Lyrics for Rock Stars: Stories

by Heather Mateus Sappenfield

This prize-winning collection brings to life skiers, ranchers, cyclists, suffragettes, tourists, super models, dead pigs, burro racers, religious beet farmers, immigrant miners, scorned lovers, penitent centenarians, and musicians.

Some historical, some contemporary, its stories revel in their Western settings, as varied as the region’s landscape. Yet each story explores the ways society’s values clash with our individual desires, compelling us, despite tears or laughter, to weave our lives through these opposing forces, often creating not a lifeline, but a noose.

198 pages, Paperback

First published September 21, 2020

About the author

Heather Mateus Sappenfield's writing, whether fiction or nonfiction, explores the adventures that fill life, often in the Rocky Mountain landscape that has been her lifelong home. She's fascinated by the many selves each of us becomes in our varied roles throughout the day (some we like, some we do not), and her writing often delves into the interior adventure of juggling those multiple selves. She believes that taking chances daily—whether internal or external, mild or extreme—are what makes us grow and feel alive. Her own exploits have included 24-hour mountain bike racing; backcountry ski touring; competing in the Mountain Bike World Championships; ski instructing for Vail Resorts; being a wife and mom; and winning bicycling’s Race Across America—San Diego, California to Atlantic City, New Jersey—as part of a four-woman relay team.

Heather's most grueling adventures, though, come in the writing of stories. Her work has been reviewed as “…finely observed...painstakingly crafted...Every element has been fitted in a way that rewards even an unpracticed eye turned to the hidden stitchery of fiction.” Her writing recognitions include the Danahy Fiction Prize, the Arthur Edelstein Prize, the V Press LC Book Compilation Prize, six Pushcart Prize nominations, a Reading the West Award nomination, a Ben Franklin Awards silver medal, an AudioFile Magazine Earphones Award, and finalist for the Flannery O’Connor Award, the Kraken Prize, and the Colorado Book Awards.

Heather lives in a tiny log home in Vail, Colorado. She’s taught narrative workshops at Colorado Mountain College, Western Colorado University and Pacific University, where she earned her MFA. She also writes the blog TREAD & EDGE. When she’s not writing, you'll probably find her teaching yoga, pedaling her mountain bike, or ski touring in the backcountry.

Reviews

[Alice Osborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Lyrics for Rock Stars: Stories Heather Mateus Sappenfield balances light and dark, pleasure and pain, and joy and sorrow all set in the urban and rural environs of Colorado, the Western state that I personally know the best. Sappenfield’s writing reminded me of Kent Haruf’s Eventide where the characters are plain-spoken, yet don’t always communicate very well with each other. Sappenfield jumps to the conflict without preamble and you feel like you’re there: tasting dust in your mouth or skiing off an embankment. Her writing crackles with intensity and you won’t easily forget these stories. My favorite ones involved the female adult characters (who all have very old-fashioned names like Elinor or Agnes or Dora) trying to find a new way forward such as “The Rusty Knife” and “Velvet Ropes.” Many of the stories ended too quickly, such as “The Call” about an estranged father who will meet his son’s family over Christmas. That one rang especially true for me, but I desperately wanted to find out how it ended. This collection ponders the truth of human choices and makes to feel what would you do in each of these characters’ difficult and defining situations. Read this book!

[Susan Griggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains a series of short stories centered around life in Colorado.

Each story uniquely presents characters in different settings, but all relate to life in Colorado. You can definitely tell by reading this collection. Sappenfield spent numerous hours refining the stories before publication. Each story does a fantastic job of unraveling scenes and characters well. Still, in the end, the majority of the stories did not come to a distinct conclusion. Although I don’t mind a hanging finish at times, several of these type of endings left me wanting more story development.

Actually, I was more fascinated with the author than the book. Just because I found this book in the local author section, it certainly did not mean the author acted on a small scale. Heather Mateus Sappenfield is so on the extreme end of the bell curve. I absolutely was blown away and felt pretty inadequate after reading her biography on Goodreads. I will be putting a full-length novel of hers on my list for future reads.

