Path Of The Horseman Playlist

Writing Path of the Horseman has been going really, really well. I'm seven chapters in and have written over 25,000 words. I'm having more fun than I expected putting together this epic, monster filled adventure, and part of it is because:

• I love what I'm writing and keep coming up with great ideas for it
• Successful, wonderful authors like Veronica Roth and one of my personal heroes, Kevin Hearne, provide advice while participating in the event
• I have great music to keep me going

1. Weight Of The World - Evanescence
2. More Human Than Human - Rob Zombie
3. The Fire - Rev Theory
4. Axe Wound - Butcher Babies
5. I Came, I Saw, I Conquered - Woe, Is Me
6. Hollow Bodies - Blessthefall
7. Those Who Slay Together, Stay Together - Chiodos
8. In The Middle Of The Night - Within Temptation
9. Screams Of The Undead - Demon Hunter
10. Kidnap The Sandy Claws - KoRn
11. Forgiveness Is A Six Gun - DevilDriver
12. Warriors - Raunchy
13. In Waves - Trivium
14. The Death Of Me - Asking Alexandria
15. Hard To See - Five Finger Death Punch
16. Screaming Bloody Murder - Sum 41
17. Holy Diver - Killswitch Engage
18. Blood On My Name - The Brothers Bright

This wasn't a hard list to put together, since most of the songs fit either the characters, the scenario, or the mood of the story. Yes, even "Kidnap The Sandy Claws" can fit my post-apocalyptic survival horror adventure when you take it out of context. Think about it.

In the end, I decided to share one of my all time favorite songs, Blood On My Name by The Brothers Bright (not the Wright Brothers as so many people have confused them with). Regular readers will know this is a bit of a change from my usual song choice (you'll notice the lack of screaming and thunderous drums in this tune), but the song is just too beautiful for me to pass by. The lyrics are as dark and haunting as the melody, and while I wouldn't call it perfect material for writing an action scene, I can definitely get into the mood to write something intense.

So this is my brief update on Path of the Horseman. It's been a while since I've written a brand new idea from scratch, and I couldn't be happier with the way things are turning out. I can't wait to keep going.

Cheers!

Amy

Pure Morning

With all the writing I've been doing lately and all my releases coming up (including one next week that I'm really excited to share), you can imagine that I've been listening to lots of music. There have been lots of great tracks that keep me going, including these:

1. Heart In A Cage - The Strokes
2. Luxferree - Samael
3. The Man Who Laughs - Rob Zombie
4. Blood - Emigrate
5. Not Ready To Die - Demon Hunter
6. Death Bros - Cancer Bats
7. Action - Powerman 5000
8. Observation Slave - Soilwork
9. Recover - Device
10. Edge Of The Earth - 30 Seconds To Mars
11. Pure Morning - Placebo
12. The Radiance - It Dies Today
13. Get Your Body Beat - Combichrist
14. The Scorpion Sleeps - Rob Zombie
15. Change Or Die - Papa Roach
16. See You On The Outside - Blessthefall
17. Quest - Epic Score
18. In Time - Mark Collie

"Pure Morning" by Placebo is my favorite on this list, even though the lyrics don't really pertain to anything I've written so far. It's one of those songs that's kind of open to interpretation, but when I listen to it, I tend to tune out the lyrics and focus on the beat. I love the way the song sounds, the smooth, dark melody filled with edgy synth and guitars almost reminds me of a sword, of which most my characters have no shortage of.

Hope you enjoyed a song on this list! Next week, a brand new release! ;)

Cheers!

Amy

Beauty Through The Eyes Of A Predator

It was a long, tiring, aggravating day at work, and while I thought about my writing, I wasn't sure what to think of for a blog post. So here's a playlist, which I haven't done in a while:

1. The Gilded Dagger - Richard Sjunnesson, Roland Johannsson
2. Deep Within - Within Temptation
3. Hangman - Rev Theory
4. Fallback - Spineshank
5. Just Stop - Disturbed
6. Acheron/Unleashing The Orb - The Sword
7. I Know You Want To Stop - Placebo
8. Hysteria - Motion City Soundtrack
9. Gimme Gimme Bloodshed - Wednesday 13
10. Kill You - Dethklok
11. Beauty Through The Eyes Of A Predator - Demon Hunter
12. Lords Of Salem - Rob Zombie
13. Overcome - As I Lay Dying
14. M.O. - From First To Last
15. Simple - Dark New Day
16. Paper Lung (MachineA Remix) - Underoath
17. Christians Inferno - Green Day
18. Excess - Tricky

Demon Hunter has been one of my favorite bands for years. I love their lyrics, style, and variety. One of their best songs is Beauty Through The Eyes Of A Predator (honestly, who can't love that title?). This is one of those songs where everyone interprets it differently. To me, the lyrics are about someone who sees a corrupt person in power as what they really are. I can think of a ton of stories I can apply this song to, but this mostly translates to the Areios Brothers. It definitely reminds me of the relationship Derek has with his father. Or should I say, lack of one. To see what I mean, remember that you can read Hollow Hill and its prequel Cold Trail on my blog or on Figment.

