Joshua Blum's Blog
June 25, 2017
The Thirteenth Hour Extended Soundtrack
If you liked the new wave synthesizer sounds of Alphaville, OMD, and New Order ...
If you rocked out to electric guitar solos and dive bombs by Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, and the Scorpions ...
Or if you wore out VHS tapes of ET, The Last Starfighter, and The Neverending Story from watching them so much ...
Then you're probably an 80s fan who will find something you like on this playlist! It consists of songs and film scores that have, in some way, inspired fantasy books I have written. A number of scenes were directly influenced by music on this list. I originally wanted to add quotes from various songs (like Alphaville's "Forever Young") to various manuscripts, and even got the rights to do so in some cases, but there was not really a feasible way to pay my respects to all these varied influences (back in the late 90s, when I started writing).
Instead, I ended making a retro soundtrack of my own to accompany one of my novels, called The Thirteenth Hour. That soundtrack (picture below) has a mix of styles (some acoustic to be a bit truer to life to the fantasy world of the book, some synthesizers to pay homage to the 80s films that inspired it) and is sprinkled in this "extended" mix. The irony is that had Spotify existed at the time, I never would have written those songs! But this is kind of the next best thing. Hope you find something you enjoy here as well.
Click here to go to the Spotify playlist
If you rocked out to electric guitar solos and dive bombs by Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, and the Scorpions ...
Or if you wore out VHS tapes of ET, The Last Starfighter, and The Neverending Story from watching them so much ...
Then you're probably an 80s fan who will find something you like on this playlist! It consists of songs and film scores that have, in some way, inspired fantasy books I have written. A number of scenes were directly influenced by music on this list. I originally wanted to add quotes from various songs (like Alphaville's "Forever Young") to various manuscripts, and even got the rights to do so in some cases, but there was not really a feasible way to pay my respects to all these varied influences (back in the late 90s, when I started writing).
Instead, I ended making a retro soundtrack of my own to accompany one of my novels, called The Thirteenth Hour. That soundtrack (picture below) has a mix of styles (some acoustic to be a bit truer to life to the fantasy world of the book, some synthesizers to pay homage to the 80s films that inspired it) and is sprinkled in this "extended" mix. The irony is that had Spotify existed at the time, I never would have written those songs! But this is kind of the next best thing. Hope you find something you enjoy here as well.
Click here to go to the Spotify playlist
January 20, 2016
Catch the Weekly Thirteenth Hour Podcast!
Free on iTunes at http://apple.co/1S3FBWi. Join me every Monday for candid conversation about the behind-the-scenes making of The Thirteenth Hour books and topics such as writing, fantasy novels, the nature of fairy tales, 80s movies, martial arts, archery, and more - all topics that inspired the books I've written. Each episode is about 20-25 minutes.
May 3, 2015
The Thirteenth Hour Gets a Music Video!
It’s amazing how long it can take to put together a short movie. The video in said title is technically not even a movie, really, it’s a music video that’s about 4 and a half minutes long. But, man, did that sucker take a long time to put together!
I started working on it sometime in December and finally finished it yesterday! Obviously, I didn’t work on it full-time and had a number of other projects and commitments during that time, but still, that’s about five months. It really does give you a better appreciation for the kind of work it takes to film, say, an independent film or anything else without a large backing in terms of manpower, finances, and resources.
In any event, in The Thirteenth Hour, there’s a poem called “I’ll Fly Away” that the main characters, Logan and Aurora, read at one point. It’s a wistful poem that introduces the idea of the thirteenth hour (you’ll have to read the book to figure out what that is), so I took the poem, retooled it a bit, and made it into a song sung by the main characters who you can see as little pixelated sprites in the lower left-hand corner of the screen (see below) while the background shows illustrations from the book and dreamy, surreal moving images that tie into the song’s theme.
Here it is:
https://youtu.be/aKYmB4xZaMY
Logan’s flying animation, originally used in the trailer, makes a return, and I had fun figuring out ways to add some spice to his flying scene.
Making a music video is certainly different from recording a song, which I was already familiar with, since the music isn’t just the focus anymore; the eye needs to be kept busy as well. Nonetheless, I actually learned a lot making this video (in terms of video editing and such) and might make more in the future.
You can find the lyrics and chords to this song, as well as other songs in the growing Thirteenth Hour soundtrack on the audio page.
