Books & Music

My first official book release is The Rift Marches Book One: Quiet Moves — a grimdark sci-fi tale of three protagonists, each following the same trail of mystery through a universe remade by a thousand years of evolution from ancient alien ruins. Hull and armor have advanced to the point that kinetic and energy weapons are nearly useless, and so the old age returns: the brutal glory of close-quarters melee combat and ship raids in the void.

I am the progenitor of “Rus Metal” — epic brutal sagas in song form, blending crushing modern metal with dark ceremonial atmosphere, ancient warrior energy, and cold regal grandeur. My music fuses heavy low-end riffs, mechanical grooves, shifting rhythms, bleak gothic tones, and towering orchestral weight into battle hymns and mythic laments, with an authentic historical presence that feels lived-in rather than taught.

I also plan to adapt my Black Throne trilogy albums into novel form. The first trilogy set is already out, along with the first album of the sequel trilogy, expanding that world further in both music and story.

Once the foundation is in place, I storyboard the project. I map out the major events, turning points, characters, conflicts, reveals, and climaxes so the story has a deliberate structure rather than feeling like a collection of unrelated songs.

I then soundboard the concept. The tone, instrumentation, rhythm, atmosphere, and overall musical identity are chosen to support the world and the story. Crushing riffs, mechanical grooves, orchestral weight, ceremonial ambience, gothic textures, and darker experimental sounds each have a purpose. The music is designed to feel like part of the setting itself.

The larger story is then divided into individual songs. Each track functions like a chapter: it may introduce a character, portray a battle, reveal a secret, explore a belief, mark a turning point, or express the emotional consequences of what has happened. While each song should stand on its own, the songs are intended to work together as a complete narrative.

In the song format, I sometimes leave characters, locations, and events deliberately unnamed or ambiguous. This gives the listener room to enter the story and imagine themselves within it. The settings are often rooted in the realities, cultures, and atmosphere of 10th-century Rus and the wider Eastern Eurasian world, but the stories are ultimately intended to feel timeless. They could belong to almost anyone, in almost any period of history. That universality is deliberate.

Lyrics are developed around the characters, setting, historical influences, and events of the story. I focus on imagery, perspective, rhythm, rhyme, and emotional progression so that the words feel like part of the world rather than exposition placed over music.

This process has also led me into fiction writing. Some of my larger song sagas have grown beyond the limits of an album and are now becoming novels. The music establishes the atmosphere and mythology; the books allow those worlds, characters, and stories to be explored in greater depth.

For me, an album is not simply a collection of tracks. It is a narrative work—researched, structured, scored, and shaped as a complete experience.

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