So many traditions have fallen by the wayside around here that I’m glad to see this one continuing. It’s my annual reading roundup.

I wish it wasn’t my least exciting one yet.

For starters, I only read 61 books this year, which is down considerably from past years. My high, you may recall, was 144. The good news is that of those 59, there were only six I didn’t finish.

Twenty-two of these books were assignments from the Review People, so I can’t talk much about them, since I review incognito and all. (Bummer, because a couple of them were good enough to talk to you about.)

It looks like only nine were for my book club, and the only one I absolutely adored was Jenna Blum’s The Stormchasers. It might be my standout for the year, in fact. We also delved into Ariana Franklin’s Mistress of the Art of Death series, reading two of the four. The other two are in our queue. As a group, we love historical fiction and don’t shy away from Biblical Historical, but… nothing stood out this year. If you’ve read some, please let me know.

In a happier vein, I read 10 works of Rock Fiction this year, and reviews for all of them are up. The standouts? Olivia Cunning’s original Sinners on Tour novel, Backstage Passes. Okay, she gets a lot of the rock and roll details wrong, but she can tell a story and write an even better sex scene.

Other Rock Fiction worth reading: DJ Butler’s Hellhound on my Trail. I’ve got the second and third installments waiting for me here, and they had better live up to the first or I’m going hurt DJ. Join me. Book One is fantastic.

Another standout was the horror story, Voice. Joseph Garraty… you read his name here first. Not so scary you won’t be able to sleep, this one’s got a fresh take on what could have been an overly familiar trope.

Sound Bites and Rock Star’s Girl were both fun but not groundbreaking. And Rob Reid skewered everything in sight in Year Zero. Science Fiction fans and Terry Pratchett lovers should jump at that one.

Otherwise… I spent some time with old friends: Rebecca Cantrell’s A Knight of Long Knives reunited me with Hannah Vogel, Stephanie Plum still can’t stop Volume 12, Jennifer Estep’s Gin Blanco series gets better and better. She swears she’s winging the overarching plotline in that series. If so, look out, world.

Those were the highlights, such as they were. It was probably my most disappointing reading year since I started these year-end wrap ups, but I suspect that had more to do with my limited pleasure reading time. Maybe it’s because now that I’m reviewing and editing so steadily, my expectations have risen.

Either way, go pick up the books I’ve highlighted here if you’re looking for something good to read. As always, if you can order them through your local independent bookstore (or, failing that, use either of mine), you’re helping not only an author but a small business and a whole slew of people, as well.

I’ve been so busy of late with editing, it seems like everything else has fallen by the wayside. But no worries, my friends. In between reading and writing reviews for those nice people who pay me for my thoughts, I’ve spent some time with a varied list of Rock Fiction.

The Girl Band handed me a young adult novel, Dancing Queen. Read the review here.

As I work my way through what’s piled up around here, which is way too much, I took on the challenge of Olivia Cunning and the first in her Sinners on Tour series, Backstage Pass.

Maybe you read about my library quest to discover something I could spend a lazy weekend with. Maya Banks’ Sweet Possession was the winner.

My old college course in satire came in handy when confronted with Rob Reid’s Year Zero. But even if it hadn’t, this still would have been laugh-out-loud funny.

I couldn’t resist more Olivia Cunning. Rock Hard is the follow-up to Backstage Pass.

Joseph Garraty’s Voice was slick enough to warrant a rare five stars from me.

What’s the point of loving Rock Fiction if I don’t get to share that passion?

So. Here’s the deal. Whenever I start reading some Rock Fiction (unless it’s for the review people, who prefer I remain anonymous about what I’m reading), I’m going to let you know. I encourage you guys to pick up a copy for yourself, and read along. Since my comments are always open, leave some. Leave ’em on the West of Mars Fans page at Facebook.

Spread the love. Spread the Rock Fiction.

Ready? Here we go. David Hiltbrand’s Dying to be Famous. That link’ll take you to B&N (where I am NOT an affiliate), and it looks like the book is out of print. It may require some sleuthing, but if it’s as good as its predecessor, Deader than Disco, it’ll be worth the hunt.

Happy reading!

(and no, I’m not sure what happened to my review of Killer Solo. It might have been an unfortunate victim of the hack I suffered last spring)

I haven’t talked about the books I’ve been reading lately because, frankly, I haven’t been reading much. Between editing, the whole single-parenting thing, and reviewing for the book reviewing people, I don’t have a lot of reading time.

In fact, I’m about to make a big push to catch up on some of the Rock Fiction that authors have been kind enough to send my way.

But first, I wanted to talk about Ariana Franklin’s The Serpent’s Tale. It’s neither a book I was supposed to review, nor is it Rock Fiction. (Not if it’s set in the 11th century or whatnot!)

It was a book club book.

Yeah, you know: that book club I’ve been part of for years now. (Still not sure? Go under Extras above and scroll down.)

We’d read Mistress of the Art of Death as a group and really liked it, so we put The Serpent’s Tale on our list (we also have the other two on it now). And… it wasn’t as good as the first, not by a longshot, but what intrigued me about it was that for part of the book, it became a classic closed-room mystery. You know the type: like what Agatha Christie was known for. Everyone locked in a space together, with no way in or out and a killer among us.

