As lead guitarist for Metallica, there’s not too many obstacles that Kirk Hammett has left to conquer. Perhaps that’s why the 49-year old will soon take on a different challenge — conquering the literary world with his first-ever book ‘Too Much Horror Business — The Kirk Hammett Collection.’
While Metallica continue to gear up for their next album and, in the more immediate future, their inaugural Orion Music + More festival, Hammett somehow found time to put a book together. In the tome, Hammett will spotlight something he loves — horror movies — as oppose to his personal exploits.

Kirk has long been a lover of all things horror and has a massive collection of movie memorabilia from the genre — he even has several guitars donning the image of Universal Studio’s classic movie monsters — a good deal of which will be on display in the Kirk’s Crypt attraction at the Orion festival. The festival will be the first preview of what’s to come in Hammett’s book, ‘Too Much Horror Business – The Kirk Hammett Collection.’

Due this October via Abrams Image, the 228-page book will be filled with over 300 images of items from Kirk’s memorabilia collection and will feature captions about the items written by Hammett himself. “This is my gift to all the other horror nerds out there who are just like me,” says Kirk. “It’s been made with great love for all the many characters and movies which guided me through childhood, into adulthood and which still keep me on track today.”

Not only will the guitarist show off his collection in the book’s pages, he will also be creating his own line of limited edition collectible toys via his Kirk Von Hammett line. “I’ve spent my life collecting toys, so what could be more fun than making a series of toys which indulge my childhood fantasies AND which people can collect!” says Hammett. “It’s more about fulfilling a huge ambition than anything else, and I hope I get the first one!”

Books and toys aside, Hammett will perform the ‘Ride the Lightning and the Black Album in their entirety on separate nights with Metallica at the Orion Music + More festival June 23 – 24 in Atlantic City, N.J. The band is also in the early process of compiling their many ideas for the next album, which will likely be produced by Rick Rubin and may surface at some point in 2013.

-loudwire.com