The Music Behind What the Clocks Know by Rumer Haven

Congratulations to Rumer Haven on the release of What the Clocks Know!

I'm very excited to have Rumer with me here today. But first, lets get a look at the lovely cover....

Released March 18, 2016

Paranormal Women's Fiction

Crooked Cat Publishing

About What the Clocks Know: Finding a ghost isn't what Margot had in mind when she went ‘soul searching’, but somehow her future may depend on Charlotte's past. Woven between 21st-century and Victorian London, What the Clocks Know is a haunting story of love and identity. A paranormal women's fiction, this title is available as of March 18, 2016 from Crooked Cat Publishing.

 "A unique tale of the paranormal – as beautiful as it is haunting." ~ Shani Struthers, author of Jessamine and the Psychic Surveys series
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Please help me welcome Rumer Haven!

Thanks so much for hosting me, Cherie!

I don't typically listen to music while I write, yet it's a constant influence on what I write. Being a film buff as much as I'm bookish, I can't help but "hear" a soundtrack play through my stories, so I like to compile an actual one to rally me through the later revisions. And as long as I've done that, why not share it with my readers, too! So I've got a YouTube channel for my tunes and trailers: www.youtube.com/+rumerhaven.

In this cozy corner of cyberspace, though, I'd like to share a few songs from my What the Clocks Know playlist that actually appear in the story. So let's get our Goth on!

1. "Charlotte Sometimes" - The Cure

I've been a Cure fan since childhood, but little did I know until adulthood that one of my favorite songs by them was inspired by a book of same name--the 1969 children's classic, Charlotte Sometimes, by Penelope Farmer. So I eagerly read the book and, sure enough, recognized song lyrics in the passages (which is a whole separate, cute story of copyright infringement between Robert and Penelope, which you can find at her blog here: http://grannyp.blogspot.co.uk/2007/06/cured.html). The music and its muse are beautifully haunting and set the right tone and theme for my story, so I made a point to reference both in the first chapter. "All the faces all the voices blur / Change to one face / Change to one voice..."

2. "10:15 Saturday Night" - The Cure

My protagonist, Margot, has a lot of quirks, one of them being a fascination with coincidence. With an eye for detail, she notices even the tiniest instances of synchronicity. In Chapter 4, for example, this song starts playing at the same time Margot notices the computer clock switch from 10:14 to 10:15pm. No cause for alarm, of course, but it's her nature to read into it somehow. And you know what? She gets that from me. Not only the trait but this incident! "And I'm crying / For yesterday / And the tap drips / Drip drip drip..."

3. "Cemetry Gates" - The Smiths

First of all, nooo, I did not misspell cemetery. That's how the The Smiths spell it on their The Queen is Dead Album (which, along with my Cure albums, has been one of my favorites since grade school...I was a dark little lass. Blame my older sister.). The cemetery that Margot visits in the book is the same one that I frequent--an overgrown, chipped, and gorgeous Victorian graveyard--and I can't help but get this song in my head whenever I'm there. "So we go inside and gravely read the stones / All those people, all those lives / Where are they now?"

4. "Untitled" - The Cure

I'm cheating a bit with this one, as this specific song isn't mentioned in the story (which is just as well since it's untitled anyway), but Margot does listen to the Disintegration album that it's on. And this is the particular song in my head when I envision the scene. She's about to experiment with self-hypnosis so tries to lull herself into a relaxed state. And I don't know, it's just one of those songs I used to listen to on repeat in high school when feeling a bit chill and melancholy. "Hopelessly drift in the eyes of the ghost again..."  

5. "Ordinary World" - Duran Duran

This one plays in a pub during the final chapter. Margot has undergone an epiphany that she's trying to process and find peace from so she can move on. This mournful yet determined melody suits the mood and motivation so well. "But I won't cry for yesterday / There's an ordinary world / Somehow I have to find..."

Well, the record has hit a scratch, so it's time for DJ Haven to pack up her turntables. Thanks for tuning in, though, and may you read and rock on!

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Author Bio:

Rumer Haven is probably the most social recluse you could ever meet. When she’s not babbling her fool head off among friends and family, she’s pacified with a good story that she’s reading, writing, or revising—or binge-watching something on Netflix. A former teacher hailing from Chicago, she presently lives in London with her husband and probably a ghost or two. Rumer has always had a penchant for the past and paranormal, which inspires her writing to explore dimensions of time, love, and the soul. She debuted in 2014 with Seven for a Secret (in which a Jazz Age tragedy haunts a modern woman’s love life), and her award-winning short story “Four Somethings & a Sixpence” (about a bride who gets a little something she didn’t register for) was released in 2015. What the Clocks Know is her second novel.

Learn more about Rumer at: Website -  Facebook - Twitter -