Best-selling AC/DC album inspires new mystery anthology
It has been 44 years since the Australian rock band AC/DC released its album “Back in Black,” the first to feature lead singer Brian Johnson, who now lives in Sarasota. Fans of the album, and mystery stories, can now experience it in a new way with the short story collection “Back in Black.”
It’s the latest project for Blackstone Publishing edited by Sarasota mystery writer Don Bruns, who has been inviting fellow writers to take song titles from some of the best-selling albums of all time and use them to inspire new stories. “Back in Black,” the third in the Music and Murder Mystery series, features a new Jack Reacher story by Andrew Child.
The series began in 2022 with “Hotel California,” inspired by the Eagles album, and was followed last year by “Thriller,” using song titles from the Michael Jackson classic.
“Back in Black” sold more than 52 million copies, second only to the 72 million for “Thriller.”
“I was not that familiar with ‘Back in Black’ until I came to Sarasota and I met Brian and saw him perform here with a group that did all the AC/DC songs, and then I started to follow them,” he said. “I realized how huge they are. They’re just a monster group and they’re on their 50th anniversary tour.”
The timing of that tour and the release of the new book in July was a coincidence, just as the 50th anniversary of the Eagles happened in 2022.
“We had no clue when we started putting these together,” he said.
For each book, Bruns brings together a group of friends and fellow writers and offers them song titles to pick from.
“We’re obviously playing on the title because you can’t copyright a title,” he said. “But we’ve been very careful to make sure the writers don’t write a story about the song. They’re just using the title as a launching pad.”
The new Jack Reacher story is set to the title “You Shook Me All Night Long” and written by Andrew Child, who took over writing the character from his brother, Lee. Other stories in the collection are “Hells Bells” by Heather Graham; “Shake a Leg” by Rick Bleiweiss; “Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” by Tori Eldridge; “Back in Black” by Sandra Balzo; “Shoot To Thrill” by Reed Farrel Coleman; “Have a Drink on Me” by Charles Todd; and “What Do You Do For Money Honey” by Ward Larson.
Bruns himself wrote a story to “Let Me Put My Love Into You,” and his brother, Dave Bruns, wrote one to “Givin’ the Dog a Bone.”
So far in the series, Bruns said he has only been turned down by one writer, “First Blood” author David Morrell. “He told me I think the idea is wonderful, but it takes longer to write a short story than it does a novel and I just can’t afford that time.”
He also hasn’t encountered any fights about preferred song titles. “Most of them have said they were fond of the specific song they chose,” Bruns said. “I can’t say that everyone in this book is an AC/DC fan, but it’s been a fun exercise.”
Next year, the series will continue with “Bat Out of Hell,” inspired by the Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman album.
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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: AC/DC album ‘Back in Black’ inspires mystery writers in new collection
