Hello! Happy 2024!

I hope the new year is starting out well for you, and if you’ve been getting any of the wild weather that’s been sweeping through the US, you’ve managed to survive it reasonably well. We had a tornado nearby-ish, meaning in the same general part of the state, but no major damage in my town despite the high winds.

I’ve been prepping for the upcoming semester, which has included pre-reading all the books for my literature class. (If you’re curious, the books are Eugene Onegin, A Double Life, Anna Karenina, The Master and Margarita, Klotsvog, and Unwomanly Face of War. I highly recommend them all!). However, I’ve also gotten in a little non-work reading, and I’ve also been listening to lots of music, of course. So I thought I’d share some reading and listening recommendations, including a song that inspired a scene in The Midnight Land. Of course, I’d love to get any recommendations you have, as well! I’m always on the lookout for new books and music.

But first! I wanted to share a book giveaway I thought you might enjoy. Bookfunnel’s Strong Women giveaway has dozens of free books of all different genres, but all featuring strong female protagonists. Check it out below!

Now, for those book recommendations…I just finished listening to the audiobook of When Women Were Dragons. Have you read/listened to it? What did you think? I remember reading reviews of it when it came out, and had been meaning to read it for a while. I finally got around to it this past week and enjoyed it quite a lot. Certainly a well-done and thought-provoking read.

Another book I’m currently in the middle of, which is less well-known but also fascinating and thought-provoking, is The EvoAngel. It features fungi, which are a bit of a fascination of mine, as well as academia and evolution, also fascinations of mine. If you’re looking for some thought-provoking contemporary fantasy that’s a bit different, I recommend it.

As for listening recommendations, I have so many, but for the sake of not overwhelming you, I’ll stick with just one today. I’m sure I’ll share many more in the future 🙂

So, a little backstory, specifically about the inspiration for a scene from The Midnight Land(I think I might have shared some of this before, but here we go again, maybe in more detail). While the main inspiration for The Midnight Landis Slavic literature and fairy tales, one scene also has a slight…Irish influence, weirdly enough. I’ve loved Irish music, both traditional and contemporary, for a long time, and according to 23andMe, Ireland is where a lot of my DNA is from, so I guess I come by it honestly (the closest I get to Russia genetically is a tiny amount of Finnish DNA, which was another surprise). 

Annnnyway, when writing The Midnight LandI decided, на свою голову (on my own head) as we say in Russian, to include some folk songs of my own composition. Believe me, I heartily regretted this when I went to record the audiobook this past summer. Since I only wrote the words, with little thought to any music, and I can’t carry a tune in a bucket in any case, I was at a bit of a loss when it came time to actually perform the folk songs. I settled for a kind of rhythmic chanting, which is probably not too inaccurate for traditional Slavic folk songs. When the audiobook comes out you can judge my performance for yourself.

The folk songs were loosely inspired by Slavic folk songs, but one of them was also loosely inspired by the Irish song Siúil a Rún–in particular, the bit about the spinning wheel and the sword. In my version, however, the singer sets down her spinning wheel and takes up the sword herself.

I’m including my song below just for your amusement, but while I was searching for different version of Siúil a Rún, I stumbled across this one by the Irish band Seo Linn. It’s a rather different interpretation, but I really enjoyed it, along with everything else the band has done. So if you’d like to branch out and listen to something Irish, do check out Seo Linn.

Here’s that scene from The Midnight Land: 

***

It was decided to continue up the coast until they left the taiga behind, in the hopes that the going would be slightly easier there rather than deep in the forest. Everyone was in great spirits as they packed up their things the next morning, excited about going beyond the Northernmost building in Zem’, and when they set off, many of them, including Slava, kept turning around to look at it as best they could in the darkness. A chill that had nothing to do with the piercing wind ran over her when it disappeared behind the trees: now she was really, truly on a great expedition, something she could legitimately brag of when she returned to Krasnograd.

“Goodbye, house! Farewell!” called Olik when it went out of sight. This inspired the men to burst into song, and they sang:

Farewell, farewell, to all my dear ones,

Farewell to my mother, my dear old mother,

Farewell to my father, my dear old father,

Farewell to my sister, my kind pretty sister,

Farewell to my brother, my brave bold brother,

Farewell to my beloved, my black-browed beauty,

Who waits for me by her window, her crystal window,

Who sits and spins for me,

Spins spells and songs of magic,

Who watches over me till I return.

Watch over me, black-browed beauty,

Watch and wait till I return,

Bearing gifts,

Bearing many fine things,

Fine things from distant lands,

To lay at your feet, your slender feet,

So that you say to me:

“He is the one I prefer, prefer above all others,”

And give me your hand and heart,

Your slender hand and kind heart,

And I’ll kiss your brows, your beautiful black brows,

And say farewell no more!

The men sang this song with great enthusiasm several times, and then Sasha and Vova began teasing Slanik about some black-browed beauty they were sure he had left behind, making him so angry he almost cried and forcing Olga to reprimand them. They looked abashed for a moment, but then demanded a song from her, starting a general cry of “A song! A song from Olga Vasilisovna!”

Olga protested at first, but then gave in and sang, grinning broadly as she did so:

Oh my lad, my bonny black-browed lad,

My curly-headed beloved,

Why did you leave me, leave me at my crystal window?

Why did our princess, our cruel cruel princess,

Call you away to war?

I sat and spun, spun spells and songs of magic,

I watched over you, watched and waited,

While you preferred another,

Another girl, some heartless girl,

And so I’ve set down my wheel, my spinning wheel,

And taken up my sword, my dear father’s sword,

And set off into the world, the wide wide world,

To find someone new.

His hair will be curlier,

His heart will be bolder,

His head will be wiser,

And to him I’ll give my hand and heart,

And never let him go!

This song elicited wild cheers and fervent applause from the men. They then sang several more songs, with Olga joining in from time to time, still grinning broadly every time she did so, as her words always contradicted theirs, making them laugh heartily and shout, “Ai-da Olga, Olga Vasilisovna!”

***

So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed that little look into my writing process, and that you got some new ideas for what to read and listen. Do please send your own suggestions my way–I always love to get them!

And here’s that link to the Strong Women book giveaway once again.

Happy reading!

E.P.