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    ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes: Year 1
    ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes: Year 1
    ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes: Year 1
    Ebook87 pages1 hourThe Trevolution

    ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes: Year 1

    By Susan Helene Gottfried

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    A band's demo tape is intended to introduce listeners to their music. Likewise, this collection of short pieces allows readers into the fictional world of Trevor Wolff and his band, ShapeShifter.

    From the day Trevor and Mitchell meet to the pinnacle of success, these loosely linked stories will let you hang with a rock band. Vive la Trevolution!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSusan Helene Gottfried
    Release dateSep 8, 2009
    ISBN9781452402901
    ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes: Year 1
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    Author

    Susan Helene Gottfried

    Susan Helene Gottfried is the heavy-metal-loving, not-disabled enough divorced Jewish mother of two. A freelance line editor to authors of fiction by day, her select roster of clients tend to hit bestseller lists, and more than a few have quit their day jobs. It’s not entirely her doing, but like does attract like.Susan holds a BA (University of Pittsburgh) and MFA (Bowling Green State University) in English Writing and Fiction, respectively.She lives with a couple cats in the Pittsburgh suburbs, just West of Mars. Visit her at http://WestofMars.com and http://TalesFromTheSheepFarm.com.

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    Reviews for ShapeShifter

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    • 5/5

      Apr 12, 2011

      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.
    • 4/5

      Aug 7, 2009

      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.

    Book preview

    ShapeShifter - Susan Helene Gottfried

    ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes (Year 1)

    Susan Helene Gottfried

    West of Mars, LLC

    Copyright © 2008 by Susan Helene Gottfried

    All rights reserved.

    No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact Susan Helene Gottfried at West of Mars, LLC

    This collection is based on previously web-published content.

    All stories have been selected and edited by the author for a print-based readership.

    The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

    Book Cover by Lakota Philips

    Third edition 2023

    Contents

    Intro

    1.Meeting Trevor

    2.The Time Before Dinner

    3.Quitting

    4.Dedication

    5.Flags

    6.The Strand

    7.Late-Night Load Out

    8.Smoke Break

    9.Soy Sauce

    10.Death by Cheese

    11.Eric’s Flu

    12.Green Hair Week

    13.Backstage Party

    14.Buying Chicken

    15.Mitchell's Desk

    16.Hearts

    17.New Year’s Eve in Dallas

    18.Rain

    19.Inspiration

    20.Kerri’s Craving

    21.Conclusion

    About the Author

    Also By

    Intro

    I decided to collect the fiction about my band ShapeShifter and their bass player, Trevor Wolff, into one volume for two main reasons: First, I’m seeing more and more of my blog’s readers and my own fans, who I lovingly call groupies, clamoring to see Trevor’s Song, my first novel, in print. And second, this stuff is a lot of fun, but searching a blog or an index on my website isn’t. With this collection, you can catch up on what you might have missed during my first year of blogging: April 2006 through April 2007. You can also revisit old friends—or just savor the fact that everything is now in chronological order.

    If you compare these outtakes to what’s on the blog, you’ll notice subtle differences. In other words: I’ve cleaned up the writing. Usually, the outtakes that make it onto my blog are written quickly and gone over once, maybe twice. They’re supposed to be rough; these were written only to familiarize you with my fictional world so that when Trevor’s Song does finally hit bookstore shelves, you’ll be hooked. Spending too much time on an outtake that was never meant to go anywhere but on the blog takes away from my time creating novels and searching for that elusive publication deal.

    Another benefit to this collection, I think you’ll find, is the short introductions I’ve written for each outtake or related grouping. Also, as I mentioned earlier, this volume is organized by chronology, not by original post date. Even if you have been along since the beginning, by reading them in this order, you’ll get a better feel for what happened when and how everything fits together.

    I know you’re curious where the idea of the Demo Tapes came from. That’s easy. I write about rock and roll. These outtakes were written (or posted) as a way to sell myself, very much like a band’s demo tape does. While a band’s demo sometimes has songs that make it onto the debut album, I can assure you that none of these outtakes are reproduced in Trevor’s Song.

    So sit back, put your feet up, and check out the outtakes that made the first year of West of Mars—the Meet and Greet what it was. If you were part of any of it, thanks. If you’re just joining up now, good for you. As Trevor says, you can never have enough groupies.

    Chapter one

    Meeting Trevor

    Before there could be a band named ShapeShifter, Mitchell Voss and Trevor Wolff had to meet. It took Mitchell’s sister Amy and her rebellious phase to introduce Trevor to the Voss household.

    Trevor later said that Amy was the only girl he ever dated but didn’t sleep with. She’s also the only person he ever dumped for another guy—Mitchell. On the day in question, though, none of them knew what was to come. It’s probably better this way.

    Here you go: Meeting Trevor. First posted July 26, 2006.

    ***

    Mitchell watched from the couch, half-amused, as Amy pleaded her case on the other side of the family room. So far, she wasn’t doing so hot.

    Mom, it’s just a movie!

    Not with a boy we haven’t met yet, Amy, their mother said placidly. Mitchell watched her more than Amy, actually, fascinated by the way she got calmer the more Amy whined. He wished Amy would shut up; she was getting as bad as Beth. Boys, boys, boys. That was getting to be all they cared about.

    He shook his head and tossed his baseball into the air, catching it so easily, he didn’t even have to think about it. There was more to life than boys.

    Baseball, for example.

    And, he thought, girls. He told himself to dim the grin; if Amy or Ma saw it, they’d think he was laughing at them. Then they’d get pissed and throw him out of the room.

    If you drive me there, you can meet him then, Amy tried.

    "How’s he getting there?"

    Amy looked down at the carpet and twisted her shoulders back and forth. Mitchell’s grin grew; this was going to be good. He just said he’d meet me out front, and if he wasn’t there five minutes before the movie starts, it’s not his fault and we’ll try another time.

    Mitchell sat up and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. Ma was going to hate that. She didn’t go in for situations that involved if unless they were science experiments. He tossed the baseball some more.

    Sure enough, Ma was frowning. That doesn’t sound like a dependable young man, she said. She gave Amy one of those long looks down her nose, the kind that made all of them squirm. Amy folded her arms behind her back and kept staring at the carpet,

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