Nancy E. Dunne's Blog, page 21

Music Monday: Still Feeling It

This song always gets me up and moving, but the lyrics sometimes weigh heavy. Here's to your Mondayest Mondays. May you boogie through them until Tuesday, at least.


Feel It Stillby Portugal
Can't keep my hands to myselfThink I'll dust 'em off, put 'em back up on the shelfIn case my little baby girl is in needAm I coming out of left field?
Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, nowI been feeling it since 1966, nowMight be over now, but I feel it stillOoh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, nowLet me kick it like it's 1986, nowMight be over now, but I feel it still
Got another mouth to feedLeave her with a baby sitter, mama, call the grave diggerGone with the fallen leavesAm I coming out of left field?
Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, nowI been feeling it since 1966, nowMight've had your fill, but you feel it still
Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, nowLet me kick it like it's 1986, nowMight be over now, but I feel it still
We could fight a war for peace(Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now)Give in to that easy livingGoodbye to my hopes and dreamsStop flipping for my enemiesWe could wait until the walls come down(Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now)It's time to give a little to theKids in the middle, but oh 'til it fallsWon't bother me
Is it coming?Is it coming?Is it coming?Is it coming?Is it coming?Is it coming back?
Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, yeahYour love is an abyss for my heart to eclipse, nowMight be over now, but I feel it stillOoh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, nowI've been feeling it since 1966, nowMight be over now, but I feel it stillOoh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, nowLet me kick it like it's 1986, nowMight be over now, but I feel it stillMight've had your fill, but you feel it still

Is this...Throw WAY BACK Thursday?

Y'all. Just...watch. I am enchanted. The line about being able to afford one's own sword and not needing said knight...perfection.

Music Monday: Say MY Name

I have never made my love for Tom Hiddleston's Loki a secret. Let's just start there. Loki, the Norse trickster god in their original form AND the MCU's Loki have both inspired a lot of my antagonists AND protagonists, and the Hiddleston Loki is no different. If you can listen to this song and not think of Loki...specifically that clip from ComicCon when the MCU was hyping Thor:Dark World when Hiddleston appears and interrupts a panel as Loki...
Anyway, this video, Loki || Say My Name [collab with StoryDetective], is a perfect blend of the two and I love it. Enjoy, and know that this song will be blaring every time I sit down to write.

Spectrumby Florence + the Machine
When we first came hereWe were cold and we were clearWith no colours in our skinWe were light and paper's thin
And when we first came hereWe were cold and we were clearWith no colours in our skinUntil we let the spectrum in
Say my nameAnd every colour illuminatesWe are shiningAnd we will never be afraid again
Say my nameAs every colour illuminatesWe are shiningAnd we will never be afraid again
Say my nameAs every colour illuminatesWe are shiningAnd we will never be afraid again
And when we come for youWe'll be dressed up all in blueWith the ocean in our armsKiss your eyes and kiss your palms
And when it's time to prayWe'll be dressed up all in greyWith metal on our tonguesAnd silver in our lungs
Say my nameAnd every colour illuminatesWe are shiningAnd we will never be afraid again
Say my nameAs every colour illuminatesWe are shiningAnd we will never be afraid again
Say my nameAs every colour illuminatesWe are shiningAnd we will never be afraid again
And when we come back we'll be dressed in blackAnd you'll scream my name aloudAnd we won't eat and we won't sleepWe'll drag bodies from the ground
So say my nameAnd every colour illuminatesAnd we are shiningAnd we'll never be afraid again
Say my nameAs every colour illuminates
Say my nameAs every colour illuminatesWe are shiningAnd we will never be afraid again
Say my nameAs every colour illuminatesWe are shiningAnd we will never be afraid againSay my nameWe are shiningSay my nameSay my nameAnd we will never be afraid again

It's here! Sorta...

Strid preorder opens today!!
A magical detective tale set in Victorian Yorkshire. Irish mythology meets the Industrial North through a deadly underwater gorge. Sisters Lucy and Annie must find their roots to save West Riding from an ancient threat.
Cast your mind back to a Yorkshire that could have been...


