Songs from Vermin

March 27, 2023 | Ardin Patterson

As promised, yesterday the EP Songs from Vermin released onto streaming platforms, along with the single Loneliness. I had so much fun recording all of these, and prepping them to release for my birthday.

Now readers can listen to the songs that appear in The Vermin Series before the sequels come out, which is so awesome.

Here’s a little background about the songs featured (I’ll try to avoid any major spoilers).

Wicked Boys

The song Wicked Boys on the EP is featured in the second novel, and in the world of the series is sung by two sisters named Dottie and Darla. It played a lot when Roland, Dianna, Peter and Charlotte were still in school. Roland actually plays the guitar arrangement in the series, and it’s Charlotte’s favourite song.

My Heart (Kem Herotse)

In the world of the series, Kem Herotse was originally written in Valdin Zunta, the language the vermin speak, but was translated by humans later on, and renamed My Heart. It’s a song that pops up here and there throughout the series. I also love this track because it allows folks to actually hear the language Nicholas speaks with his family and his pack.

Don’t Go Crying

In the series Don’t Go Crying is performed by Alana Token, a singer who was very popular when Roland was young. She performed in Tavern before he was born to celebrate the reopening of Doren Shipping, the company Roland’s father worked for. She disappeared from the public eye after rising to popularity, but her music is still loved to this day.

There are two versions of this song on the EP, one being more of a lullaby version than the original.

Tell the Postman

Another Alana Token song, and a favourite of Roland and his mother Adeline. He sings this to her in the first book, and if you’ve read book one, you’ll also notice that the song mentions Ferine, where Nicholas was born.

Bicycle Blues

This is my favourite song to sing and play out of the songs in the series! In the books it is performed by Tavern’s very own Georgie Bryce, and is based on his life. Although the lyrics are very sad, it’s a catchy tune that ended up being extremely popular with teenagers, especially Roland, who once dreamed of travelling and performing like Georgie with music of his own.

I hope you had fun learning a little bit about each of the songs. More is revealed about them, and how the related to the character’s throughout the books. I had a lot of fun creating music to them, and recording them. If you want to check out older posts about The Vermin Series, click one of the links below.

The Last Song by Ardin Patterson

March 23, 2023 | Ardin Patterson

My latest track just released, you can listen to it on most streaming platforms. I had a lot of fun singing this one. It gave me old Paramore vibes.

This song like many others was written for my nieces doll’s band. Hope you like it!

More music comes out on Sunday (My Birthday!) so please check it out, especially the EP with songs from Vermin.

The Vermin Series Book 2: What You Need to Know

March 22, 2023March 9, 2023 | Ardin Patterson

If you have yet to read book one in the series, I will do my best not to spoil anything with this post, and of course if you’d like to read it, you can find it here:

Thank you to those of you who have been so patient, waiting for the release date announcement. I don’t have that date just yet because things were delayed due to unforeseen circumstances, but I can say that we’ve settled on a title for the second installment of the series and…the test readers all came back with excellent feedback!

Honestly, I’m so excited for this book to release. I’ve been prepping another giveaway, and I’m definitely stoked about it. I’m also planning to do more in-person author events after the release, given that my schedule permits them. I had so much fun doing the one in Waterloo, and getting to chat with booklovers from across the region.

I’ll be revealing the name of the second book once we get the finalized cover art, but I’m really excited.

I’ve got a bunch of other projects on the go here, that I can’t wait to share.

In preparation for book two, and as a treat to those who’ve read the first novel in the series, I’ll be releasing my first full EP on Spotify, which is a collection of songs from the series. The Songs From Vermin EP will release this month on my birthday! I can’t wait to share it. I recorded a lot of these songs between 2019 and 2020. My favourite out of the set is Bicycle Blues, and I think once you hear it, you’ll know why.

Until further updates, and announcements come along I hope that you’ll check out my reviews, and hopefully find a new favourite book to add to your TBR!