Cheers!

Amy

Stranger Than Fiction

Wow, I totally forgot it was Thursday! Time sure flies! I hadn't even planned what I was going to write for the blog, and next week I intend to be way more prepared. There will be a lot of story/chapter posts coming up in the next couple days, including the second story of my blog series, Blood Moon. I'm currently working on the third story in the series, and so far it's going really well. Here's what I've been listening to in the mean time:

1. Fake It - Seether
2. Absent Elements - Finger Eleven
3. In The End I Feel Alive - Lacuna Coil
4. Hands Of The Ripper - Wednesday 13
5. Nylon 6/6 - Stone Sour
6. Eyes Of The Insane - Slayer
7. An Ocean Between Us - As I Lay Dying
8. Mia - Chevelle
9. Made Of Stone (Renholder Remix) - Evanescence
10. Black - Trivium
11. (SIC) - Slipknot
12. Ultra Mega - Powerman 5000
13. Try Honesty - Billy Talent
14. Stranger Than Fiction - Five Finger Death Punch
15. Water - Breaking Benjamin
16. Crossroads - Avenged Sevenfold
17. You're Insane - Escape The Fate
18. Zombies Ate Her Brain - The Creepshow

There are a lot of things to love about Stranger Than Fiction by Five Finger Death Punch. It has a great tune, has a nice deep sound, and the lyrics are perfect for a character trapped between who they are and who they want to be. At the moment, this song reminds me of Alec, an upcoming character in Blood Moon. Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that he's had it rough the last few years, and now he has to deal with the consequences.

So just a reminder, the following will be up by the end of May/beginning of June:

• The next chapters of Hollow Hill and Cursed: Demon's Daughter
• The second story in the Blood Moon series

I'll also have some updates on edits that I'll be doing, and hopefully will hear some replies about short stories that I submitted over the last month or so. Yeah, things are getting crazy in this new career of mine, but I like the way it's going so far!

Cheers!

Amy

Lacrymosa

Work has been making it a little difficult to come up with larger posts, but I'll try to get on that soon. While I'm literally running around all day, my mind can wander to a couple different songs. It helps pass the time and helps me think about stories. Here's what's been on my mental playlist lately:

1. Candy Kiss - The Creepshow
2. Dead To Me - Spineshank
3. The Human Stain - Kamelot
4. Fate - Mnemic
5. A.D.D. (American Dream Denial) - System Of A Down
6. Never Surrender (I AM X Rework) - Combichrist
7. Electric Pulse - Static-X
8. Knights Of Cydonia - Muse
9. Beholder Of Justice - Hatebreed
10. Morning Waits - As I Lay Dying
11. Out Here All Night - Damone
12. Demons - Avenged Sevenfold
13. Lacrymosa - Evanescence
14. Alienized - Volbeat
15. Parasite - Disturbed
16. Resolution - Emigrate
17. Buddha For Mary - 30 Seconds To Mars
18. The Shape - Slipknot

I know the song Lacrymosa by Evanescence was inspired by the famous Mozart requiem, but when I hear it, I think about the lyrics. Someone who is willing to take all the guilt and pain for someone else, until they can't do it anymore. This is a song about trying to save someone before you realize they can't be saved. I love the dark melody of the song and find that it works best when I'm writing a dramatic scene where there's an argument leading up to a fight. I actually used this song during the final confrontation in Cold Trail, and had to put it on repeat a couple times to keep my head in the scene. When something works, it definitely works.

