Why gaming music?

Image credit: Cropped cover art; The Greatest Video Game Music III - Choral Edition

REMINDER: Lost Station Circé, the second entry in the Cluster Cycle series, is launching in hardcover and ebook on July 30, 2024 (this coming Tuesday). Available through these links: Amazon UK / Amazon USA / Barnes & Noble / Bookshop.org / Kobo.

I have a type of music that helps me work. And that music usually comes from video games.

I'm not joking. Most of my favourite composers--Masashi Hamauzu, Yasunori Mitsuda, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Kumi Tanikoa, Alexander Brandon, Borislav Slavov, Shoji Meguro, MONACA, Saori Kobayashi, Christophe Héral--are either principally known for or have worked on video games. When I heard other writers talk about their music choices, it can end up sounding like I'm the oddball. They talk about their favourite bands and albums, film scores, etcetera. True, there are film scores which inspire me or have helped me with writing such as the original (un-Scotted) Alien score by Goldsmith or Shore's Extended Edition cut of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But I look at my album choices on YouTube or Spotify, and I see video games dominating the line up, with a smattering of ambience and things like the above film scores and Aeon Flux.

I'm honest and open when I say I couldn't understand what was going on at first. Why not classical? Film? Television scores? Some of my best music comes from the modern era of video game music, especially scores that don't pretend to be something else. The more orchestral stuff that doesn't have some element of 'this was designed for an interactive environment' doesn't connect with me. It's honestly taken me ages to understand what the heck is going on. But now, I think I've got it.

I believe it's because while classical music resonates and film music is powerful, it also has a very specific context for me. It's a thing of the past, something I didn't grow up with. I can listen happily to Alien, but not when writing something other than that particular kind of sci-fi. So, for other writers who might be struggling with finding something that doesn't intrude, I think I can include some recommendations.

* Christopher Heral's score for Beyond Good & Evil, recently released on streaming platforms. Regardless of the man who created Beyond Good & Evil (by all accounts he's the worst boss ever), I admire the world created for that game. And the music is something incredible, with new tracks added for the recent remaster and included in the official album. I'm pretty sure I'll write something killer to that one day.

* Peter Connelly and Martin Iveson's score for Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is well-regarded for a reason. It's a great mix of grand pieces performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, and synth pieces. Tomb Raider as a whole makes great background writing for adventure, and this stands tall. I even put together a playlist which combines all the original tracks (with rough story alignment). There's also the Tomb Raider Suite created by original composer Nathan McCree.

* The Myst soundtracks, principally the first two games (Robyn Miller) and the semi-spin-off Uru (Tim Larkin) are beautiful and haunting atmospheric pieces. It feels like the right kind of thing to write to when I want some atmosphere of mystery and deduction without it being as in your face as something like Layton or throw-a-dart-and-you'll-hit-a-Holmes-reference.

* For those who want some Japanese flavour, there's the soundtrack for Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines, composed by Konosuke Kihara. It's a great, bouncing piece that still feels like it's somehow set in the semi-mystical realms of Heian-era Japan. Also, for similar vibes, the soundtrack for Okami is great if you don't mind lots of shorter tracks.

* Basically anything by Masashi Hamauzu is great for general writing, IMO, unless you're aiming for something specific. Just aim at one of his soundtracks, and you'll find something. Saga Frontier 2, Unlimited Saga, the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, Sigma Harmonics, Legend of Legacy, The Alliance Alive, and others. He has an unforgettable sound.

* Austin Wintory's work on Journey and Abzû is great for writing something sweeping and mystical. Just, ten tons of wow. I fell in love with his work through these two soundtracks, and even if The Pathless didn't hit me just right, I'm really looking forward to what he can produce for Sword of the Sea.

* The Deus Ex series...doesn't really have bad music. The original is a classic if a little in-your-face for my taste, Invisible War is peak cyberpunk ambience, and the two prequel titled Human Revolution and Mankind Divided are just incredible. I wrote some of The Cluster Cycle to those scores, not gonna lie.

