Ascension of the Whyte - Now Available Free!

I am pleased to offer Ascension of the Whyte as a Free E-Book.

Simply click the Smashwords image below to download your copy.

Don't miss your chance to read the first book in this exciting fantasy series - for free!

Happy reading...

Competition Winner Announced!

And the winner is..... Olivia Kennedy - well done Olivia, as soon as I receive your details a signed copy of Ascension of the Whyte will be winging its way to you!

Not you? 

Don't despair - Ascension of the Whyte is available as a free ebook. Just click on the Smashwords link below to download your very own copy.

Happy reading,

Karen

COMPETITION - Win a signed copy of ASCENSION OF THE WHYTE

If you still have not read book 1 of the Afterland Chronicles - Ascension of the Whyte or would love to add a signed copy to your bookshelves now is your chance:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

World Building For The Afterland Chronicles Fantasy Series

“What you see before you in the Eye of the Sooth is a map of the Afterlands. This is the world that you now inhabit. You can see here the four Afterlands; Ferrum in the west, Aurum in the east, Hydrargyrum to the south and Rhodium in the north.”  Lord Dux

My story takes place in a make-believe world that brings together legends and lore from multiple mythologies, featuring characters such as Rougarou, Witches, Dragons, Knuckers, Wizards, and even something called a Pukis.  I, like every other fantasy author had to decide when, and how, to build my world.  Should I construct a whole complex world complete in every tiny detail before I even started to write a single word of prose, or should I just let the world evolve around my characters as the story unfolded?  Both of these options seemed to be unworkable to me. 

Being rather impatient by nature I knew that detailed planning if it did not cause me to lose the will to live, would certainly deter me from ever writing the book. Hours of meticulous world building would have turned the whole process into a chore, and writing should never feel like a chore. On the other hand, I knew that ploughing ahead with the story without thinking through the major concepts of my world would undoubtedly be a risky thing to do. A world built up randomly, like a patchwork quilt without a pattern, could more than likely result in the pieces not quite meeting up at the centre.

Eventually, I decided to take the middle path and to build my world around the characters, using a stable scaffold built on known scientific facts and mainly European mythology, to begin with and then adding more detail as the story unfolded. As a psychologist I am always studying people and how the world around us influences our behaviour, so it seemed natural to me to just reverse the process and let the characters tell me what their world is all about.  After all, they had been rattling about in my head for weeks before I even started to think about their surroundings in any detail, and I was already intimately acquainted with the many ways in which each cast differed from the other. 

The Bloods, for example, were a seemingly emotionally cold race of people who made decisions using pure logic. Their eyes were slanted, their faces pale and grey, and their hair a fiery shade of red. It seemed obvious to me that their land just had to be inhospitable, fiery, and hostile, a land where life was always hard and emotions had to be kept in check.  An image swam into my mind whenever I thought of the Bloods. It was the image of a barren volcanic landscape, rich in heavy metals and ores, with craggy mountains breaking the skyline, their jagged, rocky slopes a honeycomb of tunnels, caves, and mine shafts. The Blood people and their land just seemed to fit together, like pigs and muck, and so the land Hydrargyrum was born. 

I knew that I wanted the theme of racism and racial inequality to feature in my book, so I decided that each cast would be named by their differences in hair colour. Just as in our world, we tend to categorise races by their skin colour (Black, White, Caucasian, etc.)  So the races of the Afterlands were labelled and judged by their hair colour, as Golds (blondes), Muds (chestnut haired), Bloods (red heads), and Whytes (silver haired).  

I found that quite unintentionally, these names seemed to suggest certain qualities for each race, for example, I quickly decided that the Golds would have to be beautiful, intelligent, wealthy, golden skinned, golden haired people if they were to live up to their ‘golden’ name.