I’d have liked to see Ms. Franklin do more with that structure and let her main character, Adelia, shine within it, but the book wasn’t meant to be that sort of mystery. Still, I wish one of the interviewers who got a chance to chat with her (or the person she was when she wasn’t being Ariana Franklin) had asked about it. Was it a conscious decision? Did she mean to set the characters up this way, or did it happen because the setting demanded it?

Ahh, if only… if only…

But one thing I did find interesting: of all the online reviews I read, I’m the only one who picked up on that. Makes me wonder if I’m seeing something that’s really not there, or if I’m just an overeducated woman with nothing better to do…

Scary thought, either way.

One of the first authors to get in touch with me after India Drummond’s blog post went viral (thanks, PG!) was Galen Watson, whose book The Psalter ought to put Dan Brown to shame. Of course, I’ve yet to read, let alone edit, Dan Brown, so I’m biased.

The Psalter is a smart, sharp, intriguing tale that goes back into history while it tells a present-day story. Yeah, one of those structures. My bud Galen pulls it off.

As I do with all my editing clients, I invited him to stop in for a Featured New Book Spotlight. And like many — but not all — do, he took me up on it.

Galen, what song makes you think of The Psalter?

Bob Seeger’s Against the Wind haunted me as I wrote The Psalter, and while I was editing. When I hear the words or see them written, I realize Against the Wind could truly be the novel’s theme song. I wish I could attach a nano mp3 player to every ebook and paperback copy to play softly as the reader turns the pages. Perhaps readers could play Seeger’s tune as a sort of dénouement background music in Chapter 45, Johannes’ Testament. That’s the point that Seeger’s words were the most poignant to my writer’s self.

It seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Janey was lovely she was the queen of my nights
There in the darkness with the radio playing low
And the secrets that we shared
The mountains that we moved
Caught like a wildfire out of control
‘Til there was nothing left to burn and nothing left to prove
And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh so tight
Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then

Book Blurb

A medieval prayer book, a religious prophecy, and a forgery that changed the church—forever.

Father Romano has run afoul of the modern inquisitors before. This time, it leads to a medieval manuscript and murder. Was it an ordinary theft gone wrong or something more? The police would like to know.

Romano uncovers a historical narrative of medieval forgeries, Saracen invasions and a legendary fight for the richest kingdom on earth. Yet he has unwittingly become a target for those who will stop at nothing to possess the secret of the Psalter.

Kindle Link

Amazon Paperback Version

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

Goodreads

Twitter: @galencwatson

Facebook

I was at the library, working on what will be Demo Tapes 4, and I decided to treat myself. I was going to go find myself a romance. Hopefully, a good, hot one. AND it was going to be a work of Rock Fiction.

How hard can it be? I figured. All those Rock Fiction books have the same sorts of titles. Rock Me. Backstage Pass. Spotlight. (Nevermind the 90% of books that don’t have cliched titles… gimme a break. I was tired.)

But you know what I noticed?

On almost every exposed spine — and there were many — the book’s title was so far down, I couldn’t read it. Maybe I could see part of it, but that was it. Part. There were author’s names and pictures of half-naked men, but titles?

All hidden under those library stickers.

I gave up on romance and wandered into the general collection, where I encountered some books by Maya Banks. I’ve wanted to read Maya’s books for a long time now — since I met her at RT 08, most likely — and a glance at the back cover copy showed me … I’d found it. A romance, hopefully hot, by an author I have been eager to read. Did I mention it’s Rock Fiction?

Slam dunk.

Oh, and the title? That oh-so-rocker-like Sweet Possession.

Kerry Dwyer is another author I’ve gotten to know over Twitter. So, of course… one author + new release equals an invite from Susan, so here you go… Proving that music knows no boundaries!

When I looked at your blog and the single question my first thought were ‘What on earth will I have in common with people who read this site’. I am about double the average age of other contributors and from a completely different musical background. But the more I thought about it the more I felt I was totally wrong. Music can join many different people, people can enjoy many different types of music. Songs that were fist released nearly eighty years ago are coming back into popularity with modernised cover versions. I was brought up in the folk clubs of London and in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s met folk heroes such as Pete and Peggy Seegar, Ewan McColl and Frankie Armstrong. The only popular artist that I ever met was Kirsty McColl but we were both small children at the time. In my book, Ramblings In Ireland, I talk about this time and mention one of Ewan McColl’s best known songs ‘The Manchester Rambler’. Of course I can’t think about walking without thinking about this song and about that time in my childhood. I don’t hear that song very often. One song that has stood the test of generations is ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’. This song was written by Ewan for Peggy. in 1957 It first became a major international hit in 1972 for Roberta Flack and has since been covered and released 68 times. The more famous cover versions were by Celine Dion, Diana Ross, Elvis Presley and Alison Moyet, the version by Johnny Mathis sounds like chocolate. This year Peggy, the woman for whom this song was originally written, has released a new version. with Broadcaster. Her voice is still as magnificent as ever.I think it is wonderful that she has released this song that was written for her all that time ago.