Amy

Your Star

I'm only posting a quick playlist because this weekend is Mother's Day and I want to make sure I get a lot of editing done so I can spend time with her. I'll be focusing on Cursed: Dark Divinity's edits today since I've finished the Areios Brother prequel, Cold Trail. I also finished a short story for a competition on Figment. I admit I had a little trouble with this short because it's been a while since I've done a word restrictive challenge. Not to say it wasn't fun and I didn't come up with something, but word counts can be tricky. Anyway, here's the list of songs I've been listening to lately:

1. Dead But Rising - Volbeat
2. Beautiful - Social Code
3. For You - Killswitch Engage
4. Across The Highlands - Kamelot
5. The Hollow - A Perfect Circle
6. Last Line Lady - Baptized In Blood
7. Walk With Me In Hell - Lamb Of God
8. A Rumor Of Skin - Stone Sour
9. Transference - Children Of Bodom
10. Your Star - Evanescence
11. Sacrifice - Disturbed
12. Old School Hollywood - System Of A Down
13. Zombie - The Cranberries
14. 24 - Jem
15. Stand My Ground - Within Temptation
16. The Promise Of Fever - Cradle Of Filth
17. Sudden Movements - Billy Talent
18. Rain - Samael

I've always been a huge fan of this band, and Your Star by Evanescence is one of my favorite songs by them. It's got a beautiful, dark, haunting tone, which was fitting as it was written by the lead singer when one of her band members had a stroke and nearly died. I tend to use the song when my characters are going through a near death experience. It was especially useful in Cold Trail, since there were times where Liam was scared to death and certain he was going to be killed. Remember that you can check out Cold Trail on Authonomy and Figment for a limited time! Cheers!

Amy

Youngbloods

I'm hoping to finish editing Shallow Water today (got 8.5hrs in yesterday before my brain shut off), and seems like forever since I've done up a playlist, so this is today's quick post. Here's what I've been listening to lately:

1. Forever In Your Hands - All That Remains
2. Cut Me Up Jenny - Taking Back Sunday
3. Ich Tu Dir Weh - Rammstein
4. Love Song - KoRn
5. Put Your Death Mask On - Wednesday 13
6. The Damned - Chevelle
7. Question! - System Of A Down
8. The Northern - Alexisonfire
9. Self Deception - Lacuna Coil
10. Ready To Fall - Rise Against
11. Magnolia Blvd. - Butcher Babies
12. Violence Fetish - Disturbed
13. Youngbloods - Blessthefall
14. Waiting Around - Idle Sons
15. Suck It Up - Bloodsimple
16. Zombie Fistfight - Combichrist
17. Wishmaster - Nightwish
18. 93 Million Miles - 30 Seconds To Mars

Youngbloods by Blessthefall is one of my favorite songs by them. It's a fast, wicked track and while I have no problem writing to it, sometimes I feel like I can't catch up! Despite how aggressive it sounds, I find it an uplifting song about soldering through tough times, and never giving up no matter who's standing in your way. I most associate this song with Leon from my Agents of Limbo series, which I'm hopefully going to start again in November for NaNo. I have one or two other stories I want to get done first, but there's seven months until then. Who knows what will happen!

Amy

Everlong

It's been a while since I've done a music post. So here's some of the tunes I've been listening to lately while I write and edit...

1. A.I. - My City, My Secret
2. Chrome Nation - Wayne Static
3. Everlong - Foo Fighters
4. Pocketful Of Dreams - Billy Talent
5. Let Me Break - Emigrate
6. Smile Pretty For The Devil - Children Of Bodom
7. Viva La Vida - Coldplay
8. Face To Face - Sevendust
9. Your God - Stone Sour
10. Wake (The End Is Nigh) - Trivium
11. 40 Days - Blessthefall
12. Hold On - All That Remains
13. SuperChrist - Smashing Pumpkins
14. Out To Get You - Bloodsimple
15. Zwitter - Rammstein
16. Pearl Hart - Volbeat
17. Natural Born Chaos - Soilwork
18. Sacred Lie - Disturbed

Who doesn't love the Foo Fighters? Everlong is a beautiful love song that helps me when I'm thinking about writing love/romance scenes. It's hard not to feel romantic and dreamy when you hear this tune, and it's not hard to understand how it's one of the most well known songs in the world. I've played it a few times while writing Eternity Blood and some future scenes with Derek and Selena in the Areios Brothers series. I know you've already heard this song a million times, but what's one more time? Good things never get old.

Amy

Witches, Demons, and Zombie Dances

Originally I didn't think this day was going to be very productive. How wrong I was. Not only did I get a lot of packing done for my move, I managed to send Hollow Hill out to more publishers and agents, begin the my list of February anthologies, and complete the first rough draft of the Hollow Hill sequel: Shallow Water. I was under my intended word count, but that's what the editing phase is for. I'm pretty happy with the end result, but I'm taking a break from Derek and Liam for a couple days to get a breather.

