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An Augmented Fourth
Codger Burton, bassist and lyricist for Frivolous Black, the heaviest heavy metal band to ever come out of the UK, awakens to find his hotel snowed in, his band mates evacuated, and monsters roaming the hotel. Looks like Codger picked the wrong week to quit using cocaine. From the twisted mind of Tony McMillen comes the hilarious rock and roll horror novel An Augmented Fourth, a novel of The Lord of Low End.
- GenresHorrorMusicLovecraftian
195 pages, Paperback
First published June 27, 2017
2 people are currently reading
176 people want to read
About the author
Tony McMillen
15 books49 followersTony McMillen makes comic books as well as some books without pictures too.
Even though those usually also contain a few pictures.
He can’t help himself.
He’s behind Attaboy, the new oversized graphic novel disguised as a video game manual. The heavy metal horror novel An Augmented Fourth published by Word Horde, the sci-fi fantasy graphic novel Lumen and Serious Creatures; his comic book series about a teenage special fx artist working in Hollywood, riding the wave of practical effects that carried the blockbuster movie industry of the 70s, 80s and 90s.
He thinks Alien is a better xenomorph movie but Aliens is a better Ripley movie.
His go to karaoke song is “On the Dark Side” by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band.
He has recently started to add cinnamon to his chocolate milk.
Even though those usually also contain a few pictures.
He can’t help himself.
He’s behind Attaboy, the new oversized graphic novel disguised as a video game manual. The heavy metal horror novel An Augmented Fourth published by Word Horde, the sci-fi fantasy graphic novel Lumen and Serious Creatures; his comic book series about a teenage special fx artist working in Hollywood, riding the wave of practical effects that carried the blockbuster movie industry of the 70s, 80s and 90s.
He thinks Alien is a better xenomorph movie but Aliens is a better Ripley movie.
His go to karaoke song is “On the Dark Side” by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band.
He has recently started to add cinnamon to his chocolate milk.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
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July 21, 2017This edition arrived with a signed book plate signed by author Tony McMillen which also had a nice little illustration.
November 3, 2017
A cosmic body-horror tale that falls somewhere between The Thing and House 2, as told through the liner notes of a Black Sabbath album. It might sound over-the-top (and it is) but it WORKS. Vivid imagery. Great characters. Sharp and entertaining dialogue. For my money, this book was nearly perfect.
September 13, 2017
The Augmented Fourth takes the mythology of the tritone, or "devil’s interval," and the mystique of fallen musicians of the 20th century to compelling places. Dark forces envelope. Monstrous creatures terrorize and confound. Musicians and lovers of heavy music will certainly enjoy, but so will those who like their cosmic horror solidly written with punchy dialogue and genuine characters. Recommended!
September 26, 2019
Like I'm going to give my own book only four stars?
August 3, 2017
The narrative starts out a little jumpy, and the mc was a little unconvincing at first. But there's a definite build to the story and I ended up reading the last 2/3 in one sitting, just to see what happened next. Extremely imaginative and inventive. Recommended.
August 23, 2017
After cutting my way (way too slowly) through a somewhat unsatisfying anthology in the form of What the #@&% Is That?, I needed to read something quick and fun, so Tony McMillen's novel An Augmented Fourth jumped to the top of my to-read queue because I had just recently gotten it from Word Horde and it looked to fit the bill nicely. I wasn't wrong.
It gets compared a lot to The Thing, which makes sense, given its snowbound setting and "who goes there" paranoia, but it reminded me a lot more of Stuart Gordon's From Beyond (a comparison which David James Keaton makes in his blurb, so I'm not alone). For one thing, there's a thick accretion of black comedy over the top of all the dread in An Augmented Fourth. For another, while there's no shortage of shapeshifting monsters in play, the more visceral horror of The Thing gives way here to somewhat more existential speculation about the origins and motivations of creativity. Don't worry, though, this isn't some heady, philosophical tome. This is get stuck in, get the job done, and get out writing.
