"Please Step Back sings of the back-street, back-stage hyper-kinetic moment when music, stardom, and cultural sea changes pushed America irrevocably forward. Light-stepping and hard-hitting, Greenman gets it right from the power of the beat to the devastation when the silence takes over."

—Walter Mosley

"Please Step Back is a literary funk-rock novel with weight and power. Greenman nails the outsized characters who, in the midst of a cultural revolution, birthed the most thrilling movement in American popular music."

—George Pelecanos, author of The Turnaround, and producer and writer for The Wire

"Ben Greenman seems incapable of writing anything dry or familiar or expected. He is one of the most versatile, constantly surprising writers at work today."

—Dave Eggers

"Anyone who has ever fallen in love with popular music knows the story of Rock Foxx and The Foxes: boy meets gift, boy meets girl, boy meets success, boy forgets to choose sides, demons take boy. Please Step Back doesn't decode or interpret Foxx's story—it does something better; this book sounds like a song, working with the rhythm of words that are like speech but never just talking. Greenman's dialogue is as terse, piercing and easeful as Sly Stone's lyrics."

—Sasha Frere-Jones, pop music critic for The New Yorker

"Ben Greenman’s mind contains, among other things, a literary critic, a cultural commentator, a cowboy, a satirist, a scientist, a surrealist, a nut, a genius, a child prodigy, and a poet.”

—Susan Minot

"[G]ood fiction about music is harder to find than a snow-free trail on Mt. Hood in April—but in Greenman's hands it works…[He] gets deep and has a sure feel for rhythm."

—Jeff Baker, Portland Oregonian Link

"Greenman delves deeply into the cultural history of the period, tracing an arc from the idealistic, hedonistic '60s as it peaked and then tipped into the '70s, as the nation lowered its collective fist."

—Time Out New York Link

"[A] love story about the divine and difficult relationship between a man and the beauty that he can make with his mind."

—Paul Constant, The Stranger Link

"[Please Step Back's] got an encyclopedic audiophile's heart, the sort of house-party guest who ignores you entirely and spends hours poring over your record collection instead."

—The Village Voice Link

Live from Powell's Books in Portland

—Live from Portland: WKGW Link

A "funny, freaky novel..."  

—"Pick of the Week," Time magazine Link

Hear Ben Greenman read on KQED's The Writer's Block

"A sharp, ebullient novel.... Each character is sharply drawn, each place immediately conjured in the imagination. The narrative pulses with life and natural beat, with never a stray word or scene, instantly drawing you into its current and never settling down until the last sentence."

—Christine Thomas, Miami Herald Link

Ben Greenman talks with Michael Eric Dyson

—The Michael Eric Dyson Show Link

"Greenman maintains a playful and elastic style."

—The New Yorker Link

"What's admirable about Greenman's roman à treble clef is how seamlessly Foxx fits into history."

—Miami New Times Link

Hear Ben Greenman and Swamp Dog discuss their collaboration.

—Studio 360 (NPR) Link

"In Please Step Back, the songs and styles are recognizable and familiar, making for a compelling listening experience that exists only on the page. And these fictional musicians play songs we can't help but imagine at their best."

—Tobias Carroll, Los Angeles Times Link

Living With Music: A playlist by Ben Greenman

—New York Times, Paper Cuts blog Link

A Q&A with Ben Greenman

—The Miami Herald Link