And now, Valor of the Healer giveaway #2!

[annathepiper]

Since I have not even BEGUN to exhaust the number of author copies I’m allowed to hand out for Valor of the Healer, it’s clearly time for another giveaway, Internets! As with the last time, I shall hand out two copies to randomly drawn winners, to whom I can offer a choice of EPUB or PDF!

This time, though, I’m going to do a small theme of ‘characters who are musicians’. One of the many ways you’ll be able to pick out A Thing That Has Been Written by Anna is that one or more characters in the story will have musical ability of some sort. This is way more prevalent over in Faerie Blood and Bone Walker than it is in Valor–but nonetheless, one of Valor‘s three viewpoint characters, Kestar Vaarsen, is a mandolin player. And his musicianship is in fact used for a particular plot point.

So I’d like you all to tell me about your favorite book, TV show, or movie in which a character is a musician. Bonus points if it’s a story where music figures prominently into the plot. All genres are welcome!

Drop a comment on this post (or on the LJ or DW mirrors), or comment to me on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+!

You have until midnight Pacific time, Friday, March 8th! On March 9th, I will draw two winners!

Ready, set, GO!

Mirrored from angelahighland.com.

Comments

[eveshka.livejournal.com]

Oh great googly moogly. Phantom of the Opera, or the Adept series by Piers Anthony??

AUGH!

[annathepiper]

You can go with both! You can mention as many characters as you like; you still only get one entry in the draw though. ;)

But I totally want to hear about everybody's favorite musical characters even if there are multiple choices to offer. I'll do a roundup post later of all the characters who are mentioned, just to share with folks!

[wildshadowstar.livejournal.com]

I love Uhura's singing. She sings in several episodes, I think the first being Charlie X. She also sings in Star Trek V.

[wildshadowstar.livejournal.com]

Does it count if the person is a lover of music, because I'd also chose Major Winchester from M*A*S*H. He states in several episodes that music is his solace against the brutalities of the Korean war. He also attempts to play the french horn in one episode. To add to it, in real life, David Ogden Stiers (Maj. Winchester) is a conductor.

[annathepiper]

"Music lover" by itself would not count for purposes of this theme. But since Winchester does in fact try to play an instrument, that makes him count for "musician"--"amateur musician" counts just as much as "professional".

However, you can only vote once. ;)

[wildshadowstar.livejournal.com]

Then I go with Uhura.

[annathepiper]

Let me clarify: you can mention as many characters as you like! But ultimately you only get one entry in the draw. So you don't have to pick and choose.

(In fact, if people want to tell me about all kinds of musically inclined characters, I totally want to hear about them. In case there are any characters I've missed and need to go check out!)

[gazerwolf.livejournal.com]

Crystal Singer

[annathepiper]

I'm going to assume you mean the main character thereof, i.e., Killashandra Ree? 'Cause yeah, everybody at the Heptite Guild? Musicians. ;D

Good answer! (Said the long-time player of CrystalMUSH!)

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

I love Charles Stross's Laundry Files books - one of the more badass and terrifying (but on the side of Good!) characters is the protagonist's wife, Mo, who plays a white violin made of the bones of sacrificed children and infants. The strings are sharp, and blood combined with the death of innocents is poweful magic! She can rip your soul out with a reel - literally.

[annathepiper]

Ooooo, GOOD ANSWER. :D

(I haven't read those books. Maybe I SHOULD.)

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

You really, really should. The first one is The Atrocity Archives. Go read it! (Have I ever steered you wrong, bookwise? No. No I have not.)

[annathepiper]

I do already have that one on the To-Read list! (But my list, it is MIGHTY, oh my yes.)

(Hi, I'm working through the comment backlog!)

[ravyngyngvar.livejournal.com]

Do fictional instruments count? Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Empire, second of the Foundation books, has an instrument called a Visi-Sonor, apparently some kind of wind instrument, but with the added ability to access the listener's brain directly somehow.
The instrument is played by a clown called Magnifico, who eventually turns out to be The Mule, the main antagonist of the book, with mind control powers that the Visi-Sonor helps him to focus.

There are of course also a number of amateur musicians in Star Trek: TNG. Data is known to play the violin on several occasions. Captain Picard had that flute of his, from when he spent a lifetime as somebody else on a more primitive planet.

[ravyngyngvar.livejournal.com]

Ah, great cover by Michael Whelan (http://tumblr.michaelwhelan.com/post/40609191139/the-mule-by-michael-whelan-cover-illustration-for), though it gives it away if you care about that.

[annathepiper]

Mr. Whelan's art is always a joy. <3

[annathepiper]

Fictional instruments absolutely count! And points for one of the more unusual answers on the giveaway so far!

(Still, as I mentioned to wildshadowstar further up the thread, you still only get one entry. ;) )

[ravyngyngvar.livejournal.com]

It doesn't matter. Once my mind starts going, I don't need any prize as incentive to post further. :) And having mentioned Data, I realize that I should have included his idol that he got the violin playing from in the first place: The esteemed Mr. Sherlock Holmes. :)

[ravyngyngvar.livejournal.com]

Oh, of course. Charles Bronson's "Harmonica" from Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time in the West." He plays the harmonica (duh!) throughout the movie, heavily integrated with Ennio Morricone's score.

[annathepiper]

Another good answer! Nice branching out of genres there too!

[mistwolf.livejournal.com]

Via my darling wife Rosie, we would like to nominate someone less obvious but totally badass: Starbuck from BSG! You don't get many badass piano players. =)

[annathepiper]

Ooooo, GOOD call. You and Rosie are in!