The Heroes, Gods and Monsters of Masters of Blood and Bone

With only a couple of days left of pre-orders to go (offical release date 3rd February), I thought I'd write a short blog on Masters of Blood and Bone (publisher by Darkfuse).

The main character is Matthew Doyle Holland, but his daughter Ank runs a close second. He's a hitman for hire to gods, her, a supremely gifted young woman with secrets and powers that are far beyond his. The story, and follow up stories (yes, there are more than just this tale) centre on Holland's neverending fight against those that would do them harm.

The novel, and the backdrop, rely in part on imagination...simply making up a good story. But, also mythology. Gods, of the ancient variety. I suppose it came in part from wondering if, when over time the old gods fall out of favour and no one worships them any longer...do they simply go away?

In this novel? Nope. There are a whole host of gods and legends in this novel. Roman, Greek, but monsters both mythical and biblical, too...I think the basic premise is that these gods and monsters, these legends, they never really went away.

In Masters of Blood and Bone, they're coming back.

The cover art (Zach McCain) 

'One of the best covers I have seen in a long time.' The Examiner.

To purchase, visit Amazon wherever you are. It will be available in paperback, and Darkfuse will carry a limited, signed hardcover, too. To read a short excerpt, click here: Masters of Blood and Bone. 

Finally, an excerpt of the review from The Examiner:

“Masters of Blood and Bone” combines the quirkiness of Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas series with the hardcore mythology of Clive Barker to create an adventure that is both entertaining and terrifying. This is horror adventure at its finest. Holland and Ank must battle evil across a world that is at times sublime, hilarious, and terrifying. Saunders gives the reader characters that are both larger-than-life yet also supremely human so that the reader is given a rare journey through the end of the world in a fantastic yet accessible way that turns the reader into a participant rather than an observer. This novel will make the reader cringe and cheer. At the end of the novel, I felt elated and thoroughly satisfied with this rare treat from a master of horror. I had enjoyed the previous books I had read from Saunders but this novel takes it to the next level and gets my highest possible recommendation to any horror fan.

Thanks, as always, for reading. 

Secret Life of a Book Nerd: Master of Blood and Bone | Craig Saunders

Never done this before, but here's a blog of a blog...(it's an automatic link thing...) Secret Life of a Book Nerd: Master of Blood and Bone | Craig Saunders: Publisher: DarkFuse Date Published: February 3, 2015 ISBN-13: 9781940544991 Adult fiction, sci fi, fantasy  I read constantly ...

A History of Violence

People watch movies. They think violence is cool, awesome. We see some guy take apart another guy. It's the movies. It's not real, right? People shoot people. It's...entertainment.

Of course, it's entertaining. I'm entertained. Be nice if it wasn't real, but the violence they show on television, it isn't real. It's not a dance, it's not beautiful. It's dark, mostly, someone's probably drunk, it hurts your knuckles, you pull your shoulder. Violence isn't cool. Never was. It's functional, essential, sometimes. Often, I blog about love. Tonight, I'm blogging about violence.

Is it a dichotomy, to write about men who hurt and kill (and women, too) and yet wish everyone would just be nice? Sure, unless you're amazingly tolerant and saintly, sometimes there isn't a choice. I wrote the other day about understanding, but when someone threatens you? Do you walk away?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not violent, don't like fighting. If I was a loony who was into fisticuffs, I certainly wouldn't blog about it. I can't say I never wanted to hit anyone...younger me, certainly. But violence isn't something you revel in, bath in. It's not like the movies, and it doesn't have a soundtrack...unless you time it right in a club or something (don't do that, by the way).

Violence in films is fancy, almost like a ballet, but with people who wear black suits and spin around with guns instead of tutus. Let me give you an example: They Live. Two guys, beating the shit out of each other...for around, what, five, ten minutes? Doesn't happen.

Another example, of violence I witnessed: Carny at the fair, beating the shit out of a local guy. Punch, two kicks to the head, the end. A guy tried to hit me in the head with a crowbar a long time ago. I was lucky, I think...I'm still not sure what happened. Fine by me. Don't want to know. Either way, it didn't last long. I'm a wuss, I'll add, without embarrassment, because, why would you be embarrassed about not enjoying violence? Violence isn't cool. It's short. So short, often people don't even know what happened.

Fight in a pub I was in. I moved my pint. The end.

Yet, films, books (ones which I write, too) return to violence. We don't write about people just having a cuddle. Why? Because it's boring? Yeah, it is. But it's become a convention, nothing more. We write, we film. People do a little Kung Fu, Jujitsu, some fucked-up mish-mash of martial arts styles...it's cool, right?

No. No.

I've practised Aikido, Kendo, Jujitsu, Boxing, Karate. I'm not cool. I fought a rugby team, bosozuku in Japan. I fought a guy punched a horse. And all of that was not fucking cool. It was...essential. I'm fat fella, sits in his shed. Violence isn't cool. Never was. You know what's cool? The guy that sits in his shed. Not fighting. I'm wicked cool. :P I did all those fighting things when I was a youngster. I wanted to be like Bruce Lee, a whirling dervish of destruction kicking all the bullies' arses. That'd be really tiring though. I don't do that. I'm not twenty anymore, thank God.

Fighting's not cool. Being cool. That's cool.

You know what's also cool? Walking away. Looking after your family. Not being there in the first place. Go to pubs, walk around looking tough...you'll get in a fight. You might win, you might lose. Sometimes, people's heads bounce in the right/wrong ways...they die.

The guy I fought that punched a horse lost when someone put a hammer in his head. He was a legend. He was in the year about me in school. He was sixteen.

Sure, I've got a point. I think it's that people are fragile. Hug someone instead.*

*Caveat: Don't hug a psycho with a broken bottle, or sing show tunes to a gangster. Also, if you get killed hugging someone at the wrong moment, like, if they're holding a gatling gun or something...it'll be too late to sue me.

Love you. x