One Italian Summer – Review

About When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all…

by Ardin Patterson December 28, 2022December 28, 2022

The Black Swan of Paris – Review

About A world at war. A beautiful young star. A mission no one expected. Paris, 1944 Celebrated singer Genevieve Dumont is both a star and…

by Ardin Patterson November 18, 2022December 28, 2022

NaNoWriMo 2022

For those participating, how is NaNoWriMo going so far? We’re now 17 days in, and I’m fairly satisfied with my progress so far. I like…

by Ardin Patterson November 17, 2022February 28, 2023

polly Pocket: Adventure Studios Season 2 is Out Now!

March 13, 2023March 12, 2023 | Ardin Patterson

“It’s time for the annual share fair at Littleton Middle School and Lila’s got a tough act to follow in the form of Kangaroo!”

Thank you so much to the team for sending this to me! I had so much fun this season, especially listening to the rest of the cast and getting to play off of one another. They’re all so amazing, and lovely and talented.

Nicholas’s “My talent” scene made me laugh so hard when I got the original script, and seeing it fully animated made my day.

I also love that the kangaroo and Lila are having like this Street Fighter style battle. Gosh…I love this season so much, there’s a lot of great stuff, and I can’t wait for the next episode.

Love Song – Ardin Patterson

March 12, 2023 | Ardin Patterson

Since it’s my birthday this month, I’ve got a lot of music scheduled to release. Most of these are songs that were written either last year, or during the middle of the pandemic.

Love Song is the newest track coming out after my cover of Edge of Seventeen, and T-Rex in a Toddlers Body. The songs releasing later this month are titled The Last Song (March 23rd), and Loneliness (March 26th). I will also be releasing an EP on March 26th, titled Songs from Vermin which features 5 songs from the novel series along with a bonus alternative version of one of the songs.

The Last Song and Loneliness, are both songs written based off and set in the world of my nieces dolls. Although they might not sound like it. I’d like to post a lyric video for each of them, and am hoping to have one ready to release for the same week of their release, but we’ll see. I just finished recording for a series, and have some other projects on the go here, so hopefully I can get something put together.

Loneliness is the most upbeat out of the tracks. I had a lot of fun recording that one. Hopefully you’ll like it! I get that one stuck in my head a lot.

Looking for more music? check out these songs.

The Last Song by Ardin Patterson

My latest track just released, you can listen to it on most streaming platforms. I had a lot of fun singing this one. It gave…

by Ardin Patterson March 23, 2023

Edge of Seventeen

I recorded this way back and finally decided to release it since it’s my birthday month. I actually recorded two versions of this song, one…

by Ardin Patterson March 4, 2023

Quick Update

It’s officially December, which means that NaNoWriMo22 has come to an end. I still have a lot to do for this novel, however it’s been…

by Ardin Patterson December 3, 2022

Edge of Seventeen

March 4, 2023 | Ardin Patterson

I recorded this way back and finally decided to release it since it’s my birthday month. I actually recorded two versions of this song, one with the original lyrics and another with lyrics translated into the language used by the Vermins in my novel. I don’t think I’ve released that version yet, but I may sometime later this month.

I’ve got another track coming out on March 11th, called Love Song. Hope you’ll check it out!

All my songs are available on YouTube Music, Spotify, Apple Music and a bunch of other platforms.

Princess Frou Frou – Hailey and the Hero Hearts

February 27, 2023 | Ardin Patterson

Episode: A Slight Hiccup 💖

Synopsis:

Hailey can’t stop blabbing and tells Aliya what Rebecca is getting her for her birthday. The Hero Heart sends them all to Princess Frou Frou’s castle (Hailey’s stuffed bear come alive). They meet Madame Glam, the makeup brush charged with putting on the princess’ makeup. She has hiccups that need fixing because every hiccup means another horrible streak on the queen’s face! The royal dehiccuppers can’t do their job because Blurt the trumpet keeps giving away the surprise from Jack (jack-in-the-box)! The team helps Blurt slow down when he’s excited and they restore trust on the dehiccupper team as the girls learn that trust is so important in a good team.