A big thank you to all who helped by giving their opinions in the draft process!
Stills and other pictures available at 13thhr.wordpress.com
I started working on it sometime in December and finally finished it yesterday! Obviously, I didn’t work on it full-time and had a number of other projects and commitments during that time, but still, that’s about five months. It really does give you a better appreciation for the kind of work it takes to film, say, an independent film or anything else without a large backing in terms of manpower, finances, and resources.
In any event, in The Thirteenth Hour, there’s a poem called “I’ll Fly Away” that the main characters, Logan and Aurora, read at one point. It’s a wistful poem that introduces the idea of the thirteenth hour (you’ll have to read the book to figure out what that is), so I took the poem, retooled it a bit, and made it into a song sung by the main characters who you can see as little pixelated sprites in the lower left-hand corner of the screen (see below) while the background shows illustrations from the book and dreamy, surreal moving images that tie into the song’s theme.
Here it is:
https://youtu.be/aKYmB4xZaMY
Logan’s flying animation, originally used in the trailer, makes a return, and I had fun figuring out ways to add some spice to his flying scene.
Making a music video is certainly different from recording a song, which I was already familiar with, since the music isn’t just the focus anymore; the eye needs to be kept busy as well. Nonetheless, I actually learned a lot making this video (in terms of video editing and such) and might make more in the future.
You can find the lyrics and chords to this song, as well as other songs in the growing Thirteenth Hour soundtrack on the audio page.
A big thank you to all who helped by giving their opinions in the draft process!
Stills and other pictures available at 13thhr.wordpress.com
March 19, 2015
Two new Thirteenth Hour stories now out!
As of now, there are two more pieces of writing in "The Thirteenth Hour" universe – two short stories that serve as figurative bookends to the book, though they are meant to stand alone. Putting them out has taken much longer than I anticipated, but luckily, I’ve had a lot of help from beta readers here on Goodreads (many thanks) and my brother, all of whom were invaluable in spotting areas that needed fine tuning.
Anyway, they're finally done, and you can download them on 3/20/15 (which might be now, depending on when you read this).
Although they’re available on amazon.com and there will be a print version of the novelette, “A Shadow in the Moonlight,” you can also download them on Smashwords. They’re free there, since I wanted to give people who bought copies of "The Thirteenth Hour" when it first came out a token of my appreciation.
-“A Shadow in the Moonlight: A Thirteenth Hour Prequel” (~11,000 words): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
Summary: a young hunter accidentally interrupts a spell which literally turns him into a shadow, only able to venture out into the world by night, doomed to hunt an elusive, ethereal deer night after night. Interactions with other people leave him with such intense anxiety that he avoids them altogether. He is trapped in this state while encountering an injured runaway, whom he decides to help, despite the personal pain it causes. (I realize this description makes it sounds like a vampire story, but it isn’t, really, though the intention was to make it more gothic in nature than the original book, as the majority of the action takes place in a land of seemingly perpetual night (sort of like Brandon Lee’s "The Crow"). Technically a novelette by word count, it's set a number of years prior to the events in "The Thirteenth Hour" and written in the same new adult/young adult style as the book.
-“Falling Leaves Don’t Weep: A Thirteenth Hour Epilogue” (~2,000 words): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
Summary: an elderly king reflects on a life of self-absorption and hedonism after a falling leaf blows into his bedroom one night when he’s unable to sleep. Takes place several decades after the events of The Thirteenth Hour. In contrast to the other story, this one is more of a psychological story, as almost all of the narrative takes place internally, in the King’s head.
Thanks to everyone who helped to make these stories a reality!
Anyway, they're finally done, and you can download them on 3/20/15 (which might be now, depending on when you read this).
Although they’re available on amazon.com and there will be a print version of the novelette, “A Shadow in the Moonlight,” you can also download them on Smashwords. They’re free there, since I wanted to give people who bought copies of "The Thirteenth Hour" when it first came out a token of my appreciation.
