Guest post: Armand Rosamilia, author of Dying Days 2
Today I’m very pleased to host the second blog tour to stop by As You Were, and it happens to be from another zombie writer, Armand Rosamilia. Don’t try to pigeonhole him to flesh-eating undead, though.
While he’s currently on tour supporting his new zombie novel Dying Days 2, Armand is also the founder of horror publisher Carnifex Press and a prolific horror author in his own right.
He is also, however, a huge expert in another field: heavy metal. Armand has also written a series of non-fiction titles chronicling the exploits of the women in heavy metal. If the only ones you knew about were Lita Ford, Vixen, and Doro Pesch, read on…
To read more, click here.
Werewolf Wednesday: Tunes to wolf out to
As I work on my own interminable werewolf work-in-progress, I think often of what would be on its official soundtrack. This is one of those tricks authors use to avoid writing. We call it brainstorming, or world-building, or visualizing. But it’s not.
To read more, click here.
Coming soon: Werewolf tunes and Metal Queens
Hoo boy, it’s going to be a busy week here at As You Were. We will of course be celebrating Werewolf Wednesday on said day, but we have another guest post coming up, this time courtesy of prolific horror writer and editor (and metal fan) Armand Rosamilia.
On Wednesday, we’ll be looking at the top werewolf tunes out there. Yes, I know you all have your opinions and will be full of outrage that I gave your favourite short shrift.
Don’t worry, you can have your say, too! I’ll be posting my first-ever poll on Wednesday, so you can weigh in and vote (and, if I’ve done it correctly, add your own favourite) for the best werewolf song.
Despite what you might think, I was able to pull together a list BEYOND Ozzy’s “Bark At the Moon” — and turned up some selections that may surprise you.
Then, without even blinking, Thursday will feature Armand’s guest post as part of his Dying Days zombie blog tour. But since he knows of As You Were’s affinity for the heavier side of music, he’ll be devoting his post to the known and lesser-known hard-working women in metal, which is the subject of another of his book series, Metal Queens. Not enough, you say? Well Armand will also be giving away two ebook volumes of Metal Queens as part of the post — making this the first giveaway ever on As You Were. It’s a week of firsts!
So: don’t forget to stop back on Wednesday for some great (and diverse) lycanthropic music, and then return Thursday for some metal madness. Metal horns: \m/
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Guest post: Julianne Snow, author of Days With the Undead
Today, hot on the heels of my interview with Julianne Snow on her new zombie novel, Days with the Undead, Julianne has kindly agreed to write a guest post for As You Were. She touches on a subject near and dear to my heart, the influence of music on an author’s writing. Without further ado, take it away Julianne…
To read more, click here.
Rewriting, revising, it’s-all-going-to-be-crap; or, to be one of the happy few
“What? ANOTHER revision?”
Revising, like war, is hell.
For those of you stuck in your own Work-In-Progress, or for anyone who wonders why it takes so long to write a novel, I offer up my own (unfinished) experience.
To read more, click here.
More than the sum of their parts
Kiss / Sonic Boom (KISS Records/Universal)
Ace Frehley / Anomaly (Bronx Man)
OLD dogs may not learn new tricks, but they can master the ones they know.
Take Kiss. After repackaging and recycling their prime 1970s material on gratuitous “best of” collections and multiple tours for the last 13 years, founding members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley — joined by drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer — finally return with the band’s first full-length studio album since 1998.
The results are mixed.
To read more, click here.
Duff knows his stuff
Duff McKagan’s Loaded / The Taking (Armoury/Eagle Rock)
It’s not easy to live down multi-platinum success, but every former member of Guns N’ Roses has to do it.
Seattle native and founding GNR bassist Duff McKagan has given it his best shot over the years, forming Loaded in 1999 and joining fellow ex-Gunners Matt Sorum and Slash in Velvet Revolver in 2004. Fans that have followed him from project to project will be pleased to know The Taking is very good.
To read more, click here.
Bach for more
Sebastian Bach: Kicking and Screaming (Frontiers/EMI)
After being the charismatic frontman for Skid Row in the later wave of hair metal circa 1989-91, Sebastian Bach has kept busy touring, but largely off the radar of current rock music. It’s a welcome surprise, then, that his latest solo effort has plenty of punch. The title track is hook-heavy and throws a deep thrash groove against Bach’s distinct howl-and-growl. Fans of Slave to the Grind-era Skid Row will not be disappointed.
To read more, click here.
Perfect for grade eight shops class
Ratt: Infestation (Roadrunner/Loud & Proud)
Ratt has never been “cool,” but if you were in junior high in the mid-1980s, you can probably remember when they were “awesome.” After a couple of decades in the musical wilderness, the band — original members Stephen Pearcy, Warren DeMartini and Bobby Blotzer, at least — returns with a new slab of glam metal that could have come right out of 1986.
To read more, click here.
Nikki, I think we’ve heard this one before
Nikki Sixx is far from the only rock star to chronicle his former excesses, but he’s one of few to have had a viable career after being medically dead.
I read Mötley Crüe’s The Dirt about a year or two after it came out and it is a flat-out great read, even for someone who, like me, followed the shenanigans of Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Tommy Lee and Mick Mars when they were high atop the metal heap in the 1980s. Back then I read Hit Parader, Circus, even Groove (I only bought a copy in the summer of ’87 because it had the Crüe on the cover and I wanted to read about Girls, Girls, Girls, which I hadn’t bought yet… the magazine was pretty terrible) and repeatedly watched an interview Nikki did with Paul McGrath of CBC’s The Journal, which I taped on Betamax. I even bought the VH1 Behind the Music feature on them in 199something. I thought I was well versed in what they were up to.
Boy, was I wrong.
To read more, click here.
Rough life makes for a great read
I’m not always keen on rock biographies. Some, like The Dirt, which tells the sordid story of Mötley Crüe, is a great if at times unbelievable read. Others, like Two Sides to Every Glory, which chronicles AC/DC’s rise and then ignores most what happened after 1990, leave something to be desired. And I’ll always have a soft spot for Hammer of the Gods, even though I think all the surviving members of Led Zeppelin have disavowed it.
As a sometime book reviewer for the Winnipeg Free Press, I occasionally get to write about a book like this — the autobiography of Guns ‘N’ Roses founding member Duff McKagan.
The following is republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 5, 2011 J7
Guns N’ Roses bassist rocks autobiography
Even a rock star can feel like a dork.
Guns N’ Roses co-founder and bassist Duff McKagan opens his self-deprecating memoir with his daughter’s 13th birthday party. While trying to stay out of sight so as not to embarrass her by his mere presence, he surprises two partygoers sneaking a kiss.
“My mind rushes through a checklist… of things I was doing at this same age,” he writes: boozing, smoking pot, dropping acid, snorting cocaine, stealing cars, having sex. These kids are just kissing.
Embarrassed, he mutters a quick, “Sorry,” and ducks back into the house.
To read more, click here.
