Soundtracks for Trek Lit??

[DimesDan]

Personally I don't tend to listen to music when reading, but if I do, it does tend to be sound tracks over other albums I have on my Lap top.

As for listening to music while I write, in my first year at uni, after a particually long day and then a night out at the Student Union and having a few too many Snake Bites, I wrote an Essay on who ran the country while having all three of Queens Greatest Hits on random! So after that, I do listen to music while I did essays and now other work.

 

[KRAD]

Interesting--so nobody chooses anything besides classical/film scores? (Which I have a healthy amount of, but I've got lots of other stuff, too.)

Am I on ignore or something?

Once more, with feeling:

I have a writing soundtrack on iTunes and my iPod that is primarily Jethro Tull and Tom Waits, simply because I write better to those guys for reasons I have yet to figure out.

The exception is when I wrote my two Supernatural novels, which was a playlist of songs that the show has used (which is a fantastic playlist, just by the way...).

But I need to have music playing when I write....

 

[Steve Roby]

I tend to read Trek lit to Trek soundtracks, Dr Who novels to DW soundtracks, etc etc...

I do that sometimes, to help set the mood.

Anything with people singing (or at least, people singing in a language I can understand) is too distracting, so it has to be instrumental. But it can be classical, ambient, electronica, soundtracks... Probably not polkas, though.

I used to be able to read with almost any kind of music playing, when I was still single... but Laura moved in while she was working on her master's degree and suddenly I was doing a lot more of my reading with no music playing, while she did her reading and writing. By the time she finished her degree I found I had a hard time reading while listening to music with vocals in English. It's just too distracting. I can read a comic or magazine article or do web stuff while listening to music with vocals, because they generally don't take the same degree of concentration.

So I started doing a lot of reading while listening to instrumental music. Ambient sometimes (Brian Eno, Harold Budd). Or Howard Shore's soundtrack for David Cronenberg's film of J.G. Ballard's novel Crash, my all-time favourite movie soundtrack. Frequently these days it's dubstep, which is mostly instrumental but, unlike ambient, has a beat and lots of bass to keep me from falling asleep while I'm reading (e.g. Scuba, Burial, Boxcutter, iTAL tEK). Then there's the stuff by people melding electronic, ambient, and classical influences (for example, Johann Johannsson's IBM 1401: A User's Manual, Jacaszek's Treny, Marsen Jules's Les Fleurs, Deaf Center's Pale Ravine). Jazz and classical can work if they feel right for what I'm reading (e.g., Thelonious Monk for a '50s crime novel, or Haydn for a Napoleonic/Regency novel), but some jazz and classical works draw too much of my attention away from what I'm reading instead of staying in the background.

 

[JD]

I do listen to music with lyrics sometimes when I'm reading. As for what I listen, it's a rather eclectic collection, I have everything from Black Eyed Peas and Evanescence, to the Buffy Vampire Musical Soundtrack, and James Darren.

 

[Ferd Burfel]

Keith's post inspired me to simply put the Zune on shuffle and let it go. So lately I've been listening to anything from The Doors to T.I. to Springstein to New Found Glory. Truly a "mix" of all types of music.

 

[Turbo]

One notable exception: the song "Working Them Angels" on the latest Rush album, Snakes & Arrows, served as a kind of touchstone for my upcoming original novel, The Calling, and I even quoted its chorus as the book's epigraph.

Original book? What? Details?

 

[David Mack]

One notable exception: the song "Working Them Angels" on the latest Rush album, Snakes & Arrows, served as a kind of touchstone for my upcoming original novel, The Calling, and I even quoted its chorus as the book's epigraph.

Original book? What? Details?

This brief description is from my web site, and a more detailed promotional blurb will be available soon (along with cover art, which is coming along nicely):

THE CALLING
(July 2009)

A man who can sometimes hear when others pray for help is summoned to rescue a kidnapped little girl. His search quickly lands him in the middle of a deadly conspiracy involving Russian mobsters and corrupt New York City cops — and makes him aware of his true role in an ancient, ongoing struggle between the forces of Good and Evil.

 

[terpette]

I usually read with the TV on. When I write (which is usually academic stuff rather than creative stuff) I like to listen to new agey/celtic instrumental music. Stuff without words, or stuff in Gaelic that I really can't understand (though I'm learning it, so occasionally I hear a word I actually know).