Book Blurb

Ramblings in Ireland

This is not a book about rambling in Ireland.

It tells the tale of one particular walking trip and the memories and musings it inspired.

Exploring the West of Ireland is a time for meditation, spiritual reflection and strengthening the bonds of life. More practically the ability to read a map might have proved helpful. The tourist office in Ireland has all their paths clearly marked. You can’t go wrong if you follow that little yellow man. Or can you?

As British ex-patriate Kerry Dwyer leads Bertrand, her trusting French husband, astray once more, they reminisce and reflect upon accents and accidents, family and friends, love and what it means to be alive. Bertrand doesn’t mind getting lost – he loves Kerry all the more for going off the beaten track.

This is a book about ramblings in Ireland. Walk with Kerry and Bertrand and follow where your thoughts lead you.

Links

My blog
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Facebook
Goodreads

This might be the last of the posts from my fellow authors of the 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror fun. I hope not; it’s been fun hosting new authors whose name appears beside my own.

Remember, if you’ve got a new book out, follow the rules and get on the schedule.

Today’s guest is Donna Fletcher Crow, whose new book is Monastery Murders. Let’s get right to it, shall we?

The Song That Inspired an Epic

“And did those feet in ancient times,
Walk upon England’s mountains green,
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
. . .
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows fo desire!
Bring me my spear: O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chairot of fire!. . .”

Well, every English school child knows this song based on the poem “Jerusalem” by William Blake and popularly called “The Glastonbury Hymn”. But I’ll have to admit the first time I heard it was when Eric Idle sang it on a “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” sketch. And then it really became known to the whole world when the wonderful movie “Chariots of Fire” burst on the world and everyone wanted to know where the title came from.

That legend Blake refers to, of Joseph of Ariamathea taking his young nephew Jesus with him on a tin-trading trip to the Scilly Isles and then returning later as a refugee/missionary and taking with him the Holy Grail is the basis for hundreds of years of grail search songs, poems and novels— including my own GLASTONBURY, A Novel of The Holy Grail.

GLASTONBURY is an epic that spans 1500 years of English history through Celtic, Roman, Arthurian, Anglo-Saxon, Norman, and Tudor times. Today, as in Arthur’s day, searchers are still asking: Where is the Holy Grail?

You can see a wonderful music video of “Jeruslaem.”

More about Donna:

Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of 40 books, mostly novels dealing with British history. The award-winning Glastonbury, A Novel of the Holy Grail, an Arthurian grail search epic covering 15 centuries of English history, is her best-known work. She is also the author of The Monastery Murders: A Very Private Grave and A Darkly Hidden Truth, as well as the Lord Danvers series of Victorian true-crime novels and the romantic suspense series The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries. Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 11 grandchildren. She is an enthusiastic gardener.

To read more about all of Donna’s books and see pictures from her garden and research trips go to: https://www.donnafletchercrow.com/
You can follow her on Facebook at: https://ning.it/OHi0MY

Donna is visiting West of Mars today as part of the 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror, 52 Authors Look Back blog tour. If you enjoy magazine columns and Chicken Soup for the Soul books, then you’re sure to enjoy our collection of essays, designed to warm your heart, raise your spirits and compel you to examine your own life. Read about school days, quirky jobs, romance, raising a family, hard times, the writing journey, and find out what makes your favorite characters tick. Get a full listing of authors, essay titles and retailers here: https://ning.it/OknwVR
Follow the 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror Blog and Radio Tour schedule here: https://ning.it/NZpHrP

I’ve spoken so often of my association with the group at Bestseller Bound that I’m surprised you all haven’t come and joined me over there. We’d love to have great authors who are committed to the idea that the success of one is the success of all.

Today’s featured author is Maria Savva, one of the founding authors of Bestseller Bound. She’s got a new book out, and it’s one I’m curious to see in its finished state. It’s dark, very dark, and it’s well named. This book has haunted me since I closed the file.

Without further ado… Maria, what song makes you think of your book?

How Will I Laugh Tomorrow… by Suicidal Tendencies.

This song features in the book; well, the title is mentioned. It’s one of the songs Nigel Price, the protagonist, is listening to in his car before an event that changes his life forever. It’s like after he hears this song, that’s the turning point. And, it is also a song that plays at the end of the novel, evoking memories of the past. The question for the reader with this book is how much of it is reality and how much of it is imagined? That brings to mind the lyrics: “Sometimes I got to think to myself is this life or death,
Am I living or am I dead?”

In my opinion, although he commits a crime, I feel that Nigel is a victim too and have tried to show this in the book. I think the lyrics:

“And I tried to tell you but not a word I say
Cried out so loudly but you just covered your ears
I gave you all the signs but you ignored my tears”

could apply to Nigel. There were signs that he would end up doing what he did, or something similar. No one in his life seemed to be able to stop that from happening.

The following verse in particular, reflects Nigel’s frame of mind throughout most of the book:

“search for personality, I look for things I cannot see
Love and peace flash through my mind,
pain and hate is all I find
Find no hope in nothing new
and I never had a dream come true
Lies and hate and agony, through my eyes that’s all I see”

It’s a dark book, and Nigel’s emotions are dark. The line, “How will I laugh tomorrow, when I can’t even smile today?” just sums up everything that Nigel is feeling.

