Books
by David F. Ross
Dashboard Elvis is Dead
Published: December 8, 2022
Renowned photo-journalist Jude Montgomery arrives in Glasgow in 2014, in the wake of the failed Scottish independence referendum, and it’s clear that she’s searching for someone.
Is it Anna Mason, who will go on to lead the country as First Minister? Jamie Hewitt, guitarist from eighties one-hit wonders The Hyptones? Or is it Rabbit – Jude’s estranged foster sister, now a world-famous artist?
Three apparently unconnected people, who share a devastating secret, whose lives were forever changed by one traumatic night in Phoenix, forty years earlier…
Taking us back to a school shooting in her Texas hometown, and a 1980’s road trip across the American West – to San Francisco and on to New York – Jude’s search ends in Glasgow, and a final, shocking event that only one person can fully explain…
‘A dazzling, time-hopping patchwork of pop and politics, sewn together with wit and compassion’
‘This amiable and ambitious transatlantic extravaganza is a busy social tapestry pegged to real-life events in Scotland and the US … Ross’s affection for his characters shines through. There’s so much going on here that value for money is pretty much all but guaranteed’
‘A mesmerising road trip through the America of Kerouac, Warhol and Reagan. Dashboard Elvis may be dead, but this book is full of vibrant, authentic, colourful life’
EBook
ASIN : B0B4Z6PBX3
Paperback
ISBN-10 : 1914585402
ISBN-13 : 978-1914585401
Audiobook
ASIN : B0BFFSC56S
There's Only One Danny Garvey
Published: November 21, 2020
Danny Garvey was a sixteen-year old footballing prodigy. Professional clubs clamoured to sign him, and a glittering future beckoned.
And yet, his early promise remained unfulfilled, and Danny is back home in the tiny village of Barshaw to manage the struggling junior team he once played for. What’s more, he’s hiding a secret about a tragic night, thirteen years earlier, that changed the course of several lives. There’s only one Danny Garvey, they once chanted … and that’s the problem.
A story of irrational hopes and fevered dreams – of unstoppable passion and unflinching commitment in the face of defeat – There’s Only One Danny Garvey is, above all, an unforgettable tale about finding hope and redemption in the most unexpected of places.
‘Few do raw, authentic, almost palpably believable characters better than David F. Ross … a novel that deals with profound themes’
‘Depicts Scottish working-class, small-town life with acute understanding and sensitivity, and explores a legacy of depression and childhood trauma. Few novels this year will pack such a hefty emotional punch or such a powerful conclusion’
‘A heartfelt working-class novel from a Scottish author who wields his pen like a stiletto … No reader will come out unscathed, but each will be richer for the experience of reading’
EBook
ASIN : B08D67SCRN
Paperback
ISBN-10 : 1913193500
ISBN-13 : 978-1913193508
Audiobook
ASIN : B08QW4SHBG
Welcome To The Heady Heights
Published: March 21, 2019
It’s the year punk rock was born, Concorde entered commercial service and a tiny Romanian gymnast changed the sport forever.
Archie Blunt is a man with big ideas. He just needs a break for them to be realised. In a bizarre brush with the light-entertainment business, Archie unwittingly saves the life of the UK’s top showbiz star, Hank ‘Heady’ Hendricks’, and now dreams of hitting the big-time as a Popular Music Impresario.
Seizing the initiative, he creates a new singing group with five unruly working-class kids from Glasgow’s East End. Together, they make the finals of a televised Saturday-night talent show, and before they know it, fame and fortune beckon for Archie and The High Five. But there’s a complication; a trail of irate Glaswegian bookies, corrupt politicians and a determined Scottish WPC known as The Tank are all on his tail…
A hilarious and poignant nod to the elusivity of stardom, in an age when ‘making it’ was ‘having it all’, Welcome to the Heady Heights is also a dark, laugh-out-loud comedy, a heart-warming tribute to a bygone age and a delicious drama about desperate men, connected by secrets and lies, by accidents of time and, most of all, the city they live in.
