Three Chords of Chaos: Remastered Edition

Coming in July! The new, remastered, expanded edition of Three Chords of Chaos, available now for pre-order from eSpec Books.

Paperback or Kindle.

Once, lord of lyrics;
once, prince of peace…
Now a demon let off his leash…

No greater musician than Gorge ever lived in the Realm of the Sidhe.

No faerie musician ever delved so deeply into the taboo songs and the forbidden music—the Way of the Bone. Yet, Gorge refused to deny himself their temptations.

In reward his true love betrayed him, and the faerie kings and queens who once praised him stripped him of his magic and exiled him to the mortal world. Left to go mad and die, Gorge discovered new life in the arms of a mortal woman, Delilah—and new magic in the music that sings in the souls of mortals. Decades later, Gorge walks a dark path through the musical underground of New York City. He lives a secret life, hiding from the fae, waging a guerilla war of punk rock, and wielding his guitar like a weapon as he gathers magic and recharges his power. Until the day he’s strong enough to return home and open the Way of the Bone to all the Faerie Kingdoms. But the mortal world is far more dangerous than it seems

Gorge never expected to discover such raw power, almost beyond his control, among the mortals who worship his music. Nor did he count on a mortal wizard to discover his secrets or turn the ancient weapons of the fae against him. Caught in a dangerous game of magic, music, and lies, Gorge must find the truth and uncover the source of his enemy’s magic. Survival and love hang in the balance. And Gorge has only his music to protect him, only a song for any hope of salvation….  

Praise for the work of James Chambers:

“…chillingly evocative writing…” —Publisher’s Weekly

“James Chambers writes stories that are paced fast enough to friction burn a reader’s eyeballs.” —Horror Reader.com

Three Chords of Chaos is a darkly rich story, starring an exiled faery and his lady love. Mr. Chambers has created a cast of intriguing and charismatic characters in a music and magic fueled world.” —Bibliophilic Book Blog 

Three Chords of Chaos is a well-written, compelling story interwoven with an authentic description of the famed punk rock culture that developed in the early 80s. A very entertaining and enlightening novella. Highly recommended.” –Gene O’Neill, The Cal Wild Chronicles

“In this dark urban fantasy James Chambers plays a thrilling riff on the razor’s edge where music and magic meet. Sex, drugs, Faustian bargains, and rebellious Fae make Three Chords of Chaos my kind of faery tale.” –Douglas Wynne, author of The Devil of Echo Lake and Steel Breeze

Dark Quest Books Author Interrogation

If you ever wondered what goes on inside the mind of a writer, what drives us to do the things we do, what compels us to make the sacrifices we make, and to live lives of nonstop action and romance (in our imaginations), then check out this interview with me from the crew at Dark Quest Books, in which trade secrets are revealed, trusts are betrayed, and Bigfoot is captured and taught to play the piano (remember, imagination!), and also I talk about some other stuff, including my new novella, Three Chords of Chaos, and make a desperate plea to write a Godzilla story. (Wait, is that a run-on sentence? Where’s my editor…?)

The Books Are Free But Magic Has Its Price

“Gorge released note after blistering note, and the audience soaked up his music like a rain of razor blades. They danced, whirled, and smashed together; they bled magic that flowed across smoky air, shimmering red and yellow with flashing stage lights, to feed the hungry core inside him. He hadn’t felt magic this pure and vibrant since his days in the Kingdoms; how ironic, he thought, to find it among these nihilistic, rebellious, angry young mortals. His left hand throttled the guitar neck, fingertips gliding among the frets, tapping and pulling the strings to slash out biting riffs until he reached a crescendo—

—and then let it all come crashing down.”

So begins my new novella, Three Chords of Chaos, a faerie-punk love story about music, mortality, decadence, and dark forces.

Published by Dark Quest Books, it will officially be released on May 31—but if you can keep a secret, head on over to Amazon, where it’s already available for order. Or if you’re the kind of bare-knuckle reader who likes your books the old fashioned way—free!—then check out my giveaway contests over on Facebook and Goodreads. Three Chord of Chaos follows Gorge and his mortal lover Delilah as they navigate the smoky shadows of the Big Apple’s underground punk clubs and the kinky, drug-fueled parties of the music world’s elite. A blend of punk music, urban fantasy, and evil forces, Three Chords of Chaos explores the dangerous nexus of faerie and mortal worlds where Gorge lives life on the edge.

The first time I wrote about Gorge was in “The Way of the Bone” (Bad-Ass Faeries: Just Plain Bad), set in the present, when Gorge stood at the top of the music world, playing to arena crowds, and moving ever closer to the darkness he sought to send to his enemies in the realm of the sidhe. In “Faerie Ring Blues” (Bad-Ass Faeries: In All Their Glory), I went back to 1960, only a few years after Gorge’s exile when Gorge learned how to live in the mortal world. Now, in Three Chords of Chaos, the time is the early 1980s, the place is downtown NYC, and Gorge comes into his own as he begins to understand how much magic and power there is for the taking in the mortal world—but also how deadly and vicious mortals can be.