TEARDOWN
by
William Campbell Powell
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LGBT+ Romance / Road Trip Fiction
Publisher: NineStar Press
Publication Date: December 10, 2024
Page count: 436 pages
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SYNOPSIS:
Growing up in a dead-end, Thames Valley town like Marden Combe, Kai knows there’s no escape without a lot of talent, hard work—and luck.
Two weeks before the Clayton Paul Blues Band plans to set out on tour to Germany, their singer quits, and drummer Kai takes matters in hand. With bandmates Jake and Jamie, they recruit a talented new singer—the enigmatic Dominique—as the new face of the band and set out on the road to Berlin in a rickety white van.
Dogged by mishaps and under-rehearsed, the band stumbles through their first shows, zig-zagging between chaos and brilliance. But as the first gig in Berlin draws near, the band begins to gel. They’re clicking with their audience, and even the stone-hearted Kai starts to crumble under the spell, first of Dom and then…of Lars.
As the end of the tour approaches, Kai must make hard choices. Dom? But she’s keeping a dark secret. Lars? Not after the acrimony of their last parting. The band? Or will that dream crumble too?
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ENJOY AN EXCERPT:
So I pulled the mic stand around to the side of the kit, set it up so it didn’t get in the way of the hi-hat, and we gave it a go. I picked ‘I Come from the Blues’, which was one of Clay’s compositions. It had fallen out of the set sometime in the last six months, but I loved Clay’s soft, jazzy butterscotch vocals on it. If it had been up to me, it would still be in the set, but Clay had said he wanted to move on.
Where did I come from? I come from the blues.
Where am I going? I’m going to lose.
Where is my future? I’m sure I have none.
Where is my hope? My hope is all gone.
I’ve always sung along—off-mic and under my breath—so I didn’t have any trouble fitting the words in the right places. And I’ve got decent pitch and rhythm. So I think I did all right.
Now, Jamie wouldn’t meet my eye.
“What?” I demanded. “What was wrong with that?”
He mumbled something.
“I can’t hear you, bro. What did he say, Jake?”
Jake looked away. He didn’t want to get involved in any squall between me and my brother. Besides, he’d used up all his words for the day.
“I’m not sure how to put this, Kai. You’ve got a good voice. It’s, well…not very, well, rock’n’roll. No…grit. Too pure. Sorry.”
“I see.”
“Look, we’ll ask around our friends. Social media. There’s got to be something online.”
I didn’t say anything. I was thinking lots though. About how I’d discovered that this was something I really wanted to do.
GUEST POST:
Please welcome William Campbell Powell, the author of our featured book, to the blog today to discuss some of the musical elements of his latest book. He brings with him some prepared playlists and original musical compositions related to the story!
Karen/Guatemala Paula: Welcome, William!
William Campbell Powell: TEARDOWN combines elements of LGBTQIA+ romance with Road Trip fiction, and - with its focus on music - might sit alongside Taylor Jenkins Reid’s ‘Daisy Jones and the Six’ (2016) or Dawnie Walton’s ‘The Final Revival of Opal & Nev’ (2022), or - with its focus on (Kai's) gender-ambiguity and relationships - near Camille Perry’s ‘When Katie Met Cassidy’ (2018) or Beth O’Leary’s ‘The Road Trip’ (2022).
For the first playlist, I’ve tried to give a flavour of what Kai’s band might sound like with Dom singing, so I’ve chosen modern female artists like Bonnie Raitt, Beth Hart, Rory Block or Susan Tedeschi where I can find them.
I’ve included versions by the late Eva Cassidy, too – they are just inspirational. Keep a box of tissues close by.
(SPOTIFY ACCOUNT REQUIRED TO LISTEN OR REGISTER FOR FREE!)
William Campbell Powell's Teardown Playlists
Modern covers
Listen on Spotify
For the diehard blues lovers, there’s a similar playlist, but with more of the originals thrown in. They’ll be rather crackly.
Classic covers
Are there any original songs? As it happens, there are. For a combination of plot needs and copyright reasons, wherever I quote lyrics, they have to be my own songs. So, there are six songs in total – five of them are completely original, and the sixth is a re-working of a traditional song (Whiskey in the Jar) with significantly changed lyrics.
I’ve recorded the main 5 and you can listen to them: HERE! They are demo quality, rather than production quality. My own voice isn’t very bluesy, and not even slightly female – I’m a definite tenor.
I hope to re-record them to production quality in the near future, in a key that suits a blues lady singer, but in the meantime, I trust that these tracks will help you imagine Dom, leading Kai’s band.
Happy listening.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
William lives in a small Buckinghamshire village in England. By night he writes speculative, historical, crime and other fiction. His debut novel, EXPIRATION DAY, was published by Tor Teen in 2014 and won the 2015 Hal Clement Award for better than half-decent science in a YA novel—the citation actually says "Excellence in Children's Science Fiction Literature".
William’s latest novel - TEARDOWN - was published 10th December 2024, by NineStar Press in the US; it is an LGBT+ romance/road-trip.
His short fiction has appeared in DreamForge, Metastellar, Abyss & Apex and other outlets.
By day he writes software for a living and in the twilight he sings tenor, plays guitar and writes songs.
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
William Campbell Powell will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.
Hi, and thank you for hosting TEARDOWN on your blog today. I will do my best to answer any questions posted, and very much appreciate your interest.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for featuring TEARDOWN today.
ReplyDeleteThe book details are interesting.
ReplyDelete