With one of five new books coming out in the next few months, I've been swamped doing edits and finishing the first drafts on some of them. I spend quite a lot of time writing every day and some days are easier than others. One thing I try to do to make it easier to slip into my writing mode is building soundtracks for each of my books. The book which is looming the soonest for release is DEAD DOG, the first in a series of books about a couple of violent good old boys named Max and Little Billy, who live in a small redneck town in Florida, and find themselves in trouble with the local drug czar during an informal investigation into the torture death of a young boy. While this isn't exactly a horror novel, it does deal with horrific elements and some very nasty people. As you can imagine this isn't something I'd like to live inside for that many hours a day--which all told is probably somewhere around 300 hours or more by now. It takes some revving up on some days to get there so I can write an honest narrative.
For DEAD DOG I had to build a soundtrack that reflected what the two main characters would most likely be listening to in their time and place, which in this case was Deep South Florida, circa mid-1970s. Below I'm including the TOP 13 songs on that particular playlist, but I'm also including the url for the complete playlist which I built on YouTube for my listening pleasure when I was online while writing. So here's to hoping you'll enjoy it as much as I have for the past few months, during the writing and editing process of DEAD DOG.
Url link for the complete up to date playlist soundtrack for DEAD DOG: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC38FE7D0328CE56D&feature=mh_lolz
(P.S.--DEAD DOG will be coming out with Grand Mal Press, so keep an eye out for it, buy it, read it and let me know what you think.)
13. Since I Don't Have You
The Skyliners (1959)
from the "American Graffiti Soundtrack"
12. Southern Man
Neil Young (1970)
from "After the Gold Rush"
11. Run Through the Jungle
CCR (1970)
from "Cosmo's Factory"
10. Requiem Mass in D Minor (K626)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1791)
from "Mozart: Requiem In D Minor"
9. Death Is the Road to Awe
Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet (2006)
from "The Fountain Soundtrack"
8. God's Gonna Cut You Down
Johnny Cash (2006)
from "American V: A Hundred Highways"
7. When the Levee Breaks
Led Zeppelin (1971)
from "IV"
6. Stardust
Louis Armstrong and the Tommy Dorsey Band (1947)
from "Stardust: Classic Satchmo"
5. Blue In Green
Miles Davis (1959)
from "Kind of Blue"
4. Ain't Too Proud To Beg
The Temptations (1966)
from "Motown 50"
3. Moonlight Mile
The Rolling Stones (1971)
from "Sticky Fingers"
2. Are You Sure Hank Did It This Way
Waylon Jennings (1975)
from "Dreaming My Dreams"
1. Trouble Man
Marvin Gaye (1972)
from "Trouble Man Soundtrack"
--Nickolas Cook
