Still like that old time rock and roll

“When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching -- they are your family.”
― Jim Butcher

I have been digging Weezer’s Teal album a lot lately, maybe, a bit too much. It has tossed me back to enjoying some classic rock, not like I needed a reason to go back to those old songs. I’m not one of those people who think music today is all dead, lame, and any other word you can come up with. I enjoy newer music as much as the next guy, but there is something great about old school rock’n’roll. The stories in those songs are like magical. The mood they bring out of the soul is pure wizardry, and I can’t help but sit back and listening to them. Not that I was alive when most of them were new, but there are some memories that come along with those songs.

                My family back in the day only listen to country songs. My mother loved country music, and I can say I don’t listen too much of it anymore unless you count Johnny Cash as a country. I’m not sure I do; I count him as simply the Man in Black.

                (I have been listening to some dark country? If that is what you want to call it. Here is Link to a good playlist.)

But I can recall with a clear mind the first time I hear rock’n’roll. I went down to my friend’s house for a cookout, and his parents were blasting some Rolling Stone and Aerosmith. I was hooked right then and there. I would never be the same again.

                His family loved rock’n’roll while my family loved good for the soul country music, my world was complete in the nature of being a well-rounded man of music. It wasn’t until middle school that I would hear rap, which I don’t mind good rap. I would hear metal earlier in my life, not sure when, but I know, it was because of my brother. He liked metal and brought it home to me. My mother hated the sounds of those heavy songs, but she didn’t say too much.

                I knew what I liked, and I liked rock’n’roll. Which has little to do with the point of me writing this blog. I actually was planning to talk about this video I saw online about how to get published. It was a great video, and I’ll put the link here (link), but in the video, the man talks about the One Word Rule. In simple terms, which is the only terms there are for the rule, as a writer, you should be able to tell the theme of your work or book with one word.

                I thought it was a great idea. I mean, I know most books have multiple themes working with each other at all time. I have even heard the only theme there truly is in a book is death. I don’t think I buy that idea too much, even those death is a major theme in many of my books.

                But I didn’t have to think too hard about what theme I work with all the time in my books. It was simply …family.

                Family is the theme that runs throughout all my work. If anyone of you has read anything I have written on the Talon Family (Adventures of the Talon family), then you know this to be true. But it is not only the Talons in which this theme is presented, but The Coin of Valhalla (not yet out) is also about a young man trying to deal with making a new family while at the same time dealing with loss. The Wolves of Charlotte (not yet out) is about a brother and sister trying to deal with their past, a past that has changed their lives forever. Then there is the Heart of Briareus (not yet out), which I think, I’m going to change the title to the Church of the Hundred, is about two brothers learning how to be with each other after years apart. Their lives had taken them down different paths, and now, they are forced to be together again. Brain, the younger of the brothers, is trying to overcome the aftermath of losing the family he was trying to build. While Dakota, the older brother is simply trying to find his home again.

                Family is at the heart of all my stories. It is the core thing in which I love to write about, and it is something which affects us all. We all have families, rather by blood or friendships, we all have them. And all our families play heavy roles into who we are now. I think that is why I keep coming back to the idea of family being a part of my stories, that and …

                I have a very close family. I talk to my sister almost daily. I live with my brother at the moment, and my best friends are cousins. I grew up next door to both my grandparents all of my life and believe it or not, I enjoy hanging out with my mom and dad. All my friends who have come into my world quickly become a part of the family, and most of them I have known for over ten years. I deal with my family all the time, but I have also seen how hard it is to work together as a family. Sometimes, most the time, my family fights, but we still sit down for dinner at the end of the day. We have learned, and learn it quickly, that family stays together, no matter what.

                Maybe, that is why I love the old rock’n’roll of a time I didn’t get to see. I listen to them only to be flooded with a wave of memories of sitting down at the table with a family, mine, and my friend’s. I was welcome among my friend family that day at the cookout, and they had forever been welcome at the dinner of my family. There is an old idiom “blood is thicker than water,” and it is saying my family knows well. I guess it is only natural. I write stories about the same idea.

Godspeed

 Chase

The manuscript of the Heart of Briareus. (I know, I know, I miss spelled draft)