Music Monday - Isn't That Scary?

This week's Music Monday is meant to be a scary one, so get ready to cower beneath your blankies because it's gettin' scary up in here!

Scary Music Box (Slender Man)
Yeah, it's those slender, faceless strangers that'll get you every time! Muah-ha-ha!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8fUFmjqXZo

Horror Piano Theme
Don't get too scared when your piano starts to play this song all by itself, it just wants a little attention is all. You should go check on it. Really. Heh, heh, heh...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFZ9g9vEdbE

The following are two of the most easily recognizable musical masterpieces by Mussorgsky that embody both the eerie and the haunting. Oh, and it's okay to be scared, but just don't let your chattering teeth drown out all of the incredible music.

In the Hall of the Mountain King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJbruRZDNpQ

Night on Bald Mountain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyR-poMsSWI

A very dark and moody piece by Schubert set to Heinrich Heine's words and majestically performed by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau with Gerald Moore (I believe) on piano. Ah, yes. Did you catch a glimpse of him, your double, just now out of the corner of your eye? Tch! Oh, I'm so sorry. It's been nice knowing you. HEE, hee, hee, hee!

Der Doppelgänger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKVnL9JvuO8

Did that dark and moody piece scare you? Well, you ain't heard nothin' yet! Wait until you get an earload of Rachmaninoff' Prelude in C-sharp minor and G-sharp minor. Tch! Tch! Tch! And you thought you were going to sleep well tonight, didn't you? Heh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGqylB0GUQk

Another Mussorgsky Masterpiece
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySRReEgMDbE

What I like most about that piece is, yeah, what it did to you just then when you clicked on the link and it started playing. Gets 'em every time!

Silent Hill - Music Box [Extended Version]
What did you expect me to end it on, a tromBONE? Get it? TromBONE. Oh, never mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPUd29K0-Cg

A hauntingly good evening to you, and you, und Du...

B. Author and the Power of Parentheses

Hi! B. Author, here. Okay. It's Lee Lane, but Lee, Author, doesn't have quite the same impact that B. Author has, in my opinion. Of course, you would have to have been around in the 70s to understand the joke. If you weren't, you can probably Google it.

Anyway, so I'm sitting here this afternoon just thinking about this story of mine. (It was raining earlier, thus the rain and writing message.) I wrote some of this stuff a long time ago, bits and pieces. I was going to have them as memories at one time set somewhere within the novel series. I thought of using them as part of a prologue, but found the prologue was getting rather, well, lengthy. So I tossed them over into the "I don't know what I'm going to do with this stuff..." pile.

Yeah, writers have piles like that. They have "This is wack!" piles too.

Then one day I was sitting here at my desk thinking about how, in some ways, I wish I could begin all over again with my series of novels already in progress. That's when I decided to just start writing the series as something new and fresh and, well, Cherish was born, and I found a place for that stuff I didn't know what I was going to do with.

I have to say that I certainly didn't expect this story to become what it has become. There are twists and turns in it that I didn't even anticipate taking -- and I'm the writer! But I've found that writing is like that sometimes, a lot of the time -- it surprises you.

I hope when it's published that it will surprise you too. (In a good way.)

(Parentheses. They're a good thing.)

(If you're a Neil Gaiman fan, then you'll understand why I just said that -- and why I'm using them, except for me it was Tolkien. But C.S. and J.R.R. were buds, mostly, so it's cool.)

Have a beautiful Sunday!

Music Monday - The Good Water

A band I just heard about, The Good Water, I think has a really great rockin' sound. I just had to share them. I definitely think a lot of the characters in my novel would enjoy this band's sound.

Warning: Listening to this song could cause instantaneous eruptions of increased energy and a need to get up and move.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irf3TCfyrmU

Hey, don't say I didn't warn ya! ;-)

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Well, one of the most delightful days of the year has almost drawn to its close in these waters and I would be remiss if I didn't honor it right and proper by posting a link to my favorite pirate of all time and the very site that celebrates this day.

So, without any further arrrrrdieu, I give you my most favorite pirate of them all, Westley, otherwise known as, The Dread Pirate Roberts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzO-sv0mtZ4

And... The International Talk Like a Pirate website:

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

And what do Pirates have to do with my novel, Cherish? I'm glad you asked!

Pirates are a big part of Florida myth and lore and the history of the surrounding islands and Caribbean, and Cherish is rooted in all things Florida! So when you read the book you'll get a chance to read about a Pirate and a Mermaid via the storytelling of the main character's grandfather, a regular old Pirate at heart himself.

Arrrr! Ye Scallywags! May yer sails alway billow with a fair wind, aye!

Story Research Question

I have a question.

In my book there is a Swim Meet scene. If you were to read a book with light emphasis on a character's involvement in the swim team, how important would technical information about swim meets be to you? Would you want to know what type of meet it is? Would you want to know what swim strokes were being performed?

Okay. That's three questions, but you get where I'm coming from. I don't want to bog down readers with too much information but I don't want to leave out anything that might be pertinent either.

Thanks in advance!

Music Monday - Guitar Greats

 There are so many guitar greats to choose from -- John Sykes, Michael Shenker, Dave Meniketti. However, I only have room for a few. So sit back and enjoy the blazing fingers of the guitar heroes I've chosen to showcase tonight.

Neal Schon - The Calling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVvWxiP4_xs

Dave Mustaine - Peace Sells
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdEupVsL07E

Ted Nugent - Stranglehold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHDA5nHlDrQ

Rick Renstrom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqgTdVuGrAQ

Yngwie Malmsteen - Red House
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4l1Jk3ZCb4

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Crossfire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQX8PzWi3TQ

Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) - La Grange
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h2hox--bR8

Joe Satriani - Flying In A Blue Dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOsgv_X_cV8

Rik Emmett - Midsummer's Daydream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W47PvPaz7-U

Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrR60SKUCS0

Prince on Guitar with Cee lo Green - Crazy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgRLrOyxUBo

Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) - Mayonnaise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cECTX3mPu1o

Lindsey Buckingham - I'm So Afraid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1fieY0p130

Lita Ford - Falling In and Out of Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Lj491cSFM

Joan Jett - You Drive Me Wild/The French Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0yW-ZMwPdw

Ritchie Blackmore - Black Masquerade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82K4uNUkfeQ

Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) - The Pretender
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBjQ9tuuTJQ

Matthew Bellamy (Muse) - Resistance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPE9uSFFxrI

Have a meditative evening.

Cherish the Benefits of Swimming

Janis Rozentāls [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Some of the characters in my novel, Cherish, are swimmers. The following are some of the benefits that swimmers enjoy:

• Can improve, even eliminate Asthma
• Improves flexibility
• Release of endorphins
• Lowers stress
• Good for the heart
• A good way to increase muscle tone and strength without straining joints
• Lowers risk of Diabetes

So the next time you find yourself near a pool or some other body of water, jump in and enjoy the many benefits of swimming.