-“A Shadow in the Moonlight: A Thirteenth Hour Prequel” (~11,000 words): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
Summary: a young hunter accidentally interrupts a spell which literally turns him into a shadow, only able to venture out into the world by night, doomed to hunt an elusive, ethereal deer night after night. Interactions with other people leave him with such intense anxiety that he avoids them altogether. He is trapped in this state while encountering an injured runaway, whom he decides to help, despite the personal pain it causes. (I realize this description makes it sounds like a vampire story, but it isn’t, really, though the intention was to make it more gothic in nature than the original book, as the majority of the action takes place in a land of seemingly perpetual night (sort of like Brandon Lee’s "The Crow"). Technically a novelette by word count, it's set a number of years prior to the events in "The Thirteenth Hour" and written in the same new adult/young adult style as the book.
-“Falling Leaves Don’t Weep: A Thirteenth Hour Epilogue” (~2,000 words): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
Summary: an elderly king reflects on a life of self-absorption and hedonism after a falling leaf blows into his bedroom one night when he’s unable to sleep. Takes place several decades after the events of The Thirteenth Hour. In contrast to the other story, this one is more of a psychological story, as almost all of the narrative takes place internally, in the King’s head.
Thanks to everyone who helped to make these stories a reality!
March 6, 2015
The Thirteenth Hour Version 2.0 Update for Kindle is Here!
The second edition Kindle updates for The Thirteenth Hour are now live! See this post for additional details about the updates (https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/02/...). You can update your copy of the book to version 2.0 by going to the Kindle Manage Your Devices page:
www.amazon.com/myk
Thanks to everyone who purchased a first edition copy! And many thanks to everyone who provided feedback along the way!
Stay tuned for additional work in the near future (short stories set in the same world as The Thirteenth Hour are coming soon!).
www.amazon.com/myk
Thanks to everyone who purchased a first edition copy! And many thanks to everyone who provided feedback along the way!
Stay tuned for additional work in the near future (short stories set in the same world as The Thirteenth Hour are coming soon!).
Dreaming Big, Not Giving Up, and Other Thoughts from The Thirteenth Hour
All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.
~T. E. Lawrence
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
~Harriet Tubman
Ask many children what they want to be when they grow up, and you're likely to get a fantastical answer. Professional football player, race care driver, ballerina, Hollywood actor, rock star, etc. When my own brother was asked this question in nursery school, he said something to the effect of "someone who jumps off buildings" - he was really into Batman at the time. I was pretty confident I was going to be an astronaut until I was about twelve, and then I wanted to be an American Indian (sort of), as described in this post here, so I could shoot bows and arrows all day (I'm sure an actual Native American would be horrified by this stereotype, but what can I say? To me, it was a benefit).
But not very many of us go on to do those things. So what happens to us?
We grow up, slog our way through school, realize most people don't become astronauts, professional ballerinas, and rock stars, get "sensible" jobs instead, start paying taxes, start worrying about whether there will be tons of traffic slowing down the morning commute or how to make this month's rent, get into relationships, have kids, start worrying about our kids' futures and what college tuition will be in 2030, start taking Zantac before eating spicy foods ... (maybe not in that exact order, but you get the picture).
And it's no wonder. Although this is too big a topic to discuss here, our world today is complicated. Like the narrator says in The Gods Must be Crazy, modern man has to send his children to school for the majority of their formative years just to learn to survive in the world they were born into. And now, increasingly, add on one to two more decades of schooling and/or training to become "independent" in this complex world we live in.
Perhaps because there's so much "important" stuff that children are expected to master, they are often given the message that their hopes, wishes, and big ideas from childhood are nice ... but, come on, get real, grow up, and take your place in line like the rest of us. What's more, that happens when children and young adults, when, as befitting their psychosocial developmental stages, they're trying to figure out who they are, how they fit into the world, and what they want to do with their lives.
I would like to ask - is all this necessary?
Must we intentionally piss on the dreams of youth?
If you're an adult reading this and have thoughts about trying to reality check the children around you - ask yourself: how would you have responded at their age if the future you tried to talk some sense into your younger self? Would you have listened? Would you have even cared?
There's a scene in the 1985 movie, The Breakfast Club, where Vernon, the hardass principal is sitting with Carl, the school janitor (drinking beer in a closet, if I remember right) and musing about this very conundrum:
"Vernon: What did you want to be when you were young?
Carl: When I was a kid, I wanted to be John Lennon.
Vernon: Carl, don't be a goof. I'm trying to make a serious point here. I've been teaching, for twenty two years, and each year, these kids get more and more arrogant.
