"Hitmen" Unofficial Soundtrack

My new novel HITMEN: Four Tales of Magick, Monsters, and Murder is now available in print, Kindle, and other ebook formats! And, as is my way, I'm posting here for you my completely unofficial soundtrack. The soundtrack works a little differently this time. Usually my soundtracks are songs that I listened to while writing, but in the case of Hitmen, these are actually the songs that appeared on the soundtracks for the original home movies. In the original movies, there was a ton of music--I could make a single soundtrack for every entry. So this is more of a compilation--a Greatest Hits, as it were--of the series. Listening through this track listing brings back a lot of good (and chaotic) memories of filming the original movies. I know it won't have the same nostalgia for you, but I think this is a good cross-section of the emotional mood of the piece.

Also, unlike my other soundtracks, this doesn't have page and scene listing. Rather, I've broken it up into the different sections of the book--again, to establish a general mood of each of the four installments. I hope you enjoy!

I. The Saint
   1. "Don't Fear the Reaper" - The Mutton Birds (cover)
   2. "Here Comes the Bogeyman" - Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra
II. The Seeker
   3. "Christmas Time Pretty Baby" - Brian Setzer Orchestra
   4. "Pistol Packin' Mama" - Al Dexter
   5. "Innocent Moon" - Akira Yamaoka (from Silent Hill 3)
   6. "Unexplained" - Meat Puppets
III. The Serpent
   7. "Still Need Your Love" - Reno
   8. "Nadine" - Frank Black and the Catholics
   9. "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" - Elefant
 10. "Blood" - The Pierces
 11. "Betrayal" - Danny Elfman (from Mission Impossible)
 12. "Tainted Love" - Soft Cell
IV. The Sleuth
 13. "Padmé's Ruminations" - John Williams (from Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith)
 14. "The Shape Stalks" - John Carpenter (from Halloween)
 15. "Kroenen's Lied" - Marco Beltrami (from Hellboy)
 16. "Hallelujah" - Rufus Wainwright
 17. "Live Again" - Better Than Ezra

Available Now--"HITMEN: Four Tales of Magick, Monsters, and Murder"!

It's been a whirlwind couple months. Not only is my first-ever SyFy Channel creature feature "Snakehead Swamp" set to debut on June 28 at 9/8c (you can watch the trailer right sh'yere), but today brings the exciting announcement that my latest horror novel HITMEN: Four Tales of Magick, Monsters, and Murder is ready for your money!

As I talked about in this previous post, Hitmen began as a series of homemade movies I shot with my friends over the course of about a decade. They were a lot of fun and great memories. Despite the...hrm...cheap nature of those backyard masterpieces, I always felt there was a real story and real characters at the heart of it. So I've dusted off the old scripts, reworked them with an unlimited budget in mind, and set out to create something that, I hope, you'll find really special.

The book is available in print and also for Kindle and other ebook formats. Check out an excerpt right here. Read on below about the book and, as always, stay tuned to this blog as, in the coming weeks, I'll be posting my completely unofficial soundtrack listing for the book, as well as short tie-in fiction--for free, yo!

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Willowbrook: A town rotted by corruption and vice. For years, the feared Boss Marcon controlled the rackets and legitimate commerce, alike. But the stakes are raised when a mysterious figure--a giant of a man with a gruesome blue skull for a face--starts leaving mangled bodies all over town. The creature is silent and unstoppable, a hulking monstrosity surviving gunshot wounds and able to tear a man limb from limb. This monster is targeting Marcon's criminal empire, obliterating hardened hitmen with ease. Is it a rival assassin...or something worse?

Part crime drama, part brutal monster action, HITMEN is a collection of four-interconnected novellas, spotlighting those in the monster's path: Eli, the guilt-ridden killer who's had a spiritual awakening; Flynn, a young boy seeking to understand the mysteries of the supernatural; Marcie, the young heiress to Boss Marcon's empire; and Vinnie Caponi, an urban mythologist who has hunted the Blue Skull for years. Each character has a role to play in the mystery, their paths finally intersecting, leading them to their fate--facing the towering killer, once and for all.

"Dark Hour" Soundtrack

Here we are for one final go around!

The release of Dark Hour is only days away. To set the stage, we've got today's blog post. By now it's tradition to post my completely unofficial soundtrack to the new installment of The Coming Evil Trilogy. We did it for The Strange Man and Enemies of the Cross, and now we've come to the big finale of our saga. I hope that you've enjoyed listening to these soundtracks during your reading experience, and I'm happy to say that, when listened all together, they make a symphonic trilogy that tells it's own thematic story.

Below you will find the listings, as well as the corresponding page numbers and scene names. As always, I've tried to be as cryptic with my scene names as possible, but consider yourself spoiler-warned. Purchase your copy of Dark Hour and listen along!

1. “Crossroad Blues”—Robert Johnson—WEXLER, page 1
2. “Thunderstruck”—AC/DC—OPENING CREDITS/JEFF AND DANNY'S NIGHT OUT, page 9
3. “Gotham’s Reckoning” (Dark Knight Rises)—Hans Zimmer—BYE, BYE WEXLER, page 31
4. “Mr. Sandman”—The Chordettes—HELLO GREENSBORO, page 62
5. “Send the Pain Below”—Chevelle—DRAS?, page 106
6. “Sun Gone Dim”—Johann Johannsson—LOST HAVEN, page 200
7. “Bad Moon Rising”—Creedence Clearwater Revival—JUST AROUND THE BEND, page 209
8. “Ancient Machine” (Halo 2)—QUEEN, page 239
9. “Stand By Me”—Ben E. King—CALM BEFORE, page 272
10. “Fire On High”—E.L.O.—LAKE RISING, page 318
11. “Mad World”—Gary Jules—DARK HOUR, page 320
12. “You Have the Power” (Dark City)—Trevor Jones—MADE NEW, page 341
13. “I Will Run After You”—Frank Black and the Catholics—SOUL MATES, page 350
14. “Take a Bow”—Muse—LAST STAND IN THE RAVE SCENE, page 359
15. “1-2-3-4”—Feist—ABOUT TIME, page 382
16. “Stay Young”—Oasis—END CREDITS

