this time
Life doesn't mean a thing
Without the love you bring
Love is what we've found
The second time around

Don't understand what's going on
Woke up this morning, all the hurt was gone
This is a new beginning
I'm back in the land of the living

It's gotta be a strange twist of fate
Telling me that Heaven can wait
Telling me to get it right this time
Life doesn't mean a thing
Without the love you bring
Love is what we've found
The second time around

Music Monday: Home

The first time I heard this song was at the end of Bright...one of the worst SciFi movies I have ever seen. But the song stuck with me...and now it strikes me how perfect it is for this month's Nanowrimo project. And that's all I'm going to say, because of Spoilers, Sweetie. 


Homeby Bebe Rexha, Machine Gun Kelly, and X Ambassadors
Home
A place where I can go
To take this off my shoulders
Someone take me home
Home
A place where I can go
To take this off my shoulders
Someone take me home, someone take me
Look, I didn't power through the struggle
Just to let a little trouble, knock me out of my position
And interrupt the vision
After everything I witnessed, after all of these decisions
All these miles, feets, inches
They can't add up to the distance
That I have been through, just to get to
A place where even if there's no closure, I'm still safe
I still ache from trying to keep pace
Somebody give me a sign, I'm starting to lose faith
Now tell me: how did all my dreams turn to nightmares?
How did I lose it when I was right there?
Now I'm so far that it feels like it's all gone to pieces
Tell me why the world never fights fair?
I'm trying to find
Home
A place where I can go
To take this off my shoulders
Someone take me home
Home
A place where I can go
To take this off my shoulders
Someone take me home(It's been a long time coming)
Someone take me
Hooooome, ho-o-o-o-me
Hooome, hooome
Someone take me
Hooooome, ho-o-o-o-me
Hoooome, hooome
Look, I been through so much pain
And it's hard to maintain, any smile on my face
'Cause there's madness on my brain
So I gotta make it back, but my home ain't on the map
Gotta follow what I'm feeling to discover where it's at
I need the (memory)
In case this fate is forever
Just to be sure these last days are better
And if I have any (enemies)
To give me the strength to look the
Devil in the face and make it home safe
Now tell me: how did all my dreams turn to nightmares?
How did I lose it when I was right there?
Now I'm so far that it feels like it's all gone to pieces
Tell me why the world never fights fair?
I'm trying to find
Home
A place where I can go
To take this off my shoulders
Someone take me home
Someone take me
I found no cure for the loneliness
I found no cure for the sickness
Nothing here feels like homeCrowded streets, but I'm all alone
I found no cure for the loneliness
I found no cure for the sickness
Nothing here feels like home
Crowded streets, but I'm all alone
Someone take me
Hoooome, ho-o-o-o-me
Take me home
Hoooome, hooome (take me home)
Someone take me
Hoooome, ho-o-o-o-me (someone, someone)
Nothing here feels like home(Hoooome, hooome)
(Take me home)
Someone take me
Hoooome, ho-o-o-o-me (someone, someone)
Nothing here feels like home(Hoooome, hooome)
(Take me home)
Someone take me

Strid: A Luminous Beings Mystery Launch Day!

It's here! It's finally here!!! The Luminous Beings series has officially begun as its first volume is published today. Click here or on the cover there to visit the book on Amazon, where it is in Kindle, paperback, and hardback format as of today! I can barely believe this day has arrived because it seems forever since Lucy and Annie first knocked on my door to tell me their story.
Several years ago, in what I lovingly call The Before Times , my sewing partner, Rennie ride-or-die, and friend Anne suggested that I should write a book about a duo that solved crime and looked steampunk-fabulous while larking about with giant hounds...not unlike those called Baskervilles. This was after I wrote a short piece about a train heist gone wrong, a mysterious woman with an Irish Wolfhound, and a gun that could shoot a rope of pure electricity rather than bullets. 
I did, and after several revisions and the decision not to include ALL the characters I came up with in one book (because that, children, is how 200k word count/800p fantasy novels are born), I managed to produce the lovely book-baby shown here. It is a steampunk-adjacent reimagining of West Yorkshire in the Edwardian industrial age, with a retelling of Irish mythology, an underwater gorge, and some very large hounds. 
Lucy and Annie Boyd were orphaned when their father and mother disappeared under strange circumstances. Annie, a tinkerer and inventor, had been working on some clockwork to help her mother after an accident in the mill - but losing her mother did not destroy her interest in creating. Lucy, a bookworm and general loose cannon, helps her sister test her creations with an eye to helping local law enforcement solve crime and clean up the village of Ingrow where they live.
How could they know that the murders at the mill were linked to ancient Celtic warring fae, who made their entrance into the human realm via the Strid, a dangerous underwater gorge in the middle of the River Wharfe?
This book is the product of a love affair with the North of England, and I hope that it will intrigue and inspire you as much as that part of the world did for me - and that you find your own Annie to round out your Lucy, and an Aoife and a Beaux to watch your back.
Just be careful where you discharge those weapons, okay?

