Count agranoff's Best Mosh parts ever!

In honor of my 18th Vegan anniversary I give you my favorite Mosh parts of all time…

I love going off at shows…these are my favorite songs to go crazy to…

Earth Crisis: Born from Pain



Every second of this song makes me want to go crazy, the music, the lyrics, the speed, every thing. I can’t point to a moment. They first time I saw Earth Crisis after years of being broke up in Seattle they opened with this song. I thought I was going to go crazy but by the end of the song I was covered in blood, sweat and felt like I was going to have a heart attack. I was so happy to be alive and be me.


Abnegation: Hopes for Harmony



One of my favorite songs of all time, this song is nuts. You got to forgive the recording Abnegation never had money or got a good recording. The snare has a crazy snap, but this song has amazing energy. If you watch the video of three songs from 1996 Cleveland fest you can see the amazing energy they had live. At 1:02 seconds the song breaks down into a killer mosh. I can’t even tell you how crazy I went singing along in the pit to this song.


Another Victim: Martyr



Late 90’s in Syracuse AV shows were like mini-prison riots. Hatebreed was really the first 100% mosh band, and by that I mean it’s dance music like techno – there is little point to hatebreed except a soundtrack for a violent mosh pit. Another Victim to me had the same crazy mosh but had lyrics about Veganism, straight edge and in this song anti-Pornography. It always cracked me up seeing tough guys lose their shit to a song that was anti- porn. :55 seconds…my favorite mosh part of all time.

Race Traitor: Curse



Ironically another feminist mosh anthem. I believe this song is about the cycle of domestic violence. Chicago’s Race Traitor. Andy (Fallout Boy) Hurley kills it on this song. This song brings the Mosh in 11 seconds in with a killer breakdown. But this song has three levels of mosh. :35 seconds in we get an even heavier mosh part. After the speed picks up to explode with the emotions of the lyrics “How could you fuckin touch him!” and breaks it down one last time. In a 1:40 seconds RT produced an epic of mosh brutality.


Undying: teratisms



I could only find a live version to share, I saw them the night before this show at the Che and you can bet I was wind willing and going crazy at 1:07 into this song. Undying has tons of amazing mosh parts, Jimmi is a Vegan mosh master. The chorus of this song is a genius mosh that is played at to slightly different speeds and fits in the song so amazingly. Love it.

Day of Suffering: Eternal Jihad



Might be my favorite record of the 90’s. Brought death metal into vegan hardcore, and the lyric “Tormented by the legions of evil and their infernal hatred of life” makes me feel better every time I hear it on a bad day.

Book Review: Dominion by Greg F. Gifune

This my second Greg F. Gifune novel, the first Children of Chaos I reviewed in April 2010, I got Dominion based entirely on the strength of that novel. It was knock-out of a book. I knew I wanted to read more Gifune, and this was important to my enjoyment of the novel. I went in blind, I didn't even read the back description on the cover. After the prologue which was intense, brutal and ugly I wasn't sure I could read a whole book like that.

Thankfully, that was just a much needed introduction as extreme as Ed Lee but important to the story. If you trust my opinion or my reviews just stop right here and read both Children of Chaos and Dominion. I think I liked the subject of COC a little bit more but Dominion was very tightly constructed and I enjoyed reading this novel.

OK, I am going to try to do this first part without spoilers but like I said you'll have a better time going into this book blind. Dominion is the tale of Daniel Cicero, A Boston Radio ad salesman who loses his wife in a tragic accident. She is killed crossing a highway, and the novel handles the grief in heart breaking and realistic way. After months of grief Daniel begins to wonder, what was she doing there? The only logical explanation is a late night meeting at the motel across the street from the mall where she was parked after hours. That is when the phone calls start a mysterious man calls insisting that his wife is alive.

Dominion is a great mystery, and has plenty of surprises and misdirection. Gifune is a talented Horror writer who is well known and respected in the horror underground and deserves to be breaking into the Mainstream.

Ok now for the spoilers review....






My only problem with Dominion came in it's final act. I think Gifune had done a wonderful job setting up the mystery and suggesting through out the story that supernatural explanation, or one based in Quantum physics was needed to explain the events. When it is revealed that his best friend had stolen and used his wife's identity I thought it was an excellent twist and made me feel effectively tricked. I was impressed because I thought the supernatural story thing was nothing more than misdirection. When the supernatural story line is re-introduced I felt like the end of a Friday the 13th movie when Jason got up one to many times. That said I really enjoyed the book, and will continue to work my way through his books.

