I don't believe in coincidence. The universe always has a plan. It's our job to perceive it . . . "

I can’t believe that after a lifetime of playing metal, it turns out the world is a shitty country song.”Terrific...Sharply written...[ My Best Friend’s Exorcism] makes a convincing case for [Hendrix’s] powers as a sharp observer of human behavior, filtered through a fun genre conceit that doesn’t skimp on the spooky—or the bodily fluids.” Friends, if there is one thing I love more than books it’s music. I’m not a fan of death metal (although I did go through a big nu metal phase in high school), but it doesn’t matter. This book grabbed me from the very beginning, and I can honestly say this is the most fun I’ve had reading a book in a long time. It’s horror, sure, but it’s so much more.

Moving along, I completely lost my mind when I realized every chapter was a unique song title from all sorts of metal bands. I literally jumped for joy when I saw there was a REIGN IN BLOOD chapter since Slayer is my all-time favorite metal band. Speaking of which, to see them heavily mentioned in this novel was so awesome. I loved it since it’s so rare I get to read a horror novel that heavily mentions Slayer and many other of my favorite metal bands. years later, Kris Pulaski, former guitarist for Dürt Würk works as the night manager for Best Western, flat broke and unhappy with her life. Until she finds out that Terry’s success may have come at the cost of her soul. She sets out to collect her former bandmates and confront Terry. Their adventure leads them across the nation, ending at a dark music festival in Las Vegas. Kris’s experiences along the road prove you can’t give up in the face of defeat. Review Horrorstör delivers a crisp terror-tale…[and] Hendrix strikes a nice balance between comedy and horror.”— The Washington Post, on Horrorstör Grady Hendrix is the author of the novels Horrorstör, about a haunted IKEA, and My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which is like Beaches meets The Exorcist, only it’s set in the Eighties. i’ve read all three of grady hendrix’s novels, and while none of them have scared me, they’ve all entertained me.If you’ve ever been frustrated trying to put together furniture from IKEA, you’ll get a laugh out of Hendrix’s spoof mystery.” Her meaningful guitar riffs had a power she worked years to cultivate into that perfection. They were not entirely forgotten, but clearly pushed aside for a mundane job she had no passion for. National treasure Grady Hendrix follows his classic account of a haunted IKEA-like furniture showroom, Horrorstor (2014), with a nostalgia-soaked ghost story, My Best Friend’s Exorcism.”— The Wall Street Journal, on My Best Friend’s Exorcism After a particularly depressing work night, Kris notices a billboard on her way home, proclaiming the farewell tour of Koffin--The Blind King.

Surveillance is the business model of the internet for two primary reasons: people like free and people like convenient. The truth is, though, that people aren’t given much of a choice. It’s either surveillance or nothing and the surveillance is conveniently invisible so you don’t have to think about it. And it’s all possible because laws have failed to keep up with changes in business practices. A clever little horror story...[and] a treat for fans of The Evil Deador Zombieland, complete with affordable solutions for better living.”The first is the rise of cloud computing. Basically, our data is no longer stored and processed on our computers. That all happens on servers owned by many different companies. The result is that we no longer control our data. These companies access our data—both content and metadata—for whatever profitable purpose they want. They have carefully crafted terms of service that dictate what sorts of data we can store on their systems, and can delete our entire accounts if they believe we violate them. And they turn our data over to law enforcement without our knowledge or consent. Potentially even worse, our data might be stored on computers in a country whose data protection laws are less than rigorous. There are a ton of band references in this novel as well as breaking down the overall culture of what it’s like being a metalhead, preparing to go to an epic metal concert, and just all the little details behind it. I’m pretty sure Hendrix has to be a metalhead since he was completely spot on with everything that goes into being one and the fandom behind it with a great horror twist. Most importantly, this author puts a lot of thought into the delivery of his stories and the message he leaves with his readers are deep and complex. It's similar to 'Heavy Metal Music' and the messages hidden within the lyrics. I suppose that's the draw to the culture of this music and why readers are so loyal to this author. If there was a genre that encompassed music, horror and fantasy all together then We Sold Our Souls would be at the forefront of it. It's so hard to say where this book should sit in a library or bookstore. It has magic, bloody killings, musical influence (including as many fictional bands as real ones mentioned) and an overall atmosphere that bleeds dread. It could be called a thriller. I could even see some calling it an inspirational story about doing what you know is right. Seriously it just has so much rolled into it.

Anyway, like I said, I enjoy some metal and others not so much, so the extent of my knowledge basically ends with whether it is a metal song or not. For the die hard fans, however, there are so many different sub-genres in metal, I wouldn't even know where to begin. Kris isn’t the only enjoyable character, though—even some of the bad guys are pretty likable in their own way, and everyone, good or bad, feels flawed and authentic. I loved cycling through Kris’ former bandmates as she met up with each one, and learning about her memories of them, especially when she would couple in band-specific relations (things like, “like every guitar duo in metal, they were a little bit in love and a little bit in hate all at the same time”). It’s also incredibly fascinating to watch Kris piece together her broken memories as the story slowly reveals what drove apart the members of Dürt Würk, and why Kris has been an outsider ever since. WE SOLD OUR SOULS is the story of a band in turmoil, maybe not a great band, but one that affected people. One that got people through the hard times...one that helped them celebrate the good. But when the lead singer decides that this isn't enough for him, he investigates...other avenues. Will the band survive his efforts and appeals to be something greater? Will they survive at all? You'll have to read this to find out! If you see me in the wild and I’m reading a book that was written by Grady Hendrix, interrupt me at your own peril.”—Sarah Gailey, Hugo-Award winning author of Magic for Liars We Sold Our Souls starts with Kris early in life, as a teenager, confused, and all attitude. She wants to play the riff from Sabbath, and she bleeds herself through the first chords until it sounds right. And for one glorious shiny moment, Sabbath was in her basement. She is hooked. Next, we meet Kris at 47 years old. The end of a career, and her soul, living in her mother’s house working at a Best Western.

If you see me in the wild and I'm reading a book that was written by Grady Hendrix, interrupt me at your own peril.” Our relationship with many of the internet companies we rely on is not a traditional company-customer relationship. That’s primarily because we’re not customers – we’re products those companies sell to their real customers. The companies are analogous to feudal lords and we are their vassals, peasants and – on a bad day – serfs. We are tenant farmers for these companies, working on their land by producing data that they in turn sell for profit.