Tag Archive: New Dark Ages

Age of Unreason is here!

— 02.26.2020 09:17 AM

It’s the third and final book in the X Gang series – and my tenth book in all.  Just got it from Dundurn, my publisher.

You can get Age of Unreason here.  In the meantime, here’s some of the reviews about the series.  Hope you can pick it up!

  • Quill and Quire: “Kinsella skillfully blends convincing depictions of both the punk scene and the racist underground with the hoary trope of a band of kids setting out to solve a mystery. The novel is a suspenseful page-turner that also gives considerable food for thought, anchored in realistically drawn characters and an eye for significant detail.” 

  • Publisher’s Weekly: “Adult author Kinsella (Fight the Right) sets this riveting murder mystery in Portland, Maine, in the late 1970s…Tension starts high and stays there in this unflinching page-turner, which offers a fascinating glimpse into the early punk scene and a moving testament to the power of friendship.”

  • Globe and Mail: “Portrayals of rebellious and non-conforming teens can feel reductive or contrived but Kinsella nails it without any stereotyping or embellishment. Though this authenticity will have big teen appeal, the novel is also part police procedural, part detailed history on the emergence of punk and part gritty murder mystery, all elements that skew more adult. Classification aside, it’s absorbing, jarring and raw.”

  • Toronto Star: “Warren Kinsella is known mostly as a political operative and pundit, but he also has estimable punk-rock credentials (as punk historian and as bass player in SFH, which bills itself as Canada’s best-loved geriatric punk band). This YA novel is loosely based on real-life events, and concerns the murder of two teenagers in 1979 in Portland, Ore., then the epicentre of the punk scene. It will be of interest to anyone interested in punk culture — not just the music, but the fanzines, art and writing of the period.”

  • Booklist: “Kinsella’s book explodes off the page from the start…a dark and engrossing tale of punk-rock heroes fighting for justice.” 


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New Dark Ages are here!

— 10.02.2018 07:21 AM

Just delivered to Daisy’s office a minute ago – pre-release copies of my newest (and ninth) book, New Dark Ages!

A short synopsis:

The X Gang face off with Earl Turner, a presidential candidate straight out of their nightmares.

It is a dangerous, divisive time in America. A far-right political candidate is seeking the presidency and stirring up hatred against minorities. The X Gang, meanwhile, have lost one of their friends to that presidential candidate — and are encountering manifestations of hate practically everywhere they go.

With his band, the Hot Nasties, about to embark on their first North American tour, and several recent murders in the punk scene linked to their gigs, Kurt Blank and the rest of the X Gang have some difficult decisions to make.

New Dark Ages is about surviving in a nasty, brutish, and short-sighted time — and whether one should just go along or fight back.

Pre-order your copy right here!


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Publishers Weekly: Recipe for Hate “riveting…an unflinching page-turner”!

— 07.08.2018 07:09 AM

Publisher’s Weekly is the book trade publication in the United States.  As Wikipedia notes, it is the “American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, “The International News Magazine of Book Publishing and Bookselling”.

And I have never had one of my books mentioned in it.  Like, ever.

But here’s what they have said about my new one, Recipe for Hate:

“Riveting…Tension starts high and stays there in this unflinching page-turner, which offers a fascinating glimpse into the early punk scene and a moving testament to the power of friendship.”

Link is here.

Quill and Quire, now Publisher’s Weekly.  If you are so inclined, feel free to order your copy (or copies!) here and here!


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New Dark Ages, now

— 02.01.2018 01:36 PM

I just returned from a major book fair at the Metro Convention Centre – and, whilst I was there signing copies of Recipe For Hate (Humblebrag Alert: we ran out of copies), I saw this for the first time, in Dundurn’s 2018 catalogue:

What’s it about? Well, it’s about to get me in a lot of trouble, I reckon. It’s the most controversial book I’ve ever written, I’d say. (And it’s the second instalment in the X Gang trilogy.)  Recipe For Hate has been well-received – as seen here and here and here – and I’m hoping New Dark Ageswill be, too.

Pumped.  Now, back to writing the final book in the series.


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Globe and Mail: Recipe For Hate “shines…Kinsella nails it…absorbing, jarring and raw”!

— 12.28.2017 09:18 AM

Wow! This is a great way to end 2017.

And, I am honoured. The Globe and Mail has reviewed Recipe For Hate – and they like it! Their review:

Recipe for Hate

by Warren Kinsella

Dundurn, 304 pages, $14.99

Warren Kinsella’s many professions include author, political strategist and commentator. Is YA author now on the list? Yes and no. Kinsella’s latest book is published for teens and, in many ways, shines as a book for mature younger readers. It focuses on two teenage best friends – Kurt Blank and X – leaders in Maine’s burgeoning 1978 punk scene. When their friend is brutally murdered outside of a club, it’s the beginning of a very dark, violent time for Kurt, X and their punk crew. Portrayals of rebellious and non-conforming teens can feel reductive or contrived but Kinsella nails it without any stereotyping or embellishment. Though this authenticity will have big teen appeal, the novel is also part police procedural, part detailed history on the emergence of punk and part gritty murder mystery, all elements that skew more adult. Classification aside, it’s absorbing, jarring and raw.


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