I often put together playlists of music after I finish writing a story. It helps me re-experience the story in a more rhythmic way, the melodies and lyrics catching on memories of my prose.

For THE MOONLIGHT MARKET, the playlist is both dark and dreamy as well as hopeful in all the right places. You can listen to it on YouTube or on Spotify.

1. Nine Inch Nails – Closer
   This song is definitely dark, animalistic, and reminiscent of a random hookup which is where THE MOONLIGHT MARKET starts. Cory and Sanderson are both using sex and lust as substitutes for what they really crave.
2. Linkin Park – Numb
   This song is full of the frustration that Cory, Sanderson, and even Cory’s sister, Poe, feel at the beginning of the story. They are tired of living up to the expectations of others and want to break out of their numbness to find their own way.
3. The Police – Every Breath You Take
   The claustrophobic nature of this song embodies not only the restrictions that Cory and his sister Poe live under, but also the debt hanging over Sanderson being controlled by the sinister Weaver of Dreams.
4. X Ambassadors – Renegades
   The Moonlight Market looms large in this song. All three characters escape to the weird and wonderful uncertainty of the Market. They break out of their routine and enter a world of magic and dark fantasy.
5. Candyman – Theme Song
   I always thought the piano at the beginning of this theme was a gateway to the strange. In the scene where Cory stands beside a steam calliope belting out a demented tune – this is the tune.
6. Hadouken! – Levitate
   This is the acrobatic act that Sanderson’s family performs. Their flips and feats of strength are almost levitation. This song would be the one that Cory heard as he watched the performance.
7. Evanescence – Bring Me To Life
   Cory may have come to the Moonlight Market to find his missing sister, but it is Sanderson and the magic of the Market that awaken the long dormant wants and desires inside of Cory.
   
8. Fiona Apple – Hot Knife
   This is another awesome song depicting the relationship between Cory and Sanderson. They melt for each other but the knife’s edge is always between them in the form of Sanderson’s debt and Cory’s single-minded mission to find his sister.
9. Madonna – Frozen
   Another song about Cory. Before meeting Sanderson, he’s frozen. It’s only when he comes to the Moonlight Market and views Sanderson in the magical world he comes from that Cory starts to thaw to him.
10. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand
    This song with its tolling bell reminded me of Sanderson and the ill-advised debt that he made with the Weaver. Similar to the character in the song, his action of handing Cory over to her makes him guilty, and brands him with his betrayal.
11. The Cure – Lullaby
    This song definitely reminds me of the villain of THE MOONLIGHT MARKET. She even sings a lullaby to Cory as she begins to weave his memories into her tapestry, taking his soul along with it.
12. One Republic – I Lived
    This song is the bittersweet prayer Cory has for his sister as he realizes that she needs to live her life. And it’s also Cory’s song. Broken out of his rut of privation and survivor’s guilt, he has tasted freedom and wonder at the Moonlight Market and he’s not going to give up the sparkle and magic it has brought to his life. The weekend at the Market has changed him too much. He is ready to transform.
13. Kelly Clarkson – Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)
    This is the feelgood ending of the story. Both Cory and Sanderson have survived the nighttime and the dangers of the Moonlight Market. They have come out better on the other side. Their life awaits.

What about you? Have you read The Moonlight Market? Do these songs fit or do you have some you’d like to add?