It reminded me a bit of the work of Adam Cesare, with the beating rock and roll heart of something like Ross Lockhart's Chick Bassist driving the prose. Fun and fast, like I said, with perfectly-pitched, Barker-reminiscent pen-and-ink-type illustrations by the author breaking up the chapters all titled like albums, songs, or their own little short stories. If the writing occasionally feels a little rushed or muddled here and there, it's compensated for by a perfect turn of phrase in the next moment. This is good stuff.
It gets compared a lot to The Thing, which makes sense, given its snowbound setting and "who goes there" paranoia, but it reminded me a lot more of Stuart Gordon's From Beyond (a comparison which David James Keaton makes in his blurb, so I'm not alone). For one thing, there's a thick accretion of black comedy over the top of all the dread in An Augmented Fourth. For another, while there's no shortage of shapeshifting monsters in play, the more visceral horror of The Thing gives way here to somewhat more existential speculation about the origins and motivations of creativity. Don't worry, though, this isn't some heady, philosophical tome. This is get stuck in, get the job done, and get out writing.
It reminded me a bit of the work of Adam Cesare, with the beating rock and roll heart of something like Ross Lockhart's Chick Bassist driving the prose. Fun and fast, like I said, with perfectly-pitched, Barker-reminiscent pen-and-ink-type illustrations by the author breaking up the chapters all titled like albums, songs, or their own little short stories. If the writing occasionally feels a little rushed or muddled here and there, it's compensated for by a perfect turn of phrase in the next moment. This is good stuff.
June 28, 2017
Tony McMillen is the author of the novel Nefarious Twit (Branch Hands, 2013), a book LitReactor selected as their Book Club Selection for March 2014. A wonderful achievement for a debut novel. The author and artist has made us wait almost four years for his follow-up, a book that McMillen himself described as “Black Sabbath meets The Thing”. Published by the ever-reliable Word Horde, a publisher whose name has become synonymous with quality and excellence, An Augmented Fourth is Tony McMillen’s much-anticipated second novel.
The book opens with an introduction to the first-person narrator, Codger Burton, the bassist for British heavy metal band Frivolous Black. He awakens in a hotel room, in the middle of his latest attempt to go cold turkey, to get off of the cocaine and alcohol. Codger is an almost-stereotypical rock musician from rock music’s heyday, but McMillen does a great job of developing the character, showing us the trials and tribulations Codger has faced from a difficult childhood to dealing with fame and dealing with the news that John Lennon was murdered three days previous.
The setting, a Boston hotel in the midst of a snowstorm, helps to set the tone of the book. There has been a mass evacuation and the cold weather along with the isolation brings to mind horror stories set in the barren, mostly empty Arctic and Antarctic. But Codger isn’t completely alone, as he soon encounters three fellow guests; John, an employee of the hotel and a huge fan of Frivolous Black, Rikki, feisty frontwoman for a punk band leading the charge to sound the death knell of rock, and Marcus, a bodyguard who used to work for Codger’s band but who now protects a pop star called Frankie Gideon. The interplay between the members of the group is well written and very entertaining, especially between Codger and John (“this fucking kid”) in the early stages of the book. But, given their circumstances in the hotel, the creeping paranoia soon sets in and it isn’t long before strange things begin to happen.
To read the full review, please visit This Is Horror.
The book opens with an introduction to the first-person narrator, Codger Burton, the bassist for British heavy metal band Frivolous Black. He awakens in a hotel room, in the middle of his latest attempt to go cold turkey, to get off of the cocaine and alcohol. Codger is an almost-stereotypical rock musician from rock music’s heyday, but McMillen does a great job of developing the character, showing us the trials and tribulations Codger has faced from a difficult childhood to dealing with fame and dealing with the news that John Lennon was murdered three days previous.
The setting, a Boston hotel in the midst of a snowstorm, helps to set the tone of the book. There has been a mass evacuation and the cold weather along with the isolation brings to mind horror stories set in the barren, mostly empty Arctic and Antarctic. But Codger isn’t completely alone, as he soon encounters three fellow guests; John, an employee of the hotel and a huge fan of Frivolous Black, Rikki, feisty frontwoman for a punk band leading the charge to sound the death knell of rock, and Marcus, a bodyguard who used to work for Codger’s band but who now protects a pop star called Frankie Gideon. The interplay between the members of the group is well written and very entertaining, especially between Codger and John (“this fucking kid”) in the early stages of the book. But, given their circumstances in the hotel, the creeping paranoia soon sets in and it isn’t long before strange things begin to happen.