Head to Amazon and preorder your copy today! Strid releases on 27 October and I can't wait for you to meet Lucy and Annie.

Music Monday: Of Arcs and Stone and Rifts and Storms

So, I'm still thinking about Em and Alex...and Lex today. This song speaks to me when I think of them, but it also makes me think of my own expat journey. To boot, it is just beautiful, speaking of wandering and travel and new lands and home. The best line, the one that encapsulates everything I'm thinking about as I start work on the next Arcstone novel, is the chorus: "In the cathedrals of New York and Rome/There is a feeling that you should just go home/And spend a lifetime finding out just where that is."

(This live version is particularly lovely.)

Cathedrals

by Jump Little Children
In the shadows of tall buildings
Of fallen angels on the ceilings
Oily feathers in bronze and concrete
Faded colors, pieces left incomplete
The line moves slowly past the electric fence
Across the borders between continents
In the cathedrals of New York and Rome
There is a feeling that you should just go home
And spend a lifetime finding out just where that is
In the shadows of tall buildings
The architecture is slowly peeling
Marble statues and glass dividers
Someone is watching all of the outsiders
The line moves slowly through the numbered gate
Past the mosaic of the head of state

In the cathedrals of New York and Rome
There is a feeling that you should just go home
And spend a lifetime finding out just where that is
In the shadows of tall buildings
Of open arches endlessly kneeling
Sonic landscapes echoing vistas
Someone is listening from a safe distance
The line moves slowly into a fading light
A final moment in the dead of night

In the cathedrals of New York and Rome
There is a feeling that you should just go home
And spend a lifetime finding out just where that is

Music Monday: This is the Time

I heard this song in the car and was struck. Or shook. I might have been shook. Anyway...
This has always been one of my favorites by Billy Joel, and the meaning has changed as I've gotten older. I'm on the other side of that life that he talks about, in the aftermath. But it also speaks to the decisions that are coming for Em in the upcoming sequel to Rift that I'm drafting during nano this year. She has been running madly toward the next thing for so much of her life...when she has time to slow down and look around, what will be left? I think of her when I hear, "You've given me the best of you, but now I need the rest of you."
And come on...Alex/Lex? "So stay with me baby, I've got plans for you..." Right? Maybe that's just me.
And that's all I can say because of SPOILERS, SWEETIE. 



"This Is The Time"by Billy Joel
We walked on the beach beside that old hotelThey're tearing it down nowBut it's just as wellI haven't shown you everything a man can doSo stay with me babyI've got plans for you
This is the time to rememberCause it will not last foreverThese are the daysTo hold on toCause we won'tAlthough we'll want toThis is the timeBut time is gonna changeYou've given me the best of youAnd now I need the rest of you
Did you know that before you came into my lifeIt was some kind of miracle that I survivedSome day we will both look backAnd have to laughWe lived through a lifetimeAnd the aftermath
This is the time to rememberCause it will not last foreverThese are the daysTo hold on toCause we won'tAlthough we want toThis is the timeBut time is gonna changeI know we've got to move somehowBut I don't want to lose you now
Sometimes it's so easyTo let a daySlip on byWithout even seeing each other at allBut this is the time you'll turn back to and so will IAnd those will be the days you can never recall
And so we embrace againBehind the dunesThis beach is coldOn winter afternoonsBut holding you close is like holding the summer sunI'm warm from the memory of days to come
This is the time to rememberCause it will not last foreverThese are the daysTo hold on toBut we won'tAlthough we'll want toThis is the timeBut time is gonna changeYou've given me the best of youBut now I need the rest of you

Music Monday: Right Now

Well, I can't tell you why this song speaks to a project that I'm going to start working on soon because I am notoriously horrible with spoilers...but I can tell you that it is a YA book - a real one, not one that starts as YA and then becomes NA because I'm an old lady who thinks she is still in her late 20s - and that it is a fantasy series. 

