Book Tour: Fezariu's Epiphany

Welcome to my stop in Fezariu's Epiphany Virtual Book Tour! Today we have David Brown as a special guest, and he's going to share with us what kind of music inspired him to write his novel! But wait, you want to know a little bit more about the novel first, right? I thought so. Okay, okay... Here, let me share the blurb - and an excerpt, too! Then, I'm handing the post over to David.

12-year-old Fezariu thought his mother died when he was little, but when his beloved stepfather dies the boy discovers she is alive and well - and working at the most famous brothel in all of Elenchera. When she cruelly rejects him it's more than he can bear, and he runs away to join a band of ruthless soldiers for hire. The Merelax Mercenaries will fight for anyone who can pay them, no matter the justice of the cause.

Fezariu grows up among the soldiers and becomes one of them. He thinks his time with the mercenaries has hardened him. But a campaign in his old home town pushes him too far, and he discovers what really happened to his mother. Maybe there are some things money shouldn't buy... and maybe it's time Fezariu took his revenge.

 

- Excerpt -

Jessamine took hesitant steps forward as she approached Fezariu. Tears began to well in her eyes causing her make-up to run. She glanced nervously at the bar where the patrons continued their bidding before coming to a stop in front of her son.
‘Fezariu,’ Jessamine said, reaching out to him instinctively before stopping herself. She hardened her tone. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I came to find you, mother,’ Fezariu replied. ‘Peter told me that you were dead but I found the letters you sent him.’
‘How did you know I was here?’
‘I heard two merchants talking about you in the market. I was so excited I’d found you that I followed them straight here.’
‘I don’t understand what you’re doing in Clarendon. Why has Peter brought you here, Fezariu?’
Fezariu paused. The raised tone of Jessamine and her general demeanour seemed alien to him. This was not the same woman that had raised him before disappearing from Larchfield. ‘Mother,’ Fezariu said, with his bottom lip trembling, ‘Peter...died.’
‘What?’ Jessamine replied, her stern voice giving way to wavering uncertainty. ‘When? How?’
‘It was a few months ago. He was attacked and killed while doing his deliveries. Uncle Edward came to Larchfield for Alycea and I. He brought us to Clarendon and that’s when I found the letters you had sent Peter. As soon as I heard those merchants mention your name and the White Oak I knew I had to come here. I will take you to Uncle Edward’s bakery, mother. We can leave together.’
‘I’m not going anywhere, Fezariu,’ Jessamine said, seizing her son’s arm and dragging him towards the front door. Fezariu tried to loosen her grip but could not overcome his inferior strength. ‘I want you to leave, Fezariu. I don’t want you here.’

 - Moved by Music -

I write best when I’m listening to music. It’s one of the oldest forms of art and it has the ability to evoke powerful emotions in the listener. I honestly think I could live without films and television but wouldn’t want music to be taken away from me. I could never compile you a list of my favourite songs and pieces of music but would like to share eight of my favourites that never fail to move and inspire me with my work.

The Connells – 74-75 (1993) 

This nostalgic song is accompanied by a poignant video of one of the classes of 74-75 at Needham B. Broughton High School in North Carolina. It shows how they were at school and how they were at the present day nearly twenty years later. It seems to be a nostalgic song tinted with deep regret, both themes I like to explore in Elenchera.

Final Fantasy VII – Aeris’ Theme (1997) 

The game that would inspire me to become a writer is also, like the other instalments in the series, filled with truly beautiful music, the majority composed by Nobuo Uematsu. This piece is the theme for one of the game’s characters that is unexpectedly and tragically killed. While this masterpiece plays in the background your surviving characters have to seek revenge against her murderer before laying their friend to rest. Beautiful but deeply sad. 

The Decemberists – The Bagman’s Gambit (2005) 

The Decemberists are my favourite group and this is their best song. It tells the story of a government worker who traded secrets with a beautiful spy in exchange for sex. He recalls his love for this spy and how romance clouded his judgement and helped her to escape from the authorities. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing this live and like all of The Decemberists’ songs it is compelling listening. 

Depeche Mode – Enjoy the Silence (1990)

A hauntingly beautiful, yet lyrically simple song, this is one of Depeche Mode’s best. Its striking video if of a king wandering a myriad of landscapes with a deckchair in tow, looking for places to sit and be at peace. Those lines, “Words are very unnecessary, they can only do harm” always get to me and in many ways are true. My main character in Fezariu’s Epiphany would love this song. 

The Smiths – I Know It’s Over (1986)

The Smiths’ magnum opus. This slow but heartfelt song gets to the core of emotional suffering and turmoil and has been credited with helping many listeners through a tough time in their lives. Whether I’m happy or sad, I always lose myself in this song and can personally relate to the lines, “It’s so easy to laugh, it’s so easy to hate. It takes strength to be gentle and kind.”

The Decemberists – The Island (2006)

This is effectively four songs in one and despite tackling the somewhat brutal subject of a rape and murder, there is something powerful about the music and Colin Meloy’s stunning vocals. The closing segment where the now murdered victim is submerged in water is chilling and the song stays with you long after it’s played out its 12 perfect minutes.  

Final Fantasy X – Someday the Dream Will End (2001)  
 
   

    

The most moving game I’ve ever played. This has a tragic love story amidst a tale of honour and sacrifice in a world devastated by a seemingly unstoppable creature known as Sin. The poignancy is never better captured than when a group of friends reach the ruins of a city – their journey’s end – knowing the sacrifice that awaits one of them and this music begins. I never feel happy when I hear this, but at the same time I can’t stop listening to it either.

The Cure – Trust (1992) 

The Cure’s moving song opens with 2 minutes of the most wonderful music ever recorded. Lyrically it’s a short song but it’s evocative and painful, a fragile and broken relationship bereft of trust but you simply cannot stop listening. Songs like this will live forever because they’ll never stop being relevant.

David Brown could be considered a fantasy fanatic, especially since he has spent the last 10 years developing a 47,000-year history for his fictional world of Elenchera. When converting his obsession into literary form, David commits himself to a rigorous writing and editing process before his work can meet his approval. Combined with the critical eye of his wife and a BA Honors in History and English, David's dedication leads him to his goal of inspiring readers through heartfelt stories and characters.
Although David is inspired primarily by fantasy fiction, he also finds his muse in the form of anime, world cinema, history, and biographies. His own books, Fezariu's Epiphany and the in-progress A World Apart, combine aspects from worlds both old and new into compelling tales of a world not soon forgotten., David himself certainly does not lack a spirit of adventure; in fact, he left his job in 2007 in order to spend a month traveling. Second only to meeting and marrying his wife, David counts this as one of the most amazing experiences of his life.

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