My Review of Daisy Jones & The Six up at Book and Film Globe!!!

"Being in a rock band has a desperate, barely-held-together feel—money, drugs, sex, creativity, drummers who won’t play the songs the way you wrote them."

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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I Played a Gig/I Finished a Novel

So, I've had quite the week.

First, I played my first musical gig in about decade.

Murphy's Outlaw of Arizona--featuring two founding members of the Refreshments, my longtime cohort Jim Gerke, and my new bud Mitch Cole--invited me down to AZ to play a bunch of our old material. Little did I know that ten or so family members from Illinois or Colorado would make the trek to take in the spectacle. The week included a trip down to Dustin Denham's basement for rehearsal (where most of my AZ bands started); a great time on Thursday with my mom, dad, wife, and extended family; and a pass through two hours of Refreshments and other songs at Rock Bar on Friday night. This turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected, and I expected it to be plenty fun. A huge thank you to everyone who helped make it a very special trip for me.

Then, this week I came home and finished my latest novel, Nineteen Ways to Destroy Your Rock Band

(They say write what you know.)

This was an eight-year (!) project that started as a memoir of my time in the Refreshments and mutated over the last four years into a novel. It feels wonderful to finally have this thing off my desk. It is now in the hands of a few agents, and I hope to hear something soon. Know that I wouldn't expect the novel to be out any sooner than early 2021, but I wanted to report it's done. I'm sure I'll be posting more on it over the next weeks and months.

What does this mean going forward? It means I can relax a bit and have a good time in 2019 and 2020. First, Murphy's Outlaw is threatening to come to my neck of the woods (Portland, OR) over the summer to do it all over again. The plan is in its early stages, but it actually feel like it's going to happen. If you're interested, please friend me on Facebook, and I will keep you posted on details.

Also, sitting in with Murphy's Outlaws down in Phoenix next year is a no-brainer. I'd love to do it next week but will have to wait until next year.

What else? Who knows? But this thing ain't over, not by a long shot.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of This is Memorial Device by David Keenan up at JMWW!

I'm always excited to get rock novel recommendations.

Lewis Buzbee passed This is Memorial Device by David Keenan on to me, which he found and read while traveling in Europe in 2017. I had to wait until this past February to get my hands on it here in the States, and it was well worth the wait. I touch on what the novel does well in my review of it, which just popped up at JMWW this past week. Give the review a read, then give the book a read.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of The King of Good Intentions up at JMWW!!!

I love it when a new review of mine pops up, so much so that I want to make sure you know that my review of the rock novel The King of Good Intentions by John Andrew Fredrick went live this week at JMWW.

The King of Good Intentions is the first of at least two rock novels in a series by Fredrick. You all know how fond I am of rock novels in a series. Let's just say Fredrick's debut reminded me a bit of my 2003 debut Stuck Outside of Phoenix, except his is set in Los Angeles and has a narrator (and writer) boasting some serious acuity with the language. Lovely prose, lots of good honest trouble. Give the review a read, and give the novel a chance as well!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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The Undisputed Top 20 Rock Novels of All Time, 2017

2017 was one of the worst years for new rock novels in recent memory. I found only one new title to read this past year--published in 2013--and luckily it merits Top 20 consideration or I would have no changes to my list.

The new title is The King of Good Intentions by John Andrew Fredrick, and I slot it in at #19. A review is forthcoming.

Fredrick has also published a sequel, The King of Good Intentions II, which I will take a look at soon. Here's hoping it's an early addition to 2018's list.

Until then, keep me posted on any new rock novels you might come across. There is no central place to find out about these titles, so I'm counting on you to fill me in when merited.

I've already got time set aside for This is a Memorial Device by David Keenan, which comes out in America in 2018. Let's hope for even more rock fiction next year.

