Spotlight on The Dark Horde

I'm bringing you something a bit different today, with a musical spotlight on a band and a concept album, The Calling, a prequel for the horror novel, The Dark Horde by Brewin (and yes, the author is a band member). I have a few musical snippets, a playlist, and a look at the members. Enjoy.

TO KNOW THE FUTURE
IS TO KNOW THE HORROR TO COME

Time is short now, I sense them drawing close.
Whilst blood still flows through these shaking hands...

You can check out more on the YouTube Channel: 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqBA2W0pJD9RU8FyFPlAde7g2dNPcs6hw

And you can also check out the website:
https://www.thebrewin.com/works/the-calling

Brewin – Concept, Lyrics, Narration, Direction, Production

Brewin (Andrew Drage) lives in Melbourne, Australia. He has a first-class honours degree in zoology, statistics and philosophy from La Trobe University, has worked as an editor and designer for five titles in the highly acclaimed Gamebook Adventures interactive fiction series, a Senior Research Scientist at the Insectarium of Victoria and has over twenty years’ experience as an IT developer and analyst. He is the author of Infinite Universe, a science-fiction gamebook, Evermore: An Introduction, a philosophical fantasy novel, and the award-winning supernatural horror/thriller The Dark Horde, which The Calling is a musical prequel to.

Brewin has worked on The Calling for over twenty years with various artists, spawning many different incarnations of the album, but this is the only version to be released.

Hanny Mohamed – Music composition and performance, Production

Hanny Mohamed is a guitarist and composer from Melbourne’s long time running and established power metal band Black Majesty. He collaborated with Brewin in 2011 to create the music for Brewin’s Infinite Universe gamebook and has also been involved in The Calling project in its various forms since 2006.

Hanny is endorsed by Jackson Guitars, In Tune Guitar Picks and DSL Straps.

 

Logan Jacobs – Music composition and performance

Logan Jacobs is a guitarist and composer based in Melbourne. Logan began learning piano at six years old, taking simple lessons from his grandma. He took up playing guitar and bass at fourteen, and guitar has become his main instrument of choice since. Logan’s influences include John Carpenter, Giorgio Moroder, Vince Dicola, Judas Priest, Kiss, King Diamond, Def Leppard and Mike Slamer.

 

Danny Cecati – Main vocals

Danny Cecati is the singer of Melbourne's hard rock band Wicked Smile. He has previously sung for the progressive metal band Eyefear and the heavy metal band Pegazus. His powerful soaring vocals are world-renown and speak for themselves as to his class.

Wicked Smile’s debut album Wait for the Night is to be released September 24^th 2021.

 

Kevin Powe – Narrator, voice of Henry Wilcox

Kevin is an international voice actor with a love of storytelling and helping bring dark, complex characters to life. He has lent his voice to roles like Dracula and 2000AD's Judge Dredd, and Kevin proudly adds Henry Wilcox as a haunted and nuanced role to that list.  Kevin's work can be heard in Digital Extreme's Warframe, Trinket Studios' Battle Chef Brigade, and Tiny Bull Studios' Blind. He can also be heard in the Australian-made horror audio drama YOWIE, as well as Bithell Games' sci-fi comedy audio drama North Star Rising.

Soon you'll hear Kevin's work in the upcoming Beyond the Veil by Sun's Shadow Studios and in Fanclub's Dead Static Drive, described as 'Grand Theft Cthulhu'.

 

Shaun Farrugia – ‘Demon’ vocals

Shaun Farrugia is the founding guitarist and vocalist from Melbourne's veteran thrash/death band In Malice's Wake, a band that have established themselves as a dominant thrash/death metal force for well over a decade in Australia. Each full-length release has pushed further into darker and heavier territory leading to the savage fourth release The Blindness of Faith in 2021.

When not deploying his signature guttural rasp, Shaun paints art and teaches art to his primary school pupils.

 

Chris Kane – Guest musician

Chris Kane is a guitarist from Melbourne and is the founding member of the melodic death metal band Eye of the Enemy. Over the course of three albums, Chris has created a unique writing style with a mix of death and thrash metal with a hint of melody.

His signature style of musical storytelling can be heard on the track “Rebirth”.

