Soundtrack for SCOURGE OF THE BETRAYER

Jeff Salyards is the author of the fantasy debut Scourge of the Betrayer (Canada, USA, Europe) and he just posted something quite interesting on his website:

One of the best things about being a debut author is that it’s all a brand new adventure. On the one hand, that means I have no idea what the hell I’m doing or how to balance promotion and writing, no clue about adjusting to a contracted deadline as opposed to some sliding target in my head. On the other hand, it means getting all kinds of fun surprises, like reviewers who fall in love with the book, or readers who reach out to compliment me on an interview I did, or sometimes even more unexpected stuff. Like a professional composer contacting me and proposing a trade: he’d compose a few tracks to serve as a mini-soundtrack to Scourge of the Betrayer in exchange for a signed copy of the book.

Being a newbie, I don’t know what’s usual or not. Maybe composers reach out to authors with similar offers all the time. I’m going to pretend otherwise. I like feeling special. But either way, it’s still really cool.

So of course I agreed. And the composer, Will Musser, recently sent me the first track. This serves as kind of an overture for the book, and tries to weave several different elements of the book in one track, which, while very ambitious, results in something pretty powerful, in my opinion anyway. It’s really interesting to see or hear another artist’s interpretation of something you created. Will wanted to convey some mystery associated with the Syldoon and their agenda, and the brutality they are capable of, as well as capturing the haunting quality of Braylar and the cursed weapon he possesses. Again, that’s a lot to cover in a track that’s under four minutes long, but I think Will did a fantastic job—there are a lot layers here, a lot of movement, and plenty of depth.

Follow this link to listen to the track, which is pretty damn cool!