Songbird at Midnight

Lochlan Nohr #1

by John McDonough

Austin musician Lochlan Nohr understands bad things come along with the good. Naturally, the day two strangers offer to make stars out of him and his band Trip the Shark, he gets that old, nagging feeling, and Loch's unrequited college love goes missing. Just another Tuesday in Texas.

His amateur detective ride quickly becomes a deep dive into Dark Web conspiracy, deadly Magic and unlocking what his enemies fear the most.

The true power of Music.

The kicker? Loch has to rescue the girl in time to make Friday night's gig.

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 28, 2020

About the author

Author.

NOTE: If you wish to purchase an eBook, please visit songbirdatmidnight.com. Thank you.

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I have waited two weeks for assistance with the trolling I have endured here since February 29, 2020, one day after the release of my debut novel. Goodreads may or may not have taken one action on March 11th, but as of the time I am writing this (03/12 6:32 AM) would be the first and only communication with me.

Typically this area would be reserved for my biographical info. Unfortunately, I'm forced to make a brief statement because there is no other method available to me to defend my work and myself.

Attempts at painting me as any number of -isms is a tactic of people who want to patrol creativity like the 'thought police' straight out of '1984', and none of us should tolerate this behavior.

That Goodreads has been as slow to react to these attacks upon any author, and I am certainly not the only one to endure this, is a disgrace, and smells of political bias and industry meddling.

I would love nothing more than to remove every trace of myself from this platform after this experience, but that is not allowed by the tools or the GR ToS. Convenient for ad revenue but a nightmare for authors. When there is no moderation of a platform like this, or the moderation is slanted one way or another, this is what happens.

I worked for three years, through injury and deaths, to complete this first novel. I will write my next book. The evils thrown at me are like water off the duck's back. I've seen it all before.

Goodreads has the opportunity to fix its policies and its platform. Meanwhile, copyright infringement and defamation are at play here, and I'm considering all legal options.

JM

UPDATE: Some action was taken on 3/13/2020 by Goodreads. I know this only because I am aware that the egregious spoiler/copyright violating review that was deleted was not removed voluntarily by the OP. Goodreads admins remain near "silent" with me.

UPDATE (3/14/2020): Next wave of fake reviews.

UPDATE (3/18/2020): GR contacted me for the 2nd time. Email only. Claimed to have removed 'reviews' that violate their terms of use. Majority of the email was reprimanding me for defending myself and my brand. Not a single false 1-star rating has yet been removed from my book here. Bad behavior is encouraged. Authors remain pinatas.

Reviews

[Cindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Want to know what you’re getting when you read this? Juicy phrases like the below.

“I’d never been with a black woman, as far as I knew, but I’ve definitely never been with a one legged one. It struck me, had anyone been with her?”

“There are newer arrivals though. Head scarf wearing women. Communist brats. Diversity so diverse it hurts.”

“....I tried to guess how many of the surrounding ladies were lesbians, like counting license plates on a road trip. It was tricky to tell nowadays.”

This is the mess he’s charging $8 for people to read. Typical male power fantasy with plenty of bigotry thrown in to give it flavor.

If you want a typical alpha male action thriller woven together with anti diversity, a misogynistic hero, and enough cliches to build Mt. Everest you MIGHT be able to make it through this without your eyes rolling into the back of your head.

For me? No thank you. Returned.

[Nikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

UPDATE o3/04/20 Apparently my review is being taken as an SJW attacking a white man for cultural appropriation. Somebody make it make sense because I can't. This is of course in response to his twitter tantrums. I don't even see where I mentioned diversity or appropriation in my review. I mainly complained about the cringe-worthy way the women characters are written but whatevs. I certainly didn't mean to add to the serious oppression white people face on the daily so let me clarify my comments on Fan Zhan.

She's Chinese. She's apparently a badass agent of some sort but the focus is on her looks, body, and the fact that she's Chinese. Her introduction to the story is just a full page of her being objectified. The male agent Dante gets props for his manly handshake (not as manly as lochlan tho) and Fan gets checked out and we learn that her boss selects her for missions because she's able to distract the menfolk. Later on, right after Fan can no longer resist him and drags him into the bathroom for a quick fuck, they're tracking down "the Chinese" (bad guy). Lochlan tells her that if her "tight Chinese butt" stands around smoking she'll lure him in like catnip. OK that's cringe to me. Sorry bout it. Saying that some words make me roll my eyes is not being an SJW and attacking white people. Get a fucking grip y'all. I just think it's weird to introduce this supposedly badass woman and reduce her to catnip with a tight Chinese butt & hovering breasts. THAT IS MY OPINION & THIS IS MY REVIEW. Deal with it.