Book Review: Burning Fight 90's hardcore book by Brian Peterson

Burning Fight: The Nineties Hardcore Revolution in Ethics, Politics, Spirit, and Sound. by Brian Peterson


Punk and Hardcore music is impossible to explain to someone who has never been apart of it. I thought about it a couple years ago when I saw a Vegan straight edge band from Southern California playing in Portland. I had friends around me that grew up in California, New York, Oregon and Indiana counting myself. We all grew up in different states but we all got into this loud music with similar ethics.

Hardcore to the outsider is loud aggressive music that sounds like screaming. During the 90’s hardcore peaked with a vital age. Peterson has taken on the nearly impossible task on documenting 90’s hardcore music scene. This is harder to do than a music scene that is all over TV and covered in mainstream magazines.

Hardcore is small, personal and often regional. The fans and bands are interchangeable, the fans make the records, put out the zines and perform in their own bands. To say this is an important book is a massive understatement.

Broken in four chapters that address the major issues addressed by the bands in lyrics like Straight edge, Animal rights and Spirituality. Next Peterson interviewed many of the major hardcore bands of the 90’s. Highlights include several interviews with Rob Fish and his bands, Earth Crisis, Downcast, Trial and Vegan Reich. Several of the interviews like Undertow and threadbare highlight how local hardcore is.

I have little nitpicks why interview Texas is the reason (not hardcore) and Cave-in (Ok, they were good but what impact), while amazing bands like Day of Suffering, morning Again, Birthright and Undying didn’t get entire chapters devoted to them.

I first got into hardcore music and straight edge in 1989, I was the only kid in my town who was straight edge and there were less than a dozen who were fans of or ever heard of New York Hardcore bands like Agnostic Front and sick of it all. When I got involved hardcore was different.

We didn’t have an internet DJ Rose of Path of Resistance always said we were like Gypsy tribes. In the 90’s hardcore exploded and it did so in many ways. It is hardcore to think back to a scene that existed where no one had ever heard the song Firestorm or Shelter was some weird new band by Ray of Today.

Burning Fight might also serve as tool for us weird hardcore kids to explain to friends and family what we gave up our lives for in the 90’s. Why did we drive all over the country for shows, why we did bands, why we got into all these radical new ideas. This book only Sctraches the surface. You had to be there but you know this as close as you are going to get.

Book Review: Werewolves and Shapeshifters edited by John Skipp

Werewolves and Shapeshifters
Edited by John Skipp
Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers

This is a must read for fans of horror fiction. John Skipp has done here something that editors always try to do when they do a theme anthology. If this is not the ultimate collection of shapeshifter stories I want to pointed to one that is better.


Featuring classics from as far back as Hp Lovecraft’s Shadow over innsmouth to 80’s classics by David Schow and George RR Martin. The collection goes from strength to strength with original stories from some of my favorites Cody Goodfellow and Jeremy Robert Johnson.

The biggest surprise for me was an amazing short story by YA author Tessa Gratton. “The Cold that Flays the Skin,” this is emotional wrecking ball of a short story that is effective in a very short word count. Cody Goodfellow’s bizarro post werewolf takeover vision of San Diego is both funny and twisted. Jeremy Robert Johnson’s tale is of life changing parasite, a running theme in the life of this author and a strong edition in the comeback of this hibernating dark bizarro author.

For me the highlights were gonzo 80’s blood drenched novellas by splatterpunk legend David Schow and George RR Martin’s classic Novella “The Skin Trade.” I read both a long ago but I am realizing now I was too young and not cultured enough to get every level these tales were operating on.

Martin’s Skin Trade is excellent modern noir tale with a detective, haunted houses, werewolf cults and it’s all blood soaked as 80’s horror tended to be at the time. Skipp calls it the centerpiece of the collection and yes it is a must read classic.

I really want to hand it to Black Dog for working with Skipp on these books, they are not just another anthology. These are important documents of horror that track the evolution of the genre as well as highlight the bold new work coming out of the genre. Big thumbs up, get this book on your shelf.

The Vegan Revolution...With Zombies reviewed in Famous Monsters!

Famous Monsters of Filmland is the longest running source of geek news out there. Decades before Fangoria and now Famous monsters has a review of my novel...

"This is a comedic zombie tale that really works." and "The main characters were very well thought out and three dimensional, the story contained enough violence and gore to satisfy the gore hounds with enough comedic relief to balance it all out. You wouldn’t think comedy would work in a zombie novel but David pulls it off fabulously."

You can read the whole review on the Famous monsters website click on books...

Count Agranoff's Top Ten Books of 2010

The idea behind this post is to make a few suggestions that will benefit some struggling artists. But this is an honest top ten list of my favorite books I read this year that were released during 2010. You see that there are no authors or books on this list that are sold in airports or on the bestseller list. I didn't do this on purpose, but after I looked at I was excited that so many independent authors made this list. It's not that I didn't read any major authors this year. I read a few classics(they don't count) but I also read major releases from excellent authors like F.Paul Wilson (Ground Zero), Kaaron Warren (Slights) and David Morrell (The Spy who came home for Christmas) as great as all three were they didn't make my top ten.

