New Music: TRIVIUM and FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH

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Here are a pair of new music videos for two of my favourite bands: TRIVIUM and FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH.

Trivium, “Silence in the Snow”

A great new song, this time with a power metal influence creeping in?

Silence in the Snow released by Roadrunner Records on October 2nd, 2015.

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Five Finger Death Punch, “Jekyll and Hyde”

Amusing intro, followed by a now-typical 5FDP stomper. Reminiscent of “The Pride” from American Capitalist (2011).

Got Your Six is released by Eleven Seven Music on August 28th, 2015. The other song already circulating from the album, “Hell to Pay”, is also very good.

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Guest Review: THE DRAGON’S PATH by Daniel Abraham (Orbit)

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AbrahamD-D&C1-DragonsPathThe Dagger & the Coin Book One

All paths lead to war…

Marcus’ hero days are behind him. He knows too well that even the smallest war still means somebody’s death. When his men are impressed into a doomed army, staying out of a battle he wants no part of requires some unorthodox steps.

Cithrin is an orphan, ward of a banking house. Her job is to smuggle a nation’s wealth across a war zone, hiding the gold from both sides. She knows the secret life of commerce like a second language, but the strategies of trade will not defend her from swords.

Geder, sole scion of a noble house, has more interest in philosophy than in swordplay. A poor excuse for a soldier, he is a pawn in these games. No one can predict what he will become.

Falling pebbles can start a landslide. A spat between the Free Cities and the Severed Throne is spiraling out of control. A new player rises from the depths of history, fanning the flames that will sweep the entire region onto The Dragon’s Path-the path to war.

Reviewed by Ryan Frye

This is not my first time reading The Dragon’s Path, nor is it the first time I’ve reviewed it. I first read (and reviewed) The Dragon’s Path a little over three years ago. When I first read and review the novel, I had mixed feelings. This time around, some things that bothered me the first time had little-to-no-effect on me, while other issues that I had with the narrative persisted during both reads. Continue reading →

Upcoming: EXTREME PREY by John Sandford (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

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The 26th Lucas Davenport novel! After finishing Gathering Prey, I was a little concerned that the series might have ended. Thankfully, a couple of a days ago, John Sandford announced Extreme Prey! To be published in April 2016 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, it sounds pretty interesting:

After the events in Gathering Prey, Lucas Davenport finds himself in a very unusual situation — no longer employed by the Minnesota BCA. His friend the governor is just cranking up a presidential campaign, though, and he invites Lucas to come along as part of his campaign staff. “Should be fun!” he says, and it kind of is — until they find they have a shadow: an armed man intent on killing the governor… and anyone who gets in the way.

Can’t wait to read this. If you haven’t tried the Prey series, yet, I highly recommend it. John Sandford is easily one of my all-time favourite authors.

Review: ALICE IN CHAINS by David de Sola (Thomas Dunne)

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DeSolaD-AliceInChainsUntoldStoryThe tragic tale of one of America’s most influential bands of the 1990s

Alice in Chains were one of the loudest voices out of Seattle, iconic pioneers who mixed grunge and metal in ways that continue to influence today’s artists. Theirs is a story of hard work, self-destruction, rising from the ashes and carrying on a lasting legacy.

Four years after their first meeting at a warehouse under Seattle’s Ballard Bridge, Alice in Chains became the first of grunge’s big four — ahead of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden — to get a gold record and achieve national recognition. With the charismatic Layne Staley behind the microphone, they became one of the most influential and successful bands to come out of the Seattle music scene. But as the band got bigger, so did its problems. 

