: About Me

Derek Draven has been a natural writer since the earliest of his grade school days when he wrote children's stories in his spare time. Now, as an adult, Derek has chosen to pursue a wide range of writing opportunities, including Helium.com. Ever the architect of constructive controversy, Derek deploys a very straightforward, no-nonsense writing approach towards both serious world issues and everyday topics.

Derek is both an avid fan, and educated scholar of Heavy Metal music. His knowledge of the music includes all of its sub-genres, and he regularly cites Heavy Metal as "the thinking man's music." He is also a skilled musician and an expert drummer, performing thrash, death metal, and black metal drumming almost exclusively. He is also preparing a full set of new fantasy novels as a personal side project which he hopes to have published by the end of 2009. His newest and most serious undertaking is the position of Editor-In-Chief for a brand new gaming-related website, to be officially launched in January of 2009.

Derek currently resides in Toronto, Ontario and is married to his lovely new wife, Justyna.

My passion is ...

Music, music, music

I know too much about ...

Musical history

My parents always told me ...

I was a go-getter

My childhood ambition ...

To be a rock star

My favorite memory ...

The summer of 1984

Why I write ...

To get people thinking by refusing to pull any literary punches

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Books: Star Wars: The New Jedi Order Series....TV: Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles....Music: Heavy Metal, Classical, Film Scores, Darkwave

My first job ...

Video store manager

My best moment ...

My marriage

My inspiration ...

A pool of assorted talent spanning music, art and media

Entertainment > Album Reviews Album reviews: Chinese Democracy, by Guns 'n' Roses

3 of 4

It's quite difficult to put faith in a project that contains the name "Axl Rose." The Guns N' Roses lead singer has single-handedly sparked fistfights, brooding feuds and bloody riots at every turn of his career. The culmination of his musical psychosis is Chinese Democracy, an album that has been stuck in artistic purgatory since 1993. Now, 15 years and $13 million dollars later, the album has been recorded, produced, and unleashed on a worldwide population salivating over anything new from GNR. Has the magic been lost? It's important to keep in mind that 15 years is a long, LONG time to ...

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Writing:

• Marketplace Premier Writer
• Marketplace Approved Writer
• Helium Charter Member