Karen

 

[MajRichter]

I find it easier to read with instrumental music playing. If there are words being sung, it tends to distract me from the words on the page. If I have a Trek book in front of me, Symphonic Star Trek or Star Trek:The Astral Symphony are my favorite choices.

 

[Defcon]

One notable exception: the song "Working Them Angels" on the latest Rush album, Snakes & Arrows, served as a kind of touchstone for my upcoming original novel, The Calling, and I even quoted its chorus as the book's epigraph.

Original book? What? Details?

David also talked a bit about it in my interview with him for Unreality SF:

Another project of his that will see the light of day in July 2009 is David’s first original novel, The Calling. “Our main character, Tom, is a 33-year-old guy who, since he was 16, has sometimes been able to hear when other people pray for help. When he hears such a prayer, he feels compelled to get involved in some way. Then, one day, he hears a life-or-death plea from a kidnapped little girl. That desperate prayer draws him into a deadly struggle involving corrupt New York City cops and Russian mobsters.

“More importantly, along the way Tom discovers his own role in a larger, epic struggle between the forces of good and evil, and he makes new friends and new enemies in the bargain.”

 

[JWolf]

On the news last night there was a piece saying that as we get older, our brains are less able to filter out background noise. So when we have a lot of things going on at once, it can be harder to focus on just what we are trying to.

 

[Dayton Ward]

Huh? What? Somebody say something?


Get off my lawn!

 

[startrekfiero]

I have a writing soundtrack on iTunes and my iPod...

I do this same thing. I create iTunes playlists to fit what I am writing or working on.

 

[Greg Cox]

I can't listen to anything with lyrics when I'm writing, but listen to lots of movie soundtracks while working. In fact, I've got my music library broken down into categories: scifi music, spy music, horror music, superhero music, pirate music, etc. (I recently discovered that I am sadly lacking in western music, something I need to remedy!)

Besides the obligatory Trek soundtracks (of which FIRST CONTACT is my favorite), here are some of my staples:

BLINK, THE SHADOW, EVE'S BAYOU (for slow, moody scenes), IN LIKE FLINT (for fast, bouncy scenes), THE TIME MACHINE (George Pal version), LAST OF THE MOHICANS, John William's DRACULA soundtrack, Danny Elfman's BATMAN, etc.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Besides the obligatory Trek soundtracks (of which FIRST CONTACT is my favorite), here are some of my staples:

If we're specifying staples, mine would currently include

Tomorrow Never Dies - David Arnold
Casino Royale - David Arnold (African Rundown is also my favourite track for playing Mercenaries 2 with!)
The Bourne Supremacy - John Powell
Conan The Barbarian - Basil Poledouris
Lord Of The Rings - Howard Shore
Pirates Of The Caribbean - Klaus Badelt & Hans Zimmer
The Empire Strikes Back - John Williams
Revenge Of The Sith - John Williams
Robocop - Basil Poledouris
Doctor Who - Murray Gold

 

[MMCL]

I like to listen to Sigur Rós whilst I read... I find them quite complimentary to much Trek lit.
For newcomers I recommend the albums takk... and Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust.

PS - They are Icelandic...

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Oooh, yes--Sigur Rós is an excellent choice! BIG fan here. In fact, you've inspired me to take their album to Starbucks today while I write.

 

[MMCL]

MMmmmmm Coffee - I will have a skinny wet latte with chocolate on top, please.

Enjoy !

 

[DimesDan]

Oooh, yes--Sigur Rós is an excellent choice! BIG fan here. In fact, you've inspired me to take their album to Starbucks today while I write.

I'll have a Caramel Hot Chocolate - can't stand coffee!!!

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Oooh, yes--Sigur Rós is an excellent choice! BIG fan here. In fact, you've inspired me to take their album to Starbucks today while I write.

I'll have a Caramel Hot Chocolate - can't stand coffee!!!

I actually can't take coffee anymore (acid reflux--it makes me sick), but I do enjoy some of the blended creme drinks.

Starbucks' hot chocolate tastes like trash. Seriously, I can get much better at Cracker Barrel.