I am a big grunge fan. Ever since I took notice of music, and especially the guitar-driven genres, I have listened to Alice in Chains. Given my relative youth, though, I only discovered them shortly before Nothing Safe: Best of the Box came out (I picked it up in LA during my first visit to the city). This, naturally, led me to delve into their back catalogue of albums, and I quickly became hooked on Dirt and Facelift. Then, only a handful of years later, Layne Staley’s death was reported in the various music magazines I religiously read at the time. It is quite strange, as de Sola mentions in this book, that no proper biography of the band has been written until now. I’m happy to say, though, that de Sola’s book is a great tribute to Alice in Chains, and a must-read for any fan of their music and the scene they helped create and nurture. Continue reading →

Guest Post: “Going Global” by Tom Doyle

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DoyleT-AuthorPicThe Left-Hand Way is a globe-spanning fantasy thriller, like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with ancient magic. Part of this description may surprise readers of my first book, American Craftsmen, as that story for the most part kept a tight focus on the U.S. Another surprising change is my new first-person point-of-view character. In my previous book, it was the nonbelieving and somewhat irreverent Dale Morton who told the main story. In book two, it’s his Puritan foil, Michael Endicott, who speaks with his own voice.

My reasons for these changes have to do with the dynamics of keeping a series fresh and the evolution of the worldbuilding. Some series of books are mere continuations of one running story. For my American Craft series of magic and military intrigue, I haven’t gone that route. Instead, I have each book’s story stand on its own, and readers will feel that they’ve gotten a beginning, middle, and end for their effort. Of course, I still have plenty of continuity elements, and each novel so far has an epilogue that slingshots the story into the next book as an invitation to readers to keep going. Continue reading →

Mini-Review: THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS by Aliette de Bodard (Gollancz/Roc)

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A superbly written, atmospheric mystery

A superb murder mystery, on an epic scale, set against the fall out — literally — of a war in heaven

Paris in the aftermath of the Great Magicians War. Its streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine runs black, thick with ashes and rubble. Yet life continues among the wreckage. The citizens retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France’s once grand capital.

House Silverspires, previously the leader of those power games, now lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls.

Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen, an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction, and a resentful young man wielding spells from the Far East. They may be Silverspires’ salvation; or the architects of its last, irreversible fall…

This is a fantastic novel. Superbly written, wonderfully atmospheric and brought to life on the page, House of Shattered Wings is a must-read novel of the year. It’s the first novel by multi-award winning/nominated Aliette de Bodard that I’ve read, and it’s quite excellent. The novel has been generating a fair bit of hype with its upcoming release, and I’m happy to say it’s entirely justified. Continue reading →

Review: THE WAYS OF THE DEAD and MURDER, D.C. by Neely Tucker (Penguin/Windmill)

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A fantastic, must-read new thriller series

Sarah Reese, the teenage daughter of a powerful Washington, D.C. judge, is dead, her body discovered in a slum in the shadow of the Capitol. Though the police promptly arrest three local black kids, newspaper reporter Sully Carter suspects there’s more to the case. Reese’s slaying might be related to a string of cold cases the police barely investigated, among them the recent disappearance of a gorgeous university student.

A journalist brought home from war-torn Bosnia and hobbled by loss, rage, and alcohol, Sully encounters a city rife with its own brand of treachery and intrigue. Weaving through D.C.’s broad avenues and shady backstreets on his Ducati 916 motorcycle, Sully comes to know not just the city’s pristine monuments of power but the blighted neighborhoods beyond the reach of the Metro. With the city clamoring for a conviction, Sully pursues the truth about the murders — all against pressure from government officials, police brass, suspicious locals, and even his own bosses at the paper.

A wry, street-smart hero with a serious authority problem, Sully delves into a deeply layered mystery, revealing vivid portraits of the nation’s capital from the highest corridors of power to D.C.’s seedy underbelly, where violence and corruption reign supreme — and where Sully must confront the back-breaking line between what you think and what you know, and what you know and what you can print. Inspired by the real-life 1990s Princeton Place murders and set in the last glory days of the American newspaper, The Ways of the Dead is a wickedly entertaining story of race, crime, the law, and the power of the media. Neely Tucker delivers a flawless rendering of a fast-paced, scoop-driven newsroom — investigative journalism at its grittiest.

