Following in the footsteps of the late great Lester Bangs -- the most revered and irreverent of rock 'n' roll critics -- twenty-four celebrated writers have penned stories inspired by great songs. Just as Bangs cast new light on a Rod Stewart classic with his story "Maggie May," about a wholly unexpected connection between an impressionable young man and an aging, alcoholic hooker, the diverse, electrifying stories here use songs as a springboard for a form dubbed the lit riff.
Alongside Bangs's classic work, you'll find stories by J.T. LeRoy, who puts a recovering teenage drug abuser in...

This new collection of poetry from veteran author, Julianna Baggott, is written as a manual on writing poetry. On the surface, it appears only to be a collection of poems about poetry. On a deeper level though, it turns craft on its ear to examine the larger, looming world. There are several different types of poems included. Some poems are written as question and answer dialogues. Some poems personify poetry itself as a character and address it as an unruly muse. Others are more pointedly instructive and presented as example poems. Still others are written to famous poets ranging from...

Presents a series of traded and shared confessions of John and Jane; their messy sexual and emotional histories, their first shy, callow relationships, their past errors and big loves, their flaws and their passions. This novel features stories that reveal

The best day of Pixie's life was the day she won the Miss New Jersey beauty pageant. Her dreams stretched in front of her: a Miss America could go anywhere, be anyone. Fame and fortune were at her fingertips - until she fell pregnant. Now, the mother of a teenager, on her second marriage, she is beset by memories of her glittering career.

The stunning conclusion to the trilogy that began with Pure, recommended by People for those who loved The Hunger Games With his father now dead, Partridge has assumed leadership of the Dome, one of the last few refuges from the ravaged wastelands of the outside world. At first, Partridge is intent on exposing his father's lies, taking down the rigid order of the Dome, and uniting its citizens with the disfigured Wretches on the outside. But from his new position of power, things are far more complex and potentially dangerous than he could have ever imagined. On the outside, a band of...