I was so excited watching this episode. I play a lot of other additional characters throughout the series (like kittens and marbles) but I had so much fun voicing Princess Frou Frou! We got to record this episode with all of the actors, in studio and let me tell you…it was an absolute blast getting to play off one another during our reads! I loved it so much, and I’m glad we’re back to recording like this again now that studios have opened up. Ensembles are so much fun, and I can’t wait to watch the rest of this series!

You can watch the earlier episodes on Epic Story Jr.

Quick Update

December 3, 2022 | Ardin Patterson

It’s officially December, which means that NaNoWriMo22 has come to an end. I still have a lot to do for this novel, however it’s been so much fun to write, edit and develop the world of this story. I also got a lot of work done on the next books in The Vermin Series, and am preparing lots of fun content for that.

On Friday we wrapped up recording the newest season of Matchbox, which was fantastic! I can’t wait to see it fully animated in the new year. I have a lot of fun imagining what each scene will look like, and it was so much fun recording in studio with my co-star Julian this season. He’s a fantastic actor, and I can’t wait for you all to hear him as Kayla’s little brother Mason James. I’ll be sure to share the episodes when they come out.

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A post shared by Ardin Patterson | Voice Actor (@ardinpatterson)

Speaking of shows, on Thursday night I attended the premiere of Stay Tooned hosted by Eric Bauza aka the voice of Bugs Bunny. I love cartoons, and I love documentaries and film studies so this show was right up my alley. The premiere was so much fun, and nostalgic. I felt like a kid again seeing clips from the shows I grew up watching. When I got to thinking about it afterwards, a lot of these cartoons helped shape me, and inspired me to to do what I’m doing today. Stay Tooned is fun, informative and it is so clear that everyone who worked on the show put lots of love into it. It’s available to stream on CBC Gem.

I also released some new music, and have more coming very soon. My most recent releases are all songs my niece asked me to release, and the future ones are based on my favourite game, and stories I’ve written with my niece and sister. Hope you’ll check them out!

NaNoWriMo 2022

November 17, 2022February 28, 2023 | Ardin Patterson

For those participating, how is NaNoWriMo going so far? We’re now 17 days in, and I’m fairly satisfied with my progress so far. I like what I’ve put down, and am emotionally attached to my characters, so I’m excited to finish and get to editing.

I’ve been feeling under the weather these last couple of days, so I haven’t gotten as much work done as I would’ve liked, but I’m sure I’ll make up for that lost time eventually. I love creating mood boards, playlists and doing sketches of my characters while I’m writing. I find it helps me capture the characters personality, and see them as more fleshed out. I could honestly spend hours just creating characters, I think that’s why I spend so much time in Create-A-Sim when I’m playing Sims4. I like to imagine the story of their life, what sort of careers they might have, who they’ll love…if they’ll love at all? I love to think about the types of clothes they wear, what they eat, what they listen to, what their favourite genres are. That’s why I had so much fun doing OCtober last year. I wish I did it again this year, but I didn’t have time unfortunately.

For the novel I’m working on right now, I’ve got a playlist going with an array of songs that I find really fit the theme and characters…or just the overall vibe. Heaven, California is one of the songs that just fits the vibe.

Sometimes I just have this playing faintly in the background while writing. I also listen to a bunch of other songs like Greenroom, My Girlfriend is a Witch and Girl With One Eye.

The images above are all outfit inspiration that I draw from for some of the character’s in the novel. Some character’s, at least in my mind, have a signature colour scheme. Occasionally I’ll sketch a series of outfits that I want to describe for key scenes in my novels. This can be helpful when I go back and edit, in case I want to add some more visuals. Sometimes I do this just for fun. With Vermin, I have a lot of outfit sketches and things, especially for Rose. She has a few signature looks that she wears throughout the series.

I’m very excited about this new novel, and of course I will keep you all posted on the next two books in The Vermin Series, and when those will be released once I have more information on that.