Titanium Punch

A summer of heavy metal, racial tension, and love a stunning debut. From the mosh pit, to the barbeque pit. From the heavy metal rack in your record store to the beat-up metal lashed to the bike rack outside. A book about tenderness and adrenalin. A book about friendship and chainsaw guitars. Ladies and gentlemen, for those with the benefit of flash photography: Titanium Punch. Yashin Blake s remarkable debut novel is an exquisitely wrought introduction to a cast of characters a world, in fact that until now had no literary voice. In Titanium Punch Issac Iqbal Khan, a devout headbanger, comes of age in a summer of beer, bikes, concerts, camping, and love. It s a breathless take on a young man in the midst of significant personal evolution, a man coming to terms with religious intolerance and subtle racism, with bad cops and hidden agendas. A man about to fall in love. Iqbal gives you a backstage pass to the shadowy world of underground music, opening up its racial, cultural, and sexual mix to the scrutiny of many who d prefer not to acknowledge its existence and relevance. From Pantera to jazz, from the importance of heavy metal lyrics to watching your buddy s back, Titanium Punch pulls no punches.