You're doing more than just sprinkling references to rock stars and songs throughout your books. I was certain someone must have done it already, but when I realized that no one had, I wrote the thing as fast as I could before someone beat me to it.

Somewhere between listening to them and reading a book that was essentially an homage to all things nerdy, I decided to abandon the super-serious fantasy novel I'd been laboring on for more than a decade and write something frivolous, fun, and unabashedly fantasy instead. That got me listening to Rush, and then a few other '70s bands like Led Zeppelin, Yes, and Pink Floyd.

'I'd just finished reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline,' he says, 'and there's a scene in it where the character needs to play part of a Rush song to pass a challenge. In an email chat, I asked Eames what possessed him to go the opposite route and work rock into a fantasy novel. Rock 'n' roll and fantasy have gone hand in hand since the '70s, but it's usually a one-way street - that is, rock artists using fantasy themes and imagery in their songs and on their album covers.

Humorous twists and pulse-ratcheting action abound in Bloody Rose, but its Eames' knack for heart-wrenching poignancy that makes his warm, wonderful fantasy so harmonious. With her own adventuring band Fable at the center of the maelstrom, Rose and crew confront the aftermath of the momentous battle that concluded the previous installment of the series, including a villain whose charismatic depth matches Rose's own. The new book takes place six years after the events of the first, with the focus being on some of the compelling female characters of Eames' world - including the titular Rose, warrior and daughter of the legendary Golden Gabe from the cast of Kings. Also, the many bands of monster-slaying, treasure-snatching adventurers in Eames' novel operate - and inspire widespread worship - the same way rock bands do in our world.īloody Rose is this year's sequel to Kings of the Wyld, and it's even better than its predecessor. The author's debut novel, Kings of the Wyld, became an out-of-the-blue hit in 2016 thanks to its witty, rollicking mashup of sword-and-sorcery bombast with copious references to the real-world canon of classic rock: Everything from a town called Coverdale (as in David Coverdale, singer of Whitesnake) to a character named Moog (after the legendary inventor Bob Moog and his eponymous synthesizer). But rarely has anyone explored that overlap as effusively as Nicholas Eames. How?Įver since Led Zeppelin took it up on themselves to sing songs about hobbits, rock music and fantasy literature have had an intimate relationship. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Bloody Rose Author Nicholas Eames

The band kings of the wyld