Chris is endorsed by Ibanez Guitars.

 

James Lowe – Guest musician

James Lowe is a guitarist and composer based in Melbourne. He has been playing guitar since 1997 and is currently working on one of his solo projects with other prominent musicians. His interests include spaghetti, things that are mad, and penguins.

 

Dexter Seamus – Voice of young Henry

Dexter was only 5 years old when he played the part of Henry and is now a 23-year-old recording artist and hip hop producer based in Melbourne. He recently released his debut album Love in the Hills.

 

Jane Brewin – Voice of Henry’s mother

Jane Brewin has had a life-long career in general, mental health and infant care nursing, caring for her patient's physical and mental health with compassion, respect and good humour. Her great pleasures these days are her family, her dogs and being creative. She lives in Melbourne with her partner of many years, the eldest of her two sons and two dogs, and intends to live her best life until the very end!

 

Andrew Carolane – Voice of Bernard Russell, psychiatrist

Andrew Carolane graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Dramatic Art in 2012 and a first-class honours Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours Degree specialising in acting technique in 2017. An actor, director, writer and acting coach with over fifteen years’ experience in the industry, he has worked with some of the most renowned stage actors in Australia including Alison Whyte, Brian Lipson, Greg Stone, Peter Houghton and Andre De Vanny. He has played many roles, Shakespearean and otherwise, with the Australian Shakespeare Company, Proper Villains Theatre Co, Victorian College of the Arts, Malthouse Tower Theatre, La Mamma Courthouse Theatre, and most recently as a member of the 5AM (Five Angry Men) ensemble performing The March in a Malthouse Theatre/5AM performance event.

Aldo Requena – Artist

Aldo ‘Valgorth’ Requena is an Argentine artist. Many of his works deal with a dark subject-matter. He is also known for his association with the metal music scene. With over a hundred designs published worldwide, his artwork has featured on albums, books, apparel, posters advertising and film. He is the artificer of the art and texts used on the Necronomicon book for the Argentine movie Necronomicón.

Aldo runs Hammerblaze, a graphic design company which has done works for a variety of metal artists and labels of all calibres from all around the globe.

Book Spotlight: The Dragon Charmer's Apprentice: A Legends of Tivara Myth

Today, I have a quick book spotlight for you for a new fantasy release, The Dragon Charmer's Apprentice: A Legends of Tivara Myth by JC Kang. Enjoy.

The Dragon Charmer's Apprentice: A Legends of Tivara Myth

A slave shall rise from the ashes to master dragons.

Born into slavery, Mai's horizons are limited to one simple desire: to catch the eye of a handsome mate. She dares not dream for more, for like all humans, she’s been taught from birth that her life belongs to the orcs, her destiny to serve.

But her world is upended when Aralas, a messenger from the elf gods, reveals blasphemous truths: humanity was created to be free; and hope—if it can be called that—lies in the jaws of the dragon Avarax, whom only Mai can charm with her unique voice.

Torn, overwhelmed, desperate to hope yet terrified of failing her kind, Mai has until a rare conjunction of moons to master magic that takes lifetimes to learn. Yet how will she discover who she really is when even her allies seek to control her?

Only by making the greatest of sacrifices will she manifest the power of a Dragon Song, and help mankind escape eternal servitude.

Check it out on Amazon

About the Author

JC Kang's unhealthy obsession with Fantasy and Sci-Fi began at an early age when his brother introduced him to The Chronicles of Narnia, Star Trek, and Star Wars. As an adult, he combines his geek roots with his professional experiences as a Chinese Medicine doctor, martial arts instructor, and technical writer to pen epic fantasy stories.

To learn more about what goes on in his twisted mind, follow his Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/LegendsOfTivara/

Book Spotlight: The Bone Thief

Today I have a book spotlight for you, with an excerpt, for the humorous fantasy, The Bone Thief, (The Roshaven Series Book 3) by Claire Buss

The Bone Thief, (The Roshaven Series Book 3) by Claire Buss

The Spice Ghosts have descended on Roshaven accusing Jenni of stealing their sacred bones and are threatening to destroy the city if they are not returned but Jenni the sprite has no idea what they’re talking about.

