Earlier this week, my old friend Josh Pachter announced the publication of his latest music-themed anthology, Happiness Is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the Beatles (Down & Out Books). I'm looking forward to it, for several reasons. One is that I and many of my writer friends have stories featured in there, and a second is that Josh always knows what he's doing with these antho-editing projects. My third reason is that all the stories in the book are based on songs by a group whose music has good memories for me.
I was a schoolkid just learning to play guitar when the Beatles first appeared, and I'll always remember how taken I was with their music, then and over the next few years. I still believe Lennon and McCartney (and Harrison, too) created some of the best songs ever written, and I'm not at all surprised by the fact that their music is still played and performed and appreciated after all this time. When our oldest grandson--he just turned sixteen--came over to our house a couple weeks ago, he and I spent four straight hours on our guitars, picking out some of the songs from the Beatles' later years. He loves their music. (He also dearly loves movies--wonder where he picked that up?)
Anyhow, I hoped as soon as I heard about this Beatles anthology that I'd be able to have a story in it, and somehow I was fortunate enough to sneak in past the palace guards. My story is called "We Can Work It Out," which is also the title of the song that inspired it. And it really did inspire it, because in this story the plot changes direction several times and requires its two protagonists to change with it--they're constantly having to backtrack and re-draw their plans, which weren't that great to begin with. Neither of these two jokers are the brightest bulbs in the fixture (how is it that I can relate so easily to guys like that??), so most of their problems are self-inflicted, but they're still problems that have to be "worked out," and somehow they manage. (With a little help from their friends, which I guess could've also been the title.)
Quick teaser: My heroes in this story, if you could call them that, are two down-on-their-luck roommates working dead-end jobs in east Texas, who decide the best solution to their financial troubles is kidnapping the feisty daughter of a wealthy rancher and holding her for a never-have-to-work-again ransom. And believe it or not, the first part of the scheme--the snatching of the kidnappee at a high-school football game (if you're wondering why a rich socialite would attend a high-school ballgame, you don't know Texas)--works as planned. But soon after that, things start to go the wrong way. NOTE: As a reader I love it when those sudden reversals happen, and as a writer I love it even more. The road to the end should be as bumpy and twisty (and long and winding?) as possible.
Besides the convoluted plotting, I think the thing I enjoyed most in writing this story was the hiding of Easter eggs in the form of occasional snippets of lyrics from its title song. It's fun to do that, especially in dialog, if it fits and if you don't quote closely enough to get into copyright trouble, and it's not as hard as it might seem. This is the fifth or sixth time I've had stories in music-themed anthologies (most of them Josh's) and since I often find myself humming the title song while I'm writing, those short words and phrases from the lyrics are right there in my head the whole time, waiting to be plucked and used. In fact, here's a suggestion. If you buy and read this anthology and you see in the table of contents a story-title/song-title that by chance you aren't familiar with, Google the lyrics and read them before reading the story. That'll probably make it even more fun.
Questions that come to mind: Have you been involved in any music-themed/music-inspired anthologies? If so, which ones? Did you choose the song for your story, or were you "assigned" one? To what degree did your song inspire your story? Did you incorporate parts of lyrics into your narrative? Did you use the title of the song as your story's title (that's usually the case), or were you free to choose a different title? Did you write your story from scratch, using the song as a guide, or did you renovate and retitle an existing and unsold story to fit the theme? Just wondering.
Bottom line is, "We Can Work It Out" was a story I thoroughly enjoyed writing and Happiness Is a Warm Gun is a project I'm proud to be a part of, and I so appreciate having been allowed to climb aboard. I look forward to reading every story featured, and to adding this book to my already-great memories of the Beatles and their music.
Thanks once again to Josh Pachter for the opportunity.
I'm looking forward to reading it, Josh. I've only been published in one - so far - Josh Pachter's "Paranoia Blues", and I wrote "Cool Papa Bell", based on Paul Simon's song. A very fun one to write, set in prison, with a very old lifer who knows how to put young thugs in their place. And I'm working on one right now for Michael Bracken's latest music themed anthology, "Janie's Got a Gun."
ReplyDeleteHey Eve. It's easy to see why that Paranoia Blues story was fun for you to write--I'm sure your history of working with inmates was a big influence on that story. And I'm already looking forward to Janie's Got a Gun.
ReplyDeleteI think these music-themed projects have created an entire subgenre for anthologies!
Thanks for this post; it came at exactly the right time for me. I'm working on my first such story right now, for Janie's Got a Gun.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, Leone! Have fun writing the story, and thanks for the note.
DeleteHi, John. Like Eve and Leone, I'm working on a story for Janie's Got A Gun. I have a pretty solid second draft and am trying to sharpen the dialogue now that I know the characters better. The story is "Dude Looks Like a Lady."
ReplyDeleteMy only other experience in the mix is a story Art Taylor asked me to write for Lawyers, Guns, and Money, the Warren Zevon anthology. He saw my Sleuthsayers post on Zevon, and it turned out he'd lost a writer who was going to cover "Roland, the Headless Thompson Gunner." He asked if I could help out, and that story may have come together more quickly than anything else I've written. Including the back-and-forth of editing, he had the story in a week, and I slipped in lyrics or allusions to several other Zevon songs, too.
Sub-genre, yes. I can think of at least a half-dozen other collections based on one performer, and others using the sixties, or one-hit wonders. I can think of two or three other artists that might be grist for the mill, too.