Carl: Aw bullshit, man. Come on Vern, the kids haven't changed, you have! You took a teaching position, 'cause you thought it'd be fun, right? Thought you could have summer vacations off and then you found out it was actually work and that really bummed you out.
Vernon: These kids turned on me. They think I'm a big fuckin' joke.
Carl: Come on...listen Vern, if you were sixteen, what would you think of you, huh?
Vernon: Hey, Carl, you think I give one rat's ass what these kids think of me?
Carl: Yes, I do.
Vernon: You think about this...when you get old, these kids; when I get old, they're gonna be runnin' the country.
Carl: Yeah?
Vernon: Now this is the thought that wakes me up in the middle of the night; that when I get older, these kids are gonna take care of me.
Carl: I wouldn't count on it."
And so, like Vern, we adults worry about the welfare of the future generation - maybe because we want them to do things we couldn't, maybe because assuring their security ameliorates our anxiety about their future or makes us feel like good parents and role models, maybe because, like Vern, their success means our own futures are that much safer. Or maybe because we just genuinely want the best for them or want to see potential fully realized. There are many reasons to talk sense into fantasy, some out of self interest, some more altruistic.
So I ask again, must we piss on the dreams of youth for these things to happen?
I'm not a huge believer that every story needs to have an underlying message. But if there is any one message behind The Thirteenth Hour, a fantasy novel of all things, it would encapsulated in the quotes from T.E. Lawrence and Harriet Tubman above - essentially, dreams are important, so make them big, for they are within your reach, and you shouldn't give up on them.
Particularly the last part. It's an unspoken message in these quotes, but it's there, under the surface - the sad fact that despite the mountains of pee that rain down on your dreams, you should hold fast to your umbrella and not let go. It's idealistic, that's true, but that's what dreams are - visions of something better, things that give us hope when we have none and help us get through the morning commute, the mountains of paperwork, the dead-end job, and the countless other mindless tasks we probably didn't envision ourselves doing when we were children dreaming of being John Lennon.
You can help those younger than you in many ways. Curiosity, hope, and optimism in the world's possibilities are all qualities that can be as easily fostered as crushed. Middle school, adolescence, and the early twenties will do a fair amount of the latter anyway, but less so if it's circumstance, rather than the purposeful actions of another person, that does the crushing. All this you know, because it's probably happened to you, as it does to most of us. But that doesn't mean you have to like it. Because underneath the calluses, the TPS reports, the bills, and the other trappings of adult life, beats the heart of a rock star, race car driver, jet fighter, Hollywood actress, or ... even someone who jumps off buildings.
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
~Langston Hughes
All quotes from: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/top...
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
-Signup for the mailing list! http://eepurl.com/bf2kdL
-Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com
-Art: http://13thhr.deviantart.com/gallery, http://www.wipnation.com/citizen/13thhr
-Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpcIU...
-Listen to a free podcast of the book: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
-Read a free excerpt at https://medium.com/@13thhr/in-the-arm...
-Purchase The Thirteenth Hour for Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/The-Thirteenth-...
-Purchase a print copy at https://www.createspace.com/5202564
-Interested in a free electronic copy? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!
~T. E. Lawrence
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
~Harriet Tubman
Ask many children what they want to be when they grow up, and you're likely to get a fantastical answer. Professional football player, race care driver, ballerina, Hollywood actor, rock star, etc. When my own brother was asked this question in nursery school, he said something to the effect of "someone who jumps off buildings" - he was really into Batman at the time. I was pretty confident I was going to be an astronaut until I was about twelve, and then I wanted to be an American Indian (sort of), as described in this post here, so I could shoot bows and arrows all day (I'm sure an actual Native American would be horrified by this stereotype, but what can I say? To me, it was a benefit).
But not very many of us go on to do those things. So what happens to us?
We grow up, slog our way through school, realize most people don't become astronauts, professional ballerinas, and rock stars, get "sensible" jobs instead, start paying taxes, start worrying about whether there will be tons of traffic slowing down the morning commute or how to make this month's rent, get into relationships, have kids, start worrying about our kids' futures and what college tuition will be in 2030, start taking Zantac before eating spicy foods ... (maybe not in that exact order, but you get the picture).
And it's no wonder. Although this is too big a topic to discuss here, our world today is complicated. Like the narrator says in The Gods Must be Crazy, modern man has to send his children to school for the majority of their formative years just to learn to survive in the world they were born into. And now, increasingly, add on one to two more decades of schooling and/or training to become "independent" in this complex world we live in.
