"Being in a band isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sure you get the girls, the money, and the fame, but you also lose friends, gain enemies, and break promises along the way. Ever since I was little I had dreamed of being in a band." Within this pages you will find a story about a struggling band in high school. Through the ups and downs of their senior year, friendships will be tested, relationships will be broken and formed, drugs will be done, and sex will be had. This isn't your average "coming of age" story. This is a real look at the rock and roll lifestyle and the life of a teenager.

Once you're dead, you're made for life. --Jimi Hendrix Hendrix. Janis. Morrison. Elvis. Lennon. Cobain. Garcia. Their reckless brilliance held the key to their self-destruction. Their deaths had much in common--and, surprisingly, so did their lives. From lonely childhoods marred by loss to groundbreaking music and turbulent careers that ended tragically and suspiciously, David Comfort explodes the myths as he probes: • The sinister roles of Hendrix's manager and girlfriend in his death and subsequent cover-up • The bizarre odyssey of Jim Morrison's corpse • Why Kurt Cobain was worth more dead than alive to Courtney Love • The twisted motives that caused John Lennon to sail through the Devil's Triangle to Bermuda--nearly going down in a storm--shortly before he was fatally shot • The crippling disease and "miracle" drug that drove Elvis to suicide Charismatic and gifted, but also isolated and conflicted, these are not the rock icons you thought you knew. Here are their larger-than-life stories of turmoil and excess that led to their early deaths and ultimate immortality. It's a wild ride to the other side of fame. "Fame is the soul eater." --Jerry Garcia "Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground." --John Lennon Includes Rare Photos David Comfort is the author of three bestselling nonfiction books. His short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines, including Eclectic Literary Forum, Pacific Review, Coe Review, and Belletrist Review. He has been the recipient of several literary prizes and a finalist for such prestigious awards as the Nelson Algren Award and America's Best. A former rock musician, he has spent over 30 years studying rock music, particularly the revolutionary and fatalistic pioneers of the 1960s. He lives in Santa Rosa, California.

During the heyday of the late '80s indie underground, high school sweethearts Bela Koe-Krompecher and Jenny Mae Leffel moved together from small-town Ohio to the big city of Columbus to pursue education and a dream of something more. When they arrived, the two met Jerry Wick, a prickly malcontent and lead singer of the punk rock band Gaunt, and the trio quickly forged a contentious friendship that would be challenged for the next 20 years by addiction, mental illness, homelessness, divergent whims and tragic paths. They bonded over their obsessive love of music, especially the scrappy, welcoming world of independent labels and bands, where heroes could be a neighbor, a bartender or even a know-it-all behind the counter of a record store. Through the label Koe-Krompecher and Wick launched, and the music Leffel made, these three friends gained fans nationwide and garnered unexpected critical acclaim from The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, SPIN and more while sharing the stage with bands like Superchunk, Mudhoney and Guided by Voices. At its heart, Love, Death & Photosynthesis is a story of the love between friends and the power of music to pull people together--often in spite of themselves--in the universal search for connection.

There is just something so provocative about rock stars. We can't get enough of their gently-weeping guitars, tuneful talents, and sexy shenanigans. Whether you plastered Jimi Hendrix posters all over your bedroom walls, danced to Love Is A Battlefield at your wedding, or dressed as Slash on Halloween - admit it: you've been beguiled by the guitar gods. Go behind the music and down the rabbit hole with five bizarre, outlandish, dark, droll, and just plain sacrilegious stories by Darren Gordon Smith (Blurt: Curses & Verses) and Staci Layne Wilson (Dark Lullaby). Fandom/Phantom - When Alberta magically brings her favorite departed rock n roll poet back to life, he's everything she dreamed... at first. Little Rosie vs. The Devil - When Satan tempts guitarist Strings McGee at the crossroads of his life, there's hell to pay. In(ter)vention - When alkie music critic Ian is ambushed with an intervention by his well-meaning but misguided family, things go from bad to super-bad. Depraved Indifference - When Hawkeye gets too obsessed with the flameout fatalities of famous hi-fi heroes, fantasy spills into reality. Fishing With Grandpa - When aging, entitled rock star Rhys Weedham takes a shine to his granddaughter's best friend, the unsuspecting young lady is faced with a Hobson's choice. PRAISE: "Anyone can write about rock n roll, but when you get heavy-hitters like Staci Layne Wilson and Darren Gordon Smith applying their combined knowledge of the genre for our entertainment, you know you're in for a rare treat. And what a treat it is. Electrifying, terrifying, and unique. I loved every minute I spent in these dark, deranged worlds. Bring on the sequel!" - Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning Author 'Kin' and 'The Turtle Boy' "Uniquely nightmarish. There's a touch of Bret Easton Ellis in the stories' surreal mix of anxiety, satire, and obsessive pop music analysis and inventory." - Don Mancini, Saturn-award winning Writer 'Child's Play' films and 'Hannibal' TV series "Like a great rock song, this book stays in your head long after you finish it. Funny, macabre and fascinating!" - Jace Anderson, Co-Writer 'Mother of Tears' and 'Fractured' films "With backstories like these - Wilson's dad is a rockstar (The Ventures), Smith is a musician (Repo! The Genetic Opera) - their stories have to be great. And they are!" Bobby Smithe, Author 'Bowie Bible' "Fiery and fevered scribes Staci Layne Wilson and Darren Smith have delivered an anthology book devoted to rock n roll fuelled short stories which read as lyrical as the songs and music they pay tribute to. With an authentic and uncompromising dedication to musicians from decades past, Wilson and Smith deliver a highly energetic and equally nuanced set of stylish tales of obsession, cynicism, neurosis and rage - all driven by a street sensibility and catapulting from the varied voices of the angry outsider. Not to be missed!" - Lee Gambin, Author 'We Can Be Who We Are: Movie Musicals From the 70s' "This book shreds!" - Lisa S. Johnson, Photographer/Author '108 Rock Star Guitars' "Tales of the fantastic blended with the razor kiss of rock n roll." - Tristan Risk, Burlesque Icon 'Little Miss Risk'

The author recounts his more than 6,500-mile journey across America, during which he visited the sites of famous rock star deaths and experienced philosophical changes of perspective.

Joy Division: Piece by Piece is the definitive collection of writings on the legendary cult band. In addition to collecting all Morley's classic works about the band from the late 1970s/early 1980s, this unique book includes his eloquent Ian Curtis obituary and his hindsight pieces on the significance of the group, framed by an extensive retrospective essay. Contemporary elements include Morley's critique of the films '24 Hour Party People' – which told the story of the band's record label, Factory – and 'Control', for which the author visited the set during production. Most movingly, Morley includes the original text that grew into his literary work Nothing, which parallels the suicide of Curtis with that of his own father. He also evokes the zeitgeist and the 'psycho-geography' of Manchester, which combined to produce the most uniquely intense rock group ever.

In this groundbreaking work, leading scholars and experts set out to explore the utility of the concept of affordance in the study and understanding of terrorism and political violence. Affordance is a concept used in a variety of fields, from psychology to artificial intelligence, which refers to how the quality of an environment or object allows an individual to perform a specific action. This concept can represent an important element in the process of choice involved in behavior, and is closely related to situational analyses of criminal behavior. In this book, the contributors set out to explore how this concept can be used to study terrorism and, as a result, develop management strategies. Essays discuss such topics as affordance in relation to counterterrorism, technology, cyber-jihad, ideology, and political ecologies. By importing the concept of affordance and a new set of research to the study of terrorism, the authors offer an innovative and original work that challenges and adds to various aspects of situational crime prevention and counterterrorism.