A nameless young man is watching his dreams slip away when a man who let his own dreams die long ago sits down and begins to tell him a story: a story of young love and teenage dreams and rock and roll magic. A story about being young and being brave, and the girl who taught him how to be that way.
As the story unfolds, the young man begins to wonder if there's something more to this older man and his strange story...if maybe, just maybe, rock and roll magic is real.
A modern-day fable, The Truth of Rock and Roll is a cautionary tale about being young, being brave, and holding onto your dreams.
Character Fun Facts
1) Jenny
was twelve before her family got a TV – they were one of the last families in
town to do so. Radio (and records, of
course) are still her primary form of entertainment.
10) I
don’t want to give away anything about the narrator, but one thing you should
know is that his plans weren’t particularly impractical. If – for example – he wanted to go to film
school, it wasn’t for that one-in-a-million shot as an actor; he’d want to be a
special effects technician or a cameraman.
It’s just that his father considers anything other than an MBA to be
“majoring in poverty”.
Review
Maya's Review
This is actually a quirky story or at least the way the story is told is quirky. I don't think I've read anything like it in a while. This not just a story for the young but for everybody. About what happens when you don't protect your dreams or pursue them. All the things you think about doing when you're young and give up on before they've become a reality without even trying. This is a good, magical quick read and happy to recommend.
Character Fun Facts
1) Jenny
was twelve before her family got a TV – they were one of the last families in
town to do so. Radio (and records, of
course) are still her primary form of entertainment.
2) Once
they do get a TV, her favorite show is, of course, American Bandstand. She would have loved the early days of MTV.
3) In
contrast, Johnny’s family was one of the first to get a TV. Got to keep up with the Joneses…or better
yet, get ahead of them.
4) Jenny
likes to stay up late with her portable transistor radio and try to get reception
for radio shows from the cities.
5) One
interest that Jenny and Johnny share is movies; many of their dates involve
trips to the nearest city to catch a flick.
Jenny’s favorites are beach movies, biker movies, and (though she would
never admit it to anyone but Johnny) musicals – basically anything where people
ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after. She’d love the chance, if she ever got to The
Big City, to see one of those experimental student films she’s heard
about. Johnny’s favorites are creature
features and Hammer horror films. They
like each other’s favorites well enough that they rarely disagree on what to
see, and they have common ground with science fiction. Neither of them like Westerns.
6) Johnny’s
father not only has a hand in the till, he has a woman on the side. Johnny’s mother knows this, and it’s not that
she doesn’t care, but it’s what she’s come to expect from their class in their
time and place. If she hadn’t married
him for the money in the first place, it might hurt more.
7) Johnny’s
parents gave him a Mustang for his sixteenth
birthday. He was extremely grateful, and
eagerly drove it all over town to show it off.
He didn’t realize until years later that they had done that because
their neighbors had bought their son
a Pontiac Firebird for his birthday
earlier that same year. Got to keep up
with the Joneses.
8) Other
avatars in Rock and Roll Heaven include the Dancing Queen (aka The Queen of the
Bop), The Bitch Princess, The Boy With the Hot Car, The Lonely Girl (and The
Coolest Boy In School, who rescues her from her loneliness…over and over
again…forever…), The Lovers Beyond Death and The Broken Hearted.
9) Though
the Grey Man never realized it, one of the performers that he and Jenny saw on
their one night in New York City was Patti Smith.
10) I
don’t want to give away anything about the narrator, but one thing you should
know is that his plans weren’t particularly impractical. If – for example – he wanted to go to film
school, it wasn’t for that one-in-a-million shot as an actor; he’d want to be a
special effects technician or a cameraman.
It’s just that his father considers anything other than an MBA to be
“majoring in poverty”.
Review
Maya's Review
This is actually a quirky story or at least the way the story is told is quirky. I don't think I've read anything like it in a while. This not just a story for the young but for everybody. About what happens when you don't protect your dreams or pursue them. All the things you think about doing when you're young and give up on before they've become a reality without even trying. This is a good, magical quick read and happy to recommend.
Stop by on May 1st for a [Meet & Greet Facebook Party] featuring Author Matthew Keville! We will be giving away GREAT PRIZES, including:
*eBook copies of The Truth of Rock and Roll and Hometown, by Matthew Keville
* PRINT copies of The Truth of Rock and Roll, by Matthew Keville + AWESOME SWAG!(US ONLY)
*eBook copies of BOB, by Tegon Maus
*PRINT copies of The Chronicles of Tucker Littlefield, by Tegon Maus (US ONLY)
*eBook copies of The Second Breath Chronicles, by Adri Sinclair + SPOTLIGHT post on Adri's website! (Information for the post must be provided by the winner)
*eBook copy of Imposter, A Love Story, by Tiffany Carmouche
*eBook copies of JOURNAL OF THE UNDEAD: LITTLEVILLE UPRISING, by S.G. Lee
*eBook or Print copy of Double Spy, an Autobiography by Peter van Wermeskerken
*eBook copy of Happiness follows on Friday the 13, a short story by Peter van Wermeskerken
About the Author
Matthew Keville wrote his first short stories in first grade, when the books on the shelves didn’t have the stories he wanted. The stories have been his constant friends since then, and they’ve carried him through some hard times. He grew up in a small town where you either leave at eighteen or live there forever. He elected to leave at eighteen. Now he lives in New York City where everyone is only working as a waiter or bus driver or stockbroker until they make it on Broadway. This makes him different and special, because he’s only working as a paralegal until he makes it as a writer.*Please take a minute and help us reach our goal for the Thunderclap - we need 100 people before the Thunderclap will go out to the world!
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