Originally, I used the song “Born to be Wild” as the song Nigel was playing before the life changing event happened. But one day I was listening to “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow…” and I posted a link to Twitter. One of my Twitter friends tweeted and said how much he loved this song and that it was probably his favourite ever. It started me thinking how much I had always loved this song, and when I went back to editing Haunted, which I was in the process of doing at the time, it suddenly occurred to me that this song would be perfect because the angry dark tone of the lyrics really suited Nigel’s state of mind.

Buy links!
Amazon UK

Amazon.com

Lulu.com

Connect with Maria — you’ll be glad you did!
My website

Twitter

Facebook Author Page

It’s November, the time of year when the Movemeber people are growing mustaches and the writerly types are busy pounding out 50,000 word manuscripts they hope to turn into books of some sort (of high caliber).

Okay, being a woman, you can probably figure out why I’m not part of Movember. No, it’s NOT rampant upper-lip hair that is the reason I am so camera-shy. (Sorry to those of you who thought otherwise. Shut up, Will. You’ve met me; you ought to know better.)

Which leaves NaNo. NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. As I said, it’s the time of year when writers of all sorts — published, unpublished, even some best-sellers — write a draft of a new novel. And after my fabulous sales success last month with Trevor’s Song, you’d think I’d be hot to use NaNo as a way to follow up with something even better.

So why isn’t Susan NaNoing?

Well, first, there’s the little issue of Susan the Editor continuing to wear the primary hat in these parts. Business remains good, so thanks to you who use me as your editor and those of you who refer your friends to me. I’ve got open spaces at the tail end of the month, and in December (and beyond).

That’s good for any of you who are actually doing NaNo. Revise your books and send ’em my way. I’d be glad to help you turn them into something truly amazing.

Yes, the editing business is good. But that doesn’t explain why I’ve done done NaNo twice: a winning project in 2003 and an unfinished work in 2005. Why go out on the downer note of a quitter?

Because the one thing that was reinforced to me both years was that… when I write like that, I write crap. My childish, innocent side comes out more than my dark side does, and all you who love Trevor know how much fun my dark side is. I can’t even say that it’s okay, in this era when Young Adult is still the hot genre of the moment (although it’s cooling a bit), to let that young side out.

That young side? It’s too young to be allowed to develop a plot. It does okay (not great. No Trevors in sight) with characterization and pacing, but plot? Oy. Man, the stuff I came up with those two years… teenage fantasy ain’t got nothin’ on the stupid shit I cooked up in pursuit of what eventually got shoved under the bed. It was barely salvageable, and I do mean barely. You’d think I’d never gone outside or lived in a city, it was that bad. Naive. Juvenile. Embarrassing.

And it got trashed as soon as the month was over. Heck, with the second attempt, I didn’t even wait for the month to be over. I just said it was crap and I had better things to do than write crap.

While it’s more than acceptable to give ourselves permission to write crap — sometimes, it’s entirely necessary to the process — I decided it wasn’t okay for me to give up a month writing stuff so bad, all I’d take out of those two experiences was ONE character. ONE. That’s not a very good return on investment. It’s not even a BAD return on the investment. It’s DREADFUL.

So… no NaNo here. In its simplest form, it doesn’t work for me. And that’s okay. Everyone’s process is different. This is part of what makes the world the wonderful place it is. We all have our things that work, and our things that don’t.

Which now begs the question of what I AM writing, and when you’ll get to see it. After all, I’ve got readers to keep happy after that sales spike last month.

The answer to that remains simple: sales spike or no, my royalties aren’t paying the bills yet. Editing still does.

Guess we’ll all have to remain patient and see.

Whenever I edit a book, I make a point of telling my client they are welcome to stop in and do a Featured New Book spotlight. It’s the least I can do to support my authors, since they are, without exception, the greatest group of authors on the planet.

Today’s author isn’t merely a client. She’s also an online bud, one I’ve known for a couple of years now, and one who has so many similar interests to my own that it’s scary. We could be soul sisters. And when you read The Rock Star in the Mirror (and you should!), you’ll see what I mean.

So… Sharon, what song makes you think of your book?

Answer this question: What song makes you think of your book? Wow. Just one? I’d have to go with “Station to Station,” which is part of what inspired me to write the story. It’s this wild allegory, based on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” that kind of implies a psychotic break on the part of the singer.

(For the record, Sharon herself picked that version of the video, as there doesn’t seem to be an official one. She says she loves this one. It’s from a German film called “Christiane F.” Let me know what you think!)

Ready for the blurb? Sure, you are!

Joe is a small-town Oregon guy. He’s madly in love with Lynnie … who has a huge crush on David Bowie. Joe will do almost anything to get Lynnie’s attention, but there are always consequences.

Buy your copy today! Smashwords is the preferred retailer of the day. That works for me; this link is an affiliate link, which means I’ll make a few pennies from your purchase.

Sharon’s website
Sharon’s Facebook

It’s November, and there’s still more to covet. Didn’t I do a good enough job coveting all Rocktober long?

