Monday, September 28, 2026

The Whispers of the Pale Witch Playlist #Horror #ParanormalThriller




My playlists aren’t just for me to get into a mood. They’re for me to hold onto that mood as long as I can while I’m writing my books. 

Here’s the playlist from my multi-award-winning novel, Whispers of the Pale Witch, the novel that kicks off the Beckett Coven series on September 29th. 

It’s a story four hundred years in the making. Shall we begin?

“Ave Maria”, artist Tommee Profitt - Whispers starts off with a woman digging in a cemetery in the middle of the night. Her torso appears as if it’s a disembodied specter hovering above a thick breath of fog. The body that’s being dug up is someone who greatly harmed our villain. This version of “Ave Maria” is super creepy and totally captures that weird, surreal moment. 
Key Lyrics: “Ave Maria (Hail Mary)…Sancta Maria(Holy Mary),…ora pro nobis peccatoribus (pray for us sinners), Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae (now and at the hour of our death).” 

“Thunder”, artist Imagine Dragons - Kylie Beckett arrives in Salem during a thunderstorm. It’s a hopeful and bittersweet moment as she makes her way toward her great-aunt’s home. They were supposed to finally meet in person during the upcoming Halloween season, but Hester Beckett died unexpectedly in August. Now Kylie has moved to Salem and is about to start a new job as a forensics photographer for the local sheriff’s department. 
Key lyrics: “Just a young gun with a quick fuse…I was dreaming of bigger things and want to leave my old life behind…I was lightning before the thunder…Who do you think you are?...Lightning, then the thunder.”

“mary madgalena”, artist FKA twigs - I liked this song because of the strange noises at the beginning. They sound almost like chimes until they meld into a voice that splits into multiple voices. The lyrics don’t totally match what happens overnight at the Beckett house, but “coming closer to me…until we collide”, evokes the creepiness of one particular scene. 
Key Lyrics: “A woman’s touch, a sacred geometry. I know where you start, where you end, how to please, how to curse…I’m fever for the fire…Come just a little bit closer to me…Step just a bit closer to me…’til we collide.”

“WITCH”, artist Delilah Bon - This song is very aggressive and angry. The villain in the Beckett Coven series is consumed by the past and wants revenge against the people she feels abandoned her. 
Key Lyrics: “They just want to burn me like a witch…I feel the rage of women on fire…to those who called her a liar.”

“People Are Strange”, artist The Doors - Kylie Beckett spends her first morning jogging through Salem’s streets until she enters an outdoor mall and finds some quirky residents, including her new boss, Sheriff Moira Burrows. There’s also irony in this song because the locals know exactly who the Becketts are. Anyone who’s ever visited Salem may recognize what Kylie is experiencing. Stay weird and strange, Salem.
Key Lyrics: “People are strange, when you’re a stranger…When you’re strange, faces come out of the rain…No one remembers your name when you’re strange.” 

“America’s Sweetheart”, artist Ellie King – Later that night Kylie meets Sarah Griggs, a young witch who’s a just a little bit naughty. She helps Kylie get her bearings and tells her the truth about witchcraft and witches. Before the night is over, Sarah ends up going home with Kylie. 
Key Lyrics: “No, there ain’t nothing I got to prove…You try to change me, you can go to hell. Cause I don’t want to be nobody else…Fire in the hole. Gonna lose control tonight…I’m not America’s sweetheart.”

“A Little Wicked”, artist Valerie Broussard - Another great witchy song. It’s eerie, feminist, and captures the sexy wickedness of my Salem’s fictional rival covens. 
Key Lyrics: “That’s what I am. No one calls you honey, when you’re sitting on a throne…I am a little wicked.”

“Haute”, artist Janelle Monae – Black occult shop owner Finlay Williams is estranged from the love of her life, Elizabeth Ingersoll. She holds a terrible secret and hopes if she can share the truth, it will bring Elizabeth back to her. Before Elizabeth arrives at the shop, Finlay tries to puff up her confidence while she checks her makeup and outfit in the mirror. I think this song perfectly captures that moment. 
Key Lyrics: “They say I look good. They say I look haute. They say I look pretty. Can’t tell me I’m not. I’m feeling so sexy.”

“Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered”, artist Sinead O’Connor - Finlay has an impressive record collection in her apartment behind her shop. She puts this song on when she and Elizabeth sit down to talk. Elizabeth finds it very distracting as Finlay hums along to the music. This is such a crazy, sexy version of the song, and I would find it seductively distracting, too, even if we had a falling out. 
Key Lyrics: “Like a daisy I awake…I’m wild again, beguiled again…Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered am I…Lately I’ve not slept a wink…I’ve sinned a lot, I mean a lot…When [she] talks, [she] is seeking words to get off [her] chest. Horizontally speaking, [she]’s at [her] very best.”

“Sinnerman”, artist Nina Simone - On the night before Autumn Equinox, things go off the rails in Salem. I liked this song because it captures some of the frenzy that’s happening as everyone separates and has to navigate complete confusion and shock on their own. 
Key Lyrics: “Oh, Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?...Well I run to the rock, please hide me…But the rock cried out, I can’t hide you…all along dem day…So I run to the river. It was bleedin’, I run to the sea…It was boilin’…Please hide me, Lord…I ran to the Devil. He was waitin’…Don’t you know that I need you Lord?”

“Psycho Killer”, artist Talking Heads - Our villain is not well, and this seems to be a very tongue in cheek way of getting into that sociopathic part of her character after she kills someone and runs off to hide in the woods.
Key Lyrics: “Don’t touch me cause I’m a real live wire. Psycho killer…better run run run run run away…We are vain and we are blind. I hate people when they are not polite…run away.”

“Rest”, artist Alanis Morisette - This song is about coping with addiction. It also fits with avoiding the hidden, painful parts of ourselves that we all carry around. It’s all that stuff that we don’t notice until it just gets to be too much. There are several characters who don’t realize they are at a breaking point. 
Key Lyrics: “The more I take, the less comfort I know…Can we cut this woman some slack?...Aren’t we all hovering around the same end?...God rest, God please rest our souls.”

“All the Things She Said”, artist t.A.T.u. - I feel like this song captures a bit of what Kylie must be feeling in her new relationship with Sarah. There’s the whirlwind of moving to an unfamiliar place, meeting someone who might be the love of your life, and then suddenly Kylie is photographing her first murder. It also mirrors the manic thoughts going through our villain’s mind. 
Key Lyrics: “All the things she said running through my head…I’m in serious shit, I feel totally lost…Being with you has opened my eyes…I keep closing my eyes, but I can’t block you out…This is not enough...Yes, I’ve lost my mind.”

“Wytches Chant”, artist Inkubus Sukkubus – The next night is the Autumnal Equinox and all the witches in Salem are celebrating this Sabbat. It is the mid-point of fall and a time to seek balance. This song is a chant invoking goddesses’ names, but very specific ones. They are the ones who embody change and transitions. Several of them wander between the veil of the living and the ancestral dead. Ancestors will become more and more important as the Beckett Coven series progresses. 
Key Lyrics: “Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna.” Isis and Hekate are goddesses of magic. Diana is the goddess of the hunt. Astarte, Demeter, Kali, and Inanna embody warfare and maternal powers.

“Crazy in Love”, artist Sofia Karlberg - This is a very slow and haunting version of the song. Finlay and Elizabeth have gone to the forest to celebrate Equinox. Elizabeth reveals her secret which causes Finlay to invoke The Great Rite, a Wiccan ritual of healing. But the way Finlay invokes it is specifically about using sex as a healing mechanism. When they finish their rituals, Finlay confesses her secret to Elizabeth who is shocked and infuriated by it.
Key Lyrics: “When you leave I’m begging you not to go…Just how your love can do what no one else can. Got me looking so crazy right now…Got me hoping you’ll save me right now.”

“Witch”, artist Karliene - This is another dark song. It’s about men accusing women of being witches in order to mask their own shortcomings. Our villain uses Equinox not to find balance, but to level several curses at her enemies.
Key Lyrics: “We dance with the Devil…we’ll make you tremble…you best be careful…You bitch, you’re a witch, you’re the reason for all my sins…we cannot suffer you to live.”

“Savage Daughter”, artist Sarah Hester Ross - As Kylie learns more about her family and what she has truly inherited from Hester, this song is very appropriate. 
Key Lyrics: “I am my mother’s savage daughter… She looks for her omens…in the curve of old bones…My mother’s child dances in darkness… I will not lower my voice…we are all brought forth through darkness…And deep in our bones, the old songs are waking.”

“Grounds”, artist Idles – There are plenty of reasons for Kylie to be angry and frustrated at this point. She channels all that anger into trying to save her new-found family from the person she sees as an evil force. 
Key Lyrics: “Do you hear that thunder? That’s the strength in numbers…Not a single thing has ever been mended by you standing there and saying you’re offended.”

