Covers That Change the Genre and/or Gender

For me the best cover songs are ones that the cover artist makes their own, and right now I’m listening to a couple of classical crossover artists covering pop/rock/whatever songs. Whether it’s Josh Groban covering Linkin Park or Katherine Jenkins covering Evanescence, it adds a new aspect to the song not to mention it’s great for writing/character playlists.

Superhero Novels

I love superheroes. I love novels. Sometimes these two great tastes can be found together. A couple I have read:

• The Rise of Renegade X – Chelsea M. Campbell
• Hero – Perry Moore
• Soon I Will Be Invincible – Austin Grossman
• After The Golden Age – Carrie Vaughn

There are more out there: I am looking forward to reading the Masked anthology in particular.

Kimi Ni Todoke: From Me To You

I don’t really read a lot of stuff that’s pure romance, but Kimi Ni Todoke is my major exception. This manga is frustrating in all the right ways – most importantly the part where I eagerly gobble a volume down only to be very upset that I don’t have the next one on me right now.

My eReader

Reasons why I love my ereader:

• It saves on space.
• Books are cheaper.
• Some books are free!
• I don’t have to limit my options when it comes to travelling. TAKE ALL THE BOOKS!
• I can borrow books from the library without leaving the house. And because I have a passport I can borrow books from the Singapore Library as well!
• It’s light and I never have to worry about bookmarks – which is great if I want to read something like The Passage.

My New Layout

Finally I have broken away from the traditional style and this is the result.

For the past two days I have been listening to Guillotine by YADI and after listening to it once or twice a story started bursting from my head like Athena. It’s a glimpse into the background of a minor character from another work.

I’m still working on the first draft but here’s the beginning of the story. Please excuse the draftiness.

She had not killed in some time.

Why should she have to when she had plenty of humans willing to kneel before their queen and offer their blood, humans who proudly displayed the scars on their wrists from her delicate nibbles as proof of royal favour?

She did not have to kill now, either. At least not personally.

She could have sent in a small army of humans armed with their barbaric guns. They were more than willing to sacrifice themselves for their queen and her consort.

Or she could send in her people to complete this task. They were stronger than humans and could easily overpower those monsters in the traditional way.

But she did not. Even with her rusty killing skills, even if she had to do it alone, it was her consort they had taken. Thus it was going to be by her hands, her fangs that he was going to be avenged.

Includes artists such as Within Temptation, Epica, After Forever and Sarah Brightman. Looots of symphonic metal in there, plus a little something else.

1. Beyond Me – After Forever feat. Sharon den Adel ♫
   I know I’m alone, but somebody’s watching me / Follows me everywhere I go
   A cold flow surprised me again, I shiver / The presence of something I can hear it’s breathing
2. Haunted – Evanescence ♫
   Watching me, wanting me / I can feel you pull me down
   Saving me, raping me / Watching me
3. Passion and the Opera – Nightwish ♫
   Princess of lust / Dignity put to dust / A virginal sight / Their apple to bite
   Drink from my thighs / The rain of lies / A sight so cursed / Breasts which never nursed
   Body of a virgin / Soul to the Devil’s kin / Your God is me / In all that you see
   
4. Here’s My Hell – ReVamp ♫
   Eyes wide open / Still blind to see / Heart wide open / Still too cold to feel
   That’s all what’s left of me / A frozen mind / A shade of who I could be
   That’s all I can be today / Hear the time, tick, tick, tick… / Let me try… / Here’s my HELL!

   Welcome to my pain, my wrath, my contempt / Where demons dwell
   Welcome to my scorn, my fear, my disdain / Welcome to my personal hell

5. Vampire – Xandria ♫
   She’s a vampire / Desire darker than black / She’s a vampire / Reach higher, no turning back
   Her wings are curtains of the night / She knows no wrong or right
6. Bring Me To Life – Katherine Jenkins ♫
   Frozen inside without your touch / Without your love darling
   Only you are the life among the dead
   Bid my blood to run / Before I come undone
   Save me from the nothing I’ve become
7. Unleashed – Epica ♫
   Back in the day, I can recall that / My thoughts were unclouded and sage
   There was no black staining the walls of my memories
   Now there’s a haze pushing me sideways / And leaving me nothing to gain
   Taking me back, locking me cold in disparity / Where was I meant to be?
   I feel I’m lost in a dream / Long for the day I can be myself / When I’m free
8. Angels – Within Temptation ♫
   There’s no escape now / No mercy no more / No remorse cause I still remember
   The smile when you tore me apart / You took my heart / Deceived me right from the start
   You showed me dreams / I wished they turn into real
   You broke the promise and made me realise / It was all just a lie
   Could have been forever / Now we have reached the end.
9. The Music of the Night – Sarah Brightman ♫
   Turn your face away from the garish light of day
   Turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light
   And listen to the music of the night
   Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams
   Leave your thoughts of the world you knew before
   Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar
   And you’ll live as you’ve never lived before

One-sentence story blurb: A teenage girl must find her way through a frozen London to rescue her best friend from Winter herself.

Click for larger versions.

