Gary Benchley, Rock Star

"Before I moved to New York from Albany, I wrote out a careful, step-by-step plan: 1) Rock out; 2) No more data entry."

Gary Benchley, recent college grad and aspiring rock star, left his dead-end life in Albany to seek his fortune in that hotbed of hipsters — Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Earnestly optimistic and completely confident in his fate, Gary writes of his trials and tribulations securing a roommate, a girlfriend, and even a band — the "world's most inclusive band" — complete with a gay synth player, a hot chick drummer, and a cool black bassist. Calling their not-quite-musical sound "indie prog," they combine the most pretentious music of the 1970s with the most pretentious music of today. But after a dozen shows and even an album, the band begins to fall apart, and Gary finds himself increasingly disillusioned with his rock star fantasies. In Gary's world, though, the glass is always half full.

"Recent college grad Gary Benchley leaves dull-but-secure Albany for the rock hopeful's paradise of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in Harper's editor Ford's debut. By day, Gary slaves as a temp at consultancy BrandSolve. In his off hours, he forms Schizopolis, Brooklyn's most diverse indie-prog band, with his gay co-worker on synth, a black music journalist on bass and a 'hot chick' drummer. Gently mimicking MTV's Behind the Music, Ford follows Schizopolis as it comes together, does small gigs, signs with a small label, records an album and sets out in a van to tour as an opening act. Girlfriend Para, a few years older, obsessively blogs each stage of her and Gary's tepid romance, talks of pregnancy and performs potential groupie cock-blocks, while bandmate Katherine sends sparks Gary's way. Ford, who is also an NPR commentator, nicely captures the smalltown feeling of Williamsburg, where the 20-something rock and arts scenes are incestuous, shallow and deadly serious. Gary's first person is breezy and believable (the novel was first serialized online with Gary's byline, and people wrote in to cheer him on), and the rock minutiae, immature personae and clotted relationships are dead-on. For anyone now in their 30s with past musical ambitions, it's a funny, rueful read." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"A wry debut about self-absorbed twentysomethings who ditch bourgeois gigs in data entry for rock-'n'-roll dreams....A snapshot of what it means to be young, smug and oh-so-trendy, circa 2005." Kirkus Reviews

Paul Ford is an editor at Harper's magazine and regular commentator on All Things Considered.