The one thing I am bummed about is the lack of Non-fiction. I just read mostly fiction this year, and besides Jeremy Rifkin's disappointing new book there was much I was interested in. This is the list and believe me these days most writers depend on the independent press. You can safely bet the only authors making a comfortable living off their art are the ones you see in airports.

When you buy a book by a independent author, each sale means a lot to us. We get excited when we have sold 8 books in a month! Each one counts. So as a lover of books, storytelling and struggling artists I thought I would suggest some writers and books for you or for gifts. Dig deeper to find authors you that are not in the mainstream. So think of these as gifts that “give” not only to your friends and family but to the author and the independent press who published it.

A book is a gift that can pass on ideas, and hours of entertainment, but make sure the people you give these gifts too that that they understand why they are such wonderful gifts. Of course it's based on my tastes and opinions but I am going to tell you why with each one. Also if you bounce around my blog you will find interviews with many of the authors on the list that I did.

Honorable mention goes to Pandora's Seed by Spencer Wells. It is basically a study that lays out why civilization has been more negative than positive for our species. A little dry at times but mostly awesome.


Number Ten: Bizarro Starter Kit (Purple) Okay I have a bias because my novella, Punkupine Moshers of the Apocalyse is in this book. He is what you have 10 novellas by 10 bizarro authors including some of my favorites like Cody Goodfellow, Cameron Pierce (Lost in cat Brain Land), Jeff Burk (Shatnerquake), Garrett Cook (Murderland) and many more... 10 novellas from new authors basically one dollar a piece. This is the third bizarro starter kit. It is a great way to explore the authors outside the mainstream. Sample 10 authors for 10 bucks. Hard to fail if you like strange, out there fiction.

Number Nine: Vegan Bodybuilding and Fitness by Robert Cheeke: If passion ever bled through the pages of a book about veganism, this is the one. While some of the information about bodybuilding competitions is not for everyone this is a great motivational book about veganism and fitness. Robert brings his trademark passion and energy to this excellent well thought out guide to vegan fitness. It works for both the newcomer and can also help vegan veterans.

Number Eight Werewolves and Shapeshifters Edited by John Skipp: This is a must read for fans of horror fiction. John Skipp has done here something that editors always try to do when they do a theme anthology. If this is not the ultimate collection of shape shifter stories I want to pointed to one that is better. Featuring classics from as far back as Hp Lovecraft’s Shadow over innsmouth to 80’s classics by David Schow and George RR Martin. The collection goes from strength to strength with original stories from some of my favorites like Cody Goodfellow and Jeremy Robert Johnson. Skipp combines classics and the voice of new bright stars in both the bizarro and horror movements. Fantastic anthology.

Number Seven Fistful of Feet by Jordan Krall: The best thing I can say about Jordan Krall's bizarro horror Spaghetti western is that I pictured it in my head with grainy old VHS look and the dialogue in the soundtrack was dubbed and slightly off. Got to love a western with Lovecraftian Cthulhu worshiping native Americans and saloons named after Charles Bronson characters. It's also well written and a heck of a lot of fun. Fistful of Feet is a excellent western that just happens to be amazingly weird as well.

Number Six Jade By Gene O'Neil: A 101 page novella released by Bad Moon books is a charming post apocalypse story, yep you read that right. O'Neil is a talented story teller through and through and this story set in the ruins that had once been San Diego is emotionally gripping from the first page to the last. I read this on a flight in one sitting, only stopping flip down my tray for my drink.

Number Five Cursed by Jeremy C. Shipp: Nominated for the Bram Stoker Award this is the third fiction release of Jeremy C. Shipp who is quickly making a name for himself in two fields of dark medicine. A word surgeon with skills that cut like a knife across the genres of horror and bizarro. A first rate surrealist who is assured enough in his craft to throw out the rules completely. It takes amazing skill to weave a horror tale the way he has without the benefit of a standard structure. Disturbing and funny all at the same time, this is a first rate piece of bizarro as literature.

Number four Castle of Los Angeles By Lisa Morton: She has won the Bram stoker award three times, and this is first first novel. Morton has packed in an unbelievable amount of story for it's length. She doesn't waste pages and paces the story so well the pages fly by. I read the book in 48 hours that included two work days. Lisa Morton takes a familiar riff, tuned slightly to her pitch and the result is a near perfect traditional horror novel. The first of three haunted house stories on the top ten list, each has it's unique take.