* As to sci-fi ambience in general, I created an actual playlist of the stuff for myself. It's over 18 hours, and mostly first-class stuff. I originally had lots of individual albums cluttering my space, but merging the tracks that I liked best into a single mass seemed the right call. Hopefully I won't trigger a musical singularity. In the

And...that's my random post rambling about an aspect of my writing life. And Lost Station Circé is launching on Tuesday, July 30. Help!

Releasing July 30: Lost Station Circé

It's happened. It's here. After a nerve-wracking wait, I have a date. Lost Station Circé, the second entry in my Cluster Cycle series, is releasing in July 30 on hardcover and ebook format. Links may take extra time to come up unfortunately due to my publisher being overwhelmed with stuff, and the recent worldwide IT outage can't have helped with the digital store fronts.

A Voyage For Fortune Leads Them to the Heart of Fear.

In the desolate reaches of the Cluster, aboard the weary cargo ship Benbow, a disparate crew drifts through a meager existence. Among them are the brooding Captain Solet, the smirking Syndac, amiable Sudu, ambitious Alkmeney, enigmatic Livesey, and Lenore and Faarax, a Feles and her human ward sworn to kill each other.

Their monotonous routine is shattered when fate delivers to them a mysterious datacube containing the coordinates to a hidden fortune. Igniting a covert mission to investigate, the crew embarks on a perilous journey to the very edge of the galaxy, where an ancient space habitat holds the promise of unimaginable wealth.

However, as they venture beyond the boundaries of known space, they encounter not only the treachery of rival factions but also startling revelations about their own pasts. Facing both their deepest fears and darkest desires, the crew of the Benbow must come together to unravel the mystery of the ancient space habitat before it consumes them all.

Following in the tradition of sci-fi luminaries like Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick, Thomas Wrightson walks the fine line between space opera and horror with authority. Strap in tight, Lost Station Circé is a thrill-a-minute voyage into the depths of space and terror the likes of which you won't soon forget.

Below is the final cover art and an episode of my podcast featuring a preview of one exciting event in the story, and I'll hopefully be able to do other things related to it in the future. Life's a lot right now, for everyone, and if anyone wants to pick up either Starborn Vendetta or Lost Station Circé, then they're in for a great ride in a genre I love, inspired by classic stories given a modern twist.

Updates, mid-2024 edition

Hi. So, this is a relatively quick post/update for how things are going, and my plans going forward. Also, I know there has been...a lot going in the past several days. In fact, just last evening something happened which is likely to push this post into the void. But damn it, I'm still gonna post this!

First things is that while the next entry in my Cluster Cycle series, Lost Station Circe, is still scheduled for July, there is still no date. My publisher Roan & Weatherford is snowed under with stuff at this moment, and doing their best to catch up. There was also some ID stuff that appears to be taking its sweet time. Hopefully I'll have the date ready and able to be released. It's basically ready. Also coming in the future are two interviews, one in the nearer future and one in a few months, which were a lot of fun to do. I'm also definitely booked to go to BristolCon again this year. Its first two-day event, which should be either fun, exhausting, or hopefully both.

In my personal life, I've been very busy with Open University studies, not putting all eggs into one basket, but also coping with some home difficulties related to illness and rediscovering my work-life balance after a prolonged period where multiple issues and illnesses were coming one on top of the other since roughly September 2023. A long time, to say the least. I also created a tier list video this week looking at the characters of my favourite video game series, Drakengard/Nier. That was fun, and is allowing me to get to grips with a new and much better open source editing software.

So, what to look forward to? Well, there are three more Cluster Cycle novels to come after Lost Station Circe, which given the current release timing should be coming over the next three years roughly. These are all provisional titles, but I can tell you this much about them.

* The Murderer's Burden (working title): A sci-fi detective novel inspired by the Golden Age authors of the genre.

* Sphear of Lament (working title): A first contact story with some H. G. Wells inspiration.

* Ancient Earth Explorers (working title): A concluding storyline, set against the backdrop of a gay romance.

I hope these leave you with some anticipation. Edits are still to be made on all three above, and as I've said the titles aren't final by any means. If you want to find out what happened before Lost Station Circe, then you can get the previous book Starborn Vendetta...anywhere that sells books.

Meet...wait, who are you supposed to be again?