Lochlan really seems like the author's fantasy version of himself and he's such an obnoxious character that I don't think even a strong plot (I mean, if there was one) could have saved this book for me. This is definitely a fantasy novel though -- Lochlan learns the Earth is flat and people are just brainwashed to believe all that curvature bullshit. Also the world-building is as flat as the actual world in this book. Absolutely nothing original or creative.

so my favorite part is when Lochlan is a discriminated against by man-haters because of course he is. Women (and Lochlan uses the term women loosely hardy har. get it? because real women are hot & tiny & too busy trying to fuck Lochlan to kill him) hired to assassinate him are tall and androgynous and ugly. But of course Lachlan mesmerizes them with some impromptu harmonica playing & juggling then gets the drop on these women. "Hyena-Girl" & and her friend are no match for Lochlan. just so inspiring to watch him fight back at his oppressors like that. CIS-DUDE POWER RAH RAH

but later on Lochlan gets sexed up in a bathroom by a hot, tiny Chinese (as we're repeatedly reminded) agent who's helping him locate his kidnapped friend. sorry kidnapee, your rescue has to be put on pause because Lochlan is toooooo sexy for Agent Fan Zhan to resist. and obviously loch deserves to be appreciated by a REAL WOMAN after his run-in with those giant misandrists

basically here's the story. lochlan is manly perfection. repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat kidnap, your dad raped your mom, Lucifer, Nephilim, kidnap, lochlan is fine, lochlan is a genius, lochlan makes the panties drop, lochlan is a great musician, lochlan can juggle, lochlan is hot, loch--
you get the picture.

recommend for people who would enjoy reading incel manifestos or boring fantasy novels. misogynists and masochists would probably dig it too. It just wasn't my jam.

[Maximillian Guglielmelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whenever liberal aticvists attack someone and want to censor books, you know it is going to be a great read. This book is amazing. Buy it and read it before liberals start burning books. I love it

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

$8 for a debut novel is definitely one I read the sample before purchasing. I DNF the sample I noped out at 50% of the sample. The dialogue was not engaging and the descriptions range from barely there to rambling. There are several OMG yikes did he really say that moments and not in a good way. Overall I was both bored and horrified. Examples below.

"If you're expecting redneck cowboys and caballeros, you'll be sadly disappointed. There are newer arrivals though. Headscarfwearing women. Communist brats. Diversity so diverse it hurts.". Uhm this struck me as cliche and racist.

" Bored out of my mind in the long coffee line, I tried to guess how many of the surrounding ladies were lesbians, like counting cars on a road trip. It was tricky to tell nowadays, Austin being Austin. Unfortunately, with any eye contact, I sensed which way the wind was blowing, and a rigged game isn't much fun. ". Don't know what he means by his Austin being Austin comment, but dude a woman not wanting to talk to a creeper I a coffee shop doesn't automatically make her a lesbian. Maybe she just want coffee.

" Not soon enough, I was up to a familiar hipster cashier. His name is Larry, and he comes complete with piratey, waxed beard. " Well at least he's an equal opportunity dismissive asshole who makes fun of with men and women.

"I was wearing or of my favorite t-shirts. I. The front it says Stroke a genius. On the reverse 200 IQ." Thinks highly of himself doesn't he?

"This wasn't the Keep Austin Weird (italics why?) stuff though. Lois sported a prosthetic right leg. It was airbrushed to a deep purple cast, sometimes even adorned with a white and black garter, like it was what morning." Okay so needing a prosthetic and decorating it is weird is what I'm getting from this abelist nonsense.

genius, doughnuts, ass, Again, are all in italics the following pages and I seriously can't figure out why.

"I'd never been with a black girl, as far as I knew, but I'd definitely never been with a one-legged girl. It struck me, had anyone been with her?". This sentence so wrong for many reasons. How can you not know the race. of the person you're with? I always did. Why keep harping on her leg? Just because you can't fathom being attracted to a disabled person doesn't mean no one is.

After this I struggled through meeting the band and them getting a contract. Yawn. All this took place in the first 50% of the sample. I noped out. I honestly didn't care what this racist, homophobic, woman hating, genius does. This sample was equally boring and horrifying.

Also, since this author has been Doxxing people leaving one 🌟 reviews and takeing screenshots of Goodreads discussions to post on Twitter I'll save him the trouble and post it my dam self.

