Lost Joy collects the writing that first brought Camden Joy wide
attention in the mid-90s, when he wheatpasted his "manifestoes" around
New York, excoriating the music industry and celebrating unsung geniuses
of rock and roll. Joy's voice--heartfelt, mocking, lyrical,
razor-sharp--earned comparisons to the likes of Allen Ginsberg, Patti
Smith, and Nick Hornby. Rooted in DIY zine culture, his rants prefigure
the unfettered public expression of personal views that would explode
with the rise of the Internet, and enact in words what Banksy would
later achieve in art. Joy's groundbreaking early fiction, in which his
characters often invoke musicians and songs, is also included here.
These haunting stories explore the many ways in which we use music to
communicate our feelings and make sense of our memories.