And now, a guest post from author H.A. Swain
In celebration of the paperback release of my novel Gifted, I’m revealing a secret song scavenger hunt at the end of this post. These musical references have been lurking in the pages of the novel ever since the hardcover version came out last spring, but I’ve never talked about them before.
For some context, the book is all about music. Well, music in the future when the wealthiest families purchase Acquired Savant Ability brain surgeries for their children to turn them into instant musical geniuses.
Add to that, one greedy guy who owns the copyright to all music...
...and you get a world in which a natural-born musical prodigy like Zimri Robinson...
...risks getting her brain scrubbed if she profits from making music that she loves.
But, Zimri could no more stop making music than a bird could stop singing, so she finds creative, sneaky ways to get around the copyright laws, until one of her songs goes viral. Then all hell breaks loose.
I was thinking a lot about copyright law when I wrote Gifted. Sexy, huh? Yep, I really know how to take the pulse of the American youth, don’t I? I bet there’s not a day that goes by that you don’t ponder the implications of copyright infringement...
Okay, I don’t blame you for not thinking about it when a song is pumping into your ears...
...but if you’re listening digitally, you’re more than likely using technology that has brought up significant questions (not to mention lawsuits) about the creation, ownership, profit over, and dissemination of music.
A book is a silent thing, which means a book about music is inherently strange. How can I write about something auditory that my readers can’t hear?
Because of this paradox, I wanted to find ways to infuse Gifted with music. Not just descriptions of instruments and melody but references to songs that I love—which, brings us back to copyright law. (See how I did that? Slick, huh?)
Fair use law says an author can quote either the title or less than 10 words from a song before you gotta pay up. Obviously, I was going to be in trouble if I wanted lots of music in my book. So, like Zimri, I had to get a little bit sneaky, er, um, creative in how I use music throughout the novel.
First, I constructed the book like a song with verses, a chorus, and a bridge instead of traditional chapters.
Second, I named most of the characters after music. For example, Zimri means song in Hebrew. And Orpheus was inspired by the Marcel Camus movie Black Orpheus—a retelling of the Greek myth set at Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.
But I also named side characters after singers or songs that I love.
Like Jolene...
...and Veronica.
And, third, I sprinkled snippets of lyrics or other wink-and-nudge references to songs I like throughout the book.
So now, drumroll please, here are five of my faves to get you started on your song scavenger hunt adventure!
There are twenty more hidden lyrics plus lots of music-inspired names. Can you find them? If you do, Tweet or Insta a picture of the page with the lyrics or character name highlighted to me. Happy hunting!
Get your copy of Gifted by H.A. Swain today!