Music Monday: Spoilers, Sweetie

Okay, this is the last Monday before Nanowrimo starts, so I'm going to share with you a bit of the WIP I am finishing up in edits now. I hope that I've removed/redacted the spoilery bits. To keep with that theme, I'm not going to tell you which novel this is from, but I hope that when you eventually get it this memory will resonate. 
That said, this is the cinematic trailer from a game, so it already has its own story, but I want to show you what it is like for me as a writer. Sometimes when I heard a piece of music I can SEE the story unfolding along with it. For this one, I was running errands and this piece came on and y'all...I got to a traffic light and just cried. 
I know y'all are not surprised at all. So my suggestion is to hit play on the video and then scroll back up to read the excerpt as you listen. I don't know how this will work...at the very least I'm sharing my crazy.  Enjoy - the video is beautifully done.

[Demi-goddess] had her back to [Hero] and was screaming something incoherent in D’leesh as [Hero] rejoined her body. Everything hurt, but she managed to sit up so that the demi-goddess nearly fell over in shock when she looked back. “YOU?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I thought you were stronger than that.” She got to her feet as [Demi-goddess] scoffed.  "You aren't enough," the demi-goddess jeered. 
They faced off, arms raised and eyes narrowed. Magic crackled and popped in the air, begging for release. [Hero] sent her senses out into the walls of the labyrinth, calling to the souls within. The bright orange-red glow that emanated from the dragon glass walls told her that they were still there. [Demi-goddess] was ranting about this being the end and making grandiose statements about her prowess as well as the terribly intricate plans she had for [hero's] death. But [hero] wasn’t listening - she was calling out to the souls in the wall, gathering them to her cause. She leveled her gaze on the demi-goddess, who was still ranting. “Did you hear me?” 
“I think it would be near impossible not to hear you.”
“You will –“ [Demi-goddess] paused for a moment and looked toward the walls.
“What’s wrong?” [Hero] could barely keep from allowing the malicious grin to spread across her face. She knew what had caught [Demi-goddess]'s attention. The souls were massing near the middle of the labyrinth, and the surge of power was palpable. Only one face remained, pressed against the glass directly behind the demi-goddess – a dark-haired female high elf that reminded [Hero] of her sister. She thought back quickly to the information that was passed on to her before transitioning and found that same face. High Elf. Paladin. That was the ferocity that she saw in those eyes. She made eye contact with [Hero] and nodded, then turned away from the glass and raised a ghostly arm.
“It doesn’t matter what you try; your cheap tricks won’t save you.” The demi-goddess sneered at [Hero], seeming to ignore the movement in the glass. The magic was coalescing around her hands in swirling black clouds that sucked at the light around them. A rumble sounded off in the distance, and [Hero] smiled. “What is that sound?”
"I am [Hero]. I am thunder. The sound you hear is the stampede of the souls you stole, coming for you." The rumble grew steadily until it became a roar. The demi-goddess released the magic in her hands at [hero], then looked over her shoulder at the now-blazing wall of glass to her left. [Hero] was waiting for her attack with a magical shield of crackling red electricity, and [Demi-goddess]'s dark magic slammed into the spinning symbols and dissipated. But the demi-goddess didn’t take the chance for a second attack. Instead, she watched the swirling viscosity on the other side of the wall for a moment and then turned back to face [Hero].
“FATHER!” [Demi-goddess] called out as she raised her hands over her head. “I bring these souls for you! Arise and claim -” [Hero] took full advantage of [Demi-goddess]’s distraction and finally let her most defensive magic fly from the palms of her hands and surround the demi-goddess, just as she’d dreamed of doing back in Bellesea Keep. [Demi-goddess] screamed as the magic swirled around her and then tightened up until it covered her from head to toe. 
Now, [Hero], take her magic. Take it! She cannot stop you.
[Hero] nodded at the telepathic advice from the distant dragon and smiled as she visualized her arms lengthening and reaching into [Demi-goddess]'s chest to pull the magic directly out of her soul. The demi-goddess's eyes flew open. “What are you...doing?” she gasped, her face frozen in a mask of anger and pain.
“What you always knew I could,” [Hero] hissed as she closed those magical fingers around the demi-goddess's core and held it fast. “NOW!” The walls grew brighter and brighter as the souls surged toward the center of the maze. Finally, there was an ear-splitting, resounding boom that shook the ground beneath them. The labyrinth walls began to collapse as though Orana had once again found her voice and was opening up a new chasm. [Hero] almost expected to see dragons spilling out once again from the molten center of the world. She looked toward the middle of the maze where the glow was brightest and then focused on throwing [Demi-goddess] with her magical arms directly into the blaze. 

