Hi guys! The wonderfully talented Trudi Canavan is hopping by today with a guest post about the soundtracks to her series! I’ve loved Trudi’s works since I read the Black Magician Trilogy, and I’m excited to be on the blog tour promoting her latest release, Thief’s Magic, which is now out in paperback.
Thief's Magic (Millennium’s Rule #1) by Trudi Canavan Published: May 27th 2014 by Orbit Books
Format: Paperback, 553 pages
Genres: Fantasy
Source: Publisher
Goodreads ● The Book Depository ● Booktopia ● Bookworld
In a world where an industrial revolution is powered by magic, Tyen, a student of archaeology, unearths a sentient book called Vella. Once a young sorcerer-bookbinder, Vella was transformed into a useful tool by one of the greatest sorcerers of history. Since then she has been collecting information, including a vital clue to the disaster Tyen's world faces.
Elsewhere, in an land ruled by the priests, Rielle the dyer's daughter has been taught that to use magic is to steal from the Angels. Yet she knows she has a talent for it, and that there is a corrupter in the city willing to teach her how to use it -- should she dare to risk the Angels' wrath.
But not everything is as Tyen and Rielle have been raised to believe. Not the nature of magic, nor the laws of their lands... and not even the people they trust.
Read my review of Thief’s Magic here.
A Soundtrack to a Series
Ah, music! I’ve always had a deep love for it. My tastes are fairly eclectic – though not as diverse as my other half’s. Unfortunately, I have no talent for playing instruments, though I’ve tried to learn a few, but I’m content to simply be a ‘listener’.
Some authors like to write to music, some don’t. I used to, but I preferred music without words. Soundtrack music worked well, and I wrote the Black Magician Trilogy to the soundtrack music to The Piano, Medicine Man, The Russia House, Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi. Nowadays I don’t write to music, but I do collect songs that inspire and evoke stories, and for the Millennium’s Rule Trilogy I created a playlist. I use it to set the mood, or put it on in the background while in the car, weaving or painting because I often get good story ideas at those times.
The playlist reflects the sort of music I was listening to when I worked on different parts of the books. Angel of Storms, the second book in the trilogy, had an earlier incarnation as a book written in the 90s that only featured Rielle. The music that inspired me was influenced by the travel guidebook publisher I worked as a freelancer for, on books about the Middle East, Turkey, Africa and Brazil.
I found the inspiration for the Travellers in the albums Boheme by Deep Forest and The Cross of Changes by Enigma.
“Marta’s Song” – Youtube
“The Eyes of Truth” – Youtube
At the same time, mainstream songs spoke to me of a plot and character. Whole albums by Aussie band Powderfinger, in particular the song “The Day You Come”, or sometimes a single song, like “Frozen” by Madonna and “Angel” by Massive Attack:
“My Kind of Scene” – Youtube
“Frozen” – Youtube
“Angel” – Youtube
I knew that I would return to Angel of Storms one day and rewrite it. During Worldcon in Melbourne a few years back, at a panel on other kinds of ‘punk’ than steampunk, I had another idea for a book. Magic has always been the part of fantasy that most fascinates me, so I wondered what ‘magicpunk’ might look like, and that led me to create Tyen and his story and world. Then I realised adding this plot to the one in Angel of Storms would benefit both stories and the overall world building.
A few decades had passed, and I now found inspiration in bands of the noughties and teens. Bands like Muse, The Presets and Pendulum:
“Explorers” – Youtube
“Fall” – Youtube
“Witchcraft” – Youtube
Collecting together songs from across a few decades, I’ve arranged them in an order that roughly follows the plots of the three books, and matched the songs to they transitions fairly well from one to the next. This is the order for Thief’s Magic.
“Watercolour”, by Pendulum
“Promises”, by The Presets
“Believe”, by The Chemical Brothers
“Fall”, by The Presets
“Hold Your Colour”, by Pendulum
“This Boy’s In Love”, by The Presets
“Private Universe”, by Crowded House
“The Eyes of Truth”, by Enigma
“Explorers”, by Muse
“Hey Little Girl”, by Icehouse
“Play Dead”, by Bjork
“Sing For Absolution”, by Muse
“Angel”, by Massive Attack
“I Feel You”, by Depeche Mode
“Butterflies and Hurricanes”, by Muse
“Lift Me Up”, by Moby
“Follow Me”, by Muse
“Witchcraft”, by Pendulum
Because the order of the songs will be a mild spoiler I can’t publish the playlists for Angel of Storms or Successor’s Promise yet, and since I’m still writing the books the lists are still being added to and adjusted. I will put them on my website as each book is published. You’ll find them at here.
About Trudi Canavan
Trudi Canavan lives in Melbourne, Australia. She has been making up stories about people and places that don’t exist for as long as she can remember. While working as a freelance illustrator and designer she wrote the bestselling Black Magician Trilogy, which was published in 2001-3 and was named an ‘Evergreen’ by The Bookseller in 2010. The Magician’s Apprentice, a prequel to the trilogy, won the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2009 and the final of the sequel trilogy, The Traitor Queen, reached #1 on the UK Times Hardback bestseller list in 2011.
It’s been a pleasure to host one of my absolute favourite authors on this website! A huge thanks to Trudi and the team at Hachette Australia for giving me this wonderful opportunity 🙂 Thief’s Magic is out now and available at good bookstores and online. Read it, and then join me in the wait for Angel of Storms!!
The other stops on the tour are:
10th June: Booknerdigans
10th June: Selections From My Tower of Shame
11th June: Ventureadlaxre
13th June: Confessions From Romaholics
14th June: Duffy the Writer
15th June: Nicole Has Read
16th June: Words Read and Written
17th June: Yolanda Sfetsos – Otherworldly Tales
18th June: Connect with Chicklit
19th June: Bookarahma
20th June: Read the Bloody Book
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