Three Chords of Chaos

The Bad-Ass Faerie Tale Series

by James Chambers

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….

Genres: Fantasy, Music, Horror, Fiction

210 pages, Paperback

First published April 21, 2013

About the author

James Chambers writes tales of horror, crime, fantasy, and science fiction. He is the author of The Engines of Sacrifice, a collection of four Lovecraftian-inspired novellas published in 2011 by Dark Regions Press which Publisher’s Weekly described as “…chillingly evocative….” He is also the author of the short fiction collection Resurrection House (Dark Regions Press, 2009). Most recently, Dark Quest Books published The Dead Bear Witness and Tears of Blood, volume one and two in his Corpse Fauna novella series. Volume three, The Dead in Their Masses, will be published in late 2013. In August 2005 Die Monster Die Books published his first short story collection, The Midnight Hour: Saint Lawn Hill and Other Tales, created in collaboration with illustrator Jason Whitley.

His short stories have been published in the anthologies Bad-Ass Faeries, Bad-Ass Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad, Bad-Ass Faeries 3: In All Their Glory, Bad Cop No Donut, Barbarians at the Jumpgate, Breach the Hull, By Other Means, Crypto-Critters (Volume 1 and Volume 2), Dark Furies, The Dead Walk, The Dead Walk Again, Deep Cuts, The Domino Lady: Sex as a Weapon, Dragon’s Lure, The Green Hornet Chronicles, Hardboiled Cthulhu, Hear Them Roar, Hellfire Lounge, In An Iron Cage, Lost Worlds of Space and Time (Volume 1), Mermaids 13, New Blood, No Longer Dreams, Sick: An Anthology of Illness, So It Begins, To Hell in a Fast Car, Walrus Tales, Weird Trails, and Warfear; the chapbook Mooncat Jack; and the magazines Bare Bone, Cthulhu Sex, and Allen K’s Inhuman.

His tale “A Wandering Blackness,” one of two published in Lin Carter’s Doctor Anton Zarnak, Occult Detective, received an honorable mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Sixteenth Annual Collection.

He has also written numerous comic books including Leonard Nimoy’s Primortals, the critically acclaimed “The Revenant” in Shadow House, and most recently a Midnight Hour story for the comics anthology Negative Burn.

He is a member of the Horror Writers Association and the current chairperson of its membership committee.

He lives in New York.

Reviews

[David Agranoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years back I went to the borderlands writer’s boot camp. I met several fantastic and talented young writers but the one who impressed me the most was James Chambers. I made sure I got his short story collection Ressurection House from Dark Regions. I was really excited to read this short book in the Bad-Ass Faerie series which I believe started in an anthology which these characters first appeared.


3COC is the story of Gorge who is a wizard thrown out from another realm called the Kingdom. He gathers magic by playing in rock/punk bands and taking energy from the audience. Other bands want to him to jam with them, record labels want to sign him. Using the tropes of classic Faerie tales Chambers does a fantastic job of spinning them in punk setting. I of course enjoyed his take.


The writing is evocative and does a good job getting the feeling of a live show. Chambers uses the structure of a song to plot this book. It is a neat gimmick that works perfectly. It has a couple cool bonuses like lyrics to the songs, a playlist and cool afterword. One of the reasons I write punk fiction myself is because punk is hardly ever depicted even close to realistic. Thankfully not a problem here.


Big thumbs up. It’s short but powerfully written and a fun read that is weird and like nothing else I have ever read.

[John Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really strong main character and the author’s obvious love of music and what it means to the story drove this novella for me. My first book from this author. I wonder of Gorge shows up anywhere else.

[Annarella · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, enjoyable and engrossing book, more horror than fantasy.
I loved the world building, the interesting and well written characters, the plot.
It was a fun read that kept hooked till the last page.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Three Chords of Chaos, James Chambers has blended several things I love. Punk rock, a dark supernatural world, and a sympathetic, almost luciferian protagonist serve as the foundations of this piece. Witout giving too much away, I'll just tell you that this is the story of faerie (mythological rather than disney), who has been banished from his own world amd forced into ours. His deep connection with music allows him to gather magic through playing guitar, and someone else wants his magic. That is the basic gist of it.
The book started off in a way that threw me off a bit. I spent my youth going to underground music shows and ,to me, the author writes about punk shows with the voice of an outsider. This kind of took me out of the story in the begining, but it is a minor problem that vanishes quickly. Once the story picked up a bit, I was totally invested and my earlier apprehensions had gone to the wind.
Chambers creates a simple, understandable, yet thoroughly magical world, expertly weaving the workings of magic into our own reality. His characters are well written, if a bit archetypal. The overall tone of the book is just simply enjoyable.
If you are in the market for a fun, quick piece of urban fantasy, Three Chords of Chaos is a well worth a read.

[Star · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorge sits in when he wants and where he wants, jamming with bands in hopes of generating enough power to open the Way of the Bone and get back to Faerie. Unfortunately, he captures the attention of a wizard, a mortal one at that, who wants Gorge’s power for his own twisted desires. This wizard has bitten off more than he can chew and Gorge will make sure he is well aware. ‘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. Including mentions of music legends and devilish deal-making enhances an already compelling tale. ‘Three Chords of Chaos’ is no ordinary faerie tale!

The Bad-Ass Faerie Tale Series: The Halfling's Court (1), The Redcaps' Queen (2), Three Chords of Chaos (3)

[Morven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyrical and dark, Three Chords of Chaos is not your grandfather's fairy tale. Gorge is dark, powerful, and pulls magical energy from his audience.