[Caleb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t think there was page that didn’t make me cringe.

[Sammie]

noting my complete & utter lack of interest in reading this book. the blurb does not present a particularly enticing read; it also contains some odd capitalizations that give me cause to question the quality of the book itself.

[ChiiChii · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was... If you want to read a Redditor, incel, self-insert novel, this may be it for you, but it was not for me. Had to stop for a bit because it was making me nauseated but went back with a fresh mind and still couldn't stomach it. It literally brought flashbacks of the "forever alone" dudes in highschool and college.

The MC annoyed me from the first chapters and he was kinda bigoted. Very self centered, as if the world owed them something for existing. He doesn't change through the novel so there's very little character growth. A linear story at best.

The women were unrealistic and very one dimensional and their worth was always brought back to their sex. Like the author built someone up to be a cool original character only to be like " well can I bone her? Nah? Irrelevant."

Not my cup of tea, sorry.

[Stacey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Obviously a first book, but nothing in it makes me look forward to a second. I don't enjoy giving low ratings, but I barely finished, so I can't boost this.
The obvious misogyny and racism didn't help, but this author desperately needs a better (or any) editor.
Best of luck to this man.

[Nóinín · Rating 1 out of 5]

A rock band, magic, conspiracies, the Dark Web – all the ingredients for a fun read were in place. Sadly, the author has only managed to make those into an unpalatable hash straight out of the pulps.

The main character: a totally super-perfect, misogynist, xenophobic, bigoted Gary Stu vested with every kind of skill on the list, paired with “a bad habit of doing what I want”, who sees fit to pack a concealed Glock for college on the off-chance of having to defend his girlfriend against a – brace yourselves – “medium-build, dark-skinned … head covered by a checkered scarf” terrorist, who ends up “shot … in the face. Twice” by our hero. Yep, it’s that kind of book. I understand there’s even some kind of explanation for the guy’s superpowers, however, this did not arrive before I was too disgusted to care about learning the hows and whys.

The rock band. Who does not love a struggling artist? Of course, this lot is not struggling at all, they are just so fabulous, so it’s no surprise they are being offered the bestest contract in all history, their performance being so stellar. Which I guess it has to be to distract their audience from this kind of lyrics:

“Ya do me just fine, You’re like a sweet drink of wine, Ya do me just fine, You‘re like a sweet drink of wine… Because it’s so real, and I have so much feel”

This was when I got “so much feel” the author was pulling my leg. Hard.

The Looks. Ohmygosh the looks. Everybody's merit is being reduced to their looks, even the females cannot help being smitten by each other’s beauty. Example of the very first contact between the band’s female lead and their prospective producer:

"Wow. You’re so beautiful” – “You are adorable. Merci.” She lightly touched Jaz’s cheek and our lead singer stood transfixed”

Luckily, our hero speedily “break(s) up this girl-girl moment” before the pair start French-kissing, or worse.
Incidentally, there’s an actual French character underlining her frenchiness by throwing in the odd gratuitous “oui”, “mais oui, bien sûr” and “tout de suite” (“Parbleu!” and “La femme, ah! La femme!”, as Umberto Eco would have put it).

No. Just no. It was awful. Overall cringe factor: top notch. Had to bail out at 25 %.

[M Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah, racism is abound in this book, and it lacks the ability to use realistically misogynistic behaviors used in actual PI/police/law enforcement to get activities done. It just comes off as a power fantasy. But I was a PI, so I actually know the difference in what they will and won't say, if they actual respect their female co-workers. It was yuck, though I think the author's idea for the plot wasn't bad, just fell flat due to their issues.

[Carrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

A hot mess of epic proportions this is trash

[Martha Reineke · Rating 5 out of 5]

All things seem normal on the surface, but when the curtain is pulled back, a gruesome truth is revealed—a secret society hidden in plain sight. John’s book is full of action and adventure, keeping you glued the entire time. With a believable storyline and real characters, you’ll quickly lose yourself in the narrative and find it hard to put the book down. Will definitely be watching for Lochlan’s next adventure!

[Christy Mumma · Rating 4 out of 5]

An action packed adventure that begins with a local musician that was given a proposal for a record contract, but it was more than just a record contract. Under the impression he would be a famous rockstar, he quickly accepted the proposal. That same day, he learned his real fate. He was then thrown into a supernatural world, both powerful and corrupt, dealing with Satanic rituals and magic. Fascinating and gripping, it was hard to put down.