by Kaaron Warren
As “The Emporium” is set in a shopping mall, I knew I needed a soundtrack, both to write to and as part of the story. I asked social media for suggestions and got lots of great ideas, many of which I ignored for my own favourites! While I wanted a ‘classic’ mall soundtrack, I also wanted to feature music I loved that was made by people I knew. My mall, my soundtrack! I have the full playlist on Spotify. The Emporium – Kaaron Warren
Monrovia by Les Bohem
I love everything Les does, but this song had the kind of beat you want at the mall, to keep you moving and bopping as you shop.
Tiny House by Yhan Leal
A beautiful song by a beautiful musician, I love the comfort and kindness in this song, and wanted to imbue a bit of that in The Emporium
Say Something by Kira Puru
That voice! Kira embodies power and emotion, and this song is kinda boppy, the sort of thing you hear in the mall.
Dumpster Values by Neighborhood Brats
Some songs I chose for their titles and this was one of them. I let it onto the list because this is the sort of music workers play once the shoppers have gone!
Do Your Duty by Sarah Lenka
This one total embodies the way the children live in The Emporium: Do your duty.
Empty Room by Ginny Reilly
I love this song. I chose it for The Emporium for its title, but it fits in one of my favourite music genres: songs that sound light and gentle but are actually quite dark.
Pilgrim’s Progress by Kris Kristofferson
Another typical sounding mall sounding that holds a lot more weight than you think it does.
The Last Bluebird by Heath Cullen
It’s sad, it speaks of last things, and I can imagine people singing along as they look for that pair of shoes they need or the perfect birthday present.
We are Family by Sister Sledge
Sums up exactly how the children in The Emporium feel about each other. And it is an absolute corker of a song! I’ve danced to this one many times with good friends.
Don’t Speak by No Doubt
Keep quiet, don’t speak, don’t make a fuss.
Or do all of those things.
Cat Sparks
Cat Sparks is a multi-award-winning Australian author, editor and artist. Career highlights include a PhD in science fiction and climate fiction, five years as Fiction Editor of Cosmos Magazine, running Agog! Press, working as an archaeological dig photographer in Jordan, studying with Margaret Atwood, 78 published short stories, two collections – The Bride Price (2013) and Dark Harvest (2020) and a far future novel, Lotus Blue. She directed two speculative fiction festivals for Writing NSW and is a regular panelist & speaker at speculative fiction and other literary events.
Kaaron Warren
Kaaron Warren has been publishing ground-breaking fiction for over twenty years. Her novels and short stories have won over 20 awards, from local literary to international genre. She writes horror steeped in awful reality, with ghosts, hauntings, guilt, loss, love, crime, punishment and a lack of hope.
CALVARIA FELL: STORIES by Cat Sparks and Kaaron Warren
RELEASE DATE: April 30, 2024
GENRE: Science Fiction / Dystopian / Dark Fantasy
BOOK PAGE: Calvaria Fell: Stories – Meerkat Press
SUMMARY:
Calvaria Fell is a stunning collaborative collection of weird tales from two acclaimed authors, Kaaron Warren and Cat Sparks. It features previously published stories from both authors, along with a new novella by Kaaron Warren and four new stories by Cat Sparks. The collection offers a glimpse into a chilling future world that is similar to our own. Readers will be drawn into experiences at once familiar and bizarre, where our choices have far-reaching consequences and the environment is a force to be reckoned with. The title of the collection tethers these stories to a shared space. The calvaria is the top part of the skull, comprising five plates that fuse together in the first few years of life. Story collections work like this; disparate parts melding together to make a robust and sturdy whole. The calvaria tree, also known as the dodo tree, adapted to being eaten by the now-extinct dodo bird; its seeds need to pass through the bird’ s digestive tract in order to germinate. In a similar way, the stories in Calvaria Fell reflect the idea of adaptation and the consequences of our actions in a changing world.