“BURN THE WITCH”, artist Pvris - Our villain is barreling toward the point of no return. She remembers what her former coven members did to her and what they took from her. 
Key Lyrics: “There’s blood on the walls. There’s spirits in the doors… Naked in the street. Shirtless fucking freak… Oh, ya I’m famous… Burn, burn, burn the witch.”

“Dragula”, artist Rob Zombie - As the witches find the location where our villain is hiding, this song embodies the frenetic moments as they fight to stop her.
Key Lyrics: “Dead I am the sky watchin’ angels cry…Dig through the ditches and burn through the witches…Dead I am the pool spreading from the fool.”

“Song To the Sirens”, artist This Mortal Coil - This song is about mariners lost at sea. Many of Elizabeth’s ancestors were Salem mariners, so I felt this captures the moment perfectly as she struggles to stay alive.
Key Lyrics: “Did I dream you dreamed about me?...Now my foolish boat is leaning…I’m as puzzled as the newborn child…Should I stand amid the breakers? Or should I lie with death, my bride?...Swim to me, let me enfold you. Here I am. Waiting to hold you.”

“Chasing Cars”, artist Tommee Profitt - This is a sweet and emotionally dramatic version of the song. Everyone is trying to recover from what they just went through and move toward something new.
Key Lyrics: “Just forget the world… All that I am. All that I ever was is here in your perfect eyes…Just know that these things will never change for us at all.”

“Dancing Lessons”, artist Sinead O’Connor - The book ends with a joyous moment. But, of course, nothing can be completely okay while there’s still a cursed object left untended.
Key Lyrics: “I wanna go dancing darling…You’re so happy and so glad you found me…Long time I’ve been dreaming of you. May this dream come true…Can this really exist…Take my rainy days and make them go away…On this journey may the good lord guide us and may the goddess dance beside us.”

“Season of the Witch”, artist Lana Del Rey - The beginning of the Beckett Coven starts at the end of the season of the witch. Whispers of the Pale Witch’s shock ending is a reminder for everyone to always look over your shoulder while you are in Salem.
Key Lyrics: “When I look over my shoulder, what do you think I see?...Strange. So strange…It must be the season of the witch.”

“DARKSIDE”, artist NEONI - We all have our dark and our light side. Which side will each member of the Beckett Coven choose?
Key Lyrics: “Do you want to meet all my monsters?...There’s no heroes or villains in this place. Just shadows that dance in my headspace…My devils, they whisper in my ear…Welcome to my dark side.”

Welcome to my dark side. I hope you enjoy my book, Whispers of the Pale Witch! Learn more at BeckettCoven.com










Whispers of the Pale Witch 
Beckett Coven Series
Book One
S.A. Sizemore

Genre: Horror/Paranormal Thriller
Publisher: Rowan Prose Publishing
Date of Publication: September 29, 2026
ISBN: 978-1-961967-99-1
ASIN: B0FTBTKG9J
Number of pages: 398
Word Count: 98,000
Cover Artist: Kelly Moran

Tagline: Shall we begin?

Book Description: 

Some secrets should just stay buried. 

After the sudden death of her great-aunt, Kylie Beckett lands her dream job as a forensic photographer in the small seaside town where she was born. But once there, a series of murders and the theft of a dangerous relic force Kylie to uncover the dark truth about her ancestors. 

With the help of newfound family, she learns to harness unconscious powers to stop the vengeful and unstable Pale Witch before she unleashes a demonic spirit on Salem, Massachusetts once again. 

Shall we begin?

Excerpt 2 from Chapter 3

Elizabeth was distracted. This is just so damn overwhelming, she thought as she studied Kylie’s face.

The last time they were both on this porch, Elizabeth held her small toddler hand and tried not to cry as they hugged goodbye. Now, Kylie Beckett was a grown woman standing in the doorway some twenty years later. Elizabeth waited decades for this moment, but it felt unexpectedly awkward and strange.

Kylie had the same caramel complexion and bright smile of her African American father, along with a feminine version of his athletic build. Her mother’s Anglo-Saxon features were also apparent in her soft reddish-brown hair and intense amber eyes. She looked rather androgynous without any makeup or earrings. Her t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers were more appropriate for Southern California this time of year than the coming New England autumn.

The rain poured down hard on the porch roof.

“You can come inside if you like.” Kylie motioned for her to move forward.

