Well, this is a piece of vanity and no mistake. However, the idea has grown on me, so here it is: the soundtrack to the movie of Empire and Black and Gold. Well, kind of. I'm something of a soundtrack buff, and my media player is stuffed with the things, and sometimes when I'm writing I'll pick out odd bits of music to help the flow along. I'll also pick out tracks that I'll associate with the book after the fact, finding that they seem to suit some scene or other. From that sort of idle thinking, on the way to work or back, crammed standing in an overcrowded train because the rail-powers that be decided that we could get by on half the carriages that morning, comes this frippery.

I make no apology that some of the pieces suggested themselves simply because of a commonality between the setting of the film scene and the relevant book section (although frankly, battles are battles, and battle music in films has a particular tempo all its own). I have also not even attempted to have a crack at leitmotifs, as that would, frankly, be entering the realms of OCD.

Soundtracks to at least books 2–4 to follow.

Empire in Black and Gold (un)original sound track

Track 1 — Kinden Overture (Main Title, from The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, by Jeremy Soule)

Track 2 — The Fall of Myna (Fort Battle, from Last of the Mohicans, by Trevor Jones)

Track 3 — Collegium (Sky Ferry, from The Golden Compass, by Alexandre Deplat)

Track 4 — Escape from the Sky Without (Septimus, from Stardust, by Ilan Eshkeri)

Track 5 — Slaves into Asta (Caverns of Isengard, from The Fellowship of the Ring Complete Recordings, by Howard Shore)

Track 6 — Atryssa Remembered (Slughorn's Confession, from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by Nicholas Hooper)

Track 7 — The Darakyon (Light of the Sun, from Shadow of the Vampire, by Daniel I. Jones)

Track 8 — Thalric does his Duty (Martial Law, from Battlestar Galactica Series 2, by Bear McCreary)

Track 9 — Tynisa (Armada, from The Virgin Queen, by Martin Phipps)

Track 10 — The Pride Battle (The Battle, from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardobe, by Harry Gregson-Williams)

Track 11 — End Title Song — Insect Nation by Bill Bailey.