 This blog post has been brought to you by...me! My next book, Lost Station Circe, is releasing in July. This very month (sorry I've still got no date beyond that, my publisher is very busy). The first one, Starborn Vendetta, is available now from anywhere that sells books.

After an earlier post on ensemble casts, a comment from fellow author Stephen Cox got me thinking about a problem with ensemble casts I didn't even think of when I created that post. Emblematic, considering how many points there are about...large casts. Pardon me for mentioning the tainted name of Harry Potter, but it is an example that can help demonstrate something quickly. We get introduced to A LOT of characters in its first book alone, ten or twenty beyond what might be called the core cast. Just imagine if over half of them had never been developed further, which is almost what happens. It suffers somewhat from that problem where characters are just names, except when the story suddenly needs them not to be. Here begins what might be the ensemble cast's crippling blow: too many named characters in the kitchen.

Not every grand arcing saga needs a huge cast of characters, and not all large casts are equal, especially when it comes to an ensemble where each of them technically is supposed to have enough screen time to develop as their own people. There are plenty of examples I've either seen for myself (Firefly, Blast of Tempest) or heard about (Leverage) that succeed in developing an ensemble. But what about those that just...fumble it? Not to take too easy a potshot, but while it focuses largely on its two leads, Avatar seems technically to be attempting an ensemble between its human and alien factions. It's certainly got the runtime for an ensemble film. But outside...five characters, the other ten or so are very underdeveloped. I know there are deeper core problems with the story of Avatar, but this is one that could have made the story more digestible and enjoyable. And from what I've heard, the sequels aren't fixing the problem. Contrast it with a similar us-versus-them film Tora! Tora! Tora!, which with a noticeably shorter runtime manages to tell a compelling and heartbreaking two-sided narrative around the entry of Japan into World War II with the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

Video games are easier to forgive in this regard, as you play as one person in a medium still holding a stigma of 'story not important', so underdevelopment is less of an issue. But I shall compare two of my favourite games with ensemble casts, many of which get roughly equal amounts of screen time outside the main cast, and may come across as shallow if the player doesn't follow their optional content. Nier: Automata has one of my favourite casts, especially when you go through their side quests, but some remain underdeveloped, specifically the Commander and Anemone. They are introduced as key players, but we get little to nothing in terms of solid story and development compared to the Operators, Pascal, or Adam and Eve. And they play just as big a role in the story as the Operators, Pascal, or Adam and Eve. Meanwhile Mass Effect has an entire trilogy's worth of space to deal with its characters, and many characters move onto different things after the game where they are introduced (assuming they survive, ala Urdnot Wrex). But it suffers from a "tell, don't show" approach to its characters and world building that can REALLY drag things down, and its DLC characters show clear signs of having less attention given to them through resource issues.

I didn't want to use a bad example above, but contrast two good ones. Ensembles are difficult to get right, and it's very easy for characters to fall by the wayside. Either through forgetfulness, or necessity. Sometimes casts grow so large (insert any long-running shonen anime here) that it becomes borderline impossible to keep track of everything. You can come back and think "Wait, what, who were you again?" Good writing can compensate for that, but not always.

Now for the point where I talk about my book Lost Station Circe, where I employ an ensemble cast. And I ran into a problem straight away. Because of how the story was going, my initial core cast of seven with roughly equal screentime exploded into one of somewhere above twelve, which was stretching my ability to create a compelling story for them. I had to make some tough choices, and some that initially had a longer and more defined role needed to be scaled back to allow for fuller focus on others. It's still not perfect (IMO perfection is an unobtainable abstract so looking for it is a fool's errand), but it was either that, or the story was going to get hopelessly confusing and some of the parts I felt were essential to the story would need to be cut for time.

So...this is a thing. Following something up based on someone else's comment. Apologies if it's a little odd, unusual, not quite as polished as it might be but it's more about writing what I feel than some of my other blog posts. I also hope it's enjoyable, and that it makes you think about how a cast is written. Not ensemble fits into a story, but then not every story needs an ensemble. If you try to squeeze an ensemble where it doesn't fit, you get...well, great difficulty remembering who the heck this or that character is supposed to be. No matter how engaging the writing, it was very difficult remembering why I should be caring about Parvati Patel.