With the help of her boss, Chief Thief-Catcher Ned Spinks, Jenni promises to find and return them however the skeletal trail leads them into the dark and dangerous waters of the dread Sea Witch.

Ned is out of his depth and frantically treading water while Jenni must fight to avoid becoming catch of the day.

You can pre-order the book here: 

https://books2read.com/u/3LRkgD

Releases November 12th

A Short Excerpt:

Ned Spinks, Chief Thief-Catcher looked in dismay at the pile of reports on his desk. Things were not well in the city of Roshaven.  

‘And these are all from this week?’ Ned asked as he gestured at the pile. 

‘Yes, Boss.’ Willow, a tree nymph and one of Ned’s catchers, nodded her head vigorously causing her leaves to rustle. ‘There’s been multiple instances of people claiming their magic has been stolen and a report from the Sailor’s Guild that unexpected sea-related deaths have risen sharply.’ 

‘Have you spoken with them?’ asked Ned. 

‘The Guild? No. We thought it was just their standard report –should we have?’ Willow bloomed uncertainly. 

‘No, not the Guild – the people who think their magic was stolen.’ 

‘Not yet, but we’ve set up interviews with some of them this afternoon. But Boss… how can we prove if someone’s had their magic stolen or not?’ she asked. 

‘The best thing you can do is find out why they think it’s happened in the first place. See if they noticed a particular sound or smell or even person nearby when they thought it happened. If we can discover a common element between each experience then we might be able to pinpoint where it’s happening,’ replied Ned.  

He was mildly concerned. In all likelihood the people who thought they’d lost some magic had inadvertently used more than they expected or had some other ailment that was preventing their ability to cast. But magic skimming, taking small amounts of power from others, was illegal so if these were legitimate claims then the catchers would need to find and arrest the culprit before they caused someone permanent damage. Skimming was dangerous to both parties. 

‘Let’s hope it’s kids messing about so we can nip it in the bud or better yet, maybe they all have a nasty cold affecting their casting. See what you can find out.’ He shuffled through the paperwork. ‘Is that everything?’  

‘There’s the paper,’ said Joe helpfully. He was Ned’s only fully human catcher, besides himself. 

Ned waited for the lad to expand but nothing else was forthcoming so he examined his paperwork pile more closely and sure enough, a copy of The Daily Blag lay between reports. He eased it out of the stack and read out the headline. 

‘Death at the Beach.’ He glanced at Joe. 

‘There’s a bit more, Boss.’ 

‘Yes, thank you, Joe.’ Ned stiffened the paper with a flick of his wrists and read on. ‘Towns and villages up and down the coast of Efrana are reporting an increase in mysterious deaths linked to the ocean. Officials are baffled as to why it is suddenly not safe in the water and are urging residents and visitors to stay away from the beach.’ Ned read on in silence but the article lacked any further facts. ‘What do we think – mermaids?’ 

Both Willow and Joe shook their heads. 

‘Sparks thinks someone is communing with an evil entity in the sea, telling them when people are in the ocean,’ said Willow.  

Sparks was another of Ned’s thief-catchers and a firefly with many contacts in and around Roshaven due to his huge bug network of friends and relations. 

 ~*~

About the Author

Claire Buss is an award-winning multi-genre author and poet. She wanted to be Lois Lane when she grew up but work experience at her local paper was eye-opening. Instead, Claire went on to work in a variety of marketing and administrative roles for over a decade but never felt quite at home. An avid reader, baker and expert procrastinator Claire won second place in the Barking and Dagenham Pen to Print writing competition in 2015 with her debut novel, The Gaia Effect, setting her writing career in motion. She continues to write passionately and is hopelessly addicted to cake.

You can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and visit her website for more information about Claire and her writing. All her books are available in eBook and paperback on Amazon at tinyurl.com/ClaireBussBooks

October Frights Blog Hop

 

Usually this time of year, I'd be posting about the upcoming October Frights Blog Hop hosted here from October 10th-15th. However this year, due to the inclusion of a Book Fair, I've moved the Hop to my author website. Everything will be happening as other years, simply over on the other site.

If you'd like to come and join the mayhem this year. please check out my posts on Welcome to Avalon, from October 10th-15th. There will be the regular flash fiction, poetry, drabbles and fun.

Welcome to Avalon