An excellent collection of short stories about Shapeshfiter. Gives you back story to Trevor's Song. ( )

I read this before the full length book Trevor's Song, which features the same characters, and it instantly drew me in. I liked how the author introduced the stories and snippets with explanations about why she wrote them. The stories are quick and enjoyable to read and provide further depth into the characters from Trevor's Song. ( )

ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes: Year 1 is a collection of short stories about band life. The focus in the stories seem to primarily be on Trevor, but my interest resided more with Mitchell. I may just be more of a lead singer type of girl though. This collection is like an appetizer to wet your appetite for the book, Trevor's Song, and it's very successful. It's fun, it's real, it's got some edge and it's totally rock and roll. It really made me want to read Trevor's Song. Year 1 was an easy read, written in a conversational tone that made it very relatable. If you were ever in a band or just dreamed of being in one, you'll love this insider look at ShapeShifter. ( )

Shapeshifter: The Demo Tapes, Year 1 will be unlike any other books on the market because it is a short volume of material from author Susan Helene Gottfried's blog.

These snippets and scenes take readers behind the scenes of a band in the beginning and on the road, providing 100 pages of sheer entertainment, laugh-out-loud moments, and pure joy. Whether readers are fans of 80s hair bands and heavy metal or not, the plight of these boys on the road will have them shaking their heads or laughing right out of their chairs.

In one section of the book, Gottfried uses vivid, snappy descriptions to bring Mitchell's green hair to life on the page after than band spends three days in Phoenix at the pool.

"'How'd you make it worse?'

Mitchell jerked up so fast, he cracked his head on the faucet. He let out a wordless yowl and jumped up and down, a hand clapped to the spot, until the first jolt of pain faded." (Page 80)

In a variety of demos, Trevor, Mitchell, Eric, and Daniel are introduced, complete with their outrageous behavior and the tensions often prevalent in a band of young men. Shapeshifter: The Demo Tapes, Year 1 will whet readers' appetites and have them salivating for more, like so many record companies waiting for the next biggest band. ( )

Susan Helene Gottfried launched her blog West of Mars - The Meet and Greet as a place for "outtakes" - short scenes and sketches - involving the characters and situations in her not-yet-published novel about a rock band called ShapeShifter, Trevor's Song. The novel hasn't made it into print yet, but its first official companion/prequel has, as Susan has assembled and published the first year of outtakes in this book. While the outtakes make fairly random appearances on the blog, Susan has assembled them in chronological narrative order here, and has written additional introductory material for each sketch, giving more context about how it fits into the overall story of ShapeShifter. This is not a novel in itself - while the stories are placed in sequence, they don't have a plot thread tying them together - but if you haven't met the band before, it's a great way to do it.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.3rsblog.com/2009/03/thursday-book-talk-shapeshifter-demo.html ( )