To read the full review, please visit This Is Horror.
June 1, 2017
If only SPINAL TAP played at THE VOID...
AN AUGMENTED FOURTH hits three heavy chords. First, it opens with a very believable and clearly writer-experienced look at a washed up musician from a Black Sabbath-ish metal outfit during the Vietnam era. Next, it gives you a TRAINSPOTTING taste of road rash from drug abuse and rockstar lifestyle before ripping open the veil between a bad winter's lock-in in New England and everything Lovecraft about the horrors out of space, very John Carpenter style (the creatures in this thing are freakishly brilliant both inside and out, McMillen knows horror for certain). Finally, it is absolutely hilarious. I don't know how Tim McMillen pulled off such a wonderful collision of so many extremes, but he did it. This book was impossible to put down. Easily a one day addict read.
The writing is well executed and characters are stand-alone, if not a little cliché at times. However, based on the theme and era, they almost had to fit a pre-stamped mold in order to present the story with such clarity and strike a cord in all levels of readership. The setting is detailed down to the smells of delicious cold chicken and charred monster, then takes it a step further to the outside world of life in a subzero blizzard. Being from the Arctic, I personally had much appreciation for this particular aspect of precision. Plot and momentum start with a train whistle, then build to a screaming, unstoppable leviathan once it gets going, which is within the first few chapters. Finally, much research went into this, not only for the Lovecraftian and otherwise genuine occult elements, but for the incredible twist on real rock music history, namely all of the strange macabre centered around legends.
Overall, this is a brilliant book and easily five-stars. I was privileged to read as an ARC, and had decided as soon as I realized Mr. McMillen calls the infamous devils cord/ tri-tone an "augmented fourth" versus a "diminished fifth" (seriously, who does that??) it had better uber impress me to receive anything above 3-stars just because I like Word Horde press. Well, hell. He did it. Read this book. It's sick. It's horrifying. It's hilarious. It's addicting.
AN AUGMENTED FOURTH hits three heavy chords. First, it opens with a very believable and clearly writer-experienced look at a washed up musician from a Black Sabbath-ish metal outfit during the Vietnam era. Next, it gives you a TRAINSPOTTING taste of road rash from drug abuse and rockstar lifestyle before ripping open the veil between a bad winter's lock-in in New England and everything Lovecraft about the horrors out of space, very John Carpenter style (the creatures in this thing are freakishly brilliant both inside and out, McMillen knows horror for certain). Finally, it is absolutely hilarious. I don't know how Tim McMillen pulled off such a wonderful collision of so many extremes, but he did it. This book was impossible to put down. Easily a one day addict read.
The writing is well executed and characters are stand-alone, if not a little cliché at times. However, based on the theme and era, they almost had to fit a pre-stamped mold in order to present the story with such clarity and strike a cord in all levels of readership. The setting is detailed down to the smells of delicious cold chicken and charred monster, then takes it a step further to the outside world of life in a subzero blizzard. Being from the Arctic, I personally had much appreciation for this particular aspect of precision. Plot and momentum start with a train whistle, then build to a screaming, unstoppable leviathan once it gets going, which is within the first few chapters. Finally, much research went into this, not only for the Lovecraftian and otherwise genuine occult elements, but for the incredible twist on real rock music history, namely all of the strange macabre centered around legends.
Overall, this is a brilliant book and easily five-stars. I was privileged to read as an ARC, and had decided as soon as I realized Mr. McMillen calls the infamous devils cord/ tri-tone an "augmented fourth" versus a "diminished fifth" (seriously, who does that??) it had better uber impress me to receive anything above 3-stars just because I like Word Horde press. Well, hell. He did it. Read this book. It's sick. It's horrifying. It's hilarious. It's addicting.
December 7, 2017
This fucking book.
