08/18/2026
A CURSE OF BEASTS AND MAGIC playlist!
Yes, I’m VERY late posting this. My apologies. It’s been an eventful summer. But before we get to that, come hang out with me this Saturday! I will be doing a live Discord video chat this Saturday, August 15th, at 5pm. If you don’t already have Discord, the app is free on your phone or laptop. Just click on the link IN THE COMMENTS if you’d like to join in advance to save time, or just show up for the chat. As always, thanks so much to Cassandra for hosting!
And now, to the playlist! I’ve said before that I listen to songs while I write because hearing the same songs over and over helps keep me focused on that particular story. So, here’s what I listened to while writing A CURSE OF BEASTS AND MAGIC. You’ll see that the newest songs are still at least a few years old because I wrote this story back in 2023 and 2024. Yes, traditional publishing took two years from the time the book sold until it was released, but that’s okay. It means a shorter wait until book two, A STORM OF DRAGONS AND SORCERY, out March 2nd.
Usual disclaimer: Music tastes are as personal as reading tastes, so if you don’t like the bands/songs, no problem! Just please don’t tell me that I shouldn’t like them.
The layout is alphabetic starting with the artists’ first name, and then the song name, but I didn’t listen in alphabetical order. I’m not that obsessive compulsive, heh. Also, there’s no particular meaning to the songs in relation to the book unless I mark them with an asterisk *, which, as you’ll see, I did with PANAROMIC VIEW because the lyrics “Let the monsters loose/I believe in magic/I won’t let them hurt you” could absolutely be something that the book’s MMC, Remy, says. He knows he’s stronger than the Beast inside Raine, but she’s so traumatized over how many people the Beast has killed, it takes her a while to realize that.
*grins* And when Raine does realize that, well, the other lyrics of “Lay your hands on me/I believe in magic/A romantic fool, I believe in magic” pretty much sums up Raine falling for Remy even though she knows better than to trade one dangerous monster for an even more dangerous one, but she can’t fight her attraction to Remy. Ah, morally gray men. I love them, too :)
Awolnation: Panoramic View*
Baltic House Orchestra: Like A Prayer (epic version)
Beach Weather: Unloveable
Billie Eilish: You Should See Me In A Crown, Lovely
Boygenius: Not Strong Enough
Cannons: Fire For You
Charlotte Lawrence: Joke’s On You
Christine and the Queens: Full of Life
David Kushner: Daylight
Death Cab for Cutie: Here To Forever, Soul Meets Body
Flyleaf: Stand
Future Islands: The Tower
Jawny: Adios
Loch Anam: I’m Gonna Find You
Lord Huron: The Night We Met
Manchester Orchestra: The Gold, The Way
Matt Maeson Get Happy
Milky Chance: Living In A Haze, Feeling For You
Mourning Ritual: Bad Moon Rising
Muse: Time Is Running Out
One Republic: Better Days
Phantogram: Black Out Days
Rihanna: Diamonds, Where Have You Been
Silversun Pickups: Lazy Eye
Talk: Run Away To Mars
Taylor Swift: Anti-Hero
The 1975: About You
The Beaches: Blame Brett
The Killers: Boy
The Rock House Orchestra: Zombie
The Strumbellas: Spirits
Tom Morello: Driving To Texas
Two Feet: I Feel Like I’m Drowning
Von Grey: Poison in the Water
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Burning, Spitting Off The Edge of the World
Young The Giant: The Walk Home
