Music Monday after ConGregate Weekend

Well, I'm still exhausted but grinning like an idiot because I have a new found love for my litRPG series, The World of Arcstone, (Thanks to Matt Dinniman for the validation!) and I thought I'd repost a previous Music Monday with the song that inspired Em and Lex's journey in those two books: We Could Be the Same by MaNga.

(Doesn't hurt that it was a Eurovision tune, either.) Enjoy! I'm going to go take another nap to recover from Con.

We Could Be the Same by MaNga

Music Monday: Memorials to Better Days

It's Memorial Day here in the US, and my mind is drawn to the service people in my life that aren't with us any longer, even though none of them died during active combat. I am thankful to them for their dedication to the safety and security of others and for their willingness to serve.

I may have shared this song before. To me, this is one of the best things to come out of the pandanini of the last three and a half years, and I think it speaks to anyone in a tough spot that needs a little encouragement. I know that I can imagine many of my characters when I hear it: Gin and Sath in the time traps, Tairn, Elys, and Hack in Eh'soi's dungeon. Em and Lex just...being Em and Lex.

We will all find better days. (lyrics are in the video)

It's here!!! Launch Day!!!

I'm so pleased to announce that Storm has joined Rift in the World of Arcstone series. From the back cover:

YOU'RE ONLY AS REAL AS YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE.

Welcome to Arcstone. Game loading, please wait...
Madelyne Laurent is Em, an elven warrior in the massively multiplayer online game, Arcstone. She’s made it safely back to the real world, but what does that even mean now that her father decided to stay in the game world? And who is Alex, really - is he Lex or someone altogether different and more sinister? In this Nanowrimo 2021-winning novel, Nancy E. Dunne takes us back through the monitor to the world of Arcstone, a world on the brink of a catastrophic storm. Em’s objective is clear until she again looks up into the Tyreanan Sky and treads the boards of the docks by that massive typhoon. Old longings resurface and this time it is up to more than just Em to figure out what is real...and more importantly, who?

Grab your eBook or paperback copy today, or meet me at an upcoming event to get a signed copy. I'd love to hear what you think!

Well, that was unexpected...

Truer words were never spoken...or written...on an image...nevermind.

Lots of things have happened, and even more...haven't. There's no Music Monday today, mainly because I've been sick off and on throughout the holidays. Ho, Ho, NO. Crappy New Year. That sort of thing. But also...I'm stuck in my writing, so I haven't been able to come up with anything that really inspires me.

I'm currently revising Storm, the second in the World of Arcstone series. While manning my table at the Carolina Renaissance Festival's Time Traveling Authors event, a young man approached - one I recognized from the event in 2021. He had purchased Rift at the time and had some questions. This is amazing and terrifying as an author, but I went with it. 

I had announced elsewhere that I would publish Storm in the late spring of 2023. He was glad to hear that and made sure that I knew I needed to clear up why things happened the way they did at the end of Rift. (HEY! I didn't spoil it! Go me.) This statement kick-started my revisions because now there was a person out there that wanted to know what happened next...and it wasn't someone that I know. 

And once again, they stalled out. It isn't that I don't love Em and Lex or that I'm bored of Arcstone. Quite the opposite - if this was my game world, I'd never leave. (Norrath and Azeroth, just pretend you didn't hear that, okay?) I'm just...having trouble. So I decided it would be a good idea to re-read Rift, and maybe Em, Lex, and the others would start talking to me again. Even better - I will have my voice assistant read it!

Y'all. I am not a romance writer. Ugh. So cringey! But I've powered through, and I've found the source of the problem...I left some things untied at the end of Rift on purpose, but now I haven't even reached for those strings, let alone tied them up in Storm. So...here I am, starting again with revision.

How long till March?

Music Monday: A Bit of Shakespear...

I don't know what I was doing this past week when this song came to my attention...because I hadn't heard it in...well, several years. But I really listened to the lyrics and...Em. Lex. Arcstone. That's all I can say because of SPOILERS but...that manuscript is in the cooling-off time now and STILL, they are asking for me to tell more of their story. Yeesh.


