I was sitting down to write chapter 31, tentatively titled "Black Dog", when I realized that the epigrams needed work.
The chapter details the first appearance of Hekabe, black dog and right hand to the goddess Hecate. Hekabe is scary as hell, once human but now subject to Hecate's will.
For starters, I had a swell (but obvious) quote from The Hound of the Baskervilles. I wanted something a little less direct.
Then Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand" came up shuffling through itunes. Insipiration!
"Take a little walk to the edge of town
Go across the tracks
Where the viaduct looms,
like a bird of doom
As it shifts and cracks
Where secrets lie in the border fires,
in the humming wires
Hey man, you know
you're never coming back
Past the square, past the bridge, past the mills, past the stacks
On a gathering storm comes
a tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat with
a red right hand
He'll wrap you in his arms,
tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams
it took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole,
heal your shrinking soul
Hey buddy, you know you're
never ever coming back
He's a god, he's a man, he's a ghost, he's a guru
They're whispering his name
through this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat
is a red right hand
You ain't got no money?
He'll get you some
You ain't got no car?
He'll get you one
You ain't got no self-respect,
you feel like an insect
Well don't you worry buddy,
cause here he comes
Through the ghettos and the barrio
and the bowery and the slum
A shadow is cast wherever he stands
Stacks of green paper in his
red right hand
You'll see him in your nightmares,
you'll see him in your dreams
He'll appear out of nowhere but
he ain't what he seems
You'll see him in your head,
on the TV screen
And hey buddy, I'm warning
you to turn it off
He's a ghost, he's a god,he's a man, he's a guru
You're one microscopic cog
in his catastrophic plan
Designed and directed by
his red right hand"
Spooky lyrics, brilliant songwriter, ass-kicking organ solo and sweet Hellboy reference!
The video for the song is awesome as well.