In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Hanif Abdurraqib, Andrew Sean Greer, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Kaaron Warren’s Going to Summertime is an unsettling novella of friendship and greed.
Aurealis Magazine wrote of the book:
“Morbid and cajoling, sensual and startling. An astonishingly bizarre novella. And a treat for those finally encountering indomitable Warren’s rich and most peculiar stories.”
In her own words, here is Kaaron Warren’s Book Notes music playlist for her novella Going to Summertime:
Going to Summertime has two main settings. A hairdressing salon, where the four women work, and Summerland Place, the haunted cul-de-sac they go to explore. There’s no music in the cul-de-sac, except perhaps from faint strains coming from nearby houses, hints of living people going about the day.
It’s the salon that is rich with music. Every salon I’ve ever been in has had its own musical style. It might be the radio, or it might be a personal compilation.
In the Red Mullet Salon, the playlist depends on who’s working. Georgia will play music to suit the customer. Sunnie loves to sing and dance around like an angel. Erin loves rap music and swearing. Tamara loves the maudlin. Any song about death is all right by her.
Here’s a mix from all of them.
Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
This is very much a Sunnie song, both thematically and musically.
Hill Top Hoods – Don’t Happy, Be Worry
A great Aussie band, been knocking out hits for about 20 years. This one is a ripper, one of those songs that sounds like it might be happy but is really not.
Amyl and the Sniffers – Big Dreams
Another great Aussie band. Amyl and the Sniffers hit all the buttons for Erin and for Tamara, who battle the others to play this music as often as they can.
Camille O’Sullivan – Hurt
They all love this one, especially after a difficult client. Sometimes they’ll play it low while the customer is still there.
The Angels – Dawn is Breaking
Australian pub band, the first band I ever saw live. I’m sneaking a few of my favourite songs in here, but that’s fine. This one brings back memories of friends, and friendship is an important element to Going to Summertime.
Tonada de Luna Llena – Mar Loi , Sara Sambola, and Irene Zugaza
This one’s for Sunnie. She has a beautiful voice; she could have been something. Instead, she’s cutting hair and trying to keep clean.
YNG Martyr – Die in the End
YNG Martyr hits the spot for Erin. Her mother hates this music, so she waits until she’s in the salon to blast it loud.
Ren – Hi Ren
All four women love this song, and they’ll sing it at the tops of the voices while cleaning up at the end of the day. Stumbling over the words, getting them wrong. They all take something different from it.
John Craigie – Helena
I haven’t named Sunnie’s mother, but I’m going to say Helena. This is how she feels about her mother, and she’s not wrong.
Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple
Their sleazy landlord, Felix, loves to sit in the salon and perv at them. He air guitars this song, like so many before him. He thinks it makes him attractive but it really doesn’t.
Shirley Jackson award-winner Kaaron Warren published her first short story in 1993 and has had fiction in print every year since. She has published six multi-award winning novels: Slights, Walking the Tree, Mistification, The Grief Hole , Tide of Stone and The Underhistory, and seven short story collections, her most recent being Calvaria Fell, with Cat Sparks, from Meerkat Press. Her stories have been shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award and the Stoker, and appeared in both Ellen Datlow’s and Paula Guran’sYear’s Best anthologies. Her writing podcast Let the Cat In showcases ideas, objects, and inspirations