West of Mars\' Rocks \'n Reads

Before picking up Matt Syverson’s Black Dog, I’d been forewarned by the author himself that there was some Gonzo writing going on in it. Yes, you know: Gonzo. Like Hunter S. Thompson and Naked Lunch and all that.
I’ve never been a huge fan of this sort of lit. But … Syverson pulled me in. His narrative voice is rhythmic, and his word choice is clever as anything.

The story is that of Joe E. and his friend Jonah, who spend the summer in Stringtown, Alabama with Joe E’s rather dotty granny. There’s something funny going on in Stringtown, something creepy. Joe E and Jonah are the right men for the job — and the job’s going to make men out of them.

Along the way, they encounter a taxi driver named Otis, a mysterious black dog, a unicorn, a werewolf, a man named Aqualung, and other odd things. With the exception of Otis, all come from one of the most clever phenomenons to enter fiction: they were conjured when Joe E and Jonah backmasked certain songs on Joe E’s uncle’s old record player.

Yep, boys and girls. We’re talking vinyl, that old relic of 1970s music listening. Oh, it’s still around if you know where to look, and you can even find turntables and needles, but for the most part, music these days has lost the charming snap, crackle, and pop of vinyl.

It’s also lost the joy and mystery of backmasking. For those of you new to this art, it’s when a music lover (or hater, out to prove their agenda) takes a 33 1/3 rpm record and manually spins the turntable backwards to hear what happens. Some say words and suggestions — always dark, violent, and/or Satanic — are embedded in this noise. Some claim it’s put there deliberately, but who really knows?

Backmasking is the core of this plot. Joe E discovers that it’s responsible for the 30 years of terror that have marked Stringtown — and that it can also be the town’s salvation.

Now, this story isn’t without its flaws. Due to the Gonzo writing, the narrator becomes a character in the story, but one who observes and makes commentary, not one who is involved in the events as they unfold. This limits the way the reader interacts with Joe E, Jonah, and their posse. It almost feels like an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, where you spend more time listening to Joel, Tom, and Crow than you pay attention to the story.

Almost, but not quite. Like I said, the writing is so darn clever, you can’t help but laugh along with its sly inside jokes. If you’re a music lover, you’ll get the jokes. If you’re not, sit down with the lyric sheets to all the songs mentioned. Then you’ll get them.

Overall, this is a fun read. Pure and simple. It’s not great literature, but I’m not always a fan of great literature. It’s a romp through clever ideas and better word choice. It’s an escape into a neglected style of writing — a style often ignored because it’s so hard to master. Syverson’s done it.

(The usual stuff: Matt was kind enough to give me a free digital copy of the book, and I read it on my iPod. Now that I’m done reviewing his book, I hope he and I can become friends. I like his view of the world!)

Buy Links (none of which will earn me affiliate money. So you know.)
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I’ll admit it: when I saw Wynonna Judd listed as an author whose book I could check out from the library through my iPod, I was skeptical. I expected pulp on a par with Jackie Collins. I might have even snickered a little bit.

So, okay, sure. I downloaded it via Overdrive, the greatest little invention since the iPod itself, and … devoured this book. I just loved it. It’s the story of Destiny Hart and her rise to fame — and her need to explore her love for her hometown’s baseball coach.

Look, okay? The heroine’s name is Destiny Hart. This ain’t something on a par with Michael Shilling’s Rock Bottom. This is a light, fluffy, feel-good book that delivers exactly what it promises. Even the more serious subplot about Destiny’s parents, while too familiar for comfort, isn’t high literature.

Restless Heart doesn’t pretend to be. It is what it is, and we can take it or leave it.

I’m taking it. This was a fun, energetic read that was hard to put down. Destiny seems very real, albeit a bit formulaic. Her problems with Seth are probably as real as they get; you love someone but you also feel a pull toward something else, something that’ll take you away from him. How you negotiate these twin loves is what life is all about.

And maybe best of all, I can’t pick apart the inaccuracies in the music world. After all, Wynonna Judd knows the music biz better than I do. And while there may be some liberties taken for the story to hold together, that’s okay. It works. It still reeks of authenticity, and that’s what matters here. We need to be able to trust the rock and roll as much as we trust the other elements in a book: plot, characters, and setting.

A definite West of Mars Recommended Read, folks, if only because it’s just darn fun.