Hello Champions,

Just a quick note to let you know I’m still writing! I usually write with a soundtrack playing in the background so I thought I’d share what Champions of the Third Planet sounds like to me.

First, this track from Two Steps From Hell, which was used in the Star Trek trailer a few years back. I picture a lot of the moments from the beginning of the story here, with the kids discovering the Orb. Milo says, "I found something in the woods" around the :38 mark and the Orb takes off around 1:02: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxkJvYGP2qE

This track is from one of my favorite bands, the Dandy Warhols. It seems to get used a lot in movies and trailers. It’s pretty high energy and a lot of the very original images for Champions came to me with this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuFtfhOipNQ

Whenever I’m thinking about the kids on the Dead Planet in their quieter, melancholy moments -- hanging around, missing home -- I think of this part of John William’s score from Star Wars, where Luke is looking up at the binary suns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gt8D8SXD_8

This track from Mad Max: Fury Road is something I’ve been using for a huge set piece late in the book that I can’t tell you about yet, but I love the furious intensity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gt8D8SXD_8

I don’t know if any of this music makes sense to you in terms of the book, but it’s all awesome and it all speaks to me for this story, which I guess is what counts.

Back to work!

--Chris