Tomorrow sees the release of issue #1 of The High Republic Adventures Phase III and I could not be more excited. In my November newsletter, you all got a preview of the first couple of stunning panels by Harvey Tolibao and I have another one to show paid subscribers at the end of this post. But first, let’s chat about Zeen Mrala’s new song…
Back in my musician era, I put a band together called Ghost Star. It started just as a vehicle to get the songs I was writing out into the world, but I ended up bringing on this incredible pianist/singer Akie Bermiss and a great group of musicians along the way and we ended up creating some really magical work.
I wrote “Made From Memories” as a tribute to a good friend in Cuba, Carmen, who I met when I studied music there in 2001. She was an elder who lived in a tower by the sea and told me hundreds of stories about the world in the short time I knew her, certainly changing and saving my life in the process. A huge library of fantasy and sci-fi paperbacks lined her walls. I didn’t even know I wanted to be an SFF writer back then, but I knew it made me feel at home in a time when I felt so lost to myself. She died not too long after I left, and the suddenness of it, the sorrow, it could only be expressed with music.
The song turned into other things as I wrote it — a protest anthem, a dream vision ballad. It started with a hard rock/emo vibe on the demo, heavy static laced guitars and orchestras swelling (shoutout to Garageband!) but when I brought it to the band, Akie turned it into something completely different, something way better. While I just played bass and tried to keep up, Akie brought it to life!
Made From Memories (performed by Ghost Star with vocals and keys by Akie Bermiss)
When I realized I wanted a haunting but still somehow jovial funeral/wartime ballad for our heroes to sing as they gathered to commemorate the dead in Adventures, I initially figured “Made From Memories” would be it. The first draft of the script has those lyrics in there.
But really, it had to be something new. So the song we find Zeen singing in issue #1 of The High Republic Adventures is sharply inspired by “Made From Memories,” but not quite the same.
There’s no melody yet, but the lyrics are below so if any of you brilliant musician fans want to make a melody and post it, please do and please tag me! I won’t be able to give the official canon gavel bang on it, but I’d love to hear what people come up with!
"Memories are what make me /
Those hundred thousand lights you see /
And inside each a raging sea /
of memories that make up me.
Memories are what make me /
the world becomes an endless stream /
of words I never got to speak /
and all the memories that make up me.”
And now for that final sneak-peak panel I promised…
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