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Edited by Janice Eidus and John Kastan
It seems to us that each story in this book is like a good song: entertaining and powerful in its own right. Our aim was to offer a dramatic and revealing (and often very funny) look at the rock and roll way of life, in which the individual pieces—like the music itself—range from the outrageous to the mellow. Illustrating the music's extremely widespread appeal, the authors represent diverse cultures as well—from "Downtown" to "Down South," and from those who remember Elvis Presley provocatively swiveling his hips on the Ed Sullivan Show, to those who were born after the King died. Order this book from Barnes & Noble. Praise... Janice Eidus's influence on IT'S ONLY ROCK AND ROLL is evident. The author of four powerful works of fiction has a distinctive stamp. Her own work is irreverent, original, and witty. Several of the stories included here share her sensibility, giving mischievous feminist twists to old dinosaur legends. They explore rock's companions, sex and drugs, with a raised eyebrow, a knowing smile, and bemused sophistication. —Rain Taxi Review of Books IT'S ONLY ROCK AND ROLL is a scrapbook of a culture that is essentially American whether plucky or stoic, dreamy or sad, giddy or lost, or very occasionally, found. [These stories are about] yearning: yearning for the ineffable, for love, ease, notoriety, belonging, meaning, rapture, or some star-spangled oblivion that the music promises to all who listen in. —American Book Review IT'S ONLY ROCK AND ROLL... the first fiction anthology about rock music is an engaging collection of short stories with a unique premise. Janice Eidus and John Kastan compiled the entertaining and enlightening stories, with front-row, backstage and motel perspectives of the music scene. —CNN Interactive, CNN.com This anthology invites readers to join along with the richly told stories of this unforgettable era. It is like being dipped into paint, and then with meticulous brush strokes the reader is placed within the canvas, imagination all the room and space played out in grand irreverent style. And in the process of creating these living portraits, language encompasses aspects of drama, giving us the feeling of being a part of an American dream unfolding before us, and at the same time, placing us in history alongside characters who have become our modern legends. These narratives are like songs—full of diversity and individuality, but communal enough to form a kind of human solidarity, so that each time we read one, we repeat the experience, connecting character to reader, resurrecting memory, forever linking us with words like love, faith, glory, and commitment. —Crab Orchard Review |
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