The demi-goddess flew through the air, and her scream was cut short as she made contact with the magical blast. [Hero] let go, resisting the urge to pull the power into her. That would solve nothing. She watched as the souls surrounded the demi-goddess and could almost make out individual hands and faces. They were intent on killing the one that had taken their souls, and [hero] almost had to look away.
“[HERO]!” She looked in the direction of the voice calling her name and saw that same young paladin floating in between her and the struggling mass. “We will take her, on your command.” A phantom arm solidified into a fiery hand that rose to her glowing face in a salute, and [hero] returned the gesture. She looked through the paladin to the demi-goddess, who was staring at her, no longer able to speak.
“Take her.” A soundless scream formed on the demi-goddess's lips as the souls swirled fast and furious around her. Her eyes widened, and for a moment, [Hero] felt sorry for her. She knew the pain of being left behind by family and friends. She understood that drive for power and the need to control her surroundings with magic. [Hero] pulled back a bit and focused on the souls now attacking her - she understood them too, and they were getting their revenge - something [Hero] might never have.
“[Hero]! Please -” [Demi-goddess]s voice was cut off as the swarm of souls divided into two factions and wrapped around her arms, pulling her apart. Again, [Hero] wanted to look away but couldn’t seem to and watched as the demi-goddess's body was shredded by the magical horde. They glowed brighter and brighter still, and [Hero] finally had to shield her eyes. The roar filled her ears and reverberated through her body for what seemed like an eternity, and then everything fell silent as [Hero] was knocked off her feet by an unseen force.

Music Monday: Unstoppable

 Going along with my love of superheroes and super ballads...this one is a great one for writing inspiration, coupled with one of the best superhero movies I've seen in ages and it doesn't even have Loki! (wrong pantheon) This isn't the original music video but it certainly fits.

Unstoppableby Sia
All smiles, I know what it takes to fool this townI'll do it 'til the sun goes down and all through the night timeOh yeahOh yeah, I'll tell you what you wanna hearLeave my sunglasses on while I shed a tearIt's never the right timeYeah, yeah
I put my armor on, show you how strong how I amI put my armor on, I'll show you that I amI'm unstoppableI'm a Porsche with no brakesI'm invincibleYeah, I win every single gameI'm so powerfulI don't need batteries to playI'm so confidentYeah, I'm unstoppable todayUnstoppable todayUnstoppable todayUnstoppable todayI'm unstoppable today
Break down, only alone I will cry on outYou'll never see what's hiding outHiding out deep downYeah, yeahI know, I've heard that to let your feelings goIs the only way to make friendships growBut I'm too afraid nowYeah, yeah
I put my armor on, show you how strong how I amI put my armor on, I'll show you that I amI'm unstoppableI'm a Porsche with no breaksI'm invincibleYeah, I win every single gameI'm so powerfulI don't need batteries to playI'm so confidentYeah, I'm unstoppable todayUnstoppable todayUnstoppable todayUnstoppable todayI'm unstoppable todayUnstoppable todayUnstoppable todayUnstoppable todayI'm unstoppable today
I put my armor on, show you how strong how I amI put my armor on, I'll show you that I amI'm unstoppableI'm a Porsche with no breaksI'm invincibleYeah, I win every single gameI'm so powerfulI don't need batteries to playI'm so confidentYeah, I'm unstoppable todayUnstoppable todayUnstoppable todayUnstoppable todayI'm unstoppable todayUnstoppable todayUnstoppable todayUnstoppable todayI'm unstoppable today