My first novel, Reprobation, will be published by Crooked Cat Books on 16th October. It’s a crime thriller with a supernatural twist; set in Liverpool, it deals with themes of religion, genetics and destiny. And music. In fact, Reprobation could be called a death metal novel. It’s gothic, scary and I totally creeped myself out writing it. I’m working on the sequel now, which will be even darker.
Music plays an important role in Reprobation, and I’m a musician too, so I thought it would be cool to make my own personal soundtrack to the book. The music below provided me with inspiration for the writing process, and gives a flavour of the book’s atmosphere, locations, characters and themes. Reprobation features a fictional band who play melodic death metal, my subgenre of choice, and so I’ve included some Children of Bodom and In Flames. The song that arguably invented the melodic death sound was ‘Heartwork’ by Carcass, and they conveniently hail from the book’s setting of Liverpool. So how could I not include ‘Ferry Cross The Mersey’, as well as a mesmerizing track from another Liverpool band, the mysterious Dragged Into Sunlight, who perfectly capture the mood of the book. Reprobation touches on the dark history of Scandinavian black metal, so there’s some scary Darkthrone and Bathory in there. And there’s a few beautiful hymns with a very Protestant bent. As for the ABBA and Mercyful Fate tracks- well, you’ll have to read the book to find out….
