Officially Released Today: Sail To and From Italy

Today the people who waited for the real bargain get their reward: Sail To Italy and Sail From Italy are out today in a package deal that saves you $0.49! All the adventure, romance, travel and silliness can now be yours in one neat package. Look at the previous two posts for all the descriptions you can handle, and click on this ad to go directly to the goods. Also in Nook!

In honor of this auspicious day, I've decided to share with you the playlist for the soundtrack to Sail To Italy: The Movie, as I devised it when I was first writing. Click on the links to hear samples.

First and foremost, "A Word in Spanish" by Elton John. This represents the undying love between Carlovita and Javier. I still think it's one of Sir Elton's best!









Next, Gloria Estefan's Spanish rendition of "Anything for You," "No te olvidaré." Although it's in Spanish, it represents Giovanni's continued devotion to Noreena, even in the face of her rejection.








Third, "More Than Meets the Eye," an underappreciated gem from the Bangles. The song has virtually nothing to do with Sail To Italy, but in my mind, it stood for Gofinick's masquerade, revealed at the end of the book.







My attention was drawn to "Family Man," because as well as describing Javier's struggles to do what's right, it pinned down his character with beautiful Spanish-style nylon-string guitar interludes.








"Boy Trouble" applies to the way Noreena feels about Giovanni in the first book, and the way Carlovita feels about Hugo in the second book.









"Music Box" is here because it's the most beautiful instrumental music I'd heard at the time that wasn't already claimed for a major motion picture. I had a plan to put a music box in the plot at one point, but it never came to pass. (The sample is Track 7 on Disc 3.)







I'm not sure what the logic is behind "Dust in the Wind." It might refer to the passage in Sail From Italy when the wind kicks up and the characters flee a storm. It might refer to the evanescent nature of power, as when Noreena gets locked in her own dungeon. It might be that I had the song deeply ingrained in my consciousness because our roving music teacher made us sing it in grade school, and it seemed so very "deep." Anyone's guess, really.



And the grand finale of the whole hypothetical album, "Set Your Sails," by Jem and the Holograms. I think the link to the title of my series is self-evident. By the way, I owe thanks to my mother for the evocative title of the first book. I hope you enjoyed this little jukebox. Thanks for traveling with me. Now, go preview and download the epic story it inspired!

For those of you who want to check out the first part before committing to the second part.