Perhaps because there's so much "important" stuff that children are expected to master, they are often given the message that their hopes, wishes, and big ideas from childhood are nice ... but, come on, get real, grow up, and take your place in line like the rest of us. What's more, that happens when children and young adults, when, as befitting their psychosocial developmental stages, they're trying to figure out who they are, how they fit into the world, and what they want to do with their lives.
I would like to ask - is all this necessary?
Must we intentionally piss on the dreams of youth?
If you're an adult reading this and have thoughts about trying to reality check the children around you - ask yourself: how would you have responded at their age if the future you tried to talk some sense into your younger self? Would you have listened? Would you have even cared?
There's a scene in the 1985 movie, The Breakfast Club, where Vernon, the hardass principal is sitting with Carl, the school janitor (drinking beer in a closet, if I remember right) and musing about this very conundrum:
"Vernon: What did you want to be when you were young?
Carl: When I was a kid, I wanted to be John Lennon.
Vernon: Carl, don't be a goof. I'm trying to make a serious point here. I've been teaching, for twenty two years, and each year, these kids get more and more arrogant.
Carl: Aw bullshit, man. Come on Vern, the kids haven't changed, you have! You took a teaching position, 'cause you thought it'd be fun, right? Thought you could have summer vacations off and then you found out it was actually work and that really bummed you out.
Vernon: These kids turned on me. They think I'm a big fuckin' joke.
Carl: Come on...listen Vern, if you were sixteen, what would you think of you, huh?
Vernon: Hey, Carl, you think I give one rat's ass what these kids think of me?
Carl: Yes, I do.
Vernon: You think about this...when you get old, these kids; when I get old, they're gonna be runnin' the country.
Carl: Yeah?
Vernon: Now this is the thought that wakes me up in the middle of the night; that when I get older, these kids are gonna take care of me.
Carl: I wouldn't count on it."
And so, like Vern, we adults worry about the welfare of the future generation - maybe because we want them to do things we couldn't, maybe because assuring their security ameliorates our anxiety about their future or makes us feel like good parents and role models, maybe because, like Vern, their success means our own futures are that much safer. Or maybe because we just genuinely want the best for them or want to see potential fully realized. There are many reasons to talk sense into fantasy, some out of self interest, some more altruistic.
So I ask again, must we piss on the dreams of youth for these things to happen?
I'm not a huge believer that every story needs to have an underlying message. But if there is any one message behind The Thirteenth Hour, a fantasy novel of all things, it would encapsulated in the quotes from T.E. Lawrence and Harriet Tubman above - essentially, dreams are important, so make them big, for they are within your reach, and you shouldn't give up on them.
Particularly the last part. It's an unspoken message in these quotes, but it's there, under the surface - the sad fact that despite the mountains of pee that rain down on your dreams, you should hold fast to your umbrella and not let go. It's idealistic, that's true, but that's what dreams are - visions of something better, things that give us hope when we have none and help us get through the morning commute, the mountains of paperwork, the dead-end job, and the countless other mindless tasks we probably didn't envision ourselves doing when we were children dreaming of being John Lennon.
You can help those younger than you in many ways. Curiosity, hope, and optimism in the world's possibilities are all qualities that can be as easily fostered as crushed. Middle school, adolescence, and the early twenties will do a fair amount of the latter anyway, but less so if it's circumstance, rather than the purposeful actions of another person, that does the crushing. All this you know, because it's probably happened to you, as it does to most of us. But that doesn't mean you have to like it. Because underneath the calluses, the TPS reports, the bills, and the other trappings of adult life, beats the heart of a rock star, race car driver, jet fighter, Hollywood actress, or ... even someone who jumps off buildings.
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
~Langston Hughes
All quotes from: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/top...
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
-Signup for the mailing list! http://eepurl.com/bf2kdL
-Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com
-Art: http://13thhr.deviantart.com/gallery, http://www.wipnation.com/citizen/13thhr
-Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpcIU...
-Listen to a free podcast of the book: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
-Read a free excerpt at https://medium.com/@13thhr/in-the-arm...
-Purchase The Thirteenth Hour for Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/The-Thirteenth-...
-Purchase a print copy at https://www.createspace.com/5202564
-Interested in a free electronic copy? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!