‘A real new talent on the Scottish literary scene’
‘Ross brings his ever-so-dark humour and caustic eye to 1970s Glasgow, and it proves to be the perfect pairing’
David Ross carved out an enduring place for himself among contemporary Scottish novelists’
EBook
ASIN : B07KGMP1M7
Paperback
ISBN-10 : 1912374617
ISBN-13 : 978-1912374618
Audiobook
Unavailable
The Man Who Loved Islands
Published: April 20, 2017
The Disco Boys and The Band are back…
In the early 80s, Bobby Cassidy and Joey Miller were inseparable; childhood friends and fledgling business associates. Now, both are depressed and lonely, and they haven’t spoken to each other in more than ten years. A bizarre opportunity to honour the memory of someone close to both of them presents itself, if only they can forgive … and forget.
With the help of the deluded Max Mojo and the faithful Hamish May, can they pull off the impossible, and reunite the legendary Ayrshire band, The Miraculous Vespas, for a one-off Music Festival – The Big Bang – on a remote, uninhabited Scottish island?
Absurdly funny, deeply moving and utterly human, The Man Who Loves Islands is an unforgettable finale to the Disco Days trilogy – a modern classic pumped full of music and middle-aged madness, written from the heart and pen of one of Scotland’s finest new voices.
‘Warm, funny and evocative. If you grew up in the eighties, you’re going to love this’
‘By turn hilarious and heart-breaking, more than anything Ross creates beautifully rounded characters full of humanity and perhaps most of all, hope’
‘A warm, funny consideration of reconciliation between middle-aged friends and a celebration of music’s healing powers. Suggest to fans of Nick Hornby’
EBook
ASIN : B01MSUAGH1
Paperback
ISBN-10 : 1910633151
ISBN-13 : 978-1910633151
Audiobook
Unavailable
The Rise & Fall of the Miraculous Vespas
Published: December 18, 2015
The Rise and Fall of the Miraculous Vespas is the timeless story of the quest for pop immortality. When a young Ayrshire band miraculously hits the big time with the smash hit record of 1984, international stardom beckons. That’s despite having a delusional teenage manager propelled by a dark, malign voice in his head…
Can Max Mojo’s band of talented social misfits repeat the success and pay back the mounting debts accrued from an increasingly agitated cartel of local gangsters? Or will they have to kidnap Boy George and hope for the best?
Featuring much-loved characters from the international bestseller, The Last Days of Disco, this is an absurdly funny, riotously ambitious and deeply human story of small-town rivalries, music, confused adolescence and, above all, hope, from one of Scotland’s finest new voices.
***Now adapted for the stage by Scotland’s Borderline Theatre Co. and the Ayr Gaiety theatre***
‘This band would definitely bring on Stockholm Syndrome’
’An astonishing tour de force’
‘A great white-knuckle read set in the world of hope, dreams and DIY pop’
EBook
ASIN : B016721UQW
Paperback
ISBN-10 : 1910633372
ISBN-13 : 978-1910633373
Audiobook
Unavailable
The Last Days of Disco
Published: March 8, 2015
Early in the decade that taste forgot, Fat Franny Duncan is on top of the world. He is the undoubted King of the Ayrshire Mobile Disco scene, controlling and ruling the competition with an iron fist. But the future is uncertain. A new partnership is coming and is threatening to destroy the big man’s empire…
Bobby Cassidy and Joey Miller have been best mates since primary school. Joey is an idealist; Bobby just wants to get laid and avoid following his brother Gary to the Falklands. A partnership in their new mobile disco venture seems like the answer to everything.
The Last Days of Disco is about family, music, small-time gangsters … and the fear of being sent to the Falklands by the biggest gangster of them all. Witty, energetic and entirely authentic, it’s also heartbreakingly honest, weaving together tragedy and comedy with an uncanny and unsettling elegance. A simply stunning debut.
***Longlisted for the Authors’ Club First Novel Award***
’This is a book that might just make you cry like nobody’s watching’
’Ross creates beautifully rounded characters full of humanity and perhaps most of all, hope. It will make you laugh. It will make you cry. It’s rude, keenly observed and candidly down to earth’
‘Warm, funny and evocative’
EBook
ASIN : B00OYTBMAU
Paperback
ISBN-10 : 191063302X
ISBN-13 : 978-1910633021
Audiobook
Unavailable