The anthology I'm working on now is in the works, but the basic idea is this: humans gambling with demons. I'm still sorting through my thought process but it should be a lot of fun to write. I'll provide more details once I know what direction it's taking.

1. The Air That I Breathe - All That Remains
2. Dance All Night - Inhale Exhale
3. Bombs Over Baghdad (B.O.B.) - Outkast feat. Rage Against The Machine
4. Fire - Lacuna Coil
5. I Own You - Shinedown
6. Mourning Star - Kamelot
7. Break - Three Days Grace
8. Reload - Rob Zombie
9. Slavocracy - Samael
10. A Moment Forever - Volbeat
11. Torn - Disturbed
12. Snow White Queen - Evanescence
13. You Make Me Sick - Egypt Central
14. My Apocalypse - Arch Enemy
15. Zombie Dance - Escape The Fate
16. This Is The Line - Demon Hunter
17. '82 - Stone Sour
18. Scream Aim Fire - Bullet For My Valentine

This is one of those songs that every time I hear it, I want to start dancing in the middle of the street. The lyrics aren't exactly what I would sing to a kindergarten class, but the beat is just so much fun that it's very difficult to care. Not that I've ever started singing in the middle of the street... *cough*

Amy

Back And Forth... Emerald Street

The week is about halfway over and it's been fairly productive. It was a slow day at work yesterday so I was able to work on the series outline for the Areios Brothers. Assuming nothing changes over the next little while (and of course as a writer, I know that nothing is certain), the series will be about 13 stories long. I've only written the storyline for the sequel so far and a little bit of the first chapter, but I can tell you it will be called Shallow Water. I'm happy with what I came up with and am looking forward to getting stared on it in the next month or so.

Cursed: Dark Divinity went over some speed bumps over the last week or so, but after a 45 minute walk and some heavy metal tunes later, I'm back on the fast track with it and expect that the reworks and edits I need to do will be finished hopefully by the end of next week.

These were just some of the songs that were helping me write today:

1. The Calamity - Trivium
2. Menace - Five Finger Death Punch
3. The Forgotten - Killswitch Engage
4. Sister Charlatan - Bleeding Through
5. Bye Bye Beautiful - Nightwish
6. Worlds Collide - Apocalyptica
7. 4 Words (To Choke Upon) - Bullet For My Valentine
8. Thorns - Demon Hunter
9. Saddest Song - Dark New Day
10. The Mindmaker - Soilwork
11. You Are So Beautiful - Escape The Fate
12. Hollow Bodies - Blessthefall
13. Emerald Street - Alexisonfire
14. Burning Flag - Marilyn Manson
15. Dance With The Devil - Breaking Benjamin
16. Zed's Dead, Baby - Cancer Bats
17. Cut Throat - Kittie
18. Against You - Lacuna Coil

"Emerald Street" is one of those songs I could listen to all the time. It has a lot of meaning in the lyrics, it's fast and catchy, and so much fun to dance to alone when you have it stuck in your head... Not that I do that, of course. *coughs* Until next time!

Amy

In The Middle Of The Night, Lift Me Up, Because It's Far From Over

There are a lot of songs that inspire me for Cursed, but these are the strongest candidates.

1. Gateways - Dimmu Borgir
2. In The Middle Of The Night - Within Temptation
3. Scared To Death - Cancer Bats
4. Far From Over - Rev Theory
5. Eye Of The Storm - Killswitch Engage
6. The End - Mutiny Within
7. Trip The Darkness - Lacuna Coil
8. Jessica Kill - Sum 41
9. Scared - Three Days Grace
10. A Shot In The Dark - Within Temptation
11. Lift Me Up - Five Finger Death Punch feat. Rob Halford
12. My Heart Is Broken - Evanescence
13. Today We Are All Demons - Combichrist
14. Talons Out (Teeth Sharpened) - DevilDriver
15. Screaming Bloody Murder - Sum 41
16. Intoxicated - Lacuna Coil
17. Here To Die - Five Finger Death Punch
18. The Truth Beneath The Rose - Within Temptation

It's impossible for me to pick a favorite song from here, because I love them all. Seriously, this blog post would take up a full page if I went on to describe why I love the fast speed of 'Lift Me Up' or 'Talons Out (Teeth Sharpened)', or why I adore the heavy, dark sounds of 'Gateways' and 'The Truth Beneath The Rose.' I can tell you that they all have one thing in common: strength.

