Featured New Book: The Fallen Angels of Karnataka by Hans Hirschi

The best part of Twitter is being able to chat with people and get to know them. And so it has been with my buddy Hans Hirschi, who I first met through Triberr. (Can I be involved in any more social media that start with the letter T?)

I don’t think I knew Hans when he put out his first six books, but I’m here now, and glad of it. Let’s get busy. Hans, what song makes you think of your book, The Fallen Angels of Karnataka?

 
Eagle, by ABBA
This was not an easy question to answer and and I’ve been tossing and turning over this for a long time, as the story of the book is not very “pop” or “rock” even. I’ve contemplated pieces from Mozart’s Requiem (too somber as it is) to Beethoven’s Fifth (too majestic and pompous) to glamrock (too duh!) before I finally settled on a song.

I ended up settling on this particular song from my favorite musical group (yeah, I am THAT old), because the lyrics do speak to some of the core beliefs expressed in the book, and lyrics are as important to a good song as the cover is to a good book. Fallen Angels obviously can’t fly, but the question the book raises is what it takes to make them fly again, and the eagle from the song does “high, high, what a feeling to fly over mountains and forests and seas, and to go anywhere that I please”, a symbol of hope and – above all – freedom. And it is the freedom that our fallen angels need more than anything else to be able to soar and fly once again.

But the eagle also symbolizes Haakon, who’s traveled far, who’s seen the world, who’s got great stories to tell.. Listen och enjoy one of my favorite songs from Sweden’s greatest music export ever, and enjoy a corny 70s music video!