20 The Last Rock Star Book, Or: Liz Phair, a Rant by Camden Joy


19 The King of Good Intentions by John Andrew Fredrick


18 Big in Japan by M. Thomas Gammarino


17 You Don’t Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem


16 A and R by Bill Flanagan


15 Saguaro: The Life and Adventures of Bobby Allen Bird by Carson Mell


14 Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin


13 A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan


12 Wonderland by Stacey D'Erasmo 


11 Great Jones Street by Don DeLillo


10 Vexation Lullaby by Justin Tussing


9 How the Mistakes Were Made by Tyler McMahon


8 Losing in Gainesville by Brian Costello 


7 The Blue Bourbon Orchestra by Carson Mell


6 The Wishbones by Tom Perrotta


5 Never Mind the Pollacks by Neal Pollack


4 Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta


3 High Fidelity by Nick Hornby 


2 The Commitments by Roddy Doyle


1 Banned for Life by D. R. Haney


Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of Mo Daviau's Every Anxious Wave up at Barrelhouse!!!

It is my pleasure to be the first to tell you--or the latest to remind you--of the new rock novel by Portlander Mo Daviau, Every Anxious Wave, which I reviewed for Barrelhouse this week!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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The Undisputed Top 20 Rock Novels of All Time - 2016

It is my pleasure once again to bring you the top 20 rock novels of all time, 2016 style!

Our esteemed panel of judges found it fit to add one title to the illustrious Top 20 this year, Vexation Lullaby by Justin Tussing, which clocks in at Number 10. Read my review of Vexation Lullaby here.

For his efforts, Justin will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Sweden, where he will take Bob Dylan's place in the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10th. He will also get Bob Dylan's check from the Nobel Academy, and half Dylan's song publishing royalties in perpetuity. It's the least we can do.

Check it!

20 The Cost of Living by Rob Roberge


19 The Last Rock Star Book, Or: Liz Phair, a Rant by Camden Joy


18 Big in Japan by M. Thomas Gammarino 


17 You Don’t Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem


16 A and R by Bill Flanagan


15 Saguaro: The Life and Adventures of Bobby Allen Bird by Carson Mell


14 Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin


13 A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan


12 Wonderland by Stacey D'Erasmo 


11 Great Jones Street by Don DeLillo


10 Vexation Lullaby by Justin Tussing


9 How the Mistakes Were Made by Tyler McMahon


8 Losing in Gainesville by Brian Costello 


7 The Blue Bourbon Orchestra by Carson Mell


6 The Wishbones by Tom Perrotta


5 Never Mind the Pollacks by Neal Pollack


4 Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta


3 High Fidelity by Nick Hornby 


2 The Commitments by Roddy Doyle


1 Banned for Life by D. R. Haney


Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of Beatlebone by Kevin Barry up at Page & Spine!!!

Anyone who knows me knows I'm curious about the intersection of rock and roll with the novel form. To me, the rock life is inherently dramatic, and it hasn't yet been overdone in literature. How do we use the long fiction form--where words and not music have to do most if not all of the heavy lifting--in a way that complements what we already know about rock and doesn't take away from it?

With this in mind, I'm very pleased to have my latest review--on the novel Beatlebone by Kevin Barry--up at Page and Spine. Topics explored include John Lennon, scream therapy, and the advantages and disadvantages of making famous people into fictional characters.

Here's the link again.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of Vexation Lullaby by Justin Tussing up at Page & Spine

I'm thrilled to be the first one to get to tell you about Vexation Lullaby, the rock novel by Justin Tussing that I reviewed for Page & Spine this past week.

This one will find a place on my Top 20 Rock Novels of All Time list at the end of the year. Any Dylan fans out there? You'll want to check this out!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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My Review of Big in Japan by M. Thomas Gammarino

Somehow, someway, I managed to miss this little gem of a rock novel back in 2009, but luckily for all of us, it's still out there. The Rumpus today did me the honor of publishing my review of Big in Japan by M. Thomas Gammarino, brought lovingly to print by Chin Music Press. You might remember I chose this title as #17 on my Undisputed Top 20 Rock Novels of All Time list back in October. 

Give it a read!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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Undisputed Top 20 Rock Novels of All Time - 2015

Two new entries made my list this year, including one in the top ten. The new entries are by Brian Costello (#8) and M. Thomas Gammarino (#17). You can read my review of Losing in Gainesville here, and my review of Big in Japan is forthcoming.

Enjoy the ride.

