Well, now that the first four chapters are up, I thought I would tell you all a little story about how this massive project called the Obsidian Gate got started as well as tell you about the little bits of inspiration that have spawned some of its characters and scenes. When I met my current significant other, about ten years ago, it was as a friend of a friend. I was going through a rough time with my then fiance and really needed a night out. A friend of mine invited me to go out to karaoke (one of my many addictions) and said that she wanted to bring along a guy friend. She said he was really nice and she thought we'd get along. To make the long story short, we did. We started hanging out and he invited me to go play DND (that's Dungeons and Dragons for any non-geeks out there (yes, another addiction of mine)) with him and some of his friends.
After the game, we got talking about some characters of ours. I had never played DND before so I told him of a character that I had come up with around 1992 named Alexandra Lee. She had sprung from my head (much like Athena from mythology) full grown, unlike any other character I had ever attempted to put to page. I described her to Herb and he smiled and said "Wow! She would be a great match for Dan!" He then proceeded to describe his character, Danthias Silverbow, one of the first DND characters he had ever made.
History was made, because, as soon as he finished describing him to me, I said, "Those two seriously need to hook up! They'd be perfect for each other." We then jokingly began plotting how to bring their two separate worlds together. Little did we know that one year later we would not only be dating but well on our way to creating the words you've read on this blog. The words are mine but I cannot take credit for every character or idea you see here, only the way in which they are portrayed. Herb and I bounce ideas off each other and have each contributed about half of the major players in this story. The Sirens, I am proud to say, are all me and, someday, I hope their adventures soar the way that the Obsidian Gate seems to.
As for my inspiration, the very first part of the introduction of the story was inspired by the William Blake poem "tyger, tyger, burning bright." It always makes me think of Dan in his "Shadow Stalker" persona and of the strength and ferocity that lurks just beneath that perfect silver skin of his.
Chapter One pretty much wrote itself but the original scene I was going to have was inspired by Bob Seger's "Turn the Page." I had this image of Dan, tired, dirty, haggard, and ticked off stumbling into Charlie's and trying his best to get help. While the chapter evolved and changed, that song still sums that chapter up for me.
As for Chapters Two and Three, well, the song "Bad Moon Rising" pretty much carried me through those chapters, though I also listened to each character's sound track pretty much voraciously throughout the first four chapters.
Dan's soundtrack consists of quite a few interesting and thrown together pieces: "You may be right" by Billy Joel, "Friends in low places" by Garth Brooks, "Dare" from the Transformers soundtrack, "Eye of the tiger" by Survivor (Tell me you didn't see that coming!), "My way" by Frank Sinatra, "Turn the Page," "The Show Must Go On" by Queen, and "Fred Bear" by Ted Nugent, just to name a few.
Al's soundtrack is filled with songs that really describe her, in my opinion: "Living la vida loca" by Ricky Martin, "Witchy Woman" and "Hotel California" by the Eagles, "Mi vida loca" by Pam Tillis, "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles, "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol, "Hit me with your best shot" by Pat Benatar, "Bang bang" by Nancy Sinatra, "Callin' Baton Rouge" by Garth Brooks, "Born on the Bayou" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, and "Objection Tango" by Shakira.
"I won't say I'm in love" from the Hercules soundtrack, "I don't wanna fall in love" by Jane Child, and "Bailamos" by Enrique Igelsias also all played a huge part in forming inspiration for the first part of this book. I'll explain better as it goes along but, to put it short, music moves me and between that and the many novels and movies that I've come to love, there was plenty of inspiration to go around. All of this music is what built the story in my head and now you see it before you. I hope you enjoy.
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