Guess not. But in my defense, I spent the month trying to catch up and even get ahead a bit for my editing clients (which means NOW is a really good time to book me if you’d like an edit! I have dates at the end of November and beyond, but if you blink, you’ll miss them).

So here’s a roundup of celeb bios and memoirs and other stuff that’s all music-related.

Bruce, by Peter A. Carlin, is billed as being an intimate look at The Boss. Yeah, Springsteen, who was in my fair town recently. After being underwhelmed the last time I saw Bruce, I wasn’t sad I missed him this time. And I hate that I had to say that, but there ya go. Sometimes, you gotta.

Ke$ha, who I once saw on a New Year’s Eve special and was horrified by, is putting out an illustrated memoir called My Crazy Beautiful Life. I might have to read it, just to see what the fuss is about. Not only about the book, but its subject matter, as well. Maybe I’ve been wrong about her.

Slash has a new one out.

“Slash: An Intimate Portrait” (Insight Editions), a new 144-page hardcover book by Richard Bienstock, with photography by Robert Knight, was launched … October 4 at Mouche Gallery in Beverly Hills, California.

Joe Perry (yeah, THAT Joe Perry, you Aerosmith fans) apparently wrote the intro. Cool! But… didn’t Slash write a book of his own a few years back? Like…2008? And isn’t Joe writing one now?

The answer to both questions, friends, is YES.

And then there’s Phil Anselmo, the man who was once so very kind to me outside his tour bus and who filled me in on why my promised tickets and passes had just vanished. He’s working on his autobiography. He’s even got a deal for it, so now it’s a matter of him writing it and seeing if it can match up to his bluster. I bet it can. Phil won’t work well with an editor. Even me.

I gotta admit that I’m not a Danko Jones fan any more than I’m a Ke$ha fan. So this new book? Too Much Trouble – A Very Oral History of DANKO JONES. I’ll pass, thanks, unless a copy finds its way onto my nightstand…

This one hit my radar mid-month:

“Black Sabbath And Philosophy: Mastering Reality”, a philosophical look at heavy metal’s dark masters of reality, BLACK SABBATH, has just been published worldwide via The Blackwell Philosophy And Pop Culture Series.

Expanding beyond the world of books only (and the e-book is only 27 pages, at that), we have

A new one-dollar app and eBook tell the story of the making of BAD COMPANY’s 1979 album “Desolation Angels”.

The ebook is free! It’s apparently a chapter taken from another of the prolific Popoff’s books.

And, finally, more Van Halen, as well.

A new book, VAN HALEN: Exuberant California, Zen Rock ‘N’ Roll, by John Scanlan, is now available via Reaktion Books.

A book description states: “I hate the word maturing”, singer DAVID LEE ROTH once said. “I don’t like the word evolving – or any of that bullshit. The point is to keep it as simplistic, as unassuming, and as stupid as possible.” Examining Roth’s sentiment, Van Halen: Exuberant California, Zen Rock ‘N’ Roll follows the band’s pursuit of the art of artlessness, and describes how they characterize what historian Kevin Starr terms ‘Zen California’ – a state of mind and way of being that above all celebrates ‘the now’. In rock’n’ roll terms it stands for the unregulated expenditure of energy; for a youthful exuberance that seems destined to extinguish itself.

Yeah, that’s probably a year’s worth of reading. I haven’t seen any figures, but given the plethora of celeb bios and memoirs flooding the market right now, you gotta wonder if they’re making any money for their publishers. I remember six, seven years ago when they weren’t, and the publishers were all admitting it, too. They had to have the bragging rights of landing the celeb, and who cared if they lost money. It was all about those precious bragging rights.

And people ask what’s wrong with publishing? Why a climate was established in which so many self-published authors are now taking great advantage?

I’ll admit it. I’ve been so busy editing that I didn’t have a chance to put together the sort of Rocktober I’d wanted to.

With no further ado:

WHY I WRITE ROCK FICTION

RJ McDonnell

The greatest Christmas present I ever received was an acoustic guitar, given to my sister when I was 9 years old. She was thrilled with it for about an hour. After trying to form chords for the first time and failing miserably, she had no problem letting her little brother make a fool of himself. I realized at that learning to play would be a long and difficult road, especially since my parents couldn’t afford to pay for lessons. But on some level I knew that I had tapped into an inner passion and, regardless of the time and effort involved, I would learn to play that guitar.

I went into that Christmas with my eyes wide open. The previous year, my big present was a Flexible Flyer sled that I immediately walked to our neighbor sleigh riding venue a mile away. It was no big surprise that I was the lone sledder at 8:30 AM on Christmas morning. The big surprise happened when I put my tongue on the sled’s steering bolt when I reached the bottom of the hill on my first run. Yes, it stuck like Crazy Glue, just like in the film A Christmas Story. But instead of flailing my arms and crying, I had to drag a sled that was bigger than me up and down hills for a mile with my tongue twisted sideways. Man-up Flick, it could have been a lot worse.

So, my family was understandably cool about letting me glom onto my sister’s present. I may have traded her an evil sled with a leftover taste bud or two for my first six string.

