3 Picks with John Boden

 

Its time for 3 Picks! This week featuring author John Boden. John Boden is known for his folksy roadhouse dark fiction tales like Spungunion and Walk the Darkness Down. In addition to writing some bad-assed books, John is a vertible encyclopedia of music trivia (particularly 80's era hard rock music.) From Roy Clark to Gilby Clark and Johnny Cash to John 5, you can't stump Boden when it comes to his knowledge of music and the musicians. 

So it's with that in mind that this weeks 3 Picks will focus on Joh Boden's choices for books centered around rock music. Not looking for rocker bio's or tell all testimonials. These are the books that are driven by the very music that shakes our souls. John even took the liberty of 'pairing' each pick with an appropriate album to listen to while you read each pick. 

Here are John Boden's 3 Picks for Rock Centric Reads:

Pick 1. THE SCREAM by John Skipp & Craig Spector. Along with Bradbury and King, these two left their greasy fingerprints all over teenage Johnny's want to write...it's still surreal that I know and call them friends now. But this fucking book. It's a Clive Barker-by-way-of SPARKS but way heavier and in strobe light masterpiece. It's Rock-N-Roll and it never forgets...or forgives.

Album to pair with: RIGGS- s/t



Pick 2. CORPSEPAINT by David Peak. This novel is bleak and brutal, an icy riff map from Chicago to the Ukraine, peopled with not-that-disparate characters, good and bad, but I'll be honest and tell you the good are just slightly less bad than the bad. A phenomenal novel.

Album to pair with: Celtic Frost- "To Mega Therion" (DISCLAIMER- I don't listen to Black Metal so my scope of reference here is quite limited, so I did what I could)



Pick 3. SKIN by Kathe Koja. I might be cheating here...this one doesn't exactly feature rock music as a main character but it's there. Goth-punk pioneers strive to create the ultimate in their art: a masterpiece of flesh and metal. This book is William Burroughs insane with Tetsuo The Iron Man caliber visuals...and while I love all of Koja's work this one will always be the cold steel spring in my heart.

Album to pair with: GOD IS LSD- "Spirit Of Suicide"




Those are John Boden's three rockin' picks for books that are driven on sex, drugs and rock n' roll! Have you read any or all of these titles? If you're missing any, better get on top of that. What are your 3 Picks for rock-centric books? Let us know in the comments.

You can find out more about John Boden at his website.