Elizabeth glanced past the front door towards the cellar. A pained look flashed over her eyes. “It was me.” She touched a tiny bronze cylinder hanging from a chain around her neck. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t completely honest. I was the one who found Hester after the heart attack. I haven't been able to step foot in the house since.”

There was an awkward pause between them.

Kylie was thrown upon meeting Elizabeth. After their phone conversations, she had pictured someone quite different. Instead of the frumpy, busy-body white woman she imagined her to be, Elizabeth was by far one of the most strikingly beautiful women she’d ever met. It was strange, though. She felt familiar, like a childhood friend, not just a recent acquaintance.

“I meant to be here when you arrived.” Elizabeth tapped some raindrops from her umbrella again. “My assistant only just told me you called. We had a very busy Friday afternoon.” She pointed to the left of the doorframe. “The switch for the porch light is on the wall just by the coat hook.”

Kylie leaned over to flick it on. The porch became bathed in a warm glow as if the house was coming back to life. A moth tapped on the ceiling lamp after missing its warmth.

“When do you start your new job?” Elizabeth asked.

“Monday.” Kylie brightened. “Thank you so much for the introduction. I’m really looking forward to it.”

A warm smile crept across her mouth as Elizabeth noticed the tiny, white seashell on a black cord around Kylie’s neck. More emotions rose inside her.

“I'm sorry.” Kylie rubbed her eyes. She didn’t want to seem inhospitable, but she was very tired. “It took a few days to get here, and I still need to pull some stuff out of the car before I get to bed.”

“Of course. Of course.” Elizabeth nodded in agreement. “Can I help you?”

“Oh, no worries.” Kylie peered out at the rain and then back at Elizabeth’s impressive heels and expensive suit. She waved her hand. “I've got it. Just bringing in a couple of things.” She paused for extra emphasis as she said, “I really do appreciate everything you've done for me over the last few weeks.”

Elizabeth thought her heart was going to break right there and then. Her fingers fumbled around in her vest pocket and fished out a white business card. She handed it to Kylie. “Here’s my contact info again in case you need anything. I'll have my assistant set up a time for us to talk. Maybe The Roof on Sunday for brunch?” She opened her umbrella, but the showers magically abated as she descended the porch steps.

“Sounds fun.” Kylie nodded in agreement, not having a clue what The Roof was.

“And we can discuss the lawsuit,” Elizabeth said as she walked down the path.

“W-wait, what?” Kylie stuttered. “What lawsuit?”

“I emailed you about it.” Elizabeth turned slightly. “Beulah Prudaetor is contesting your aunt's trust. But don't worry. She can't take this place from you. I'll make sure of that.”

“But...” Kylie moved forward and wrapped a hand around the white porch post. She looked past Elizabeth at the neighborhood beyond. She liked this place. Loved its quirkiness. Hester’s house already felt like home, even though she’d only been there for a few minutes.

The stress on Kylie’s face drew Elizabeth back to the porch. “Please don't worry about it right now. Go in and get a good night's rest.” Then, she broke her promise and said what she had planned to hold back. “You look so much like your father and so very much like your mother.”

“You knew them?” Kylie asked while startled and curious by the sudden compliment. “You knew my mother? I never did.”

“I know.” Elizabeth pushed down her emotions and patted Kylie's hand. “You get settled in. There will be plenty to talk about and lots of time in which to do it...now that you’re back.”

Before Kylie could see her cry, Elizabeth walked out to the rain-soaked street. She got into her brand-new, white, electric sedan and drove off.

Kylie was alone again on the porch.

The rain paused long enough for her to run out to her hatchback and bring in a few boxes. Before going inside, she picked up the business card she had set down on the porch railing and read it aloud, “Elizabeth Ingersoll, Esq.”

There was so much to focus on in such a short time. Kylie hadn’t noticed the surname until now. Ingersoll was her mother's last name.

“Elizabeth is family.”

 

 

 


About the Author:

Drawn to playwriting from an early age, S.A. Sizemore began writing professionally while studying English and theater arts in college. After producing several plays regionally in Southern California, Sizemore pivoted to the themed entertainment industry. Whispers of the Pale Witch is the first installment of the Beckett Coven series inspired by Sizemore’s ancestral connection to the Salem Witch Trials. She is a full member of the Dramatists Guild of America, proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, European and Cherokee/Chickahominy decent, and resides in California with her wife and two dogs, Agatha and Harry.









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