The following spring I fell head over heels for a Beatles album that I purchased with proceeds from my new lawn mowing business. I started working on the songs with my guitar the minute I got home and didn’t stop at bedtime until my mother took the guitar out of my room and placed it next to my father.

The following morning I tried my hand at acting, as I faked a severe stomach ache in front of my 4th grade class at 9:15 AM. The school nurse drove me home. A couple of days later I overheard my mother say on the telephone, “I wish he would have at least waited until the nurse left the house before playing his album and guitar.”

When I reached high school I discovered an aptitude for English, which served as a nice counterbalance for the black hole known as Algebra. I was moved up into an advanced English class and had no trouble keeping in step with my new classmates. I didn’t know it at the time but it was the beginning of a lifelong journey.

Writing was a skill that carried me through college and grad school. Regardless of my level of preparedness for tests, I could always count on convincing profs that I knew the material with a well-crafted paper or two. It became my go-to skill if my band happened to land a gig the night before a test.

After graduation I tried working at a government job for two years while continuing to play in a band. But I came to realize that my career path and basic intolerance for bullshit were at odds with one another, and was destined to end badly if I didn’t take immediate corrective action. I really wanted a chance to work as a full-time musician but knew it wasn’t going to happen in Northeastern Pennsylvania. So I moved to San Diego, quickly teamed up with a talented lead guitarist, and we formed a band.

But fate can be downright mean at times. Just as my new band was gelling I shattered my left wrist in an accident. At first I thought I’d be back in action in no time – slap a cast on it and wait six weeks. But I broke the navicular bone, which is in the middle of several smaller bones and gets very little of the circulation needed for healing. Six weeks turned into six months, at which point I had bone graft surgery. That was followed by 18 months in casts and braces. Bottom line: I wasn’t able to play guitar for over 20 years.

Writing was my fallback position. I landed a full-time writing job a year after getting out of the brace. My first fiction gig happened when a coworker went to work on a new cable comedy television show with a Saturday Night Live format. My coworker asked if I’d like to submit a script on spec. A total of 34 of my scripts were produced and aired over the show’s two seasons, and I was hooked on fiction.

I’ve been a mystery/crime fan my whole life. My father was a homicide detective who watched every crime drama and movie on television. I transitioned from television to novels in college. I was especially fond of series collections and made sure I tapped into my passion for music when developing my detective’s background as a former club musician. In spite of the injury my passion for rock music never waned. I set up the series so that every one of the novels involved the music industry.

So far, all of the cases have related to rock music. Rock & Roll Homicide is about the murder of a metal frontman. Rock & Roll Rip-Off features a rock studio musician involved with an emo band. The Concert Killer follows a serial killer as he tries to shut down the rock concert industry. And, The Classic Rockers Reunion with Death takes a hard look at life after stardom.

Although my detective, Jason Duffy, played in metal bands until starting his apprenticeship as a private investigator, I’m not locked into writing about rock exclusively. I have two children in their early 20s. My daughter is a blues singer and my son is a drum & bass MC who warmed up a Grammy award winner last year. It’s possible I may wander into their worlds if they offer a guided tour. In the meantime, my working title for #5 is Diamonds, Clubs, and Rock & Roll.

You’d think the publishers are getting on board with this whole Rocktober thing, wouldn’t you? I’ve come across articles and press releases and blog posts about all sorts of celeb bios and memoirs. (Yes, they ARE different creatures, in case you didn’t know.)

First up is a book that actually came out near the end of September, but needs to be blogged about today. It’s from a man who appeared on this blog LAST Rocktober, with luxury guitar straps (and if he’s not a man who deserves luxury guitar straps, no one is).

Yep, it’s Kirk Hammett, the lead guitarist of Metallica, and he’s got a book out about his fixation with all things horror. It’s called Too Much Horror Business — the Kirk Hammett collection and I’m sure it’s filled with the usual never-before-seen pictures and insights. The difference this time is that this is stuff we truly haven’t seen ’cause it’s in Kirk’s house and all. And he talks about it, which he really hasn’t done before, at least not that I’ve seen.

People’s collections are always fascinating things — IF the stories behind them are well told.

I have faith in Kirk.

He’d better not let me down. His band’s been my favorite for WAY too long now. I don’t want to have to find another.

Another of the 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror author is Carole Shmurak. Let’s give her a warm welcome and see what song makes her think of her book. It’s a good one!

Stayin’ Alive by the BeeGees is the song that comes to mind, for two reasons.

First, it is set at a high school reunion, and after a certain age, that’s what reunions are all about, aren’t they? Who’s still staying alive? Of course my book, Most Likely to Murder, is a mystery, so at least one member of the class doesn’t achieve that goal!

Second, it is the class of 1980 that is having their 32 year reunion, and “Stayin’ Alive” was one of the songs they danced to when they were in high school. It was funny that when I looked up the songs that might be played at the reunion, there were several titles that were appropriate: “Stayin’ Alive” from 1977-78, “I Will Survive” from 1978, and “Another One Bites the Dust” from 1980. So I got to use all three songs during the course of the evening.