Codger Burton is the bassist for the pioneering English heavy metal band Frivolous Black. Once on the forefront of critical acclaim, his band has recently suffered a decline in quality and fortune, culminating in the recent replacement of their lead singer. Several days after the death of John Lennon, Codger finds himself stranded in a hotel in Boston during the grips of a blizzard, withdrawing from drugs and alcohol. He soon finds that the only other people in the hotel are a rival (and more relevant) musician, a bodyguard to another contemporary, and an over eager fan. They soon find they aren’t alone. Something indescribable is after them, and it won’t rest until it gets what it wants. Or wants back.
Tony McMillen has crafted a laugh out loud anthem to the power and absurdity of heavy metal. As the back cover says, it’s like "This Is Spinal Tap" meets "The Thing". References to real life inspirations for the characters are so thin you can punch through them with a blade of grass, and that makes it even better. You can almost feel the author smiling as he weaves words through two things he clearly loves: music and horror.
Coming directly off reading several non fiction books about the history of heavy metal, An Augmented Fourth is a delightful tip of the hat (or bang of the head, if you will) to an oft ridiculed and misunderstood genre. But it isn’t just about an unfortunate sap running from monsters and chasing what he’s lost. It’s a wonderful riff on life, addiction and the beat inside all of us.
Codger Burton is the bassist for the pioneering English heavy metal band Frivolous Black. Once on the forefront of critical acclaim, his band has recently suffered a decline in quality and fortune, culminating in the recent replacement of their lead singer. Several days after the death of John Lennon, Codger finds himself stranded in a hotel in Boston during the grips of a blizzard, withdrawing from drugs and alcohol. He soon finds that the only other people in the hotel are a rival (and more relevant) musician, a bodyguard to another contemporary, and an over eager fan. They soon find they aren’t alone. Something indescribable is after them, and it won’t rest until it gets what it wants. Or wants back.
Tony McMillen has crafted a laugh out loud anthem to the power and absurdity of heavy metal. As the back cover says, it’s like "This Is Spinal Tap" meets "The Thing". References to real life inspirations for the characters are so thin you can punch through them with a blade of grass, and that makes it even better. You can almost feel the author smiling as he weaves words through two things he clearly loves: music and horror.
Coming directly off reading several non fiction books about the history of heavy metal, An Augmented Fourth is a delightful tip of the hat (or bang of the head, if you will) to an oft ridiculed and misunderstood genre. But it isn’t just about an unfortunate sap running from monsters and chasing what he’s lost. It’s a wonderful riff on life, addiction and the beat inside all of us.
July 9, 2017
Codger Burton, the bass player for Frivolous Black is trying to kick his bad habits. Trying to cope with feelings of his own increasing age, notions of his own music's declining popularity. Boston's odd Hotel Alucinari, in the grip of a major snowstorm, is where he finds himself, stranded with these thoughts. These thoughts, and...other things.
It's a fun love letter to Black Sabbath (as well as Bowie, Van Halen, and others), heavy metal occultism, and the power of music. There's some definite Spinal Tap (or Bad News! Rik Mayall, R.I.P.) humor, woven into a story of horror-from-beyond. It's a small cast, and a fast read, and Tony McMillen's (growing?) Darjmainian mythology is worth watching. Fans of Sammi Curr should definitely pick this up.
It's a fun love letter to Black Sabbath (as well as Bowie, Van Halen, and others), heavy metal occultism, and the power of music. There's some definite Spinal Tap (or Bad News! Rik Mayall, R.I.P.) humor, woven into a story of horror-from-beyond. It's a small cast, and a fast read, and Tony McMillen's (growing?) Darjmainian mythology is worth watching. Fans of Sammi Curr should definitely pick this up.
August 3, 2017
This is one of those books that you just cannot seem to pitch. Is it "Spinal Tap meets The Thing" uh sure? But really what isn't now a days? It's really a fantastic story narrated by a protagonist Codger Burton who was equal parts disgusting and loveable. An aging rock star with one good album and a whole bunch of addictions. You can root for him and pity him all the way through! Codger surprised me in early scene involving a cigarette machine it's a little bit but I loved it. I really enjoyed my time spent with this character.