All of these songs fit Cursed because they generally revolve around being strong in the face of hardships, not letting anyone get the better of you or those you love just because they may be stronger. Those are staples of Constance's character, and every time I hear one of these songs I immediately get in the mood to write about her kicking some monster's ass.

Again, I don't have a favorite on this list. There are too many. But since I'm wearing one of their shirts today and am writing a scene where the lyrics are increasingly relevant, I'll give you a little Five Finger Death Punch to brighten your day.

Amy

Weekly Recap and Wait And Bleed

I spent most of last week getting back into my swing of things, unpacking, working, trying not to feel sick (no success there on a day of -20C, let me tell you), errands, and bills. Not the funnest week ever. Having said that, I got the following done:

• Continue rough draft of the Cursed sequel, Dark Divinity
• Think more about what I want to do with the Areios Brothers series
• Finalize storyline for Agents of Limbo (I got about half way)
• Find more publishers and agents to submit my novels to
• Work on my short story Needfire and prep it for (possible) ebook publication

I didn't get everything (barely even thought about Needfire) but it was still a decent amount. I sent Hollow Hill out to dozens of agents and now I'm just playing the waiting game. I was doing more work on Agents of Limbo at my part time job (shh!) because there was very, very little for me to do there. Honestly.

This week, my goals are almost the same as last week:

• Continue rough draft of the Cursed sequel, Dark Divinity
• Think more about what I want to do with the Areios Brothers series
• Finalize storyline for Agents of Limbo
• Work on my short story Needfire and prep it for (possible) ebook publication

To help me out, here are some of the tunes I've been listening to. Also, I know its been ages since I posted a playlist. That's why this one is so good!

1. Afterbirth - From First To Last
2. End Of Days - Bullet For My Valentine
3. Lost & Damned - Kamelot
4. Make Amends - Cancer Bats
5. Remanufacture - Fear Factory
6. We The People - Mudvayne
7. 1st Person - Stone Sour
8. Ace Of Spades - Motorhead
9. City Of Hurt - Raunchy
10. Dying To Leave - Egypt Central
11. The Fight - The Classic Crime
12. In A Dead World - Killswitch Engage
13. Modern Chemistry - Motion City Soundtrack
14. Right Where It Belongs - Nine Inch Nails
15. That Fire - Black Tide
16. Vilify - Device
17. Wait And Bleed - Slipknot
18. Your Stories, My Alibis - Matchbook Romance

I always liked Slipknot's classic, "Wait and Bleed." I don't sing or whistle to myself (I can't sing and I'm sorry to whistlers out there, but you make me very uncomfortable for some reason), but this is a song that can almost make me do so. I just love the chorus, and it's got a great little pace when I need to pick up the speed of a scene I'm writing. Hope you like it!

Cheers,

Amy

I Have Seen Where It Grows

1. Absolute Zero - Stone Sour
2. I Have Seen Where It Grows - Demon Hunter
3. Modern Wolf Hair - Chiodos
4. Politics - KoRn
5. The Siren - Nightwish
6. The Turning Point - Killswitch Engage
7. Again We Rise - Lamb of God
8. Blow Me Away - Breaking Benjamin
9. Deep Down Ascend - Apocalyptica
10. Event Horizon - Baptized By Blood
11. God Machine - Acid Bath
12. Hysteria - Muse
13. Live Fast, Die Beautiful - Escape The Fate
14. Open Water - Blessthefall
15. Resilience - As I Lay Dying
16. Sink Into Me - Taking Back Sunday
17. This Darkened Heart - All That Remains
18. You Were The Cancer - Thursday

As awesome as the rest of the song on this list are, for me there was only one choice:

I have a little bit of a love affair with this song. No, I'm not religious. I interpret this song as stated by these simple lyrics: "Life is a path, death a destination." Really, that's what life is all about, isn't it? Taking a path, even though you might not know where it leads, and ending up where you should end up. This entire philosophy is incorporated in my Agents of Limbo stories, kind of because it's Jace's job.

