Carved in Rock: Short Stories by Musicians - Softcover

3.18

38 ratings by Goodreads

9781560254539: Carved in Rock: Short Stories by Musicians

Softcover

ISBN 10: 156025453X ISBN 13: 9781560254539

Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2003

Editor Greg Kihn is a popular west coast disc jockey who has spent 20 years as a professional musician. Along the way he has met thousands of fellow performers who share a gift for storytelling and an aptitude for artistic adventure. Storyteller collects the short fiction from the most talented of them. The anthology includes a startling array of musicians, each with stories on a wide variety of topics. Ray Manzarek of the Doors contributes a retelling of the creation myth in “The Lady of the Valley.” David Byrne ruminates on a genetic future of designer chromosomes, Graham Parker depicts a farcical vision of liberal politics in the hands of illiberal men, and Lydia Lunch presents a dark fable of miscarried sexual justice. Mary Lee Kortes’s “Summer Vacation” has the sparse addictiveness of a song without music and Larry Kirwan imagines what would have happened to the Beatles if they had not become famous. Other contributors include Dee Dee Ramone, Eric Burdon, Richard Hell, Mick Farren, Joan Jett, Johnny Strike, Marc Laidlaw, John Shirley, Suzzy Roche, Robyn Hitchcock, Steve Wynn, Steve Earle, Suzanne Vega, Tom Verlaine, Pete Townsend, and best-selling novelist Kinky Friedman who produces his first short story ever. These stories provide a new window into the lives and creativity of dozens of musicians we already know through their concerts and recordings. Reading the collection is like getting to know them all over again.

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From Publishers Weekly:

Rock legends trade their electric guitars for pen and paper in this story collection assembled by musician, deejay and novelist Kihn (Horror Show). The collection features new and previously published literary morsels in a variety of genres from luminaries like Pete Townsend, Robyn Hitchcock and Steve Wynn. An excerpt from Irish-American rocker Larry Kirwan's comic novel, Liverpool Fantasy, stars the Beatles themselves, at the pivotal moment when they fire manager Brian Epstein. Punk pioneer Richard Hell delivers another excerpt, a sexy, gothic yarn about a closeted poet from A Novel in Progress, and Kinks founder Ray Davies details an afternoon shared by a painter and his battered model in the troubling "A Little Bit of Abuse." The shorter entries are just as entertaining. "Vampires make lousy lovers. They got no soul," begins the hypnotic story by Joan Jett, "They Love Rock and Roll," which gives Buffy the Vampire Slayer a run for her money. Michael Gira contributes his tale of cannibalistic obsession with "Why I Ate My Wife." The Doors' keyboardist Ray Manzarek's lush, atmospheric tale of a Napa Valley migrant worker closes out the anthology on an inspirational note. There are riffs to satisfy a wide array of literary tastes in this groovy, idiosyncratic anthology.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Erstwhile rocker Kihn assembles a Hall of Fame's worth of his former comrades-in-axes--er, arms--for a collection of largely well-written riffs--er, stories. Many feature the expected sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but Exene Cervenka's contribution is a little gem on the magical appearance and evaporation of love, and Pamela Des Barres' "The James Dean Diaries" is a fascinating glimpse into the lonely life of an icon. Other highlights are Joan Jett's story of the long-suspected power of rock over the undead, Suzzy Roche's look at the heartbreaking return of a fallen pop heroine to her former high school and estranged mother, and John Shirley and Marc Laidlaw's exceptional creepshow about homeless city kids and their only defense against a child murderer. Kihn himself delivers a polished, atmospheric portrayal of Brian Jones' last days as he visits a transcendental group of musicians in hashish-infused North Africa. Appealing in their breadth and brevity, the stories show another aspect of the talent of some of rock's most famous lyricists. Roberta Johnson
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