Then very rapidly the whole world building bit seemed to take on a life of its own. In keeping with the ‘Gold’ theme, and knowing that it was common to name lands based on their geographical properties such as Argentina (Silvery Land), it felt logical to name lands after the metals and ores that were found most abundantly in each region.  So the land of the Golds became Aurum (the Latin word for gold). The bonus was that it underlined the qualities of its people, who were thought to be untarnished, valuable, wealthy and beautiful.  

Similarly the fauna and flora rich land of Ferrum (Latin for iron) naturally suggested people who were rough, robust and workmanlike, the farmers, hunters, and peasants of the Afterlands. 

Hydrargyrum being the Greek name for Mercury, which is a relatively stable, toxic metal that is liquid at low temperatures, fitted well as the land of the Bloods with their cold, un-reactive, and logical personalities.

Once I had this scaffold to work on, then crafting the features of the final, and arguably most important northern land, became simply a matter researching the properties of metals to locate one that was silver white in colour, rare and valuable. Rhodium fitted the bill perfectly.  Once I discovered that Rhodium was a scarce and precious ‘noble metal’ named from a Greek word meaning ‘Rose,' then not only did I have the name of my final Afterland, but also I had the name of the heroine of my book.

The final important discovery I made about world building was that if you did not want your story to get lost in inconsistencies, then you needed a map. Drawing my map turned the descriptions of the journeys that the characters travelled into really accurate and plausible depictions of each expedition and gave my writing an element of confidence that added to this realism. It was as if I was describing a real journey to an actual place and it was real to me - because I had a map!

World building for me turned out to be around eighty percent inspiration and twenty percent perspiration. I think that you need a good measure of both of these for it to be successful. How wonderful is it, though, to be able to close your eyes and travel to a land where the only boundaries are those of your imagination?  My dreams are never dull!

Karen Wrighton

To find out more about The Afterland Chronicles Series visit Karen Wrighton's official website.

The evolution of a book - or where do the ideas all come from?

Writing this book came quite naturally to me, in fact, I would say that the book seemed to write itself, but it didn't so much write itself as evolved almost in a true Darwinian fashion. It all started with a car journey,  my daily commute, which is long a and tedious three-hour journey through Norfolk's slow tractor ridden country lanes. 

I had been thinking about writing a book for some time and my computer was filled with half-written manuscripts and plot ideas. On this day though I had just finished reading John Green's The Fault in out Stars the night before and I was thinking about the bravery and of the young people and how they were both so desperate to discover what happened to the character in the story they were reading, who they presumed had just died. I started to think, well yes but maybe death was jot the end, it was s story after all so anything could happen! Then the image of a young girl swam into my mind. Her first day of high school, excitedly planning to attend a party with her friend, full of life, hopes, dreams and expectations, when something catastrophic happens, she is hit by a lorry and killed. What if that was not the end of the book, I thought, what if it was he beginning of an adventure.

That was the genesis of the story and before I arrived at work that day I had the framework solidly in my head. I knew the beginning; I had a great idea for a plot, and I knew how I wanted it to end now all I had to do was write it. Phew, that sounds easy when you say it quickly, but in fact, I was just about to embark on the most difficult, though most enjoyable part of this journey into authorship - planning and writing the story. 

When I plan the ideas come first, sometimes from my imagination, sometimes from things I see, hear or read about and sometimes through trying to solve a problem that the plot has thrown up. The research comes next and usually the research gives me more ideas about how I can weave the information or characters into my story. For example, I needed a method of communication in the Afterlands; J K Rowling had her owls, but I was loath to use birds so I looked into communication in animals and came across the bee and how bees communicated with each other through dance. 



I had already decided that some of my characters would be able to communicate with animals as well as to transform into them, so the bee made a brilliant messenger. I later discovered that in the past bees had been associated with magic, which I took as a sign that I had made the right choice.