Stayby Shakespears Sister
If this world is wearing thinAnd you're thinking of escapeI'll go anywhere with you
Just wrap me up in chainsBut if you try to go aloneDon't think I'll understand
Stay with meStay with me
In the silence of your roomIn the darkness of your dreamsYou must only think of me
There can be no in betweenWhen your pride is on the floorI'll make you beg for more
Stay with meStay with me
You'd better hope and prayThat you make it safeBack to your own world
You'd better hope and prayThat you'll wake one dayIn your own world
'Cause when you sleep at nightThey don't hear your criesIn your own world
Only time will tellIf you can break the spellBack in your own world
Stay with meStay with me
Stay, stay with meStay, stay, stay, stay, stayStay with me

Music Monday: Fighters, in All Forms

I write a LOT of female characters. Some of them are strong from the get go (Em/Madelyne, Annie, Elys) and others have to come into their strength (Gin, Lucy). But one thing that both types have in common is that they have an opposite, a motivator, and that isn't always the antagonist. Tairn, for example, could sit back and blame Taeben for her woes but her motivator is herself, really. She is fighting against years of letting herself believe that she is inferior to her sister, Nel. That's what makes her a fighter...

Fighter

by Christina Aguilera

After all you put me through

You'd think I'd despise you

But in the end, I wanna thank you

'Cause you made me that much stronger

Well, I thought I knew you

Thinkin' that you were true

Guess I, I couldn't trust, called your bluff

Time is up 'cause I've had enough

You were there by my side

Always down for the ride

But your joy ride just came down in flames

'Cause your greed sold me out in shame

After all of the stealing and cheatin'

You probably think that I hold resentment for you

But uh-uh, oh no, you're wrong

'Cause if it wasn't for all that you tried to do

I wouldn't know just how capable I am to pull through

So I wanna say thank you

'Cause it makes me that much stronger

Makes me work a little bit harder

Makes me that much wiser

So thanks for making me a fighter

Made me learn a little bit faster

Made my skin a little bit thicker

Makes me that much smarter

So thanks for making me a fighter

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh-oh-oh, yeah, yeah, yeah ohh

Never saw it coming

All of your backstabbing

Just so you could cash in on a good thing

Before I realized your game

I heard you're goin' 'round playin' the victim now

But don't even begin feeling I'm the one to blame

'Cause you dug your own grave

After all of the fights and the lies

Guess you're wanting to hold me

But that won't work anymore (no more, aha, it's over)

'Cause if it wasn't for all of your torture

I wouldn't know how to be this way now and never back down

So I wanna say thank you

'Cause it makes me that much stronger

Makes me work a little bit harder

It makes me that much wiser

So thanks for making me a fighter

Made me learn a little bit faster

Made my skin a little bit thicker

Makes me that much smarter

So thanks for making me a fighter

How could this man I thought I knew

Turn out to be unjust, so cruel?

Could only see the good in you

Pretended not to see the truth

You tried to hide your lies

Disguise yourself through living in denial

But in the end you'll see, you won't stop me

I am a fighter and I (I'm a fighter)

I ain't gon' stop (I ain't gonna stop)

There is no turning back

I've had enough

Makes me that much stronger

Makes me work a little bit harder (oh)

It makes me that much wiser (oh yeah, oh yeah)

So thanks for making me a fighter

Made me learn a little bit faster (yeah)

Made my skin a little bit thicker (yeah, yeah, yeah)

Makes me that much smarter (yeah)

So thanks for making me a fighter (Fighter)

You thought I would forget but I, I remembered (ooh-ooh-ooh)

'Cause I remembered (ooh-ooh-ooh)

I remembered

You thought I would forget (ooh-ooh)

I remembered (ooh-ooh)

'Cause I remembered (ooh)

I remembered

Makes me that much stronger (ooh-ooh)

Makes me work a little bit harder (ooh-ooh)

It makes me that much wiser

So thanks for making me a fighter

Made me learn a little bit faster

Made my skin a little bit thicker

Makes me that much smarter

So thanks for making me a fighter

Music Monday: I'm Only Real...I Mean Human

I may have posted this one before, but it occurs to me how perfect it is for my current WIP for this month's Camp Nanowrimo. The discussion of who is human/real and who isn't is at the center of this second foray into Arcstone, and while it is on the second draft it still needs a lot of work. But...I'm only human...don't put the blame on me, hey?