I guess all that time spent listening to the radio in my deformative years really did count for something after all.
Ha! It sure did, Steve. And I know what you mean, about deformative years.
ReplyDeleteI've been pleasantly surprised by all these music-themed projects--the stories in those are fun to write, and as a reader they bring back good memories. It's interesting to me that the Zefron anthology story came together so easily for you. I too have had great fun writing these themed stories.
Thank you as always!
I've been in anthologies twice so far, but they weren't music-related. I scribbled up a story called "The One I Loved" which was inspired by George Jones' recording of "The Corvette Song," but it was written from the viewpoint of an older man in the song who had committed murder. It was great fun to write & it was reprinted a couple of times & I even got paid again for the reprints, which as we know is unusual.
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth. Proof that a music-related song doesn't necessarily have to be sent to a music-related anthology, right? Congratulations on its multiple successes!
DeleteYes! I had a story in "In the Key of 13" - an anthology of Canadian women crime writers launched in 2019, I think. The cool thing was, the Toronto Star focused on my story, in which the only reference to music was the very last sentence, which consisted of two words of the title of an Elvis song (Release Me.) That was the 'Whydunnit' of the story. I'm a little young to have known Elvis in his prime, but it was a treat to be able to fit a music title to a plot so perfectly. Wish I had seen the call for more of these anthologies - they are such fun!
ReplyDeleteThat IS a cool way to work a song into a story, and--since it provides the ending--memorable as well.
DeleteI too have missed several anthologies I would've enjoyed writing a story for, only finding out about them much later. Thankfully, there seem to be more anthologies being published now than ever. I try to Google "anthology calls" or maybe just "submission calls" pretty regularly.
Thanks for chiming in, here!
John, congratulations! Sounds like a fun project.
ReplyDeleteIt was, Leigh, and for me it was fun to work some local settings, etc., into the story. I also used the project as an excuse to re-watch some old TV episodes of The Untouchables, for (ahem) research purposes.
DeleteHey, John! Sounds like a fun book! I have a story sent out to an anthology of crime stories based on "One-Hit-Wonders," and therin hangs a tale! I saw the submissions call in early 2020 and immediately thought of a song nobody would use! But it had a couple of hitches that would make it unusable for a story! But in May (at the DMV with a friend!) I suddenly hit on how to do it and wrote one of the sections of the story. Then I didn't write anything else on it for about four months. But a few weeks before the deadline (October 31st as a matter of fact!) I saw my way around a few other plot points and as I was emulating one of the great pulp 'tec writers (Norbert Davis, for the record!) I went all pulpy and finished it in a few marathon sessions, sending it off a few days ahead of the deadline. Then I got word the deadline had changed to December 31st. Then the anthology project went belly-up! Then it found a new publisher. Then the desired wordcount changed and I had to cut about 1500 words out of a 7,000 word story! (Said cut bits going into yet another story someday!) Sent off on time and last I heard the editor was swamped and is still reading through the slush. But my story wasn't "slush," it was "Shaving Cream," based on The Hustler's near million-selling 1970s cover of an old party song!
ReplyDeleteJeff, sounds as if you made that into an ongoing (successful) effort! I remember the One Hit Wonder project well--I too submitted a story for the anthology and then when the project fizzled I withdrew my story, rewrote and retitled it, and sent it to AHMM (it's been accepted there and is upcoming at some point). Now that the anthology's apparently up and going again, I half regret that I withdrew the story! I certainly look forward to reading yours, when the book comes out.
DeleteCongratulations, and thanks as always!
Thanks, but I'm not in it yet! And there are two of these anthologies (Called "I Just Died In Your Arms") coming out. From what I gather, they haven't made any decisions yet!
DeleteYou'll make it. Keep me posted.
DeleteI will! Thanks!
DeleteWhen I put together The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell a few years ago, I intended it to be a one-off. But it was so much fun to work I decided to do another … and then I just kept going. I’ve now “done” Joni, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, the Beatles — and the films of the Marx Brothers. Next up will be the Grateful Dead, Lyle Lovett, and Stephen Sondheim. After that, who knows?
ReplyDeleteI’ve also written for Zevon, one-hit wonders, and the songs of the ‘60s and ‘80s. Fun, fun, fun — till my daddy took the iMac away!
Josh, I remember thinking, when you announced that anthology, what a great idea that was. I believe it was the first of the music-themed anthologies I was a part of, and it was a fun project. (So were Buffett and Joel, for that matter.) Wishing you similar success with all the anthologies you edit, and contribute to, in the future!
DeleteNOTE: The other day at a family get-together one of our grandkids was playing around with something and said, "Fun, fun, fun!" I immediately said, "Till my daddy took the T-bird away." The whole family sat and looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. Ah, old memories . . .
R.E.: "Fun, Fun, Fun." LOL!
DeleteThe Beatles anthology sounds like a blast, as does your story. Congrats. I'm also working on a story for the Aerosmith anthology. I'll have one in an upcoming anthology of Genesis songs. I picked "Misunderstanding," primarily because of the video, which seemed like a great noir setup. The story didn't come together as easily as I hoped, but I was happy with it in the end. I'm grateful to the editors for keeping the projects going.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Tom--it's a big job organizing and editing these anthologies--my hat's off to Josh, Michael, Barb, and all who do that pretty regularly--and the projects I've been a part of and have heard about have gone well for everyone involved. Those upcoming anthologies you mentioned sound great too.
DeleteThanks for your thoughts!!