Almost all of my planning and writing evolves in this fluid manner, my characters take me places that I hadn't intended to go. Originally I had two villains, Ka and Phlegon, but I soon realised that they were both such strong characters that the book wouldn't work with both of them in it. This gave me one big headache for a week or so until, again on my commute to work I thought that instead of killing one of them off and losing a great character what if somehow I was able to combine the two together. Phlegon was made from Fyre, so I was thinking of some melding, forging together and so I did some research and discovered how a crucible works and then the process of assimilation was born. 



I don't think I could ever be that organised to sit down and plan every detail of the story before I put pen to paper,  I would soon get bored. I like to build interesting characters that take me unexpected places and do unexpected things. It is what keeps me engaged with the story and hopefully keeps my readers engrossed too. 

If it were to tell you how I plot in a nutshell, I would say it was seventy percent character driven, twenty percent research driven, ten percent plot driven and mostly in my head while driving through the Norfolk countryside behind a tractor travelling at 20 miles per hour.

Karen

Ryte of Passage - Paperback Edition

For those traditionalists amongst you, the paperback edition of Ryte of Passage is now available on Amazon.

Happy reading!

Karen

Now Available on Amazon!

I'm taking a bit of a break from writing and editing for a while to do some publicity work because Ryte of Passage eBook is now available to buy on Amazon. 

The Paperback edition will follow shortly, so watch this space!

Karen

Proof Copies Arrive!

Today I received the first paperback proofs for Ryte of Passage. I was very pleased with them, though there are as usual a few small tweaks to make before they go on sale at the weekend. 

I'm really happy with the cover design, especially the dragons! Let me know what you think.

Looking forward to getting lots of positive feedback. So far beta readers are loving it. 👍😜👌

To pre order see the link on the sidebar.

Karen. 

Ryte of Passage Available to Pre-Order NOW!

           

                         

            

                                       

NEWS: Release Date for Ryte of Passage

The news is that we have now got a publication date for Ryte of Passage, which will be available for pre-order shortly and is due for release on:

Saturday 14th May

As soon as we have it we will post a link to the Amazon pre-order page so that any of you who would like to pre-order a copy will be able to do so.

This date is for the ebook version. The publication of the print edition should hopefully coincide provided final proofs, which are out for approval now, are free from any major issues.

It's been a long time coming, but I hope that you will all find this second book in the Afterland Chronicle Series well worth the wait.

Check back here for more news and to get the pre-order link as soon as we have it.

Ryte of Passage Publication Date Announced!

The news is that I have now got a publication date for Ryte of Passage, which will be available for pre-order shortly and is due for release on:

Saturday 14th May

As soon as I have it I will post a link to the Amazon pre-order page so that any of you who would like to pre-order a copy will be able to do so.

This date is for the ebook version. The publication of the print edition should hopefully coincide provided final proofs, which are out for approval now, are free from any major issues.

It's been a long time coming, but I hope that you will all find this second book in the Afterland Chronicle Series well worth the wait.

Check back here for more news and to get the pre-order link as soon as I have it.

Best wishes to you all,

Karen

Ryte of Passage is Complete!

It's finished! Ryte of Passage, book 2 of The Afterland Chronicles is ready for publishing. So why not read the first book Ascension of the Whyte for free? It's available as a free ebook from Amazon for a limited time only. Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ascension-Whyte-Afterland-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B00KVEXYPS

Check back here for firm publication date of Ryte of Passage within the week.

Karen

OUT SOON!

Busy few weeks ahead....

It's full steam ahead now tweaking my final draft of Ryte of Passage, the second in the Afterland Chronicles series. Still on track for release this spring, though slightly delayed as I've been ill yet again. 

On a more positive and interesting note, I have just started the first draft of a new book. It's a dystopian young adult novel with the working title 'The Last Girl Guide'. I am quite excited about it and hope to complete this book in between publishing Ryte of Passage and the final book in the Afterland Chronicles, 'Fyre and Ice', due for release in 2017.  

As you can see I've a busy time ahead, and I've a children's picture book to complete this year also.  

