Music, Madness, and Mythos in WEATHER WITCH
In the WEATHER WITCH series I'm combining things that I feel naturally fit together, mainly mythos and music. You all know by now that WEATHER WITCH is much different from the 13 TO LIFE series. It deals with a historically-inspired setting (1840s, America's East Coast), a deep, sort of steampunk world, and a lot of darkness and conspiracy. Okay, so the last bit is similar to the 13 TO LIFE series after all. I am a sucker for darkness and conspiracy.
And one of my favorite themes shows up again--it seems I can't quite put to rest yet the idea of what separates man from monster.
Some of the music in WEATHER WITCH is truly traditional--or close to authentically traditional. Those of you who have delved into ballads and the evolution of music know that words shift and change and tunes are altered the same way traditional tales evolve differently in different places.
Such is the joy and bane of the oral tradition.
The music that makes up the WEATHER WITCH world is partly traditional and driven by myth, legend, and lore, and partly created thanks to the generous talents of Wade Mulvihill who has been researching the styles of things I want, crafting words and music to fit the story's needs and handing his results over to me freely. I am very grateful for his help.
As far as mythos...I drag out a couple "monsters" from traditional myth, tweak them to serve the story's needs and set my human population to war with one particular species.
This era in history was a time when we were desperate to conquer the frontier and tame the wilderness--and that is reflected in some ways in the WEATHER WITCH series as well.
So where does madness come in, Shannon? Great question. For all the strange creatures and odd trappings of the setting, at the heart of this series is humanity. Men and women with goals all their own--goals that drive them and sometimes control them. That is madness to me--the need for something that is so strong you do things you wish you hadn't or things you know you shouldn't. Madness is saying, "I have no choice," or "It's beyond my control," and allowing yourself to go down the path such thinking allows.
And one of my favorite themes shows up again--it seems I can't quite put to rest yet the idea of what separates man from monster.
Some of the music in WEATHER WITCH is truly traditional--or close to authentically traditional. Those of you who have delved into ballads and the evolution of music know that words shift and change and tunes are altered the same way traditional tales evolve differently in different places.
Such is the joy and bane of the oral tradition.
The music that makes up the WEATHER WITCH world is partly traditional and driven by myth, legend, and lore, and partly created thanks to the generous talents of Wade Mulvihill who has been researching the styles of things I want, crafting words and music to fit the story's needs and handing his results over to me freely. I am very grateful for his help.
As far as mythos...I drag out a couple "monsters" from traditional myth, tweak them to serve the story's needs and set my human population to war with one particular species.
This era in history was a time when we were desperate to conquer the frontier and tame the wilderness--and that is reflected in some ways in the WEATHER WITCH series as well.
So where does madness come in, Shannon? Great question. For all the strange creatures and odd trappings of the setting, at the heart of this series is humanity. Men and women with goals all their own--goals that drive them and sometimes control them. That is madness to me--the need for something that is so strong you do things you wish you hadn't or things you know you shouldn't. Madness is saying, "I have no choice," or "It's beyond my control," and allowing yourself to go down the path such thinking allows.
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