The first song on the list connects with Dani's abilities. When the story begins, it's just been a few months since she escaped from the secret lab that used her and others as guinea pigs for experiments in human enhancements. Genetic engineering has given her superhuman strength and speed. An implanted neural interface has given her enhanced hearing, vision, and a camera in one eye. She is harder, better, faster...Stronger (an old favorite by Kanye that doesn't feel dated).
I was searching YouTube for fight scenes from superhero movies and shows when I found One Woman Army by Porcelain Black. It's a great song for Dani, as she's out in the streets on her own. It also led me down a rabbit hole of Black Widow tribute videos, which was awesome fun. Problem by Natalia Kills is another good one, for both Black Widow and Dani.
There's a fight scene early in the book that finds Dani in a stairwell, taking on a bunch of Russian gangsters. The Glitch Mob's remix of Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes was perfect for that scene, because not even an army can hold Dani back.
Superheroes are rarely forged in fields of flowers and puppies. They are made in fire and fury, pain, a desire for either vengeance or redemption or perhaps both. Dani is deeply troubled by a horrific past that she desperately does not want to define her. She may not spend all her time brooding. She may be able to enjoy things about life, and even her own enhanced abilities. But she still has her dark moments. For those scenes, Ciara's cover of Paint It Black was perfect.
As word gets out in the bad part of town that someone answers screams for help, the unknown hero is called the Cabrini Ghost in conversations and on local social media. Dani hates the name. She hates the idea of being a ghost, because she wants to live in the world, not stay an outsider. Sia's Alive perfectly captures how Dani feels about the name she didn't choose for herself and the emotional response it invokes.
I was actually in the editing stage when I found this last song, but I still think it's an excellent choice for Dani - the new Wonder Woman theme by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL. It is a powerhouse monster of a song, great for writing fight scenes and epic closing scenes.
Runaway. Experiment. Superhero?
The streets were the safest place for Dani, until the night she was caught by traffickers who sold her to a laboratory. She survived five years of experiments: biotech implants, gene therapy, and other things she could barely comprehend. The pain, though, that she understood. The lab pushed her body past its limits, drove her mind to its darkest corners, but somehow her spirit remained unbroken. She escaped, and sought refuge on the streets once again. But this time she doesn’t run away from cries for help. Now, she runs toward them.
Playboy. Dilettante. Sidekick?
Kevin Moynihan is the youngest son of Point Sable’s most wealthy and storied family. A permanent fixture in the society pages, he’s known for his good looks, his charm, and his aversion to an honest day’s work. His life is a whirlwind of fast women, faster cars, all night parties and endless champagne – until his latest drunk and disorderly charge lands him a stint doing community service in the roughest part of town. The part of town where someone is always screaming for help.
A chance meeting will bring two unlikely people together – first as reluctant allies, then friends, and finally partners.
Read the first chapter here. Purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords.
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