Over 60 gripping accounts tracking the dark side of rock 'n' roll from the early days of the drugs-and-drink culture, and the birth of rock 'n' roll, through The Beatles, Stones, Sex Pistols, Madonna, Kurt Cobain and Oasis, to Amy Winehouse, Pete Doherty and other stars of the current rock-music scene. From trashed hotel rooms to cars in swimming pools, all rock 'n' roll's excesses are here, including murder and sexual deviancy, surprising brushes with the law that the stars thought they'd kept quiet, early and tragic deaths, drug overdoses, robbery, mis-marriages and groupies by the truckload

Each of us experience moments that shift the axis of our lives, nudging us into new perspectives and sometimes altering our course completely. These are thread--threads that seem mundane, silly, or even trite but, woven together over the course of a life, bring us to places we never imagined. Sex, God, and Rock 'n' Roll is a story of such threads in one extraordinary life. Barry Taylor began adulthood on the road with a world-famous rock band, and there he found religion. He then became a theologian, priest, teacher, and a theist-non-theist-post-theist. Some of his stories will shock and others will provoke laughter and tears. Taken together, they will show just how poignantly the sacred moves in all of our lives.

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.

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'

Fiction. A.W. DeAnnuntis writes with verve, deep learning, and comedic panache, creating improbable worlds that manage, somehow, to make sense.

Welcome to heavy metal rock 'n' roll, circa 1980, when all you needed was the right look, burning ambition, and a chance. Stephen Pearcy and supergroup Ratt hit the bull's-eye. Cranking out metal just as metal got hot, Ratt was the perfect band at the perfect time, and their hit single "Round and Round" became a top-selling anthem. As Ratt scrambled up a wall of fame and wealth, so they experienced the gut-wrenching free fall, after too many hours in buses, planes, and limos; too many women; too many drugs; and all the personality clashes and ego trips that marked the beginning of the end. Pearcy offers a stunningly honest self-portrait of a man running on the fumes of ambition and loneliness as the party crashed. His rock 'n' roll confessional, by turns incredible, hilarious, and lyrical, is a story of survival--and a search for the things that matter most.--From publisher description.

It's perhaps the relative modernity of rock 'n' roll that makes the genre a minefield of myths and legends accepted as truth. History hasn't had time to dissect the bunk. Until now. Discover the real stories behind rock's biggest crocks, how they came to be but why they have persisted. Did Cass Elliott really asphyxiate herself with a ham sandwich? Did the Beatles spark a spliff in Buckingham? Did Willie Nelson do the same in the White House? Did Keith Richards get a complete "oil change" at a Swiss clinic in 1973 to pass a drug test necessary to embark on an American tour with the Stones? Then there's the freaky (did Michael Jackson own the remains of the Elephant Man?), the quasi-medical (Rod Stewart and that stomach pump?), the culinary (did Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne really do all those things to bats, chickens, etc. onstage?), and the apocryphal (did Robert Johnson sell his soul to the Prince of Darkness in exchange for mastery of the blues?). In all, more than 50 enduring lies are examined, explained, and debunked.