Black Blade
by Alexander Charalambides
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Release Date: June 11th 2017
Summary:
Lance is a hero.
With his friend Megan, he does his best to survive high school in a world that doesn't always make sense, and is almost never fair.
When their school receives a donation from an anonymous millionaire, Lance and Megan find themselves on an international field trip to England, where the two receive an irresistible call to a supernatural adventure that could change their destinies, and the destiny of the country, forever.
Together with three mysterious adults who all claim to be wizards, Lance must safe-guard the legendary Excalibur. Traveling into a strange parallel world and keeping his friends, new and old, safe from harm at the hands of a malevolent army of magical soldiers, Lance discovers the truth about heroism and the content of his character.
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Release Date: June 11th 2017
Summary:
Lance is a hero.
With his friend Megan, he does his best to survive high school in a world that doesn't always make sense, and is almost never fair.
When their school receives a donation from an anonymous millionaire, Lance and Megan find themselves on an international field trip to England, where the two receive an irresistible call to a supernatural adventure that could change their destinies, and the destiny of the country, forever.
Together with three mysterious adults who all claim to be wizards, Lance must safe-guard the legendary Excalibur. Traveling into a strange parallel world and keeping his friends, new and old, safe from harm at the hands of a malevolent army of magical soldiers, Lance discovers the truth about heroism and the content of his character.
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MUSIC PLAYLIST
Music is an extremely powerful tool for the imagination, it strengths
atmosphere and preserves the author’s intent
while still allowing the reader to freely imagine the details and texture the
author choses to leave blank.
The said, Black Blade’s atmosphere, and
therefore “imaginary” soundtrack is sort of set in stone. Since Black Blade is almost a
comedy, you might expect me to have listened to all sorts of silly music (which
is what I usually listen to), but this is where the “almost” is important. Black Blade’s characters are pretty over the top, sometimes absurd, but the plot and
atmosphere are always serious and often sombre, so the comedy really comes from
contrast rather than any specific action.
I can’t score the whole thing, but plenty
of musical pieces went into building the atmosphere, and since the atmosphere
really grew from John Boorman’s Excalibur, we’ll start there.
If you watch Excalibur (and I highly recommend you do) the soundtrack
will stand out immediately, the key player being Wagner’s Siegfried’s Funeral March. It’s the keystone of the film’s atmosphere and Black
Blade’s as well. In fact, I’m listening to it right now and feeling really proud of myself.
Obviously, though, playlists aren’t
composed of a single song. I tried to diversify and ended up with a lot of
classical stuff.
Most people know Night On Bald Mountain, which I think comes in
louder and louder towards Black Blade’s end,
and I always imagined the crowded breathing and clattering equipment of the
Mason’s Guild accompanied by Prokofiev’s Dance Of The Knights.
I know, you probably think I’m
boring. All posturing about authorial intent and atmosphere aside, I found that
writing with these really old, forbidding pieces added something that I couldn’t find in more modern music, and lyrics were right out.
Maybe I’m just ignorant of the
music I really needed since all I usually listen to are non-sense mashups and
songs made of sampled dog barks.
Alexander Charalambides was
born in London and grew up in Berkshire.
He studied Creative Writing,
and graduated from the Open University.
In 2008 he moved to the United
States, and now lives in New Hampshire.
As a freelance
writer Alexander enjoys storytelling just as much as editing and analysis, but
often takes time off to enjoy wind surfing, do the sickest of motorcycle flips,
wrestle with deadly animals and lie about his hobbies.
Author
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