These three songs in particular evoke the book's three main characters for me. Their cryptic lyrics, paired with accompaniments both boldly futuristic and markedly primal, capture the particular tenor of weirdness I was usually going for. When in doubt, I defaulted to Radiohead when working on this book. 'Palo Alto,' 'There, There,' and 'Where I End and You Begin' by Radiohead Here are some of the songs that helped me generate the book's (polluted, pungent) atmosphere and put a sky above my characters' heads. And I listened to a lot of music, from the Oliver! soundtrack to the nastiest excesses of Tom Jones' Greatest Hits, depending on which character and which part of the story I was tackling that day. I rewatched Gangs of New York, Brazil, and the cartoon adaptation of The Rats of NIMH. Eliot reading his poetry and Patton Oswalt reading E. While I worked, I reread snippets of Jane Austen and YouTubed military recruitment commercials. The answer, as I saw it, was to dump everything that evoked the vibe I wanted right into the blender of my brain, churn on high, and pour out the results on the page. But I also knew that I wanted that world to be recognizable to readers, and to resonate with aspects of our own society that I find alarming, or hilarious, or heartbreaking. When I began to write my novel The Sky Is Yours – set in a ruined metropolis plagued by two fire-breathing dragons – I knew I wanted to create not just an imagined city but an imagined world where the story would take place, one with its own culture and history. In her own words, here is Chandler Klang Smith's Book Notes music playlist for her novel The Sky Is Yours:

'Hyperimaginative…Smith’s novel calls to mind the works of Nick Harkaway and Game of Thrones.…An auspicious debut with enough inventiveness for two novels.' Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Jesmyn Ward, Heidi Julavits, Hari Kunzru, and many others.Ĭhandler Klang Smith's novel The Sky Is Yours is bold, inventive, and outrageous in the best of ways. Previous contributors include Bret Easton Ellis, Kate Christensen, Lauren Groff, T.C. In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.

Chandler klang smith the sky is yours