I hope you enjoy this list as much as I do! :)

Amy

Weekly Recap and Hollow Songs

I've been kind of all over the map this weekend in between work and my computer deciding it wanted to die. Thankfully I got a new one yesterday that works wonderfully :) Hollow Hill and NaNo is still going great. I love writing the mythology and re-reading Greek mythology, learning things I never knew before. I've completed 8 chapters and 38,390 words as of last word count. While my computer was dying I even took some time to go through some old story notes I had and put them into notebooks so it'll be easier to reference when I get to them later. This week's goal is the same as last week:

• Continue writing chapters for Hollow Hill and NaNo

Whenever I go for walks or listen to a certain song, I focus on the lyrics and tend to fall into the mindset of whatever story I'm working on at the moment. Usually it's a scene that's coming up or a fight I want to happen or something that I want a character to say. It really varies depending on what song it is and what it means to my current line of thought. I've come across a lot of songs to help me focus on Hollow Hill. Some of these are repeats from other playlists I've posed, but these are the best songs when I need to focus on Derek and Liam's adventures:

1. Indestructible - Disturbed
2. Strife - Trivium
3. No Jesus Christ - Seether
4. Shut It Down - Devil You Know
5. ... To Be Loved - Papa Roach
6. The Thing I Hate - Stabbing Westward
7. Undone - Five Finger Death Punch
8. Pleasure In Pain - Chimera
9. Fading Away - Demon Hunter
10. Dead Memories - Slipknot
11. The Maze - Lacuna Coil
12. Crowns Of Creation - DevilDriver
13. Empty Inside - All That Remains
14. The Aftermath - Escape The Fate
15. Hollow - Submersed
16. Shogun - Trivium
17. In Ashes They Shall Reap - Hatebreed
18. Down Through The Ages - All That Remains

Bit of a slower song, but it really describes Derek's internal conflict, how he can't seem to let go of his past and how he isn't sure that he can... So that's the updates for the week! I really do wish I had more time to update the blog, but as soon as November ends I'll be getting back to more frequent posts and will be working on putting Hollow Hill on the blog.

Amy

Another Night In London

I'll be doing virtually nothing but writing today (Cursed: Demon's Daughter is almost done it's first rough draft! About 2 more chapters to go!), so here's some of what I'll be using to help me:

1. Lonely, Lonely - Taking Back Sunday
2. Man Without Fear - Rob Zombie
3. Hell And Consequences - Stone Sour
4. Better Metal Snake - Dethklok
5. Man Alive! - Billy Talent
6. Another Night In London - DevilDriver
7. King Kill - Marilyn Manson
8. Losing Sight - Mutiny Within
9. Find That Soul - Volbeat
10. Black Star Deceiver - Soilwork
11. House Of Wolves - My Chemical Romance
12. Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums - A Perfect Circle
13. The Maze - Lacuna Coil
14. Amerika - Rammstein
15. Diary Of Jane - Breaking Benjamin
16. Fixation On The Darkness - Killswitch Engage
17. Love Dump - Static-X
18. Machtkampf - Arch Enemy

I'm a little biased when it comes to DevilDriver, but this song's fast paced and perfect for writing fight scenes, which as you may have noticed with all my latest Derek and Liam shorts, is a lot of the time. 

Amy 

Bitter Pill

It's been a while since I've done a music post, so this is what I was listening to earlier today to get my thoughts going.

1. Living Dead Girl - Rob Zombie
2. Bitter Pill - DevilDriver
3. Machine - Static-X
4. I Wish I May - Breaking Benjamin
5. Andromeda - Dethklok
6. Emigrate - Emigrate
7. Chiron - All That Remains
8. Little Red Riding Hood - Amanda Seyfried
9. Made Of Scars - Stone Sour
10. Angel's Punishment - Lacuna Coil
11. Blood On My Hands - Death From Above 1979
12. Grim Goodbye - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
13. Deliverance! - From First To Last
14. I Am You - Demon Hunter
15. Family Disease - Oceana
16. Livin' Life (On The Edge Of A Knife) - Bullet For My Valentine
17. Bread Of Shame - Creed
18. Mailbox Arson - Alexisonfire

It was a tough choice once again, but I had to go with one of beloved DevilDriver tunes.

I love this song not just because it's catchy and fun, but because to me it speaks about fighting through change when it hits you hard, and that's something that occurs in almost every story I write. So enjoy some DevilDriver, or another song from the list!

Amy

500 Word Challenge: Back To Back

Officially back on the 500 Word Challenges. Today's was: The story begins in a crypt. There is a dramatic change in weather. A character drinks something they haven't had in a long time.

