Dear fantastic reader who purchased the special edition like a legend,
I've been building this world for the better part of a decade. The first imaginings during my career as an actor, tweaking as I embarked on becoming a full-time Script Editor, then written during the COIVD-19 pandemic. But long before I had the space to write it properly, the characters were already living in my head, making decisions, being difficult.
Fenne came first. A duellist, with the title 'Triumphant' — which has always felt like the most efficient summary of her entire personality. What drew me to her, beyond the gauntlets and the ambition, was something I kept returning to in the world-building: the idea that magic, in a world where it has always existed, shouldn't feel miraculous. It should feel infrastructural. Like electricity. Like weather. The Mistral flows above the continent of Mycenia, bestowing powers that people have lived alongside for centuries — and Fenne is a product of that world. Capable of extraordinary things, yes, but shaped by it rather than chosen by it (apparently). A normal person, operating inside an extraordinary set of circumstances. Which, if you think about it, is everyone.
The Mistral, the World Winds rather than the book, grew from a different place. Anyone who's read Philip Pullman's Northern Lights will know the particular grip those curtains of light have on the imagination. The Mistral is a force of energy and beauty that the world has come to depend on, and mostly worship. And one that is quietly, irreversibly dying.
I didn't set out to write a climate allegory. But when I looked at what I had — a world staring down an existential threat it collectively refuses to prioritise — I recognised it immediately. Turns out you don't need to live in a fantasy realm to understand that particular blind spot.
What has always mattered most to me, both as a reader and as a Script Editor, is character. We can often be drawn in by magic systems, worlds and plots, but we rarely stick around if the characters who experience these things, are rubbish (a very technical term). I wanted people sitting in the grey — morally complicated, occasionally infuriating, and entirely human, even when they're not.
I could continue to speak in this vein, but these thoughts will end up being public very quickly as I’m asked about the book by fans (hopefully in wild, staggering numbers). For the Goldsboro Fellowship Edition, I wanted to include something that was totally bespoke, an insight into an element of my editorial and creative process that I hadn’t shared publicly. I’ll release this more fully way down the line, but for now, I would like to share some of the songs I have attributed to the characters, using them as emotional inspiration to my writing.
I’ve chosen Fenne, Virel, Constantine and Swan. Otherwise, this letter would be filled with hundreds of songs for all my characters. For each, I’ve selected three songs out of ten that speak to their character, and were often what I would listen to when trying to get into their heads, depending on the sort of scene I was writing. Listen to all three, then read a chapter. See if it allows you to perceive their personality a little clearer.
Fenne
Fred Again – Victory Lap Five
Ben Bohmer – Beyond Beliefs
Paramore - Pool
Virel
Phillip Glass, Valentina Lisitsa – Truman Sleeps
Ramsey – Goodbye
Ursine Vulpine – I’m going to drive until it burns my bones
Constantine
Howard Shore, Elizabeth Fraser – Lothlorien (Lament for Gandalf)
Hans Zimmer – No time for caution
Massive Attack - Teardrop
Swan
Fink – Sort of Revolution
Samuel Kim (Star Wars inspired) – Ahsoka Tano
Billie Eilish – What I was made for
Very tough to trim them down, but here they are. Each primary character has about ten songs each, but these trios broadly felt the most representative. I’d recommend headphones to listen, and while you could listen before reading the book for the first time, it might be nicer to listen after, to experience it fresh. I hope this feels like a unique addition to the special edition; I can’t tell you much I appreciate you investing in the future of The Mistral.
To sign off, here are five more songs, each of which are tied to a specific chapter (I’ve got a song for every single one). See if you can guess which.
Foo Fighters – The Pretender
Kaskade, Lipless – State of Mind
Hidden Citizens, Bryce Fox – My people (we ready)
Johann Johannsson – A sparrow alighted upon our shoulder
Juno Reactor, Don Davis - Navras
Felix Mosse