"Rift Jump": The Soundtrack

As is our custom 'round these parts, I've put together a completely unofficial soundtrack to my latest novel Rift Jump. But this time we're doing it a little different. As part of the Splashdown Blog Tour for the book, the soundtrack is being hosted by fellow Splashdown author (and my editor on Rift Jump) Keven Newsome's blog. What's more, Keven actually went to all the trouble of finding the songs and creating a playlist on YouTube! How cool is that? So click over there right now to check out the soundtrack!

Alright, then, so you guys know how this works. Go out, buy yourself a copy of the book, pop in the ole playlist, and follow along. It's gonna be a wild ride from the depths of hell to the heights of heaven--with lots of monsters, aliens, and teenage romance in between :)

"Enemies of the Cross" Soundtrack

It's that time again folks! The release of Enemies of the Cross is tomorrow! In preparation for the big day, I'm revealing the soundtrack to the book--that is, the music that inspired me while writing the story.

It goes without saying (but I'm going to say it anyway) that this is completely unofficial! The music selection does not reflect Realms Fiction, and none of the artists or bands listed here endorse the book--though it'd be nice if they did.

This was simply for fun and to give you guys a peek into my writery process when crafting Enemies of the Cross. Like last time, in order to enhance your listening experience, I have included scene names and page numbers to correspond with each song, so you have a better idea where it fits into the narrative.

I have been careful to keep the scene names vague, but just in case, beware of minor spoilers.

Enjoy!



1. "Recognizer" (Tron Legacy) - Daft Punk - PROLOGUE, page 1
2. "Tokyo" (Resident Evil Afterlife) - Tomandandy - TITLE TRACK
3. "Eden" - Hooverphonic - TRYSDALE, page 34
4. "Highway to Hell" - AC/DC - DODGING PINK ELEPHANTS, page 55
5. "Twilight Time" - The Platters - LATE NIGHT VISIT, page 109
6. "Simple Man" - Lynyrd Skynyrd - THE OASIS, page 127
7. "Distorted Angel" (Tricky Remix) - Elvis Costello - TEMPTING, page 248
8. "Rectifier" (Tron Legacy) - Daft Punk - CHASE AND BURNING, page 256, 293
9. "Hunter" - Bjork - THE RAVE SCENE REVISITED, page 264
10. "Blind" - Korn - PICKING A FIGHT, page 282
11. "A Cold Heart Turns" - Rebecca St. James - WHAT HAVE I DONE?, page 284
12. "Made of Steel" - Our Lady Peace - THOSE PRECIOUS WORDS, page 317
13. "Overcome" - Better Than Ezra - EPILOGUE, page 318
14. "Cutting" (Resident Evil Afterlife) - Tomandandy - CUT TO BLACK, page 319
15. "Brick by Brick" - Train - END CREDITS

"The Strange Man" Soundtrack

Music is an intregral part to my "process" as a writer. I plot scenes in my head while listening to music, I write to music--oftentimes putting a single song on repeat for hours until I've finished a certain segment--, and I also read to music (which I'm told is weird). As I've been writing The Strange Man for over ten years, I've built up quite an internal soundtrack, and today, as February 1st nears ever closer, I've selected the ones that stick out the most to me.

Please note that this is totally unofficial. These songs have not been approved nor reflect the opinions (or musical tastes) of the fine folks at Realms Fiction. This is something for fun. I've arranged the songs in order as they compliment the story, including "scene names" and page numbers to help you pinpoint where in the book they might occur. Listened as a whole, I belive the soundtrack will take you on the emotional journey of The Strange Man.

So go hunt them down on iTunes or whatever it is you kids listen to nowadays (can you believe I actually had some of these on CD? Remember those dinosaurs?) and enjoy.



1. "Silver" - The Pixies - PROLOGUE, page 1
2. "The Broken" - Coheed & Cambria - TITLE TRACK
3. "Blue Monday" - Orgy (cover) - RAVE SCENE, page 39
4. "Send Me An Angel" - Real Life - A NEW ARRIVAL, page 45
5. "Don't Fear the Reaper" - The Mutton Birds (cover) - FLEEING THE DEVIL, page 58
6. "Resurrection" (Hellraiser Theme) - Christopher Young - SUBMERGED AND EMERGING, page 61
7. "Flower Man" - Tonic - AN UNLIKELY HERO, page 65
8. "Hellbound" (Hellraiser: Hellbound Theme) - Christopher Young - DEAL WITH THE DEVIL, page 148
9. "Running Up That Hill" - Placebo (cover) - THE FOOL WISES UP, page 168
10. "Maybe Baby" - Buddy Holly and the Crickets - ONE NIGHT AT SMOKEY'S, page 201
11. "Freedom Rock" - Frank Black - GREMLIN NIGHT, page 206
12. "Enjoy the Silence" - Anberlin (cover) - RAVE SCENE AGAIN, page 247
13. "Ache" - James Carrington - ALL FOR ME, page 255
14. "Silver" - The Pixies (reprise) - THE BATTLE IS ONLY BEGINNING, page 265
15. "Horror Show" - Third Eye Blind - END CREDITS