Illustration by Parataxis
Welcome to Cantabile!
This is a world of music and magic, a world of Phoenixes and flames.
Here, every child will discover a Harmony, a musical instrument, or Voice, a vocal range, which they feel a magical bond with. This magical bond creates Resonance when they play or sing, which gives strength to the Phoenix who carries the world.
Seven Phoenixes will carry the world, and so the world will have seven Flames. The world will rise and fall and change as each Flame burns. Each Phoenix was once a human girl. At the end of each Flame, the Phoenix will choose a child who is brave and strong and true, a child who will love the world and its music enough to die and become the next Phoenix, lift the world onto her back, and begin the next Flame.
On this page, you will find information about the world of Cantabile, all of my published Cantabile stories, illustrations I’ve done for some of the stories, and songs that inspired the stories and the world. I’m working on drawing maps which I will add soon too, so watch this spot.
The Third Flame
Cantabile in the Third Flame is a world recovering from cataclysm, a tragedy so great it nearly destroyed the world and left humans extinct. The survivors are full of fear and confusion, and so they cling to the little bits of knowledge and understanding they have of their past and what happened and develop strong traditions, superstitions, and prejudices based on that knowledge. Providing music to the Phoenix becomes the most essential goal of society. Anyone who is different in any way is viewed as a danger to the world and is persecuted. There are also sharp divides between the instrumentalists of the Southern Orchestras and the singers of the Northern Choirs. Both societies believe the other is barbaric. While a grudging trade exists between the societies, there are regularly small outbreaks of violence. Later, this period of time will be called the Ash Ages.
Only at the end of the Third Flame will the world truly be able to heal from its past and begin to change for the better.
Stories of the Third Flame
All of the short stories I have written and published so far take place during the final two generations of the Third Flame. They focus on people who have been punished for not fitting into the orchestra or excluded from the orchestra because they are different and the people in power are afraid. While each of these stories stand alone, when taken together, I hope to tell a larger story of the change that occurs in Cantabile during this time.
Here are the stories I have had published, in the order they take place in Cantabile. I am writing, revising, and submitting several more, so this list will continue to grow.
“Dissonance”
Tavery thinks he has overcome a childhood of bullying to become the conductor of the town orchestra of Pizzicato Crossing. But when the instrument house burns, destroying countless Harmonies just weeks before the all-important Harvest Festival and Tavery discovers the last chair clarinetist could be the conductor destined to replace him, he must grapple with his past to bring the town back together.
Read the story here in Abyss and Apex.
Check out the story behind “Dissonance.”
Listen to “The Redwoods,” the piece I had in mind for the song “Harmony of the First Phoenix.” I played this piece as part of the 2010 New Hampshire All State band, so yes, I’m one of the clarinets in this recording.
“Harmonies for Cadence”
Everyone says twelve-year-old Kenzie is a prodigy. She discovered her Harmony with the xylophone when she was only six. But then she finds a second Harmony. And a third. And a fourth. Kenzie feels Resonance with every instrument in the orchestra, and when the leaders of Chime Hollow discover her secret, they fear she will destabilize the whole orchestra and endanger the world. Suddenly the whole village is hunting her down. Kenzie must run.
Read the story here in The Voyage YA Journal.
Check out the story behind “Harmonies for Cadence.”
Listen to “Overture for Woodwinds,” the song I had in mind for basically this whole story. I also played this piece in the Woodwind Choir at New Hampshire Chamber Music All State back in high school, and it has continued to be a favorite, though unfortunately I couldn’t find a publicly available recording of my own concert for this one.
“Duet for a Soloist”
Fourteen-year-old violinist Nina is tired of constantly standing in her twin sister’s shadow and doing everything Lena tells her to do. So she proposes they switch places for a day. For one day, Nina is going to take charge. For one day, Nina will have the spotlight. The consequences are more than she could possibly imagine.
Read the story here in Electric Spec.
“A World in Seven Flames”
In the beginning, Mother Flame and Father Song wove the world from music and fire. Each Flame has brought growth and change to Cantabile, but now the third Phoenix carries a world desperate to fly and terrified to fall. And now, those who have been wounded in the fight to keep the third Phoenix flying are rising, the ashes of the past on their shoes, in their bones, and the world is tilting out of control. But listen. We have more songs to sing. We have Flames and Flames before us.
Read the epic poem in the anthology Twilight Worlds: Best of New Myths Volume II, available at Amazon or B&N.
Check out the story behind “A World in Seven Flames.”
Music of the Third Flame
In addition to the specific songs I’ve linked above, I have a whole playlist for Cantabile’s Third Flame. Some of the songs represent specific stories, but some are meant more to capture the essence of the world at this time or the vibes of specific characters. Listen to the Song of the Third Phoenix on Spotify.
The Fifth Flame
Five hundred years after the stories of the Third Flame, Cantabile is a very different world. The Phoenix has become little more than a myth to the people of Cantabile, and instead of devoting their music to strengthening the Phoenix as she carries their world, they use their Resonance to power their world. With the magic created from playing their Harmonies or singing with their Voices, they create electricity with boards made of piezoelectric crystals like quartz and tourmaline. Homes now have electric lights, stoves and ovens, refrigerators, hot running water, and telephones and radios. Wealthier people might have luxury appliances like dishwashers and stand mixers. Toward the end of the Fifth Flame, science has advanced to allow musicians to create electricity that can be stored in batteries, allowing for transportation including electric cars, boats, trains, and dirigible airships to operate without constant musical power. The Cantabile space program, Symphony of the Stars, has also launched a small space station, called the Nest, which orbits the planet in geostationary orbit (orbiting the planet at the same speed the planet rotates, so it is always viewing and in contact with Cantibile’s continent). Scientists and astronomers are busily doing new research and making new discoveries up on the Nest.
After a number of civil wars, Cantabile has also morphed from a world of many small villages and city-states into a unified land governed by a parliament and prime minister. Divisions between instrumentalists and singers remain, however, and each group has its own political party, in addition to a few other smaller parties. Unexplored parts of the continent have also joined the unified land of Cantabile, including the Story Singers of the Western Rim. By the end of the Fifth Flame, however, Cantabile is starting to run out of natural resources, and strict rationing of food and materials is implemented.
I am working on a longer project set at the end of the Fifth Flame, so watch this spot.