Humanby Rag'n'Bone Man
Maybe I'm foolish, maybe I'm blindThinking I can see through this and see what's behindGot no way to prove it so maybe I'm blind
But I'm only human after all, I'm only human after allDon't put your blame on me
Take a look in the mirror and what do you seeDo you see it clearer or are you deceived in what you believe
Cos I'm only human after all, you're only human after allDon't put the blame on meDon't put your blame on me
Some people got the real problemsSome people out of luckSome people think I can solve themLord heavens aboveI'm only human after all, I'm only human after allDon't put the blame on meDon't put the blame on me
Don't ask my opinion, don't ask me to lieThen beg for forgiveness for making you cry, making you cry
Cos I'm only human after all, I'm only human after allDon't put your blame on me, don't put the blame on me
Some people got the real problemsSome people out of luckSome people think I can solve themLord heavens aboveI'm only human after all, I'm only human after allDon't put the blame on meDon't put the blame on meI'm only human I make mistakesI'm only human that's all it takes to put the blame on meDon't put your blame on me
I'm no prophet or messiahShould go looking somewhere higher 
I'm only human after all, I'm only human after allDon't put the blame on me, don't put the blame on meI'm only human I do what I canI'm just a man, I do what I canDon't put the blame on meDon't put your blame on me

Music Monday: Just one more before they go...

So I've not really spent much time on Lex and Em over the past month since Nano ended, but as happens when you have playlists as long as mine, this song came on the other day and I remembered how perfect it is for them...for everyone in Arcstone. No spoilers, but I wanted to share the first version of this song that I ever heard, from the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. I know absolutely nothing about the band maNga, but I do know that the sentiment of "We Could Be the Same" absolutely resonates with Rift and will in the upcoming Storm...or is that the oncoming storm? Hmm...

We Could Be The Same

by maNga

You could be the one in my dreams
You could be much more than you seem
Anything I wanted in life
Do you understand what I mean?
I can see that this could be fate
I can love you more than they hate
Doesn't matter who they will blame
We can beat them at their own game
I can see it in your eyes
It doesn't come as a surprise
I see you dancing like a star
No matter how different we are
For all this time, I've been loving you
Don't even know your name
For just one night, we could be the same
No matter what they say
And I feel I'm turning the page
And I feel the world is a stage
I don't think that drama will stop
I don't think they'll give up the rage
But I know the world could be great
I can love you more than they hate
Doesn't matter who they will blame
We can beat them at their own game
I can see it in your eyes
It doesn't come as a surprise
I see you dancing like a star
No matter how different we are
For all this time, I've been loving you
Don't even know your name
For just one night, we could be the same
No matter what they say
For all this time I've been loving you
Don't even know your name
For just one night, we could be the same
No matter what they say
All this time I've been loving you
Don't even know your name
For just one night we could be the same
No matter what they say
No matter what they say

Music Monday: Of Arcs and Stone and Rifts and Storms

So, I'm still thinking about Em and Alex...and Lex today. This song speaks to me when I think of them, but it also makes me think of my own expat journey. To boot, it is just beautiful, speaking of wandering and travel and new lands and home. The best line, the one that encapsulates everything I'm thinking about as I start work on the next Arcstone novel, is the chorus: "In the cathedrals of New York and Rome/There is a feeling that you should just go home/And spend a lifetime finding out just where that is."

(This live version is particularly lovely.)

Cathedrals

by Jump Little Children

In the shadows of tall buildings
Of fallen angels on the ceilings
Oily feathers in bronze and concrete
Faded colors, pieces left incomplete
The line moves slowly past the electric fence
Across the borders between continents

In the cathedrals of New York and Rome
There is a feeling that you should just go home
And spend a lifetime finding out just where that is

In the shadows of tall buildings
The architecture is slowly peeling
Marble statues and glass dividers
Someone is watching all of the outsiders
The line moves slowly through the numbered gate
Past the mosaic of the head of state

In the cathedrals of New York and Rome
There is a feeling that you should just go home
And spend a lifetime finding out just where that is

In the shadows of tall buildings
Of open arches endlessly kneeling
Sonic landscapes echoing vistas
Someone is listening from a safe distance
The line moves slowly into a fading light
A final moment in the dead of night

In the cathedrals of New York and Rome
There is a feeling that you should just go home
And spend a lifetime finding out just where that is