Day off tomorrow though, I'm having a spa day with my daughter Faye for her birthday. Hopefully it will knock my cold into touch too! 

Keep checking back for updates.

Karen

Latest News

Hi everyone,

Sorry for not posting for a while, but I've been busy finishing my second book Ryte of Passage. As of two days ago it was with my editor. So those of you who are waiting for a review copy, it won't be long now. Watch this space!

Latest News!

Editing a chapter a day at the moment. If I keep this up I'll have the final draft finished in a fortnight!

Rate of Passage is well on its way!

Ascension of The Whyte Giveaway

Second day of the book giveaway and Ascension of the Whyte is climbing the ranks of the Amazon Bestseller List.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to get this wonderful fantasy adventure book for free. Only four days left! 

BOOK GIVEAWAY!

Get your copy here from Thursday 25th June until Monday 29th June inclusive:

Ryte of Passage Update

Hi you bookish folks, I just thought you'd like to know that the last chapter of the first draft of Ryte of passage is about to be written! 

Now the hard work really starts..... 2nd draft time.

I'll be confined to my studio most of the time now.

Still aiming for a Summer release date. I need a DO NOT DISTURB sign tattooed on my forehead though. 

Karen

BOOK SALE - FINAL WEEK!

This is the last week that you will be able to purchase Ascension of the Whyte for the amazing price of 99p/c. So don't miss out on the opportunity to buy your copy of the first book in what is set to become an addictive new fantasy series. Get it here or click on the image below for full details.

Update on Ryte of Passage

 First draft 50% done! 35000 words written and well on track for a Summer release! 

Rose certainly is getting into a pickle! The Fae are coming.... Just like winter. 

January Book Sale

One month only so don't miss out!

Buy now from Amazon

JANUARY SALE!

For one month only you can purchase the ebook version of  Ascension of the Whyte for the special sale  price of £0.99 or $0.99.

Don't miss the chance to purchase this great book, volume one of The Afterland Chronicles before volume two Ryte of Passage is released later this year!

Buy now from Amazon

Karen

New Years a Resolutions 2015

Whyte Christmas Giveaway Winner Announcement!

 Congratulations Mandy Gooch on winning the Whyte Christmas Giveaway! Your prizes are on the way!

Karen 

Keeping Up-to-date!

Be sure not to miss the release of new books. Follow me on my Authors page on Amazon Central and you’ll be notified of all new releases!

Karen

Why you should buy a book for someone you love this Christmas

Every Christmas without fail, I have bought my daughters a book, I have bought my husband a book, I have bought other family members a book and I usually end up buying myself a book too! Books are without doubt one of the best presents that you can give or receive. A book will give you hours, days and sometimes weeks of entertainment. Good books will make you laugh and cry, will make you feel anxious, scared, awed and fill you with wonder. A good book is magical. It's able to transport us to another world where we can forget our troubles and travel with others through theirs. We are with them when they face their demons, fight their battles and ultimately fulfil their destinies.

Ascension of the Whyte is like that. It is a book that will take you to another world of excitement and magic. It will make you laugh, cry, and fill you with that feeling of awe and wonder that a really good story always does.

I know I'm biased, but my readers aren't. Read their reviews and you will see that they, like me, believe that this book series is going to be big. So why not be there at the very start and give Ascension of the Whyte to someone special this Christmas. I promise that they won't be disappointed.

 

Ascension of the Whyte is the first book in the exciting new fantasy series The Afterland Chronicles. Book two Ryte of Passage is due to be released summer 2015.

Give someone you love a Whyte Christmas this year!

New Edition of Ascension of the Whyte Released!

A new revised edition of AOTW has been released today!  The new version has an updated cover and a treat at the back.  If you are curious about book two, the first chapter of the second book in the series Ryte of Passage has been included at the end of the book.

Already purchased it?  Do not despair, you should be able to update your e-version if you purchased through Amazon or off my website.