It’s taken me a while to finally get around to reading this series, despite buying The Ways of the Dead on the day of its UK release last year. Nevertheless, with the recent publication of Murder, D.C., I decided it was time to give it a try — and I’m really glad that I did. I read both of these novels back-to-back, and in a handful of blissful days of reading. Both of these novels are fantastic — brilliantly written, plotted and paced, they are easily two of the best crime novels I’ve read in quite a few years. Continue reading →

Review: SLASH by Slash, w. Anthony Bozza (Dey Street Books)

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SlashMy second Guns ‘n’ Roses autobiography

Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion I was the first album I ever bought for myself. It remains one of my favourite albums. I have always been interested in Guns ‘n’ Roses. After the initial break-up of the original line-up, I followed and waited for news about what the band would get up to. As with many fans, though, I eventually lost interest in waiting for new GnR music and found more enjoyment in following the members’ other bands — for example, Velvet Revolver and Slash’s Snakepit and, now, Slash’s eponymous solo-project (R&F’nR is one of my favourite albums of his music).

I recently read and loved Duff McKagan’s autobiography, It’s So Easy, which gave a fantastic, readable account of Guns ‘n’ Roses (relatively) short rocket to fame and stardom from the perspective of a single member. McKagan was respectful of others’ perspectives, and never guessed his bandmates’ opinions or positions, nor spoke for them. As soon as I finished It’s So Easy, I went out and picked up Slash. I think it’s safe to say that Slash is one of the greatest living guitar players, and I was eager to learn his side of the G’n’R story, and also read about his other music endeavours (Velvet Revolver, Slash’s Snakepit, for example). This eponymous memoir is very good, quite exhaustive (without being exhausting), brutally honest, and accessibly written. It has a few minor flaws, but it was certainly a good read. Continue reading →

Upcoming: THE HOUSE OF FAME by Oliver Harris (Vintage)

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I haven’t read Oliver Harris’s first two novels, yet, but Alyssa is a fan. I first heard of his books when I was living in London, and therefore wasn’t really in the mood to read fiction set in the city. However, after spotting the cover for his upcoming third novel, above, I must say my interest was piqued. I know one should never judge a book by its cover, but that cover above and the new covers for The Hollow Man and Deep Shelter (below) are stunning.

First, though, here’s the synopsis for House of Fame:

Amber Knight is London’s hottest ticket – pop star, film star, the front-page subject of daily tabloid gossip.

Nick Belsey is less celebrated. His decade-long career at Hampstead CID seems to be coming to an end, and his habit of getting into serious trouble is ongoing. He is currently of no fixed abode.

But when Belsey is asked by a desperate mother to help find her son, he finds himself infiltrating the entourage of Amber Knight. It is a world of excess, obsession, lust and greed – precisely as Belsey had expected, and perhaps even hoped for. Soon, though, the blood begins to flow, one sickening crime is followed by the next, and Belsey finds himself in a far more deadly world, whose mysteries he must solve and whose grip he must escape.

The House of Fame is due out in February 2016, published by Vintage Books. It doesn’t have a page, yet, on the publisher’s website, but it is available for pre-order on Amazon.

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And, in case you haven’t read the first one as well, here’s the synopsis for ??:

Detective Nick Belsey is broke. Now it looks like he’s out of a job – something happened last night, something with the boss’s wife…

At dawn, on what should be the last day of Belsey’s career, Hampstead CID is ghostly quiet. Belsey checks the overnight files. There’s a missing-person report. But this one’s different. It’s on the Bishops Avenue, London’s richest street. Belsey sees a scam, an escape route.

But he hasn’t got there first.

Furiously paced and thrillingly plotted, The Hollow Man is a black love letter to London’s shadow world. It marks the beginning of a seductive contemporary detective series, and the arrival of a future master of the genre.

Guest Post: “My Audiobooks…” by Mark Ellis

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EllisM-AuthorPicThe experience of having my first two Frank Merlin books, Princes Gate and Stalin’s Gold, which are set in World War 2 London, turned into audiobooks was very straightforward and enjoyable. Audible, Amazon’s audiobook arm, got in touch with me through my publishers in the latter part of 2014. There are different ways in which audiobooks are published on Audible. Sometimes the book publisher remains the main publisher but is given access to the Audible platform at various levels. Alternatively Audible themselves become the publishers. In my case it was agreed that Audible would buy the audio rights to the books from me and be the publishers. This, I learned, was the best outcome as my audiobooks would then have the full weight and support of the Audible and Amazon organisations behind them. Continue reading →