1. And Winter Came – Enya ♫
   [Instrumental]
2. The Christmas Song – Josh Groban ♫
   And so I’m offering this simple phrase / To kids from one to ninety-two
   Although its been said many times, many ways / A very Merry Christmas to you
3. Cosmic Love – Florence + The Machine ♫
   A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes
   I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it’s left me blind
4. Pushing Me Away – Linkin Park ♫
   I’ve lied to you / The same way that I always do
   This is the last smile / That I’ll fake for the sake of being with you
5. Broken Pieces – Apocalyptica feat. Lacey Sturm ♫
   A thousand shards of glass / I came to meet you and / And you cut the piece out of me
   And as you ripped it all apart / That’s when I turned to watch you
   And as the light in you went dark / I saw you turn to shadow
6. Away – Hannah Fury ♫
   I heard he is missing in the river now / They say he is nowhere to be found
7. Wait It Out – Imogen Heap ♫
   Everybody says / That time heals everything
   But what of the wretched hollow? The endless in-between? Are we just going to wait it out?
8. Heavy In Your Arms – Florence + The Machine ♫
   And he took me to the river / Where he slowly let me drown
   My love has concrete feet, my love’s an iron ball
   Wrapped around your ankles, over the waterfall / I’m so heavy
9. Ice – Sarah McLachlan ♫
   The ice is thin come on dive in / Underneath my lucid skin / The cold is lost, forgotten
   The only comfort is the moving of the river / You enter into me a lie upon your lips
   Offer what you can I’ll take all that I can get / Only a fool’s here…
10. Frozen – Within Temptation ♫
    I can’t feel my senses / I just feel the cold / All colors seem to fade away
    I can’t reach my soul / I would stop running if I knew there was a chance
    It tears me apart to sacrifice it all but I’m forced to let go
11. Remember – Emilie Autumn ♫
    Every other touch / Runs as cold as ice / If I get too close / I may pay the price
    But I remember you
12. I Walk Alone – Tarja ♫
    Put all your angels on the edge / Keep all the roses, I’m not dead
    I left a thorn under your bed / I’m never gone
    Go tell the world I’m still around
13. Winterhearted – Xandria ♫
    I was romantic, so silly and blind / I told the world that true love had a name
    But all that is left now is pity and shame
    One of us is winterhearted / One of us is cold as ice
    One of us is breaking hearts / And it’s not me
14. Gollum’s Song – Emiliana Torrini ♫
    These tears you cry / Have come too late / Take back the lies / The hurt, the blame!
    And you will weep / When you face the end alone / You are lost / You can never go home
15. Home On Christmas Day – Kristin Chenoweth ♫
    And now that winter’s here / Soon it will be Christmas / I see your face so clear
    Though you’re far away / Your home is in my heart / It’s everywhere I go
    And I’ll be waiting here / ‘Til you’re home to stay
16. Winternight – Visions of Atlantis ♫
    Cold winternight – no way out of the dark / No one´s leading me back to the place I belong
    Uncovered secrets will never be found / No rebirth, no regrets – never be the one to hold
17. Running Up That Hill – Placebo ♫
    C’mon, baby, c’mon, c’mon, darling / Let me steal this moment from you now.
18. All I Wanted – Paramore ♫
    Think of me when you’re out, when you’re out there / I’ll beg you nice from my knees
    When the world treats you way too fairly / It’s a shame I’m a dream
    All I wanted was you
19. Carol Of The Bells – Emmy Rossum ♫
    Hark how the bells / Sweet silver bells / All seem to say / Throw cares away
    Oh how they pound / Raising the sound / O’er hill and dale / Telling their tale
20. Winterborn 77 – Sirenia ♫
    There is a river in my dreams that runs so wide, that runs so deep
    And by its riverine I still can hear you weep
    There is a winter in my heart so freezing cold and utter dark
    It keeps me down and tears my sanity apart
21. Bring Me To Life – Evanescence ♫
    How can you see into my eyes like open doors / Leading you down into my core
    Where I’ve become so numb without a soul / My spirit sleeping somewhere cold
    Until you find it there and lead it back home
22. Ice Queen – Within Temptation ♫
    When she embraces / Your heart turns to stone / She comes at night when you are all alone
    And when she whispers / Your blood shall run cold / You better hide before she finds you
23. Snowed Under – Keane ♫
    I don’t know why I waste my time / Getting hung up about the things you say
    When I open my eyes and it’s a lovely day
    You know sometimes I feel like I’m / Getting snowed under with the things you say
    When I open my eyes and it’s a lovely day
24. I’ll Be Home For Christmas – Sarah Mclachlan ♫
    I’ll be home for Christmas / You can count on me
    Please have snow and mistletoe / And presents on the tree
    Christmas Eve will find me / Where the love light gleams
    I’ll be home for Christmas / If only in my dreams

And of course that means I have been working on a playlist for the NaNo novel (which is called Winterheart).

As you can probably guess, Winterheart takes place in the week and a bit before Christmas. This is nowhere near the finalised playlist (as I still have to do some re-ordering and find more songs) but it definitely gives you an idea of it all.

 
And for the curious, my NaNo username is Amynta.

What I have also been up to, besides working on The Circled Green, is making playlists. Helps me organise my thoughts a lot, which is cool. Right now the character focus has been on Lauren, and here’s one of the songs.

It’s Vampire by Xandria.

So would you kiss the sun goodbye
And give your life to never die?

That is the way I feel about The Vampire Waltz by Hannah Fury. Gorgeous and dark, especially the lyrics.

Isn’t she and her music gorgeous?

I’ve been listening to Chameleon Circuit for the past few days and I thought I’d share. In the tradition of Wizard Rock (Harry Potter), they do Trock (Time Lord Rock), which is Doctor Who. And they’re good! Very catchy.

(Oh, and I hit 50 000 words for Lionheart. Woo.)