This is what the new cover looks like.  Not much has changed but the title has been made larger and more visible.

I would love to hear what you think of the new cover and especially your thoughts on Chapter one of Ryte of Passage - The Elder Witch.  Here is the cover from book two, they compliment each other well don't you think?

Happy reading,

Karen

Picture Book Adventure!

Venturing into picture book land with a rhyming picture book for pre school children called 'Daisy Sunshine and the Murkins' .

Rhyming prose all finished... Just started on draft sketches... What do you think?

Karen

Readers Q/A with Karen Wrighton

How did you first start out as an author? Have you always wanted to write? 

Ever since I was a child I have been drawing or writing something. I still have some of the stories that I penned when I was a teenager (admittedly they are not very good though). Back then if you  had asked me what  I wanted to do with my life I would have said become an artist, a writer, or an archeologist (I made the first two, but I think I got sidetracked with the third and became a Psychologist and a teacher instead). 

When I was at school I loved anything about adventure, mythology, magic and science fiction and moved effortlessly from Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and Secret Seven to John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids and Midwich Cuckoos and then later to books by James Blish, James Herbert and the great Stephen King.  More recently though I have become a big fan of fantasy and YA books, which began when I started to read the brilliant Harry Potter series with my children and discovered how much I loved the genre.

As a child I was always writing my own stories and escaping into my own little world.  I didn’t have a very happy childhood, so my writing was an escape for me.  Later when studying for my Psychology degree I discovered that many writers had started writing in order to escape the reality of a traumatic childhood. Psychologists such as Freud explain this tendency as the development of a fantasy prone personality in order to escape childhood trauma and I wouldn’t argue with that.  As a child I would retreat into my own private fantasy world, where I could be anything I wanted to be, strong, powerful and even magical and therefore perfectly safe from all the chaos in my life.

I have started so many books over the last few years, but none have ever grabbed me the way the idea for this one did. Consequently they remain unfinished on my computer hard drive. 

This book though was different right from the very start. I have a really long commute to work every day, I teach Psychology at a college which is almost sixty miles from where I live and so I spend around three hours in the car every day.  It is during this time that my best plot ideas come to me.  I quite often have to pull off the road so that I can jot down ideas before they disappear from my head.  The whole of the idea for the book series came to me on one of these commutes and the idea grabbed me so strongly that I knew that I just had to write it. It was almost as if the story was floating out there in the ether and just found me to write about it… here I am, now write me!

I once heard an author mention how when reading a really good book she would catch herself thinking "I wish I had written this." If you could write a book that has already been written which book would you choose and why? 

I suppose like a lot of fantasy writers the Harry Potter series would come to mind.  I found the whole series so magical and I remember when I read the Philosophers Stone it took be right back to the time when, as a child, I would read Enid Blyton’s Famous Five stories by torchlight under the bedcovers until the wee hours of the morning. J. K. Rowling’s books had all the rip-roaring adventure of Blyton’s books but magnified a hundredfold by the inclusion of magic. I cannot deny that I would have loved to have been the one to have written Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.

If you could meet with any person, dead or alive, who would you choose? 

Oh well I am much too greedy to just want to meet with one, I would have to have a dinner party and I would invite Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, Rosa Parks, Ghandi, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Martin Luther King and J. K. Rowling.  That should get the conversation going well!  However you asked me for one person so I would have to go with Mark Twain.

Why?  Well not simply because Mark Twain is well known for being extremely intelligent, a powerful author, and for having a killer sense of humour, but also because I would really love to ask him how he knew. 

‘How he knew what?’  I hear you asking. 

The answer is that in 1909 Twain reportedly said

"I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: 'Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.' "

Twain died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910, in Redding, Connecticut, one day after the comet's closest approach to Earth.  How cool is that?!

What is your writing process?