20 The Sound of Songs Across the Water by Rob Yardumian


19 The Cost of Living by Rob Roberge


18 The Last Rock Star Book, Or: Liz Phair, a Rant by Camden Joy


17 Big in Japan by M. Thomas Gammarino 


16 You Don’t Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem

  
15 A and R by Bill Flanagan


14 Saguaro: The Life and Adventures of Bobby Allen Bird by Carson Mell


13 Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin


12 A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan


11 Wonderland by Stacey D'Erasmo 


10 Great Jones Street by Don DeLillo


9 How the Mistakes Were Made by Tyler McMahon


8 Losing in Gainesville by Brian Costello


7 The Blue Bourbon Orchestra by Carson Mell


6 The Wishbones by Tom Perrotta


5 Never Mind the Pollacks by Neal Pollack


4 Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta


3 High Fidelity by Nick Hornby 


2 The Commitments by Roddy Doyle


1 Banned for Life by D. R. Haney


Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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Two Readings in Three Days!

Yep. That's how good I got it.

First was a whole crew of Curbside Splendor readers at the new Reading Frenzy in Alberta. I came for Brian Costello, whose rock-ish novel Losing in Gainesville I plan to review, but I was blown away by the quality work of all four readers.

Second, I made it to Powell's on a rainy Friday night to hear the inimitable Karen Karbo read from the Hawthorne Books reissue of her 1991 slapstick novel The Diamond Lane. The section Karen read felt like it was written yesterday. Wanna read how funny lit fic is supposed to go? Look no further.

So, I'm set with two new, thick titles just in time for the rain.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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Rock Lit Summer

I've been picking my way through a few great rock titles this summer, and I'll be reviewing them all in the coming weeks. The first review, of See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody by Bob Mould, will see the light at HTMLGIANT in July. I was a big Husker fan as a youngster and had plenty to say about Mould's take on the band.

I also just finished the review of the rock novel Wonderland by Stacey D'Erasmo, and I hope to have a landing place for it soon.

I'm currently reading another rock novel, The Sound of Songs Across the Water by Rob Yardumian, and will get to work on a review of it next week.

Then I can finally get into Midnight, Jesus & Me, a memoir by fellow rock freak JM Blaine. I'll write up a review for it in August.

Finally, I'll be updating my Top 20 Rock Novels of All Time in the fall. This update becomes necessary after reading the two rock novels above, and I may re-read one that made the list last year but that many felt I gave short shrift. Look for the updated list in September.

You can wait for my take on these books, but it would be great if you read and wanted to discuss them as well. You can really gone wrong with any of them.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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What I'm working on...

...besides getting ready for my one-day self-publishing seminar at the Attic at the end of this month, where there is still room for you.

-Novel Four, which is about tribute bands;

-A short story about Alex Trebek and Arizona musicians that I think is finally done;

-An essay about my high school friend Randy and I going to see Stevie Ray Vaughan four times;

-An essay about Morrissey and chewing tobacco;

-An essay about why no one wants their novel called a rock novel;

-Ghost Notes the screenplay;

-A short story about Wrigley Field that is not even close;

-Badge review submissions.
 
Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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New Badge Podcast, New Piece on Rock Novels, and here comes AZ, LA and SF!!!

The fun just doesn't stop here at Badge Central.

First up, here's a podcast of me chatting for a half hour with Ben Tanzer, whose VIDA reading at AWP was so good I almost cried. Ben and I chat Badge, The Refreshments, writing and Novel Four.

Also, here's a piece I wrote about my problems with the term "rock novel" that The Nervous Breakdown published on Sunday. Help us find a replacement for this woefully stupid monicker!

Finally, this is my last week at home before I head to AZ and CA for Badge Tour 2014. Check out the tour's dates and make sure you hit one.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Watch the Book Trailer for Badge.