When I started writing Most Likely to Murder, I had just come from my own high school reunion, and I’d been the editor of the reunion book, so I had the faces and the lives of nearly 200 people in my mind. But to quote Sue Grafton, my detective, Susan Lombardi, is “younger, smarter and thinner” than I am. That meant that all the music we had played at our reunion would be all wrong for Susan’s class, and so it was necessary to research the songs. It also meant that the names of my classmates were wrong for the era too, so I had to look up the popular names for people born in 1962; all the Carols and Barbaras had to become Sharons and Lisas.

The version of “Stayin’ Alive” that I’ve chosen is the one with the BeeGees singing but with images that come from the 1940s and feature the gorgeous Rita Hayworth. I’m not that old, but I am a film lover and she is just such a glorious dancer to watch!

The class of 1980? I don’t talk about things that make me feel young often, but this is one of them. However, I’d like to point out the excellent name the detective has. Notice that? I sure did!

Ready for the blurb? I am!

What high school class has a thirty-two year reunion? A class whose president has left the country, whose vice president is dead, and whose treasurer is in the Witness Protection program — in fact, Professor Susan Lombardi’s class from Count Basie High School. Susan has misgivings about revisiting her hometown: she’s leery of seeing her former high school sweetheart, now a high tech millionaire, and reluctant to get involved in a battle between her squabbling brothers. But when she does go, one of her “old gang” ends up dead, and Susan and her friends team up to find the classmate Most Likely to Murder.

I may need to buy this one. How about you?
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It was the damndest thing. Before heading to a luncheon on Friday, I checked my sales over at Amazon, figuring I was doing nothing more than wasting time. Sure enough, nothing had changed since the morning.

This is why I usually only check in once a week.

But it’s Rocktober, and all the books are on sale and if there’s one thing all these cats have taught me, it’s that hope springs eternal.

I had a great luncheon. Think I’ll put in an application to the program it was introducing us to.

Less than three hours later, I got home and … yeah, I know. I shouldn’t have. I checked my sales numbers.

They’d gone up by 11.

What? My numbers NEVER rise that much in such a short period of time.

I checked again. It was a mistake, some glitch. Maybe Amazon had been slow to report during the week, and were now catching up.

13.

The day went like that, the numbers escalating wildly, until they’d increased by 50.

I never have days like this. Ever. Not even on release days. This is new territory.

Twenty more showed up overnight, before things slowed down. Like whatever promo I’d been an unwitting part of had ended. Yup, about 24 hours of dream come true…

If you know anything about this, fill me in on what happened, will you please?

And to all the people who’ve taken advantage of the Rocktober specials, thank you. A lot. Just remember… when you read something you like, be it my book or someone else’s, why not leave a few words in review?

I mean that, too, but man, it’s hard to avoid that when there’s a new book out talking about a band you pretty much grew up with — and the reason the book is out is to celebrate that band’s FORTIETH year together.

Yikes. They’re 40. I mean, Eddie and Alex, they’re more than 40. David Lee… I’m not sure how old he is, but he’s WAY older than 40. (42, maybe?)

(Nope. Mid-to-late 50s!!)

Here. I’ll let you read what I saw on Blabbermouth:

According to the Van Halen News Desk, the editors of Guitar World magazine have compiled a new book dedicated to one of the greatest rock bands the U.S. has ever produced: VAN HALEN. The book, “Van Halen: 40 Years Of The Great American Rock Band”, tells you everything you ever wanted to know about Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Michael Anthony, Alex Van Halen and Sammy Hagar.

The book is the ultimate collection of interviews with and stories about the mighty VAN HALEN — from their beginnings as a young rock act on the Sunset Strip through their critically acclaimed 2012 comeback album, “A Different Kind of Truth”.

You’ll learn everything there is to know about every era of VAN HALEN, including:

* The 50 greatest VAN HALEN songs of all time, from “Runnin’ With The Devil” to “Tattoo” and every classic song in between. Guitar World’s editors pick the best of the best.

* The complete history of VAN HALEN — their early struggles as an unknown rock outfit to their ascension to worldwide superstar status, as well as the revolving door of singers that fronted the band after the initial departure of David Lee Roth.

* The making of nearly every VAN HALEN record in the band’s extensive catalog, including “Van Halen”, “Van Halen II”, “Women And Children First”, “1984”, “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” and “A Different Kind Of Truth”.

* Revealing interviews with Eddie Van Halen in which he details his guitar playing on nearly every VAN HALEN album, the gear he used during recordings and onstage, his relationships with his bandmates past and present and his longtime battle with alcohol.

* A legendary roundtable discussion between Eddie Van Halen and his hero, guitar pioneer Les Paul.

* In his own words, Wolfgang Van Halen: the teenage son of Eddie who became VAN HALEN’s permanent bass player after Michael Anthony’s departure.

I admit to having had my Van Halen phase. I recall it being accompanied by a water bed, a Dodge Charger, and a crew who was really too old for me, but whatever. They were fun while it lasted.

My Van Halen phase ended at the Monsters of Rock show in 1988. Not only because it was my first Metallica show and we all know what happened to Susan when she saw Metallica live, but mostly because Van Halen, live… they sounded like their records. The solos were boring and went on forever.