But I heard it as I was running an errand yesterday and it hit me that this is the motivation for one of the MCs in this story, especially this line: "Miss the beat, you lose the rhythm / And nothing falls into place, no / Only missed by a fraction / Slipped a little off your pace, oh..." I mean that line could be written on my tombstone or be found if you looked me up in the dictionary. That's my whole life, right there...and that's her life too.

Crap. Spoilers. Anyway...while I'm not a fan of what I like to call Van Haggar, the music in this song is all Eddie Van Halen and his amazing skill on the piano and guitar, and when this mysterious YA story becomes a movie this song will be in the soundtrack, no doubt. 

,/center. Right Now
by Van Halen
Don't want to wait 'til tomorrow
Why put it off another day?
One more walk through problems
Built-up and stands in our way, ah
One step ahead, one step behind me
Now you gotta run to get even
Make future plans or dream about yesterday, hey
C'mon turn, turn this thing around
, hey
It's your tomorrow
(Right now),
C'mon, it's everything
(Right now),
Catch a magic moment, do it
Right here and now
It means everything
Miss the beat, you lose the rhythm
And nothing falls into place, no
Only missed by a fraction
Slipped a little off your pace, oh
The more things you get, the more you want
Just trade in one for the other
Workin' so hard, to make it easier, whoa
Got to turn, c'mon turn this thing around
, hey
It's your tomorrow
(Right now)
C'mon, it's everything
(Right now)
Catch that magic moment, do it
Right here and now
It means everything
It's enlightened me, right now
What are you waitin' for?
Oh, yeah, right now
, hey
It's your tomorrow
(Right now)
C'mon, it's everything
(Right now)
Catch that magic moment, and do it right, right now
Oh, right now
It's what's happening
Right here and now
Right now
It's right now
Oh
Tell me, what are you waiting for?
Turn this thing around

Music Monday: An Early Throwback Thursday

So I sat down last night to find something to watch on tv and stumbled across one of my favorite movies from my younger days, The Lost Boys. While there are cultural things that were lost on me as a teenager not growing up on the West Coast, I was mesmerized. To this day I still am, even though I've seen it so many times that I know all the words.

I still say good dog when Nanook knocks the vampire into the bathtub.

So this just makes sense that I would find this movie after discovering an old manuscript in my hard drive and thinking for a few minutes about trying my hand at writing paranormal romance. 

You will all be glad to know that I'm sticking to fade to black for now.

Cry Little Sister (Theme from "The Lost Boys")by Gerard McMahon
Last fire will rise behind those eyesBlack house will rock, blind boys don't lieImmortal fear, that voice so clearThrough broken walls, that scream I hear

Cry, little sister (Thou shall not fall)Come, come to your brother (Thou shall not die)Unchain me, sister (Thou shall not fear)Love is with your brother (Thou shall not kill)
Blue masquerade, strangers look onWhen will they learn this loneliness?Temptation heat beats like a drumDeep in your veins, I will not lie
Little sister (Thou shall not fall)Come, come to your brother (Thou shall not die)Unchain me, sister (Thou shall not fear)Love is with your brother (Thou shall not kill)
My Shangri-La, I can't forgetWhy you were mine, I need you now
Cry, little sister (Thou shall not fall)Come, come to your brother (Thou shall not die)Unchain me, sister (Thou shall not fear)Love is with your brother (Thou shall not kill)
Cry, little sister (Thou shall not fall)Come, come to your brother (Thou shall not die)Unchain me, sister (Thou shall not fear)Love is with your brother (Thou shall not kill)
Cry, little sister (Thou shall not fall)(Thou shall not die)(Thou shall not fear)Love is with your brother (Thou shall not kill)

Music Monday: It Will Never Be Enough

So I'm on what I like to call the Clock App (algorithms be damned) or, as it is actually called, TikTok, and I joined last year during lockdown because I wanted something to do. I expected funny cat videos and a few really cringeworthy dance challenges and don't get me wrong, I found that...and more. There are hashtag communities there, of like-minded folks, such as #booktok and #writertok and so forth, and so many talented cosplayers and actors and the like.

