Pittsburgh Guest Blogger Event 2014 #PghGBE

Mar 312014

Remember last year when my friend Alex was like, “I am going to make a handful of Pittsburgh bloggers jump through fiery hoops and because I’m so endearing and slightly resemble Pittsburgh Penguin Chris Kunitz*, they will do it?” and then we all did it? Well, it’s that time of year again. The April Fool’s Guest Blogging Thing! Today’s post comes from Susan of West of Mars and is part of a special day of shenanigans from other Pittsburgh Bloggers. You can see my post over on Crank Crank Revolution, where I expound for pages on the ups and downs of vegetarianism, including why I became one, how Henry saved me from birthing a cheese baby, and WTF tofu?

*(Is it just me?)

So without further ado, please enjoy Susan’s guest post about rock fiction.

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I’m one for jumping in, feet first, when something seems like a great idea. So when I got invited to join this April Fool’s blog exchange, ever naïve me figured there was no way I’d be the fool.

And then I met Erin and spent some time perusing her blog.

Let me tell you, Erin is the sort of forthright woman I wish I had the balls to be. Of course, there’s always that essential dilemma of women and balls in the first place… I mean, can we actually have them? And why would we want little external holders of testosterone, that hormone that makes us sprout chest hair?

Anyone who knows me well knows that right about now, I’m channeling the spirit of Trevor Wolff, the star of the Trevolution, my series of Rock Fiction novels. Trevor and Erin would get along grand. Me, Susan at West of Mars? Intimidation city!

So let’s move onto safer ground, that spot where Trevor and I can coexist as much as a real-life writer and a fictional bad-boy bass player ever can. I’m talking about the wonderful world of Rock Fiction.

Now, this isn’t a genre you’ll find in a bookstore (yet). It’s more of a broad overview, really, if such a thing can exist. Rock Fiction can be a mystery, it can be a romance, it can be general fiction, it can be science fiction. When it’s successful, Rock Fiction follows the rules of its main genre – a romance will have a Happily Ever After, for example – and still have the beat of music throbbing through each page. The details of the music world are real, be they about a touring rock star’s day or what it feels like when the world is against you so you slap on headphones to help you cope. A good work of Rock Fiction lets you relate. A great work lets you feel like you’re part of it.

For those of us who can’t function without a tune blaring in the not-so-background, Rock Fiction is transformative. It’s our life, or the life we wish we had, on a page. It’s written by people who get it, who are living the same things we are, be it a crappy real life or the dream itself.

Here’s a few to try on for size: My own Trevor’s Song (of course!). Jessica Topper’s Louder Than Love. KL Going’s Fat Kid Rules the World. Peggy Ehrhart’s Sweet Man is Gone. Don Bruns’s St. Barts Breakdown.

If you’d like more, or want me to link to a review you’ve posted online, know that Rock Fiction has moved away from West of Mars and has found its new home at The Rock of Pages (http://therockofpages.com). Like any good rocker or any fantastic song, it couldn’t be contained, piggybacking on the other literary works at West of Mars. It needed a stage of its own.

Those of us who get Rock Fiction will know exactly how and why.

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