Theda Bara publicity shot for the first “Vamp” movie on the silent screen, “A Fool There Was.” For more info on the vintage vamp and her commentary on male fragility, see my prior blog.

Greetings, readers and writers. I’ve continued thinking about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). For me a big part of writing is listening to “mood music.” While you get dolled up (Bride of Chuckie doll), you may want to sample these tunes.

Collecting and enjoying the right music for every story that I spend a lot of time on is a big part of my process. This is also sort of a watchlist because I like to curate songs from television shows and movies.

Another thing I do with soundtracks, particularly when writing, is arrange them based on the mood they evoke. I don’t want my sounds switching from ass-kicking to serenade in the middle of a scene.

In case you need some holiday music or you’re writing horror for NaNoWriMo, I decided to hit the web and put together a quick list of faves. This collection starts out really hard-core and moves toward noir moody. At the end, however, I had to throw in a little extra Halloween bonus.

Edna Tichenor as “Arachnida, the Human Spider,” in Tod Browning’s The Show (1927).

I could wax poetic about this but I let this go so close to Halloween that I’m just gonna shut up and post. Here’s a description of the songs though, especially if you prefer to find them elsewhere.

  1. Bloody Creature Poster Girl, by In This Moment. No soundtrack but my own. This is a theme song for some of my more…erhm…assertive heroines and villains.
  2. System: Chester Bennington. From the Queen of the Damned movie soundtrack (Anne Rice). Rest in power, Chester Bennington (and Aaliyah).
  3. Spookshow Baby, Rob Zombie
  4. Before I’m Dead, Kidneythieves
  5. Opheliac, Emile Autumn
  6. Death is the Ultimate Woman, Monica Richards…plus
  7. Bonus live performance of #6. Awesome.
  8. Teeth, Lady Gaga (possibly the most terrifying video but it may just be me).
  9. Chest Wide Open, The Revivalists (I first heard this on Santa Clarita Diet, LMFAO funny zombie series. Well, also disgusting, of course.)
  10. Angel, Massive Attack
  11. House of the Rising Sun, covered by Lauren O’Connell for American Horror Story: Coven (the only AHS I really liked. I’m so predictable).
  12. Black Magic Woman, VCTRYS
  13. Human, Sevdaliza
  14. A Little Wicked, Valerie Broussard
  15. Ghosts, James Vincent McMorrow
  16. Libera Me, from the Interview with a Vampire Soundtrack by Elliot Goldenthal

Okay, time for a fun couple of Halloween extras:

  1. This is Halloween (from Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas) covered by Marilyn Manson.
  2. Wrong Bitch by Todrick Hall (featuring Bob the Drag Queen). Todrick does a lot of videos spoofing pop culture, drag queen style. He also choreographs a lot of Taylor Swift videos, which ups her cool factor about 200%. I double dog dare you to watch this any fewer than a dozen times. Two dozen if you’re the wrong bitch. Fab.U.Lous.

Have a happy Halloween and a terrifying NaNoWrimo. Wash your hands, watch your back, and never ever talk to pallid, hungry looking strangers.