- - -

   This job couldn’t get much worse.
    First, it was the assignment to recover some booze from a Zeus-blood witch named Vince. Then it was having Vince manipulate the weather so that we were soaked in rain. After that, it was being punched in the head and being left behind.
    Derek wasn’t stupid, but he was an overprotective brother with a short temper. I’d gotten cracked in the head, Vince had taken off, and Derek had chased him into the crypt.
    I pushed myself up from the mud, muttering a quick pain-numbing spell to keep from passing out. I followed them out of the dark night into the dark crypt. I turned the corner and saw Derek throwing soulfire at Vince. They were pretty evenly matched, the fire from Derek’s hands just flicking past Vince. I realized that Vince was waiting for an opening.
    Before I could say anything, he took it.
    Derek didn’t have time to dodge, and the electric blast caught him square in the chest. His face contorted with pain as he dropped, and I knew his magic was spent. Vince wasted no time in creating electricity between his fingertips, then forcing it all onto Derek.
    My brother convulsed in pain, unable to create a spell to stop Vince. Anger coursed through me, and I drew on the blood-power of my ancestor Ares, creating soulfire. I built a quick ball of it, then hurled it at Vince.
    The ball struck him in the back and ended Derek’s electrocution. Vince turned on me, fury in his eyes. I got ready to use my magic, but Vince cheated.
    He pulled out a gun and shot me.
    One moment I was standing, the next I was on the ground. I hadn’t seen that coming, so I hadn’t made a shield in time. Pain pulsed through my chest, making it hard to breathe. Vince walked towards me, electricity building in his fingers. I couldn’t fight back, but I didn’t need to.
    Derek stabbed Vince in the back, piercing his heart and killing him instantly. Once he was sure Vince was dead, Derek dropped next to me and yanked up my shirt.
    He sighed. “That’s gonna leave a mark.”
    I looked at the bullet lodged in my Kevlar vest. “Chicks dig bruises, right?”
    “Always,” Derek said, pulling me up.
    He made sure I wasn’t hurt anywhere else, then stepped back.
    “I’m sorry I left you out there, Liam,” he said. “I just...”
    “Got pissed off and brotherly?”
    He stifled a laugh. “Something like that.”
    I waved it off. “No worries. I would’ve done the same for you.”
    Derek smiled admiringly, then glanced over his shoulder, seeing crates marked Ambrosia.
    “Looks like we found the booze.”
    “Think we can have some?”
    He grinned.
    “Well, there was gunfire. A bottle could have been broken by accident.”
    When we stepped out of the crypt later, drunk and feeling great, the sky was clear. The job had sucked, but the result had paid off.

- - -

I decided on writing the POV of Liam from Hollow Hill because there are only 10 days left until NaNoWriMo, and I wanted to slowly ease myself into the mindset of the universe. The story will be told from Derek's POV, but when I thought up the story it made more sense to tell it from Liam's perspective. I'm thinking about keeping up the stories for Derek and Liam, since I haven't written anything for them except a brief dream synopsis. Usually when I'm about to start a new story or series, I have a couple scenes in mind that I write down so I know how to write my characters. It's hard with Hollow Hill because I'm aching to get a head start, but this time I have to play by the rules.

Still, I can wait 10 days... :)

Amy

Holy Diver

I meant to post another 500 Word Challenge today, but they take longer than you might realize, and I only got 4.5hrs of solid sleep last night. Excuses, excuses, I know, but at least I got a post in, right? I want to say I'll make up for it tomorrow, but the truth is that tomorrow will be an early night for me because on Saturday morning I'm going to be at the Toronto Military Show for my work at eMedals. It's going to be a long day, since I'll be up at a lovely 4:00A.M. and spend most of the day sitting around and wishing I was writing. Sigh.

So here's a post of some music I was listening and thinking to today. Soooo many good songs that it was really hard to choose from...

1. Bring Her Down (To Crippletown) - Rob Zombie
2. Lost In Darkness - Escape The Fate
3. Makedamnsure - Taking Back Sunday
4. Another Know It All - Chevelle
5. I'm With Stupid - Static-X
6. Holy Diver - Killswitch Engage
7. Decode - Paramore
8. The Messenger - Thrice
9. Bloodtrocuted - Dethklok
10. The Lovesong Writer - Thursday
11. Get Up! - Korn feat. Skrillex
12. Innocence - Disturbed
13. Heartache Every Moment - H.I.M.
14. Demon Speeding - Rob Zombie
15. Crooked Spoons - Otep
16. Meet The Wretched - DevilDriver
17. Lunatic - Static-X
18. Bring Me To Life - Evanescence

But Killswitch Engage wins because, well, they're Killswitch Engage! The video makes me laugh, but I love this song because not only does it sound badass, the lyrics (originally by Dio) are basically about someone getting caught up in their own lies, being found out, and dealing with the consequences, which happens more often than not in my writing.

