This description is a bit long, but it takes a while to explain what I’m doing. Still, it’s a cool project that deals with remix culture so I hope you’ll read on.

This is the first track I’ve posted here and it’s part of a larger project that draws on the work of ccMixter artists. I’d love it if folks now want to take it and run with it.

I’m an author and an editor (among other things, I’m the non-fiction editor at International Speculative Fiction and the in-house editor at IndieBookLauncher.com). My main page (including links to my books) is here for anyone who wants more details: NassauHedron.com.

One of the things I like to do with my books is to give readers a bunch of free stuff on top of the book they paid for. Usually this means written material, but in this case I wanted to go further.

I have a science fiction novel called “Luck and Death at the Edge of the World” and like all my books it has some free stuff to go with it.

For instance, within the book itself there’s an extra six-part section called “The Facts in the Fiction” that gives extensive information about some of the factual background to the fictional story, from military robotics to emerging infectious diseases.

Beyond the book, Luck and Death also has it’s own home page at LuckAndDeath.com (with sample chapters and more free material) and I maintain three blogs on topics related to the story: The Turing Centenary (about computer pioneer Alan Turing), Homo Artificialis (about the real science behind the creation of synthetic human bodies and artificial intelligence), and Once & Future Mexico (about the future of Mexico, which is one of the settings in the book, both in fact and in science fiction).

But the new project is musical: I’ve created a free soundtrack album for the book called “Luck and Death: the Soundtrack for the Movie in Your Head.” It’s made up of CC-licensed works, some from ccMixter and some from elsewhere.

In the context of the album each recording has been renamed so that the entire album not only has musical coherence (I hope), but it also follows the arc of the story in the book.

Of course each track is also correctly attributed to the artist who created it, under its original name, with a link to the source file. I’ve notified all the artists and everyone who’s responded has been very positive about the project.

I also created one mix of my own, which is the one on this page. It’s based on the instrumental track “I Dunno” by Grapes, but I wrote and recorded a spoken word vocal track, plus I created an intro and a coda and added a little soundcaping within the body of the song.

You can stream or download the soundtrack (with two album covers to choose from) at LuckAndDeathSoundtrack.Wordpress.com. I really hope you’ll check it out and, if you have a moment, drop me an email to let me know what you think. You can reach me through ccMixter or at nas@nassauhedron.com.

I’m also inviting anyone and everyone to create new mixes from the existing tracks on the album. If you create a new mix and let me know about it, I’ll post it on the soundtrack home page along with your information and a link to your home page or ccMixter profile.

Finally, as a thank you to ccMixter and the awesome people who hang out here, I’m offering a free copy of the ebook to anyone who’s a member here from the time I post this (on March 15, 2013) until the end of March 2013. Just email me through ccMixter so I can see that you’re a member, include an outside email so I can send the book to you as an attachment, and tell me which format you prefer (ePUB, Kindle, or PDF).

Don’t be a stranger! Write me, get a free copy of the book, get the free album, create a new mix, or do all of the above. I look forward to hearing from you.

Nas