Music is so powerful it has the power to come through on the pages of books. A song can set a mood, convey emotion, or just set up a time, a place. A party conveys certain images in your mind, but when you add what song is playing, the party comes alive. When playing "Under the Boardwalk," the party has a completely different vibe than one playing "Family Tradition."

Music plays a small but crucial role in The Last Vampire. Set in the 1890s, before popular music reached the heights of the mid-20th Century, I chose to include some church hymns at strategic spots. A familiar Stephen Foster song sets the mood for a particularly poignant scene. In fact, I had no idea how to write that particular scene until the song came to me--then, it virtually wrote itself.

My next two books rely far more on music. Written out of the timeline order, one is set in the late 1980s, a heyday for music capable of transporting you to that time and the places where particular songs were played. While writing, I played Goth and heavy metal from the specific time the events were taking place. Many of these songs found a place in the story, while others were useful in setting the mood.

As I completed editing the second book in the series, set in the late 1940s, I discovered the SiriusXM station "40s Junction," which provided an apt backdrop to the story and created a mood that helped me work out a few details. I was familiar with some of the music from the day, having enjoyed the Big Band since my father played it when I was growing up, but it virtually transported me to a different time as I worked through the manuscript.

I hope to have some playlists to go along with these books, so stay tune for future developments along those lines. And if you use music in your writing or to set a mood when you read, let me know! I would be very interested in your opinions on the subject of music and the written word!