Rick Brindle

Johnny Faslane, quiet, unassuming, and with appalling dress sense. He's not been on any of the front covers...yet, but he's an undeniable central character in the Cold Steel novels. Johnny is the manager of Cold Steel. He was imposed on the band during Cold Steel on the Rocks, when their previous manager, Andreas P, fell foul of the Japanese police, and with good reason, although you'll have to read the book to find out why. Johnny's the most unlikely looking manager of a metal band. He's got receding hair, and while he should submit to Mother Nature and get it cut short, he wears it in a ponytail, Francis Rossi style. He also habitually wears leather pants and cowboy boots. He's got a lot of things going for him, but dress sense isn't one of them. Maybe Rachel Shaw will be able to do something about that....maybe not. When we first meet them, Cold Steel are premier league, and Johnny is barely any league, but Ozone Records still made him the band...

I haven't been to the gym since lockdown started, but when I did go, there was a definite phantom at work when it came to the lockers. And I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed the same thing. Maybe I'm just not a people person. Maybe I just like my own space too much. But when I go to the gym, I pick as empty a spot as possible to get changed and then find a nearby locker. But it doesn't matter when I go, where I go, when it's time to come back for a change and a shower, your empty spot is always occupied and you have to do the post-shower shuffle to the other end of the locker room, along with all your clothes, to find an empty spot to get changed. I've tried applying science and random to my calculations, but none of it seems to work. It may be that the social contact spirits of the underworld are conspiring to make me more sociable, which wouldn't be surprising, and some would say it's long overdue. It may be that everyone else is similarl...

This will probably be the only serious post. Normal brightside and feelgood service will resume straight afterwards. There's a school of thought that says if you don't vote, you shouldn't complain about the government. And that's a valid point and I respect it. And if that's what you think, then it's right and proper that you vote, in order to moan about the government. But it doesn't work for me. Because I really don't see that my vote changes anything. Here in the UK, the first past the post system, unless it gets decided by one vote (highly unlikely), the winner will win by more than one vote, so me voting for them won't make any difference. Similarly, whoever comes second, or third, will do so without my single vote altering that. So in that sense, whether I vote or not, it won't alter the outcome. But it goes a bit deeper than that. Because the current voting system completely disenfranchises everyone who didn't vote for the g...

The Cold Steel books are, well, about Cold Steel, but Johnny Faslane is kind of a central character, and you can't have a central character without him having an amazing partner. And there are few women in Johnny Faslane's world as amazing as Rachel Shaw. If you've not read any of my books (links below), Rachel Shaw first appears in Cold Steel on the Rocks. The band's UK tour isn't going too well, Johnny Faslane has only just been give the job of managing the band, and he has to arrange a press conference in Manchester. One of the reporters asking the questions is Rachel. In being evasive with her questions, it only makes Rachel more curious, and by the end of the novel...well, if you haven't read it yet, I don't want to put any spoilers here. Suffice to say that by the time We Are Cold Steel comes along, Rachel's an indispensable part of the team. As a reporter, Rachel is definitely multi-talented. She writes articles, and she's also an accom...

My books are all about heavy metal. And while the literary world isn't exactly overflowing with metal fiction, for me it's a very natural topic to write about. Back in the day, I was really into Wilbur Smith, and I read an interview he gave once. He said that the best advice he was given as a writer, was to write about what you know, and write for yourself. So that's what I did. And if there's one thing that I know loads about, one thing that's defined me, shaped me, been part of my life for almost all of my life, it's heavy metal. I've lived it, loved it, breathed it, and I still do. Not that I'm an all-knowing expert like the journalists who make a living from writing about every band out there and what's happening, I'm more of an enthusiastic amateur.  But it still moves me like nothing else. Sure, there were a few other things I could write about from knowledge, and I've tried to as well, but it never seemed to work. As a nurse...

                                                  In Germany, and I stand (or sit) to be corrected on this by my German readers, there's a big push to get men to pee sitting down. And although this is actually a serious public health message, I do have to say hats off to them for totally embracing toilet humour! - Translation: Ganz falsch-completely wrong. Fast richting-almost right. Ganz richtig-completely right. But you know what, once you get past the usual alpha-male posturing, this is actually not a bad idea. Because since the beginning of time, men have peed standing up. And since the beginning of time, men have peed everywhere except straight into the porcelain. But here's the thing, it's not actually our fault. It's because the wi...

This is the working title for my third Cold Steel Novel. When you're writing a book, it always feels like you'll never get to the point of publishing, but I am making definite progress. The draft has been sent to editors, they've sent me their advice, and I'm working on getting the manuscript ready to publish. The story starts almost straight after the ending of We Are Cold Steel. But Cold Steel being Cold Steel, what ever they may have gained, they'll soon lose. What happens to them, and how they deal with their largely self-inflicted troubles, I hope you'll soon find out, and I hope you'll soon enjoy. I hope that Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard well be published either by the end of the year or early next year. I've still got my day job so it's never as quick as I'd like. In the mean time, I hope the first two books in the series will keep you entertained. Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel   Kalter Stahl auf den F...

If you've read my second book, We Are Cold Steel, you'll know all about Sean Sawyer, the 'slightly' unhinged ex soldier who is hired to get the band fit, and then sticks around. It's never mentioned directly, but the military buffs among you will have worked out somewhere along the line that he wasn't in the Army at all, and heaven help anyone who asks him if he was. He served in the RAF Regiment, a little known corps of soldiers whose role is to defend air bases and installations. I really liked creating this character. He's full of paradoxes. He was part of a really tight team, and he loved it, but then he became an outcast and an individual. He's past his best, but he's not over the hill. He struggled with having to adjust to civilian life, and we all know that tragically, that's not just art imitating life, it really happens. Sawyer is an underdog, he's flawed, but he finally works out for himself what's importan...

Lieber Leser, ich habe dieses Buch selbst mit Online-Tools übersetzt. Das ist keine Respektlosigkeit gegenüber Ihnen, meine deutschen Leser. Ich bin ein selbstveröffentlichter Schriftsteller mit einem Tagesjob, und ich kann mir die sechs Monatsgehälter, die es braucht, um professionell zu übersetzen, nicht leisten. Bitte entschuldigen Sie alle Übersetzungsfehler, die allein mein sanieren. Wenn Sie mir über Übersetzungsfehler informieren möchten, kontaktieren Sie mich bitte auf meiner Facebook- oder Goodreads-Seite, ich werde die vorgeschlagenen Korrekturen vornehmen und Ihnen eine korrigierte, kostenlose Kopie meines Buches für Ihre Zeit und Mühe zusenden  Kalter Stahl auf den Felsen

 Welcome to my author blog. My books are available on Amazon as ebook and paperback. I'll be posting regular details about my books, character info, and my own reflections on life. I hope to post regularly. So please check back often. Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Kalter Stahl auf den Felsen