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Top Twenty Rock Novels of All Time: Complete List

Top 20 Rock Novels of All Time

20 Ten Thousand Saints By Eleanor Henderson


19 Never Mind Nirvana by Mark Lindquist


18 Twisted Kicks by Tom Carson


17 Boarded Windows by Dylan Hicks


16 The Cost of Living by Rob Roberge


15 The Last Rock Star Book, Or: Liz Phair, a Rant by Camden Joy

  
14 You Don’t Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem


13 A & R by Bill Flanagan


12 Saguaro: The Life & Adventures of Bobby Allen Bird by Carson Mell


11 Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin


10 A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan


9 Great Jones Street by Don DeLillo


8 How the Mistakes Were Made by Tyler McMahon


7 The Blue Bourbon Orchestra by Carson Mell


6 The Wishbones by Tom Perrotta


5 Never Mind the Pollacks by Neal Pollack


4 Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta


3 High Fidelity by Nick Hornby 


2 The Commitments by Roddy Doyle


1 Banned for Life by D. R. Haney

Start at the beginning here.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Check out the Trailer for Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie, which premiered in May 2013.

Or try Stuck Outside of Phoenix in print form for just $10.

Or try Stuck for your Kindle for just $2.99.

Top Twenty Rock Novels of All Time : #1

What's this? Start at the beginning here.


1

Banned for Life by D. R. Haney

I first came across Banned for Life in 2010 after having a piece published at The Nervous Breakdown and becoming involved in its literary community. One of the most colorful writer/commenters at TNB was D. R. “Duke” Haney. Haney’s debut novel, I read in his bio, was called Banned for Life, which upon further review had serious rock lit overtones, putting it right up my alley. But the thing was $21, well more than what I wanted to pay for a paperback. So, I did what any good supporter of the arts does: I tried to find it used.

When that didn’t work, I tried to hit Haney up for a free copy in a trade for my latest, Ghost Notes. Haney, on to my scheme from the onset, said he’d love to trade but didn’t have a copy of his novel to give away. I waited a year, periodically scanning the Internet, looking for a way to get Banned for Life for less than 20 bucks, to no avail. It was clear if I were going to read this thing, I’d have to suck it up and become that rarest of all creatures: a genuine supporter of small press literature. I placed my order at Powell’s, coughed up the dough, and once I had it in my hands, I plopped onto my couch.

And didn’t get up for a long time.

Banned for Life is more than just another worthy contribution to the pantheon of rock novels. It’s the best one I’ve ever read.

Jason “Killer” Maddox is Banned for Life’s narrator, and his voice is central to the appeal of the novel. It’s also a voice I associate with Haney himself, having read much of his work at The Nervous Breakdown. Instances of its power and compelling nature abound, but the first few sentences capture it as well as any: “It all began with a fuck. What doesn’t? I fucked the wrong person; I fucked up the right one; somebody played me a song. It changed my whole life, that song. That’s why I later went to so much trouble to find the guy who wrote and sang it.”

And there you have the through-story of Banned for Life, but more importantly you have the tenor of the teller: passionate, provocative, profane. It’s the kind of voice I’m inclined to listen to.

But Haney doesn’t just rely on the stun of his yawp. Throughout the novel he reveals his talent for tropes, like this passage about his best friend Peewee: “At fifteen he’d soaked up more knowledge than most people twice and three times his age, and he’d ramble through it in breathless monologues, veering from subject to subject like a house-trapped sparrow trying to find an open window.”

Or in this description of Los Angeles: “At times it reminded me of a Doors song: laid-back on the one hand, ghostly on the other—a hammock stretched between tombstones.”

Or when he first meets Peewee: “There was a sense of stumbling on a secret somehow, as if I’d tripped on a rug and discovered a cellar that wasn’t in the floor plan.”

Haney is a writer, not a blogger, and anyone who picks up Banned for Life with hopes of finding something more elevated than the latest Internet click bait won’t be disappointed.

Jason and Peewee’s relationship is front and center for much of the novel, but just as compelling to me is Jason’s girlfriend Irina, a beautiful, married, chronically detached Serbian who over the course of the last half of the novel learns the underside of what her beauty gets her. Their mutual friend Milan tries to clue Jason in:

“You know Irina—I love her very much, but she plays her game with me, you know. She does this for a long time with me, but then I realize nothing will happen.”

Despite the warning, Jason falls hard for Irina, so much so he doesn’t like her passing affection for anyone, even his long-gone friend Peewee. “Here was a girl so astonishing in every way, I was always going to feel jealous, even of someone who’d been dead for years.”

Much passes between the two lovebirds, most of it maddening for Jason. Not since Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley does a literary relationship seem so doomed for the outset.

