"When do I get to be the muse?" asks Allison Crowe in a yet-to-be-
recorded song.

Beyond the the more localized territory of personal relationships,
the answer is now. Globally, she finds inspiration in other people
and their creativity, and, she always enjoys hearing from people who
find her music inspiring.

Prolific and passionate music blogger Muruch (
http://muruch.blogspot.com ) recently reviewed Allison Crowe's
newest album "Little Light" - calling the Canadian-born dynamo "my
favorite contemporary female singer".

Bridging the worlds of online and traditional print is UK author
Martin Warminger whose blog is an extension of his 2006
book, "memoirs of a music obsessive". The Hertfordshire-based writer
shares his encyclopedic knowledge of some fifty+ years of popular
music: from his favourites, classics such as pioneering girl-group
Fanny, to the Zombies, REM, and, Julian Cope, right up to discussion
of the newest hypes and hits, be the Mancusian Ting Tings or the
Mimian Mariah Carey. In between music banter, there's talk of such
other cultural icons as cricket on the Music Obsessive blog (@
http://mwarminger.blogspot.com blog ).

Warminger delights in finding Allison, (via her hugely popular cover
of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"), explaining, "There are always
times in your life when you feel you will never be excited by any
new artist", but, discovery of such a talent keeps that magic alive.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, chart-topping thriller-writer Harlan
Coben expresses his own rich appreciation of Allison Crowe's music.
( http://www.harlancoben.com ) Labelled "the modern master of the
hook-and-twist" by The DaVinci Code author Dan Brown, Coben's latest
book, "Hold Tight" debuted at #1 on The New York Times best-seller
list this Spring, and a French film made from an earlier
novel, "Tell No One", opens on North American screens next month
(July 2, 2008). Harlan Coben's worldwide audience is riveted by his
mix of the harrowing and the humourous - to the tune of him being
the first author to win all three of the Edgar Award, Shamus Award
and Anthony Award (a mystery-writing triple crown). Other musicians
he cites as kindling his creative fires include: idol, and fellow-
New-Jersey-native, Bruce Springteen (and the E Street Band); Mozart;
Counting Crows, and Damien Rice.

Also in America, penning novels in the historical fantasy,
or "alternate history" genre, is another music-lover, Jacqueline
Carey ( http://www.jacquelinecarey.com ), creator of the Kushiel's
Legacy books - which began in 2001 with the publication
of "Kushiel's Dart" (recipient of the 2002 Locus Award for Best
First Novel). With the release of "Kushiel's Mercy", the final book
in the series, last month, the "all things girl" blog caught up with
Jacqueline Carey's life outside the literary map of Terre d'Ange ( @
http://allthingsgirl.net/everythinggirl/sacrifice-mayjune-
2008/interview-with-jacqueline-carey-with-melissa-bartell ).

At home in western Michigan, (and a member of that state's oldest
Mardi Gras krewe) Carey says: "I don't listen to music while I
write, but I take my iPod on long walks, or jogging on the beach
during the summer, and I do a lot of my best creative thinking then.
I listened to a lot of Coldplay, Arcade Fire and Blue October while
I was hashing out my current work in progress. Oh, and Allison Crowe
and Joe Purdy. More recently, I'm listening to Nick Cave & the Bad
Seeds' latest release."

The only commandment of Elua, key deity of Terre d'Ange, is to "Love
as thou wilt". This dictum can apply to each of us, in music choices
as in the rest of life.

Any physical resemblance between Kushiel and Allison, tattoos and
all, is purely coincidental ( :