...AND OTHER THINGS I SHOULD NOT SAY...

by Chris Akin, Chris Akin

“The second you let yourself fall into a pattern is the second you become part of that pattern. I’m just not willing to do that.” - Author Chris Akin, October 2019Chris Akin is a lot of things. He’s an entrepreneur that has built and owns multiple businesses. He’s a highly regarded hard rock/heavy metal comedic shock jock that has been featured on radio, television and documentaries for more than 20 years. He’s a father of three. He’s the most loyal and honest guy you’ll ever meet. He’s also a successful author. “When I’m asked what I do, I always say “author” first,” Akin admits. “The businesses, the radio and the other stuff are all fun, but writing books that move people in various ways is just the thing I take the most pride in.” His first 5 books have been well received for different reasons. His CAUSE & EFFECT series of heavy metal books have taken a personal-yet-industry-phobic look at albums that heavily changed the way fanbases looked at some of the biggest bands in the world. His books LITTLE VICTORIES and CALL ME CHRIS have been widely regarded as “self help” novels that have shown how he tackled two of the hardest situations he’s had to endure - divorce and an industrial explosion that nearly killed him. Based on these books, Akin’s latest book ...AND OTHER THINGS I SHOULD NOT SAY... is bound to send a shock to the system of people that are looking for more of the same type of writing. “If you are looking for more inspiration, I suggest you look past this one,” Akin says with a chuckle. “Not everything I’ve ever done is all flowers and candy. There’s not a lot of “self help” here. Just a need for some mental help!”Unlike his past works, ...AND OTHER THINGS I SHOULD NOT SAY... is geared more toward the fans of his radio show than his previous books. While autobiographical, Akin has chosen to tell stories that (like with most people) should probably have stayed in the back of his memory as “crazy things” he did in his youth. “We’ve all did really stupid things when we were kids,” the author admits. “I was just more wild and dangerous than most people. I packed a lot of crazy living into a very short period of time.” ...AND OTHER THINGS I SHOULD NOT SAY... covers a small, defined period of Akin’s life. The stories told in this book cover a small period of time between 1986 and 1990, when he had just graduated high school, joined the military and quickly found himself living in Korea as a member of the Armed Forces. As he admits, it was just a long party. “It was all sex, booze and partying,” Akin recalls. “Yes, I was in the military and I played that game as much as I had to, but in the end, all I wanted to do was run around, party hard, drink myself into oblivion, and repeat.” As you will see in ...AND OTHER THINGS I SHOULD NOT SAY…, Chris Akin did just that. While some of these stories are absolutely ridiculous, calloused and, well, crazy, Akin tells these stories in a way that will make you laugh if you aren’t overly sensitive or looking to impose today’s standards of conduct onto actions from 30+ years ago.“I doubt I’ll be making any new friends or fans with any of the overly sensitive, social justice douchebags of the world with this book,” the author laughs. “That’s not really the point. ...AND OTHER THINGS I SHOULD NOT SAY... is probably the most appropriate title for any of my books. Every story in this book, every word of it, are real events that happened. I’m not proud of all of them, but I wouldn’t take any of them back either. We’ve all lived through stupid things we’ve done as people. Too many people live in fear of people finding out about their past. I don’t and won’t. Here is it. It’s ugly. It’s filthy. It’s wrong. And it’s mine. I fear nothing. These stories are things that society would instruct me not to tell. Because of that, both middle fingers are up and aimed firmly at society. I don’t do anything else based on what anyone wants. This is no different.”

518 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 29, 2019

About the author

Chris Akin is not the kind of person you would expect to write a book.

Chris Akin is the kind of person you would expect people to write books about.

For over 20 years, Chris Akin has been a larger and louder than life character in the media of one of the countries most major markets – Cleveland, Ohio. Chris has held a myriad of positions in the Cleveland media. He got his start in the media writing for the biggest free music and entertainment magazine in Cleveland – SCENE Magazine. Additionally, he was a regular contributor for magazines such as the short-lived BUZZARD BONE, the online zine BLOGCRITICS and Chicago’s MIDWEST BEAT, to name a few. Never being satisfied, Chris soon decided that he would expand past those projects and start his own magazine. So he started MUSIC’S BOTTOM LINE; a no-bullshit magazine that challenged the Cleveland print medium to keep up as it became the most respected publication for pure music coverage. While the other magazines in town focused on selling advertising, MUSIC’S BOTTOM LINE kept it’s bottom line focused on music.

At the same time, Chris took to the radio to become one of the most acknowledged and feared radio hosts in Cleveland. Hosting THE METAL SHOW on Cleveland’s biggest radio station, 100.7 WMMS and then later at 92.3 WXRK, Chris found incredible success on the strength of testing every boundary that program directors, the FCC and just common decency would allow. Regularly in trouble with station management, but more beloved for their hard hitting style, THE METAL SHOW took the Cleveland Metal Scene by storm for well over a decade. Still, Chris needed more, so he went to the internet where his rebellious ways could go unchallenged, joining THE CLASSIC METAL SHOW and converting the show from a mostly music program to a ferocious, attacking show that had no guilt about anything.

Chris Akin was on top of the world with his radio and written ventures, but when you live that high on success for a lot of years, you generally forget to prepare yourself for any sort of fall whatsoever.

That fall came on June 22nd, 2012 when his wife of over 23 years left him and soon filed for divorce. Unprepared emotionally and completely unable to cope with a failure such as this, Chris quickly spiraled into an out of control depression, considered taking his own life, and through a lot of surprising circumstances, made the decision and found the way to change his life for the better.

LITTLE VICTORIES is the story of a shock jock’s emotional struggles. It’s a real world, raw emotional look at a year that saw not only a shattering divorce, but a rebirth of a person who had spent his whole life raging against everyone, everything and who purposely pushed every button to come off as the most powerful person in any room. It profiles the victories as well as the defeats; some of which are so sickening in emotional scope that they leave you questioning how his friends ever stuck around to see him through the tough times.

…and the friends? They are numerous, highlighted by a group Chris calls “The Core 9″. This collection of 9 friends are who the book is truly about, as these are the people that saw through the blustery public facade of “Chris Akin” and challenged him at every turn to get better.

LITTLE VICTORIES is a definitive story about learning how much you hate things about yourself, and working hard to fix them. It proves that almost any change is possible if you truly want it. It showcases how far you can come, even in the most dire of circumstances. In short, it shows that no matter how bad things get, nothing is final until you quit on making it better. In Chris Akin’s case, he never quit for a second.