[Halcyondaysnow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories often get short thrift when it comes to critical and readerly attention, even though their short form means it is much harder to paint a convincing narrative. Heather Mateus Sappenfield manages it with Lyrics for Rock Stars, however. I read this collection of seventeen stories with high expectations, as I was aware of the author’s monumental dedication to the cause: the stories have been written over a period of two decades and have been polished so much that they resemble the glorious Colorado backdrop. Without wishing to give too much away, each story features a memorable Rocky mountains character who wrestles with a personal challenge. Some stories have a historical theme, some have contemporary settings, and their character are so diverse that I found it almost impossible to narrow the collection down to a favourite story. If forced to choose, my favourite would either be the story of the eight-year-old girl who supports her mother when her father leaves the family; or the title story in which a female opportunist meets an ageing singer and is encouraged to reinvent herself as a more honest version.
That Heather Mateus Sappenfield can write in so many registers, represent the thoughts of solid Colorado ranchers or capricious tourists, of wise centenarians or frightened eight-year-olds, is a testament to her enormous capabilities as an author. I know she has published in other genres, too, but after devouring Lyrics for Rock Stars, I am hoping she will publish further short stories, too!
I am grateful to NetGalley and the publishers, V Press LC, for letting me have an advance copy in exchange for this honest, unbiased review.

[Loranne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read many of these wonderful stories in their developmental stages -- while Heather and I were pursuing our MFA in writing through Pacific University's wonderful low-residency program. Then, as the stories were published and received awards, I read them with admiration for Heather's skill and creativity: well-developed characters, strong sense of place, finely wrought situations.

Now, I can't wait to read them again, assembled in this fine collection. Congratulations, Heather!

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5

#LyricsforRockStars #NetGalley

The words fly off the page as art. But for me, stories fell real flat and the words didn’t mean too much to me. Some of the stories in this collection I enjoyed; not enough to give a higher star though. From a writing standpoint, beautiful. I just couldn’t get interested in most of the stories.

[Nancy Stebbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

These short stories rock, like the guitar on the cover. Mostly set in the west (Colorado, specifically), they convey a definite sense of place and time, and conflict? Oh my, yes.

[Kelli Santistevan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here’s what this book is about:”This prize-winning collection brings to life skiers, ranchers, cyclists, suffragettes, tourists, super models, dead pigs, burro racers, religious beet farmers, immigrant miners, scorned lovers, penitent centenarians, and musicians. Some historical, some contemporary, its stories revel in their Western settings, as varied as the region’s landscape. Yet each story explores the ways society’s values clash with our individual desires, compelling us, despite tears or laughter, to weave our lives through these opposing forces, often creating not a lifeline, but a noose.”

I’m reviewing this book for Books Forward. A PDF file was sent to me in exchange for an honest review. This book will be on sale on September 21. I liked a couple of stories in this book but I didn’t like all of them.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, this was boring. I’m not the biggest fan of short stories unless they’re done really well. Ex. The Lottery.

These were just stories. No big reveal or life lesson in any of them. Literally just stories. I just wasn’t impressed.

[Amber Prince · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still in awe of Heather Mateus Sappenfield’s gift of storytelling. In each of the 17 short stories included in Lyrics for Rock Stars she masterfully transports the reader into each of the settings and the minds of her characters. No two stories alike, each one captivating, each story leaving the reader wanting more. Michael Crouch does a fantastic job, as Audible narrator, bringing Heather’s stories and characters to life. I listened to the entire book on two flights not wanting the stories or flights to end. My favorite read/listen this year!

[Robyn Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heather Sappenfield has written an eclectic collection of Colorado short stories with a vast array of characters having epiphanies. Part One features “Songs of Innocence”, with coming of age tales where young people often have revelations, causing them to grow up quickly. A teen girl has a crush on a cowboy, a young boy learns about the KKK, and a daughter discovers her burro racing dad is not the hero she thinks he is. Adult stories in “Songs of Wisdom” feature a mother who escapes to see wild horses in Utah, a skiing instructor looking after the safety of her inexperienced student, a pregnant woman drawn to a musician who is not her husband, and a centenarian watching man’s first walk on the moon. Each story truly feels like a new song, and this collection is a love letter to the beautiful state of Colorado.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravo! A brilliant collection of stories, each unique and guaranteed to capture one or more of your emotions.

[Sue Staats · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful collection. Heather is a brilliant new voice of the west!