Media Monday

Musical Inspirations

While I let my American War for Independence short stories percolate some more, I’m working up some ideas for a Middle Grade GameLit novel; isn’t that a mouthful? 😁

The original setting and characters first appeared in my short story, “Journeyman,” in Sam Robb’s Jethro Tull anthology Minstrels in the Galaxy.

If you’re interested, click on the book cover above to check out kindle samples of the anthology series.

I originally thought about serializing the novel on Royal Road, but the story works better for Middle Grade readers looking for adventure, wonder, horror, and humor.

Anyway, I needed a new opening scene to show the main character’s motivations and challenges and was drawing a blank. Until I found a CD-ROM that held the data from an MRI scan I had last year. That whole experience was claustrophobic and noisy. What would a nine-year-old would make of it? And how would he get through the whole experience?

Well, it turned out the main character’s father sang David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” as a lullaby. And the rest of the scene worked out pretty well.

Here’s one of my favorite versions of the song.

All y’all have an awesome week! 👋