My main system is to use Microsoft OneNote to keep track of all my story notes, character information, plot lines, and details of the developing world of the Afterlands etc. OneNote syncs over multiple devices so I always have my up-to-date notes with me which means I can pick up my work anywhere.  I also save my work to Google Docs online for the same reason.

I have a characters note section where I file a page with a tag for each character and list their main characteristics which gives me a detailed character map of each of them so that hopefully, I always manage to write in the distinct voice of each character.

I have to be in a quiet room to write as I am very easily distracted.  I try to write every day even when I am at work when I try to write in my lunch hour if I can. I write a chapter at a time in a linear fashion, each chapter in chronological order. Once I have an idea what is to happen in the chapter I just write a very quick first draft, exactly as the story unfolds in my head, and then as soon as I complete the chapter I do an immediate second draft before I go on to the next chapter. Then I pass the chapter on to my husband for proof reading.

How do you deal with writers block?  

I have yet to experience much of a problem with writers block but sometimes the flow does tend to dry up a bit.  I have realised that this tends to happen when I am tired and the words are not flowing as readily as I would like.

What I find works for me is to take a break and concentrate on doing something else, preferably a mundane task.  Usually what happens then is when I am not consciously thinking about it, unconsciously my mind figures out where the story should go next and hey presto the solution pops into my head when I am cooking the tea or doing the ironing or whatever mundane task I chose to break the deadlock.  This solution is supported by much Psychological research which has found that our minds work much better at figuring things out when they are occupied doing something mundane.

What is your favourite quote from the book? 

That is a good but difficult question to answer.  It is my book but I don’t really see it like the readers see it.  It was a lot of hard work and choosing exactly the right words to include in the narrative was a sometimes arduous task so much of the time when I read the text I see the anguish that each sentence caused me.  However I loved creating Eldwyn’s Prophecy and the songs for the book I should probably use the Prophecy of Eldwyn that starts the book as it is one of my favourites. It was one of the first things I set down on paper before I actually began the book so it probably deserves a special mention.

“When Whyte ascends in female frame,

And Aurum Sooth speaks Rhodium name.

When Bloods swarm o'er Ferrum fields

And the fiery gate of Tollen breaks its seals

When evil emerges from its brimstone core

To conquer our lands with fyre and war

Then shall the Incantatio seek and find

She with power to unite and bind

Rhodium will resurrect, and by her hands

Unity will reign in the Afterlands"

(Eldwyn the Whyte)

If you had to describe your book in three words what would they be?

Fantasy, afterlife adventure. 

What books are you reading now or looking forward to reading?

I am reading Delerium by Lauren Oliver and I am really enjoying it but have quite a lot on my Goodreads ‘to read’ shelf including Jonathan Strouds The Whispering Skull, which I am going to be reading next.  I love his books!

You are welcome to contact me and share your opinion on which one of these you think I should be reading next, but make sure that you provide me with some good reasons! 

Karen

Whyte Christmas Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter the giveaway to win a signed copy of Ascension of the Whyte and other themed prizes! Raffle is drawn on Christmas Day 2014....  If you are lucky you could win a Whyte Christmas this year.

Good luck everyone!

Karen

AOTW Competition Winner Announced!

Congratulations to the winner, John Jessop of Rawley Road, Norwich, Norfolk UK who beat off 1,342 other entrants to win the Ascension of the Whyte Giveaway competition. John will now receive a signed copy of Ascension of the Whyte together with a couple of other small themed surprises!

For all of you who entered but were unsuccessful keep tuned in here for details of another fantastic 'Whyte Christmas' giveaway competition which will be announced shortly. Thank you everyone for entering, and better luck next time!

 Karen

'RYTE OF PASSAGE' Book Two of The AFTERLAND Chronicles - COVER REVEAL

Well,it's here... The first draft cover of the next book in The Afterland Chronicles Series: Ryte of Passage to be published Summer 2015...  What do you think of it?  Your feedback is welcome... There is still plenty of time to alter the design, so let me know what you think...