If anything in Banned for Life made me bump, it was the occasional gesture of Jason to his own comeliness, or strength, or sexual prowess. For example: “There’s no other way to say it: I was a big, tall, handsome guy.” And later with Irina: “‘I think I’m going to leave,’ she said, and started to get up, but I pulled her down and fucked her nearly comatose, and she was nothing if not encouraging.” That great voice loses a bit for me in these instances. When Jason reflects, “I’m not trying to suggest my dick is that big, or I’m that great in bed,” we know he’s suggesting just that.

But these quibbles can't ebb the flow of goodwill I feel for Banned for Life. Haney has created a tale both tender and bombastic--not unlike your favorite rock album--and the book fulfills the promise of the rock novel better than any other to date.

And you better believe it’s worth $21.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Check out the Trailer for Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie, which premiered in May 2013.

Or try Stuck Outside of Phoenix in print form for just $10.

Or try Stuck for your Kindle for just $2.99.

Top Twenty Rock Novels of All Time: #5-2

What's this? Start at the beginning here.

5

Never Mind the Pollacks by Neal Pollack

The most brazen book on this list, Pollack plants his fictional doppelganger, rock critic Neal Pollack, at the scene of every important rock event in the latter half of the 20th Century, taking us from its birth with Sam Phillips in Memphis all the way to the fateful day Kurt and Courtney got married. Elvis, Iggy and Patti Smith all make appearances, but none of them are an compelling as Pollack, who rages against the dying of the rock.

Memorable Line: “They listened to Jimmie Rodgers and Fats Domino all across Texas, Elvis blowing flies off his lips, Scotty and Bill becoming progressively less famous, Neal chugging the cough syrup, staring bug-eyed out the window, singing ‘Baby, Let’s Play House’ as they steamed into New Orleans and Jacksonville and all roads leading to stardom.”

4

Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta

Stone Arabia is story of one reclusive rock musician—Rik, who over the course of several decades has created The Chronicles, a mish-mash of music, journalism and ephemera encompassing his made-up rock star life—told from the point of view of his younger sister Denise, who’s struggling to get down her own chronicles. Spiotta beautifully renders a rock life as it gets old, and wears thin.

Memorable Line: “She was a woman who always appeared past her peak but who actually never had a peak.”

3

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby 

Record store owner and music freak Rob is obsessed with understanding his life through top-five lists, all while his ex-girlfriend sleeps with his upstairs neighbor. Hornby gives us an archetypal rock character, the sullen guy a little too attached to his own pop culture opinions while real life threatens to pass him by.

Memorable Line: “Tuesday night I reorganize my record collection; I often do this at periods of emotional stress.”

2

The Commitments by Roddy Doyle

The Commitments is a charming story of a batch of south Dublin nobodies who manage to put together a blues act that threatens to take them to the top. No novel has ever brought the vibe of rock so convincingly to the page, or the fragility of an pop act on a quick ascension to stardom.

Memorable Line: “You made up for the lack of variety by thumping the string more often and taking your hand off the neck and putting it back a lot to make it look like you were involved in complicated work.”

Check in Friday for the #1 Greatest Rock Novel of All Time.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Check out the Trailer for Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie, which premiered in May 2013.

Or try Stuck Outside of Phoenix in print form for just $10.

Or try Stuck for your Kindle for just $2.99.

Top Twenty Rock Novels of All Time: #10-6

What's this? Start at the beginning here.

10 

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

A hodgepodge of music business types make up this patchwork of pathos in Egan’s ode to the fracturing of our communication in the new century. A Visit from the Goon Squad could be an early sign of where the novel is headed in the iPad era.

Memorable Line: “Everybody sounds stoned, because they’re emailing people the whole time they’re talking to you.”

9

Great Jones Street by Don DeLillo

Bucky Wunderlick is a rock star with a world of fans waiting on his next word, but does he have anything left to say? DeLillo probes the bizarre power of 1970s pop fame, and urban decay, all the while suggesting the two might have more than a little to do with each other.

“’Fame,’ he said. ‘It won’t happen. But if it does happen. But it won’t happen. But if it does. But it won’t.’”