Since I did all my chores today, I will try to get a 500 Word Challenge in tomorrow. But if I can't, then on Saturday I'll post another one. Might even be 1000 Words to make up for the backlog before the weekend rolls in and I get into Cursed mode. Speaking of the Challenges, I would love some feedback and ideas for short stories! Send me a comment and I just might choose your concept! :)

Amy

Monster Mania

 I love the feeling you get when you have an idea and it just builds and builds in your head until you act on it. I have that feeling so often with random inspiration that I think it's some kind of chronic condition. Not that I'm complaining. Wouldn't be doing all this if I did.

I have this one idea growing in my head that I'm kind of in love with and am building on as inspiration comes. Think of it as a cross between Gladiator, Gamer, and the finale of Cabin in the Woods (this is kind of the original inspiration behind it since Cabin in the Woods has one of the best movie endings EVER). Essentially I have three characters: a gladiator who fights monsters for a living, a hunter who goes out to get said monsters, and possibly a third party who police the world. I won't go into a lot of detail, but I love thinking about this idea and hope I can get to it soon.

Speaking of soon, I'm currently working on a redo of Cursed. I was trying something new with it and I like the new setting, so I'm hoping to post the first chapter within the next few weeks. My project for this weekend, and probably my next day off, Tuesday, is to get a large portion of the redo finished.

So the songs I selected all have a similar monster feel to them, and this list was almost impossible to choose a favorite from...

1. Monster - Skillet
2. Coming Down - Five Finger Death Punch
3. E******** - Rammstein
4. Burning Sermon - DevilDriver
5. Living The Wasted Life - Aesthetic Perfection
6. A Little Piece Of Heaven - Avenged Sevenfold
7. Over And Over - Three Days Grace
8. Meet The Monster - Five Finger Death Punch
9. Lonely Day - System Of A Down
10. Mad World - Gary Jules
11. Detharmonic - Dethklok
12. I Once Was Lost But Now Am Profound - From First To Last
13. Lungs Like Gallows - Senses Fail
14. Cry For Me Sky - DevilDriver
15. Don't Fake This - Chevelle
16. The Last Fight - Bullet For My Valentine
17. Iealaio - System Of A Down
18. Look At What The Bats Dragged In - Wednesday 13

... But I had to go with Meet The Monster by Five Finger Death Punch. Not only are they one of my all time favorite bands (who are AMAZING live), but this song in particular gets me in the mood for a lot of my darker scenes, usually when someone is being pushed to the limit and ready to snap into a fury.

Anyways, that's the news for now. I'm thinking next week when I get my business cards (that's right- I got business cards!) I'll put out a post for Cursed. Stay tuned for more info!

Amy

Dog's Blood

As you might have noticed, I'm currently on a couple other websites, so feel free to follow me on Networked Blogs (on the right hand panel) and Goodreads. I'm also on Pintrest, so if you follow me on there you can see some images of ideas I get for certain characters/concepts, etc. In other news, I'm working on making some business cards- anybody know where to get double-sided color printed ones for cheap? Preferably in the Ontario area?

With that out of the way, writing has been going really well. It was my day off today so I managed to finish up Agents of Limbo 2, and I've been working on another version of Cursed, which I think I'm liking more than the original version. Will keep you all posted on that progress.



Here's another playlist for you, just because I was listening to music all day ;)


1. Beautiful Lie - 30 Seconds To Mars
2. Murmaider II: The Water God - Dethklok
3. Opium Of People - Slipknot
4. Du Hast - Rammstein
5. The Darkest Nights - As I Lay Dying
6. Given Up - Linkin Park
7. Demonoid Phenomenon - Rob Zombie
8. All In Wait - Static-X
9. Broken Mirrors - Rise Against
10. Miss Murder - AFI
11. Hollow - Submersed
12. Home - Breaking Benjamin
13. Mein Herz Brennt - Rammstein
14. Back With A Vengeance - DevilDriver
15. The Last Time - All That Remains
16. Battle For The Sun - Placebo
17. Dog's Blood - Alexisonfire
18. Fingernails - Skillet

Again, it was another hard choice, but I think I made a good one. What I like about this song as far as writing goes is that it's fast and slow, so I can write an action scene or something intense to the pace of it. Also, the lyrics remind me of the obvious- blood and the hunt. Given the type of stuff I write (it's coming, I promise!), those are pretty relevant considerations. So enjoy!

Amy