Lately, there has been a lovely trend of readers making videos to try to speak to the reason why we read adventure and fantasy books. Most of the time you see a person reading at the beginning of the video with someone else asking (or the words are written on the screen), "why do you read so much?" And the terribly talented person goes on to show clips from or cosplay characters from several well-known movies/books/tv shows, often becoming the heroes and acting out their lives...because "...I know now that this world will never be enough for me." (by TikTok User @montropolis)

This is why I write, y'all. This is why I continue to write, to quote "Hamilton," like I'm running out of time - this world will NEVER be enough. This song nails it. (Also, I love Kelly Clarkson's version from The Greatest Showman Reimagined, so that's the one I chose.)

Never Enough (from The Greatest Showman Reimagined)by Justin Paul / Benj Pasek

I'm tryin' to hold my breath
Let it stay this way
Can't let this moment end
You set off a dream in me
Getting louder now
Can you hear it echoing?
Take my hand
Will you share this with me?
'Cause darling, without you
All the shine of a thousand spotlights
All the stars we steal from the night sky
Will never be enough, never be enough
Towers of gold are still too little
These hands could hold the world, but it'll
Never be enough, never be enough for me
Never, never
Never, never
Never, for me, for me
Never enough, never enough, never enough
For me, for me, for me
All the shine of a thousand spotlights
All the stars we steal from the night sky
Will never be enough, never be enough
Towers of gold are still too little
These hands could hold the world, but it'll
Never be enough, never be enough for me
Never, never
Never, never
Never, for me, for me
Never enough, never, never
Never enough, never, never
Never enough
For me, for me, for me

Next time, on Brave Lettuce...

Image by Darwin Laganzon from Pixabay So, there are two projects on the horizon that I want to tell you about - two upcoming novels, that are special...SO special to me, but in very different ways.

The first one is special because it is at least three years in the actual writing, but probably ten years in the making. When I lived in West Yorkshire for two years, I took copious mental notes about the landscape, the architecture, and the people, knowing that there was a novel in there somewhere. Then I discovered steampunk and thought I could write a novel in that genre. Spoiler alert? I was wrong. However...I did manage to cobble together a story involving dodgy Irish mythology, an underwater gorge that has killed people (that part is true), and two enterprising Victorian sisters who happen to have very large dogs and solve crimes.

No? Okay, how about this: A magical detective tale set in Victorian Yorkshire. Irish mythology meets the Industrial North through a deadly underwater gorge. Sisters Lucy and Annie must find their roots to save West Riding from an ancient threat. Better?

Anyway, my first Luminous Beings novel called "Strid" will be opening for pre-order on the first of October. Watch this space for more information and ordering links to Amazon.

The second piece that is coming out in November is special to me because it revisits Orana and introduces readers to one of my favorite characters I think I've ever written. She was a secondary character in the Nature Walker Trilogy, though her actions (under the control of everyone's least favorite wizard, Taeben) brought about the resolution of that story arc and brought Gin and Sath into their roles as Guardians. Now that they are off saving the world, again, I thought it was time for my readers to get to know Tairneanach a little better. 

Born into power and forged by betrayal, Tairn's life has blown off course more often than it has kept true. She survived retribution for her role in the death of the Qatu'anari Princess Royal by agreeing to live in the far northern citadel of the dwarves, Thror Mydin, where Tee could keep an eye on her.

A decision to take a well-deserved break from her nanny duties leads Tairn to a chance meeting with an old friend on the road to the Outpost. From there, she joins a rescue mission and goes up against a demigoddess bent on resurrecting an ancient evil and enslaving the above-ground citizens of Orana. All in a day's side trip, right?

The second in the Guardians of Orana series, "Red" will be open for ebook pre-order on the first of November, so watch this space for more info for that book as well.