Karen

Sound Track for Ascension of the Whyte

1. Goo Goo Dolls - Better Days

This song would without a doubt be ideal for the title song. It is beautiful.... and the lyrics 'tonight's the night the world begins again' are just so apt for the beginning of Rose's journey. This track always makes me feel as if no matter how bad things are, we should always look towards the future because there is always something good that is yet to come. 

"After losing her earthly life Rose ascends to the Afterlands and is inducted into the Oratory of Aurum in the Golden city of Aureus." 

2. ELO - Strange Magic

I have always felt that this track was so magical, subtle and intoxicating the music makes me feel as if there is more to this life than what we know and 

what science can tell us. It almost lends itself to magical moments of the book, especially the soothing. 

"Rose enters the turbulent waters of the impluvium where her new name is bestowed upon her by the Sooth."

3. London Grammar - Devil Inside

My daughter Anna, who is a big fan, introduced me to London Grammar (thank you Anna!) This track is so ambiguous, beautiful and powerful in describing how evil can lurk within otherwise good people. This is why I have chosen it as El-on-ah's theme. 

"El-on-ah, a young Blood Alchemist, journeys to Tollen's Gate with her servants and faithful pukis (a tiny dragon) in order to gather the means to resurrect the great and powerful Blood Alchemist Lord Ka. However in doing so she unleashes a great evil unto the Afterlands."

4. Seth Lakeman - Race To Be King

I love modern folk music and decided quite early on that the Mud people would be the 'celts' of the Afterlands and their accents and music would be 

celtic in nature. This is such a rousing track I thought that it would be ideal for the festivities of the Ascension Feast. 

"Rose and her cell attend the Ascension Feast and are introduced to Ferrish fiddle music and such gastronomic delights as Guillywally Fyre-pot, cassava leaf soup and ginger and snow rose sorbet, as well as getting their first taste of honeyflower mead."

5. Newton Faulkner - Dream Catch Me

Newton Faulkner has long been a favourite of mine, and especially this song. As Rose eventually discovers her origins through her dream and it is within her dreams that she finally finds solace, I thought that this track makes an ideal theme for Rose. 

"Within Rose's dream a feeling of unfurling weightlessness washed over her and as she watched her hands, then her arms, feet, and finally her body dissolved until there was nothing between herself and the four. Her sense of loneliness and grief gave way to feelings of fulfilment, love, contentment and of incredible strength and power."

6. I See Fire - Ed Sheeran Lyrics

This is the ideal track for when the Djinn and Affreet of Erebus attack the lands of Hydrargyrum, Ferrum and finally Aurum bringing a plague of fyre on their inhabitants.

"A red cloud gathered in the skies above Hydrargyrum and a thousand winged Afreet rained down their fyre on the people of the Afterlands." 

7. Andre Rieu - This Land Is Mine

Last Christmas I attended an Andre Rieu concert in London and this song brought tears to my eyes. Many years ago it was a theme song for the film Exodus and so it makes an ideal theme for the chapter of my book which is also called Exodus. 

"The novices watched transfixed as crossing the river and the plains, hundreds, maybe thousands of Bloods were fleeing; old, young, native and ascendants. On the plain, slightly ahead of the main 

group a father carried a small girl... Out of the sun swooped a cloud of red men, their reptilian wings spread out above them and then as if the gates of Erebus had opened, their fyre spears spewed out fountains of fyre that rained down on the defenceless refugees." 

8. Richard Ashcroft - Break the Night with Colour

I have been a big fan of Richard Ashcroft and the Verve for many years. I love this song and for me it is perfect for illustrating how sometimes the best laid plans just don't go well and, especially if secrets are involved, there can be dire consequences. 

"A fiery stream of red light shot out from El-on-ah's ring and hurtled towards rose. Arjan, a few feet from her did not hesitate..."