Right there, in the old RFK stadium, I fell out of love with Van Halen.

But I’ll read the book. Books. Music. This is what Rocktober is all about, after all!

Yes, there’s more to covet this Rocktober. Everyone’s jumping on the Rocktober bandwagon, and it’s an activity I heartily endorse and encourage.

Now it’s the legendary Peter Criss, who’s penned his own memoir, Makeup to Breakup.

Sounds ominous, no? Well, not if you know the story of Kiss and the fact that Criss left the band years ago and we’re all over it now, and Beth will never sound the same again. (Hey, wait. Didn’t I just say we’re all over it? Unlike Dave Mustaine and that first band of his. Oy. Time to move on, people! Nothing left to see; the bones haven’t merely been picked clean. They’ve been buried under drifting sediment.)

Today’s the scheduled release date for Makeup or Breakup, so head over to your favorite retailer (yes, I’m still giving bonus points if you go to an independent bookstore) and pick up a copy for me.

Or one for yourself.

Really. I won’t mind.

Much.

I’ll mind even less if you’d like to borrow this here blog to post your review!

I swear, I’d seen Keri Ford’s name around the blogosphere with the release of an earlier book, so when she dropped into my inbox, looking for an editor, well, I was excited. I mean, hello? She’s got a backlist that’s over 10 books long already. And I recognized her name! That’s always a bonus — when I recognize an author’s name, and s/he is coming to me for an edit.

Yeah, it doesn’t take me much…

So I’m more than pleased to share Keri’s new release, published under her pen name of Charley Colins: In Her Sights. I’ve read this. I’m one of the people who helped shape it.

Just remember… any mistakes are due to the gremlins!

Now, on to Keri…

Thanks for letting me visit you Susan! And what a fun question because I have an answer this time! I usually don’t have just one song for a book, but when I was working on In Her Sights, the one song I kept going back to was Pink’s Trouble.

Lexie, my heroine, is a kick-butt kind of girl at night. She knows it and she’s good at it. But it’s a secret. During the day she has to be sweet and loving and always smiling and ready to be polite for people.

When she hits the streets at night, dressed in black with her ski mask and all her weapons, I picture her moving to this song. If this book was a movie, this is the song that would play at the end while she’s running across rooftops and fighting men on the street with of course, a huge smile on her face.

It’s the music, the tone of Pink’s voice, and the words. All of the attitude just pours from the song and lyrics. It speaks about who Lexie really is on the inside. The part of her she has to keep hidden from everyone.

And is that Jeremy Renner I see?

Blurb:

Some call her a killer.

Others call her a hero.

Lexie Olympia calls herself neither. She’s getting the job done because she can. A beloved philanthropist by day who’s nicknamed Melville’s Sweetheart, Lexie has the city wrapped around her little finger. Having been a victim in the past, left behind with the killer still on the loose, Lexie knows what it’s like to live with that fear. Instead of biting her nails over it, she takes action. Drug lords, gang leaders, con artists, kidnappers, serial killers, anyone who leaves behind innocent victims are marked on Lexie’s list.

When a neighbor leaves a stolen ancient dagger on her doorstep and skips town, Lexie’s left picking up the pieces. The police, a local private investigator, and a gang are all after this artifact and Lexie uses her nighttime persona, Artemis, to get to the bottom of things. Everything is going smoothly until she gets caught.

Chapter One can be read here
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I’ve been following this for awhile now, meaning to blog about it but always winding up with the tab in Firefox closed before I can. (How’s THAT for an excuse?)

Rocktober seems like the right time to talk about it.

Here. I’ll put it the way Brave Words did:

BEHEMOTH frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski is releasing his autobiography, Spowiedz Heretyka – Sacrum Profanum, on October 17th in Poland via Publisher G&J, with an english version to follow “if there’s interest,” he says. The book is being promoted through a series of trailers that feature Nergal reading portions of the book, as well as acting out portions of stories, which Nergal describes as “some funny, some sad, some evil…some related to the band, some not.”

Yeah, okay, so first there’s the issue that this will be published in Polish. There’s no English version, and my Polish… I’m not sure I could figure out how to say yes, no, or thank you. Even if I was on the Amazing Race.

Okay, I’m selling myself short. But you get the point. I sure am not going to be able to read the book without a translation.

Another thing holding me back… well, it’s stupid and shallow. But LOOK at the man.

That’s the book cover.

Like I said, it’s shallow.

There’s something about him that disturbs me. Like… I’m looking at a seriously disturbed person. The one trailer I watched didn’t help convince me of anything other than something strange going on… And I’m certainly not a fan of Behemoth or most other death metal — I simply don’t get it. Over the years, especially in its early days, when bands like Deicide and Cannibal Corpse and Death and Obituary and Sepultura and personalities like Scott Burns were defining the genre, its early fans tried to convince me how great it was.

I didn’t get it then, and I don’t get it now.

But back to Nergal and his book.

I’m facing the question, then: Would this book of his be a really cool Rock Nonfiction read, or would it be a frightening look into a disturbed mind?

I guess it’ll have to be translated into English for me to be able to tell.