But now, having spent a year and more listening to it day after day, I understand how incredible it was.

Like black coffee or neat scotch, I knew it was something I should like long before I actually did.

I’ll confess: I wasn’t the biggest fan of so-called ‘classic rock’ before writing Kings of the Wyld. Claiming you don’t like beer (or metal) is like saying you don’t like any movies because you don’t like scary movies. There is beer that tastes like chocolate, or fruit, or tobacco, or grass. I’ve heard plenty of folks blithely remark, “I don’t like beer,” except ‘beer’ isn’t one single taste you can like or dislike. Most genres of music are like beer (trust me, this is going somewhere). NICK: I agree, re: the many niches of metal. If you think you don’t like metal there’s a good chance you just haven’t found the right niche yet-contrary to its reputations as being the graveyard where clean singing and melodies are forever interred, metal is a vast musical landscape that can be eye wateringly harsh and defiantly ugly or literally symphonic and heartbreakingly beautiful. There’s basically no metal sub-genre I haven’t found something to love in, and in particular can’t get enough of all the new doom and occult rock acts. Not just classic heavy metal, either, but everything from the crustiest, blackest extreme bands and gargling-on-blood death metal to the unabashedly over the top power and pagan metal outfits that often get a bad rap from the trve cvlt crowd. JESSE: I’ve got pretty broad tastes so am always mixing it up, depending on what scene I’m writing in particular, but metal was definitely the main thing I listened to throughout the project. I’d be remiss if I didn’t include some particularly awesome solo acts like Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and Rod Stewart in there, too. The artists I found particularly inspiring included classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and Black Sabbath, as well as more progressive groups like Yes, Rush, and Hawkwind. NICK: Kings of the Wyld was inspired largely by ’70s rock, though a few gems from other eras snuck in there as well (here’s looking at you, Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack). Alex Marshall) join us to talk about the musical inspiration behind their latest books. Fantasy authors Nicholas Eames and Jesse Bullington (a.k.a.

The band trilogy nicholas eames