Horror Stories: A Memoir, Hardcover

From the two-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter behind the groundbreaking album Exile in Guyville comes a haunting memoir in stories in the tradition of Patti Smith's M Train

It's hard to tell the truth about ourselves. It opens us up to being judged and rejected. We spend so much time hiding what we're ashamed of, denying what we're wounded by, and portraying ourselves as competent, successful individuals, that we don't always realize where and when we've gone missing. In that, I don't think I am alone.

When Liz Phair shook things up with her musical debut, Exile in Guyville--making her as much a cultural figure as a feminist pioneer and rock star--her raw candor, uncompromising authenticity, and deft storytelling inspired a legion of critics, songwriters, musicians, and fans alike. Now, like a Gen X Patti Smith, Liz Phair tells the story of her life and career in this haunting memoir that reveals the stubborn moments that have stayed with her.

For Phair, horror is in the eye of the beholder - in the often unrecognized universal experiences of daily pain, guilt, and fear that make up our humanity. Illuminating despair with hope and consolation, tempering it all with her signature wit, Horror Stories is immersive, taking readers inside the most intimate junctures of Phair's life, from facing her own bad behavior and the repercussions of betraying her fundamental values, to watching her beloved grandmother inevitably fade, to undergoing the beauty of childbirth while being hit up for an autograph by the anesthesiologist.

Horror Stories is a literary accomplishment that reads like the confessions of a friend. It gathers up all our isolated shames, bringing us together in our shared imperfection, uncertainty, and cowardice, smashing the stigma on not being in control. But most important, as Horror Stories transforms these deeply personal moments into tales about every one of us, it also asks questions about how we cope with regret and culpability--how we break their spell, and leach them of their power over us.

Liz Phair is a Grammy-nominated singer songwriter whose debut album, Exile in Guyville, is considered by music critics to be a landmark of indie rock. She has been a recording artist and touring performer for over twenty-five years, paving the way for countless music artists, particularly women, who cite her among their major influences. She began her career in the early 1990s in Chicago by self-releasing audio cassettes under the name Girly-Sound. The intense viral response to these early tracks led to Phair signing with the independent record label Matador Records. More than two decades after the release of her debut, Phair's influence in contemporary music can be felt today more than ever. Liz Phair is also a visual artist who majored in studio art and art history at Oberlin College. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Atlantic. Horror Stories is her first book.