8

How the Mistakes Were Made by Tyler McMahon

Laura Loss is a musician-barista in Seattle’s nineties music scene searching for a way out, when she stubbles upon two young musicians looking for help fulfilling their rock dreams. The subsequent band, the Mistakes, make a few, with Laura revealing her role in their demise in this gripping rock confessional.

Memorable Line: “I sometimes wonder what would’ve become of underground music in this country had Ford never produced [the Econoline van].”

7

The Blue Bourbon Orchestra by Carson Mell

The only writer to appears on this list twice, Mell recounts the plight of middle-aged guitarist and wanderer Charles Leslie deBeau, who finds himself in the titular blues band, spending years touring the south on a shoestring and winding up with a murder rap. Mell refines his storytelling chops from Saguaro to create this heftier, more realistic tome, but still with his patented seductive voice.

Memorable Line: “You only get to choose one path. And it’s not even a path. We just call it that to feel comfortable.”

6

The Wishbones by Tom Perrotta

Dave Raymond loves nothing as much as playing in his wedding band the Wishbones, but at thirty-one, the rest of Dave’s life is crowding him toward something more substantial. Perrotta tells the tale of a reluctant adult who lives to play cover songs that make people sweat on the dance floor.

Memorable Line: “Once, out of curiosity, he squeezed himself into a pair of leather pants, and it hadn’t been a pretty sight.”

Check in on Thursday, when we'll do #5-2.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Check out the Trailer for Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie, which premiered in May 2013.

Or try Stuck Outside of Phoenix in print form for just $10.

Or try Stuck for your Kindle for just $2.99.

Top Twenty Rock Novels of All Time: #15-11

What's this? Start at the beginning here.
    
15

The Last Rock Star Book, Or: Liz Phair, a Rant by Camden Joy

When Sioux City musician-narrator Camden Joy finds himself commissioned to write a “Where are they now?”-style biography of Liz Phair, he winds up revealing his own biography of failed love, obsession and institutionalization. Think Holden Caulfield pushing thirty in the 90s with a microcassette recorder.

Memorable line: “When we count one to ten … we don’t actually count but just repeat words we learned long ago.”
  
14

You Don’t Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem

Young, smart, and a bassist in an art rock band in 1980s Los Angeles, Lucinda Hoekke’s only problems are resisting the passion she feels for her guitarist—which would spell doom for her band—and The Complainer, a caller on the complaint line where she works who uses her vulnerability to leverage his way into her life. You Don’t Love Me Yet plays at the intersection of love, art and rock music, with Lucinda and her mates not paying enough attention to the road.

Memorable Line: “Falmouth’s first and most successful piece of art was himself, installed in the larger gallery of the world.”

13

A & R by Bill Flanagan

A & R tells the tale of Jim Cantone, who learned the music business during its Wild West days but finds the new 90s lot of corporate-thinkers disconcerting. This novel somehow succeeds in the all-but-impossible task of making a record label rep sympathetic.

Memorable Line: “These were people who shared nothing voluntarily, least of all their attention.”

12

Saguaro: The Life & Adventures of Bobby Allen Bird by Carson Mell

Saguaro is the tall-tale recounting of fatherless Arizonan Bobby Bird, who goes on to some success as a singer-songwriter but spends most of his life getting in and out of various entanglements with ladies and fringe types. Mell’s captivating, down-to-earth voice makes Saguaro completely devour-able.

Memorable Line: “This is a story I’m not too inclined to tell unless you are particularly interested in tales of full grown men turning into worthless assholes.”

11

Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin

Wise Young Fool is about teen guitarist Ritchie Sudden, who’s found himself in a juvenile lock-up after the events from the night of his band’s first gig. Beaudoin unravels the conflicts that lead to Sudden’s detention by skillfully interspersing both front and back story, and with the verbal alacrity of a prose gymnast.

Memorable Line: “Ravenna’s caught two hundred meters below the reef, unwanted sexual pressure crushing her lungs, sharks below and the bends above, nowhere to go but farther inside herself.”

Check in Wednesday for #10-6.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Check out the Trailer for Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie, which premiered in May 2013.

Or try Stuck Outside of Phoenix in print form for just $10.

Or try Stuck for your Kindle for just $2.99.