As for my pitch, imagine if you got to simultaneously meet and become friends with your favorite underappreciated rock star and fight flesh kaleidoscopes. Is gonna have to do!
As for my pitch, imagine if you got to simultaneously meet and become friends with your favorite underappreciated rock star and fight flesh kaleidoscopes. Is gonna have to do!
August 27, 2017
Tony McMillen serves up a well-balanced metal meal in An Augmented Fourth. It's got (big, bassy) bawls, it's got (shit for) brains, it's got (ancient, evil) magick, and it's got heart(s) for dessert. Codger Burton is as likeable as he is deplorable, and his internal dialogues reveal him to be a whole lot like a lot of us. You'll follow him through the worst morning-after anyone's ever woken up to, and love every earth-shaking second of it. Tony's descriptions of the sound/feel of heavy music will root components of the world he's created firmly in your guts, and you'll feel them trudge/groan/buzz/growl/explode as the tale unfolds. This is a good one, my dudes.
September 18, 2020
The chilled bottle-setting, prism-split monsters and bottomless paranoia of this book’s love letter to John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ will give ‘em a quick short, sharp, shock that’ll leave you googling the fictional rock history that McMillen weaves into his spell.
There’s clearly a grand plan being seeded through T.M.’s work and I can’t wait to experience more of the only-hinted-at mysteries he has in store for his readers.
There’s clearly a grand plan being seeded through T.M.’s work and I can’t wait to experience more of the only-hinted-at mysteries he has in store for his readers.
July 27, 2017
Fun read with a very creative premise and unique monster action.
Read
July 26, 2019Sadly I could not finish this one. The writing style was off putting and the constant stream of consciousness from the main character made this book unbearable.
November 20, 2017
Tony McMillen's "An Augmented Fourth" is a swelling of everything great, wonderful, and utterly sadistic about the world of heavy metal. And not "Nue Age" heavy, either, but the old school, when Sabbath and Zeppelin took the Fourth to the mainstream and shoved our faces in sex, darkness, and its contrasting brilliance. This is the world of music that Punk evolved from, and even in the waning years of Metal, the glorious upstart could only fling its boogers at the legend that Metal was.
After reading McMillen's graphic novel, "Oblivion Suite," I knew I needed more about the world of music. These are clever pastiches of what might have been, could have been, and probably actually damn were in the lives of people like Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, and a score of other musical geniuses that had absolutely no right whatsoever to ascend the stairs to Valhalla and dine long before they died away. Hell, most of these succubuses of soul are still alive and kicking the shit out of their fans with as much coke-infused love as they always have been. And may they continue doing so long after I have moved off this mortal coil.
If you want a taste of the sheer amount of meta fun that this tale throws up on our feet, here's a quote. "A fresh hideous bouquet of corruptions blossomed forth from out the rainbow oil slick bramble, metastasizing into billowing diaphanous limbs. Proving to me yet again that even when utterly terrified I could at least be comforted knowing I'd never have need for a thesaurus."
This is just a glimpse of how insightful McMillan's tale is: it makes fun of the madness while also celebrating the art of creation, and in doing so, allows readers to enjoy the zaniness of the ride.
After reading McMillen's graphic novel, "Oblivion Suite," I knew I needed more about the world of music. These are clever pastiches of what might have been, could have been, and probably actually damn were in the lives of people like Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, and a score of other musical geniuses that had absolutely no right whatsoever to ascend the stairs to Valhalla and dine long before they died away. Hell, most of these succubuses of soul are still alive and kicking the shit out of their fans with as much coke-infused love as they always have been. And may they continue doing so long after I have moved off this mortal coil.
If you want a taste of the sheer amount of meta fun that this tale throws up on our feet, here's a quote. "A fresh hideous bouquet of corruptions blossomed forth from out the rainbow oil slick bramble, metastasizing into billowing diaphanous limbs. Proving to me yet again that even when utterly terrified I could at least be comforted knowing I'd never have need for a thesaurus."
This is just a glimpse of how insightful McMillan's tale is: it makes fun of the madness while also celebrating the art of creation, and in doing so, allows readers to enjoy the zaniness of the ride.
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