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At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'd like to again thank everyone for participating in our last three Murmur Book Clubs. The discussions of Beat the Reaper, The Magicians and The Lost City of Z have been fantastic, and all the credit should go to all of you for writing about the books, responding to the discussion questions, and listening to the book club podcasts.

With Murmur Episode 21 in the can and the discussion of David Grann's book winding down, it is time to kick things off for our fourth book. We're moving back into the world of brand-spankin'-new fiction with Horns, the new novel by Locke&Key scribe Joe Hill.

Here's the description of Horns from the book's jacket;

Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with a thunderous hangover, a raging headache . . . and a pair of horns growing from his temples.

At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real.

Once the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned musician and younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, he had security, wealth, and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more?he had Merrin and a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic.

But Merrin's death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. In the court of public opinion in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ig is and always will be guilty because his rich and connected parents pulled strings to make the investigation go away. Nothing Ig can do, nothing he can say, matters. Everyone, it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone, that is, but the devil inside. . . .

Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look?a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It's time for a little revenge. . . . It's time the devil had his due. . . .

Gristly stuff, eh Murmurites? This is the second book club pick in a row from Murmur staff writer Paul Montgomery, who certainly proved his book-picking mettle with The Lost City of Z. I'll be reading Horns along with everyone else in the community, and we can start the book club discussion around the beginning of June. I'll be announcing the next book club pick shortly after that. Horns is available as a hardcover or audio book from your local independent bookseller, as a mp3 download from Audible, and is available for the Amazon Kindle (if you're into that sort of thing).

So, get to it! Time to immerse ourselves in a world of horns, hangovers, and muuuurder. We'll meet back here in about six weeks. And... break!

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Since everyone seems to be enjoying all the tasty beer pairings, I'll be keeping up that part of the club as well. With the spicy, devilish story of Horns, I'm pairing a beer that has a bit of heat as well; the Rogue Chipotle Ale. Rogue describes the beer like so; "Roasted chipotle peppers produce an eye opening chile flavor in this deep golden ale with a malty, smoky aroma and smooth, crisp flavor." Rogue distributes their beer in all 50 states and in 21 different countries, so hopefully you can find the Chipotle Ale at your local better beer establishment. Cheers!

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