Book Title: Rock ‘N’ Roll is Dead:Dark

                   Tales Inspired by Music

Publisher: Blood Bound Books

   Blood Bound Books is a new publisher and their first four anthologies have all delivered solid dark fiction by talented new writers. This volume is an intense and diverse collection that takes the reader on a wild ride. Each story was somehow inspired by the lyrics of a rock song.

   Ciccarone provides a wide variety of themes and sub-genres. Whether you prefer extreme horror or more subtle supernatural tales, straight horror or hybrids of dark fantasy or science fiction, there is at least one story here that will leave you sufficiently disturbed. Several of them stuck in my mind well after I finished reading.

   I enjoyed some of the story lines more than others but found the writing consistently strong throughout—these writers all have a unique voice and style. I hate to choose favorites but the average length allowed for a book review forces me to do so.

   I will start with “La Caza” by Brad Hunter inspired by Ted Nugent’s “Cat Scratch Fever.” This story is a perfect example of how some of the writers took the basic theme of a song and really went nuts with it (in a good way). Hunter tells a disturbing tale of the search for a missing person with a wonderful wicked twist.

   There are some excellent shorter stories here as well. “Special” by Joleen Kuyper, based on Radiohead’s “Creep” offers a macabre suggestion of what Thom Yorke may have meant by “you’re so very special.” Rex McGuire’s “The City”, based on “Welcome to the Jungle,” offers a cautionary look at a Dystopian future that is a logical extension of our society’s excesses and obsessions.

   The collection does have several stories of serial killers but no two are alike. In “Don’t Tell Mama,” Belen Lopez does a great job of getting into the mind of a killer while successfully delaying the reveal she is a killer until the end of the story. Two other stories of killers, “Synthetic Messiah” by Marc Sorondo and Mark Taylor’s “Him” are also disturbing and effective.

   The finest offering in the ghost story category is “Messages” by David Renfrow, a very well written, subtle and poignant tale about a veteran of the conflict in Iraq and the ghosts that are his guides.

   Other subjects of these dark tales include a haunted drum kit, rock-n-roll suicide, an entertaining tale of a wrestler that reads like an urban legend, and a witch who turns the tables on a duo of serial killers. The lyrics chosen range from songs so famous almost everyone knows the words to more obscure songs by up and coming artists.

   I hope Blood Bound Books gets the audience it deserves. In direct contrast to America’s current predominately dismal period of horror filmmaking, literature is in a thriving, innovative and exhilarating place right now, with many new writers taking risks, pushing the limits and borders of the genre. Blood Bound Books, and the writers here, are part of that exciting trend.

   I highly recommend taking a break from all your favorite famous writers and giving this collection a look.

 - George Wilhite

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