I thought the writing was quite good and the story very engaging. I'll be sure to pick up a copy, as I absolutely have to have any book in print that's even tangentially about my favorite band. (by the way mockingbird, where's TPC third edition?? I'll donate as penance for that bit of kvetching.)

One thing I do take issue with is the way the book is being promoted. It seems the aim is to draw in curious non-phish fans by portraying the community as housing a seedy underworld of drug abuse and crime. I refer in particular the following sentence:

Q and his crew are drawn into a dangerous intrigue of dreadlocked dames, shady tape collectors, and spun-out wookies chasing after the long-lost recording of a mysterious late-night jam.

To some degree this seems to be a problem with the premise of the story as well. It's simply laughable. There's an order of magnitude more violence and drug dealing at EDM, hardcore punk, grindcore/whatever metal, or underground hip hop events. Yes there are nitrous dealers on phish lot, but what they sell is hardly dangerous compared to crack cocaine or heroin, both of which were dealt openly and in profusion at eighties and nineties dead shows and even at Further tours (of course, if one is looking for them, these drugs can be found literally everywhere). More to the point, drug use and abuse does not go hand in hand with danger and propensity to do harm. The jam band scene (collectively speaking) is largely middle aged, predominantly middle class and above, and for the most part family oriented people (in some sense). That there are people getting wasted at shows does not make the environment particularly dangerous. People take drugs and get drunk while doing anything these days. It's become thoroughly banal since the days of the Merry Pranksters. The only danger wooks really pose is to themselves-- and their families-- by spending too much time on tour and not enough time building their resume and investing in their future.

Of course I understand the book is fiction, and I enjoyed the excerpt immensely. Yet I can't help cringing at the thought of some unsuspecting (and dim witted) person getting their hands on this book and being left with the distinct impression that "THE PHISH KILLS. NOT EVEN ONCE."

Anyhow, that was probably far too much harping on a minor point of contention. I wish you the best of luck in this endeavor.