A Time of Dread by John Gwynne - BLOG TOUR

Hey fellows Gwynners!!

We are stoked to be able to participate in the blog tour for A Time of Dread by John Gwynne. To help celebrate the arrival of this epic new series we have an exclusive piece from John, I've switched the font to 'Corben' (close enough) and at the bottom we have some links to buy a signed copy. Enjoy!

The Soundtrack to ATOD.

With five of us residing under one roof, along with a handful of dogs, my home is always busy, active and chaotic. Noisy would also be a fairly accurate description. Distracting would be another. Not the most conducive of environments for a writer. At least, not for me, anyway. Some writers may thrive on noise and a general buzz going on around them, but I like to get into a space where I can focus and dream epic dreams.

For me music has been a lifeline to writing.

I have my own space for writing, but it is not shut off from the general clamour of life – for that to happen it would have to be in a different building - so headphones have proved to be the vital ingredient to me getting down to any serious writing.

It’s been this way since I started writing. Back when I wrote Malice I generally listened to the epic stuff, and by that, I mean soundtracks. The Lord of the Rings soundtracks, Gladiator, Braveheart, Last of the Mohicans, Conan, Rob Roy. I think these are the default soundtracks that a lot of writer’s use. Also, the Dracula soundtrack deserves a special mention. It is sinister, haunting, melancholy and occasionally more than a little scary (especially through headphones in the dark).

These days I’ve taken to making up playlists that help to conjure up a certain tone and feel. I’ve even gone so far as putting together playlists for battle-scenes, for sinister moments, for emotional beats. It’s still epic – as a rule I don’t like to listen to contemporary music, which feels to me like watching The Scorpion King with its rock/metal score. That might take some people to their writing zone, but for me I try and find music that feels more of a fit with what I’m writing. You’ll still find some ‘classic epic’ stuff there, like Gollum’s Song’ from The Two Towers, by Emiliana Torrini. But also more obscure Celtic and Norse folk-music. My wife says it sounds depressing, or weird J but hey, it helps me get into the zone…

Here’s a link to the overall playlist I’ve used for writing both A TIME OF DREAD and A TIME OF BLOOD, books one and two Of Blood and Bone. It’s fifty tracks long, three hours and eight minutes of listening time. There are other variations – for battles, sinister, emotional and so on, but this is the heart of the two books. I hope you like it.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/playlist/a-time-of-blood/pl.u-oZylDgWuRbdMy3

So there you go people. A ton of music to wade through when you do you first read or your reread. Thanks so much to John and the people at Pan MacMillan for sending me an arc and inviting me to part of the Blog Tour.

You can check out my review of A Time of Dread here at The Fantasy Hive

If you want a signed copy I suggest you try Goldsboro books