Tag Archives: Music

New Books and Things

Updated on November 8, 2011 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Happy Tuesday, everyone! It’s been an exciting few days around here–there was an earthquake on Saturday (!!), the first one I’ve ever felt here in Oklahoma. I was over at a friend’s house watching episodes of The Walking Dead (which had me freaked out already) when the house started to shake and books fell off the shelf. I was sure it was the zombies. There was another one last night, but not as strong. My dogs are still freaked out.

But in better news….on top of Megan’s fabulous sale last week, I have one of my own to announce. I’ve sold an Elizabethan mystery series to NAL!! If you read this blog very often, you know about my deep love of this period, and I am so, so excited about these books. The first one opens in autumn 1558, in the dangerous days right before Elizabeth becomes queen. She is under house arrest at Hatfield, and when Queen Mary’s cruel agent is murdered and all of Elizabeth’s household is under suspicion, she asks Kate Haywood (my heroine!) to investigate for her. Kate is the daughter of Elizabeth’s music master, and a blossoming musician herself, so music and dance will definitely play a big role in these stories. (Book two will center around Elizabeth’s coronation…)

To celebrate, this weekend I went to listen to the Baltimore Consort (see their website here), a fabulous group that performs medieval and Renaissance music. It was very inspiring and lots of fun! (and a way to get away from all the Christmas ads on TV…I am NOT READY for Christmas!). If you enjoy early music like I do (I own far more CDs of lute music than one person should) you should check them out.

What have you been doing this week? Any earthquakes or storms in your area? And do you like to read mysteries???

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged earthquakes, Elizabeth I, Music, New books | 9 Replies

Making Music

Updated on June 14, 2011 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Like Diane, I am “between engagements” (I know what’s coming up next–after RWA, which is two weeks away, eek!). So, what am I doing with all this time? I am deciding what to pack for RWA, trying to lose a couple more pounds before RWA (in the quest for which I’ve been doing crazy things like kickboxing and spin classes), and just generally getting excited about seeing everyone at RWA. I’ve been supervising my little ballet class in last weekend’s recital (everyone performed beautifully!), and I’ve been getting caught up on some reading. (Just finished a terrific book by Jehanne Wake called Sisters of Fortune: America’s Caton Sisters At Home and Abroad about a set of beautiful, wealthy sisters from Maryland who took Regency London by storm).

I’ve also been doing some prelim work for the next couple of books (that stuff which I call Important Research and others–like my mother–might call procrastination). I love to make soundtracks for stories, music that seems to suit the mood of a certain character or scene. It can be music of the period (like lute music for an Elizabethan story) but not always. Sometimes it’s something totally off-the-wall (sort of in the style of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette). Today I am thinking of music for love scenes. These can be the trickiest scenes to set to music sometimes, because it all depends on the mood. It can be anything from Bolero, instrumental jazz like Miles Davis’s So What, or Rihanna’s S and M. I asked some of my writing friends around here what they would suggest–some people had funny stuff (Katy Perry’s Peacock), some had ideas I might steal (like Crash Into Me by the Dave Matthews Band).

My number one stand-by song for any love scene is this, Next Girl by The Black Keys: