Music for the Muse - a guest post by Misa Buckley

A playlist for ARCHANGEL

I'm often asked how I manage to write with a houseful of kids (for those that don't know, I have five children. Yes, five). Well the answer is, quite simply, headphones and a subscription to Spotify.

I listen to a lot of music. Most is ambient – instrumental to the uninitiated – like God Is An Astronaut, Circadian Eyes and Hammock (I sincerely recommend looking all these guys up) but every story I write has a few songs thrown into the mix. So without further ado, these are the tunes I listened to while writing the least angelic angel in existence.

BittersweetSymphony – The Verve

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyu1KKwC74]

First draft of ARCHANGEL had Gabe walking down the street, and I pretty much imagined him doing so exactly like the singer in the video: unstoppable, uncaring and a little bit rude.

CountryFeedback – R.E.M.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPMdxo3t_Vw]

This is my favourite song ever. It's lyrical beauty hides an almost brutal angst. And “I was central, I had control, I lost myself” describes Gabriel perfectly.

WithOr Without You – U2

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmSdTa9kaiQ]

Love is a complex thing and sometimes you fall when you don't want to.

OnAlmost Any Sunday Morning – Counting Crows

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKJrRKI_az8]

Another one that sounds prettier than it is. “You were so stupid to believe in things you couldn't see” is a line to Abby, when Gabe's still sure he can't have what he wants.

InThe Sun – Coldplay and Michael Stipe

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4GubElgsqE]

“And being caught in between all you wish for and all you seen.” This is my song to Gabe. I guess as the author, I believed in him even when he doubted himself.

Lifesize– A Fine Frenzy

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HCdrVUVC9A]

This is the last song, for the last scene and beyond. I won't say much, because spoilers, but it's about what you can become for love.

OneDay Like This – Elbow

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0jAJx3KEQs]

So if Lifesize is the last song, then why is this one here? That'll be because very late one night, I listened to this at full volume while signing the contract on a story I loved to death. This story.

 Patient. Merciful. Protective… One out of three ain’t bad.

Small time crook Gabriel Kemp is just trying to make a living when a hit-and-run leaves him for dead. Waking up in hospital to an angel at his bedside gives him a second chance, but one that comes with a condition.

Fleeing San Francisco doesn’t mean he can evade the deal either – he still manages to meet Abigail Harris, the woman he’s promised to protect. He might not believe in the psychic visions she claims to have, but he knows if there’s even a chance she can identify the serial killer terrorizing down-town L.A. then she’s in danger.

The only way to keep Abby safe is to find and stop the killer. If that means taking on the devil determined to turn the City of Angels into the City of Hell on Earth, then so be it.

Bio: Misa Buckley grew up watching Doctor Who and Star Trek so when she started writing NaNoWriMo in 2007, it was sci fi that she wrote. She finds writing a much-needed haven from the crazy of raising five children and a Land Rover-obsessed husband.

Misa can be found on Twitter (@MisaBuckley) or at her website (misabuckley.com)