Book excerpt: The renowned rock journalist for Rolling Stone and Mojo takes readers into the outrageous netherworld of pop music in this debut collection of short fiction. British rock journalist Sylvie Simmons spent decades covering and interviewing music legends from Stevie Nicks to Frank Zappa; from Muddy Waters to Michael Jackson; and from The Clash to Guns n’ Roses, and beyond. Now she takes everything she’s seen, heard, and experienced in the company of these music legends and funnels it all through her vivid imagination. From heavy metal megalomaniacs to country crooners and a brokenhearted punk-pop singer named Pussy, Simmons conjures a cast of larger-than-life characters that ring all too true. In these eighteen interlocking stories, “Simmons has all the details of record-company politicking, rock-biz noblesse oblige, and backstage ritual down pat” (Kirkus Reviews).