THE INFINITE Advent Calendar, Week 7: Playlist
Everything Is True
Ada Hoffmann's author newsletter
I love making playlists and I make a point of creating one for every book I write. My book playlists aren't music I listen to while actually writing - I prefer silence for that - but they're songs I listen to at quiet moments in the day, like on the bus or while doing housework. They make me think of my book and smile, and maybe even get inspired a little about what should happen.
I've been working on keeping my playlists cohesive in terms of genre and feel. It's not always an easy task, since I listen to everything from bouncy pop music to metal to classical and my books tend to involve a lot of different feelings. But I'm getting better at it, and THE INFINITE's playlist turned out very consistent with itself. Get ready to raise your horns and bang your head as we finish off this trilogy with a FITE.
Below, I'm going to share a little bit about why I picked each song and what part of the book it represents to me - keeping things as spoiler-light as I can!
1. Nine Inch Nails - The Warning
Your time is tick, tick, ticking away
Starting up right where we left off - this is the ominous message that the people of the Chaos Zone were given at the end of the last book.
2. Battle Beast - Master of Illusion
You can hear the weeping violins
Long before the bitter end begins
The characters in general, galvanized into action. The Gods' cruel nature is more apparent than ever, and one way or another, the conflict with Them is about to end.
3. Edge of Paradise - False Idols
I felt the depths of ruin
In a world long ago
I believed the dying light
Wasn't dying at all
Giselle and the origins of the Gods.
4. Amaranthe - Mechanical Illusion
Reset the evolution
Drives us to accept no more
Become what we were before
Elu and Enga, disillusioned with the Gods and with their angelic existences. This is one of the first songs I put on the playlist for this book, long before I actually started writing!
5. Muse - The Handler
I won't let you control my feelings anymore
And I will no longer do as I am told
Enga, rebelling.
6. Rave the Reqviem - Holy Homicide
I will go wherever she goes
She will carry my cross if I carry her soul
Yasira and Tiv's devotion to each other, even in the face of what looks like the end.
7. Temperance - The Last Hope in a World of Hopes
Nothing will ever be the same
But it's the last hope in a world of hopes
The characters generally, gearing up just before the battle.
8. In This Moment - The Fighter
All my life I was afraid to die
And now I come alive inside these flames
Yasira, preparing for her perilous role in the battle.
9. Edge of Paradise - Go Higher
I find strength in the unknown
I'm one with the stardust
Yasira, gathering her strength.
10. Amaranthe - Infinity
Break with the past whatever dreams you long for
I've seen what the future has in mind for me
Yasira's victory. This is another of the songs that’s been on the list ever since the book’s very earliest stages.
11. Amaranthe - Exhale
With unlimited options it has just begun
I've done things that you won't, I wish I'd never done
As I look through the eyes of what is my design
You've taken the ascendancy
Ev, reflecting on her path and Yasira's, how they've intersected and how they've differed.
12. Skillet - Stars
If you can hold the stars in place
You can hold my heart the same
In its original context this is supposed to be a Christian rock song. I pinkie-swear that's not what it means in the context of this book / this playlist. It'd be a spoiler to say what it does mean, but when you've read the final scene, you'll know. :)
13. Myrath - Dance
We're shining to exist
Injustice and hatred can't make us fall in the night
The grand finale. The credits roll.
*
Meanwhile:
Don't forget, on Jan 18 (tomorrow!) at 2pm EST, you can see me live at Glasgow Worldcon 2024's virtual panel "Neurodiversity in SFF: Representation and Practice"!
And on Jan 28 at 7pm EST, you can see me live at TBRcon's virtual panel "Neurodiversity Through Character"
My September interview with RB Lemberg, for the launch of RB's book THE UNBALANCING, is now available on YouTube! I highly encourage checking this one out; me and RB have the best book conversations and we get into all kinds of things.
THE INFINITE appears on K.A. Doore's list of queer adult SFF books coming out in January and on Shades of Orange's giveaway - be sure to check out that last one for a chance to win copies of the whole trilogy!