9. Seth Lakeman - Hard road (on your own) 

My love for Seth Lakeman knows no bounds.... This track illustrates how difficult life is for people who don't fit in and so is an ideal choice as the theme tune of the Twocasts. 

"Rose regarded them all, her eyes swept the crowd, taking in every detail; every child's tiny fist, every open sore, each hollow of every emaciated body and the hopeless, helpless shadows that clouded every pair of eyes."

10. Mike and the Mechanics - Someone Always Hates Someone

I have loved this song ever since I first heard it. Its sentiments echo the sentiments of the last few pages of Ascension of the Whyte, which is why I have chosen it for the books closing title theme.

"Let us stand together against the evil tyranny of Ka and the Djinn of Erebus. Let us stand, not as Golds, or Muds, or Bloods, but as one people, as one cast as one race. Let us stand as Afterlanders!"

"Maybe one day Ascension of the Whyte will get made into a movie, and who knows, they may even use some of my suggestions for the score. Enjoy listening to the playlist here". Karen Wrighton.

The Complete Playlist:

The Afterlands in Pictures

Or... if I were a location scout for an Ascension of the Whyte Movie!

1. New Zealand: (The Afterlands)

No wonder New Zealand was chosen to represent Tolkien's LOR World, it is ideal as a fantasy land. I would LOVE to travel there!

2. Iceland: (Rhodium)

Iceland epitomises my idea of Rhodium. The combination of ice, snow and warm water is so fantasy land. It is definitely on my list of places to see before I die... or ascend!

3. Ireland: (Ferrum)

This land with it's wonderful, humorous people, it's captivating scenery and music gifted me my land of Ferrum and the Ferrish folk.

4. Lanzarote: (Hydrargyrum)

Bleak, and barren this volcanic land is so much like my idea of Hydrargyrum... I did visit here a few years ago, so maybe it is where I got the vision of Hydrargyrum and its people from. Here you can find geysers and active volcanic fire holes... it is a volatile place... ideal for dragons!

5. Peru: Puerta de Hayu Marka (Tollen's Gate)

The ancient Peruvians carved this (Stargate) into the rock... Just like Tollen's gate (only Tollen's Gate is round of course!) BEWARE AFREET!

6. Rome: Vatican City (Aurum Oratory)

I based my idea of the Aurum Oratory on the Vatican in Rome. I loved it so much when I was there and was blown away by its grandeur and opulence (Aurum is very Roman).

7. Japan: Terunobu Fujimori’s Tetsu Teahouse (Ebony Forest Houses)

This is exactly how I imagined the Ebony Forest Houses. I could not have designed them better myself, I could just picture the Elder Witch standing in the doorway here!

8. USA: Minnehaha Minneapolis (Frozen Falls)

Rhodium's famous Frozen Falls do not figure in book one, but hang on for book two when they do make a big splash, so to speak.

9. Sweden: Ice Hotel (Enisfrae's Great Ice Temple)

I fell in love with the idea of having ice cities in Rhodium, and what do you know, Sweden have got there already!

10. USA: Florida Green Swamp (Ferndell Swamp)

This is exactly how I pictured the woods around the swamp in Ferndell... I can almost hear the Rougarou howling, and isn't there someone lurking in the trees just there?

How wonderful would it be to be a location scout for a movie? If Ascension of the Whyte - The Movie, ever gets made, I think I will volunteer to check these out, but if not then they are going on my places to visit list (yes I am that sad, I do have a places to visit list!)

Karen Wrighton

Excerpt from Ascension of the Whyte 

'Rose's response was swift, a perfectly executed block action accompanied by a clear command. The effect was instantaneous and dramatic, a blinding white energy stream flowed from her potens ring, transforming instantly into a rapidly moving wall of light which knocked Ash off his feet, lifted him up and carried him at great speed across the Arena. Goldin's hand shook as he retrieved his staff. He had never seen a novice perform a blocking spell with that much power.'