Number Three House of Fallen Trees by Gina Ranalli: I can't say enough about Gina. Her books have crazy range from surrealist laughers like Wall of Kiss to political commentary of Mother Puncher. This year saw the paperback release a classic grade A horror novel. HOFT shows mastery of pace and deep knowledge of genre that Gina has never had chance to show off in her many bizarro books. A Creepy story with strong characters and a little early Stephen King influence. A short but effective read. Gina followed it up with a very original take on the zombie genre. A Vegan warrior and effective horror writer, if I had sister author it is Gina Ranalli.

Number Two Deadheart Shelters By Forrest Armstrong: I have actually delayed writing this review twice because I didn't believe I could do this novel justice. If you do the right thing and get this novel you will understand. I found myself, reading sentences and feeling compelled to read them out loud. DHS is a surreal novel filled with poetic prose that is disturbing and beautiful all at once. This story of an escaped slave is like a journey on a spiral staircase into another world, Armstrong creates a surreal landscape that is vivid, and the prose itself has to be savored like fine chocolate that slowly melts in your mouth. This is an amazing book, it deserves to be celebrated.

Number One Perfect Union by Cody Goodfellow: Perfect Union is a weird masterpiece. Influences ranging from Cronenberg body horror, Evil Dead style gore comedy to a fascinating political dissection of Marx and Thoreau. The combo make this a genius horror novel destined to be mis understand by the the masses, but loved by the readers ready to get in the ring with Cody. It's not for everyone, The sex scene between tweakers in the opening chapter is beyond gross and a signal to potential readers....can you hang? Cody Goodfellow can disturb, offend and amuse in a single sentence, he has done all three to me in a speech tag before.
This is a book where a woman bites the heads of fetuses and throws them at people, but also intelligently explores the failings of communism. Cody leaves the rest of us in his dust, it is hard to describe Goodfellow's writing without sounding over the top or hyperbolic. The man is a diabolical genius.
As I said in my review of his short story collection...This is more than Lovecraft on acid, this is Lovecraft after a smack bender in Tijuana, one where he wakes up handcuffed to bed and covered in someone else's blood. Goodfellow's fiction has the otherworld -ness of Lovecraft, the sarcasm of Joe R. Lansdale, the mojo of a Motley Crue tell-all and best of all it's wrapped together with prose that would satisfy fans of high literature in horror.

Magazine Review: Dark Discoveries #17

Dark Discoveries #17


I posted a review of another horror magazine Cemetery Dance last month, now time for a review of my favorite. The locally produced Dark Discoveries. Editor James Beach and his partner Jason Brock have done it again, making each issue better than the last. Without a doubt this is my favorite issue so far. The Dark Science Fiction issue features stories by Ray Bradbury, John Shirley, Jeffery Thomas, Bruce Taylor and Portland’s own Jeremy Robert Johnson.

All the fiction in this issue is top notch in this issue. Jeremy Robert Johnson’s The Oarsman was exciting to read as he is a gifted author who has been in hibernation for the last few years. This is a short science fiction, but it doesn’t take long to show a growth in JRJ’s use of language. He was already a great writer but I loved this story.


John Shirley has an excellent short called “Raise Your Hand if You’re Dead.” This returns Shirley to familiar territory that will excite his fans it is cyberpunk with a subtle but effective environmental setting.As is the case with the best short stories I finished it wishing it were a novel. Bruce Taylor's tale of surrealist humor he is known for and the Bradbury piece is poetic.

As for the non-fiction the highlight for this huge fan was Jason Brock’s excellent interview with John Shirley. A great introduction for readers unfamiliar with his work and for those of us who have read everything a peak a little deeper into the writer’s mind. I enjoyed Nolan’s piece about Phillip K. Dick and James Beach’s piece on Dark stories of Star Trek the original series. There were fascinating features abut J.G. Ballard (a writer I need to explore), Rod Serling and lots more.

Jason Brock continues to make the magazine look better with each issue. It’s clear he puts a ton of energy into the look and design of DD. It looks light years better than it did a few issues ago.

I only have one small problem with this issue and one with Dark Discoveries in general. The small problem first, I was excited about the David Cronenberg interview as it was the Dark Sci-fi issue. I was hoping for a look back at videodrome, scanners and the other fantastic films he made that crossed both genres. The interview was almost entirely about Eastern Promises. A good film, and a good interview but a small let down. I don’t blame The DD crew for including it, I just have to admit I was hoping for some dish on the early films.

Now for the only big, huge problem with Dark Discoveries! It’s so damn good I read it almost all in one sitting. Granted It was over a whole afternoon, but I slammed through this issue, and I did that the last two times as well. Now I gotta wait for another issue. I’ll be keeping my subscription.