Rory S Rock

Rory Brown grew up in care but found a home, friendship, and a much-needed sense of security working on the Double J ranch. As far as Rory is concerned, fellow cowboy, Zane Fox, is perfect. Zane is strong but gentle, kind, big, ruggedly handsome ... and straight. Rory works alongside Zane, eats alongside Zane, and when an ice storm causes a power outage, he sleeps alongside Zane ... for warmth. Inhibitions lowered after getting drunk on his twenty-first birthday, Rory Kisses Zane and confesses his feelings for the man. The next day, when Rory learns his father is dying, although estranged from the man, Rory feels obligated to see him one last time. Zane follows Rory to Kansas and confesses he has feelings for Rory, too. After learning his father has died, Rory and Zane set off for home in Zane's old truck. However, bad weather and a mechanical breakdown mean they have to hole up in a guesthouse. Rory doesn't mind, it gives him a chance to explore things with his hunky new boyfriend. And there's a lot of Zane to explore. Life on the ranch is little short of idyllic, Zane is everything and more Rory could want in a lover, protector, and friend. A tiny part of Rory knows he should brace himself for if/when the other shoe -- or cowboy boot -- drops. Rory is thrown when evidence of Zane's heterosexual past reveals itself, leaving him totally devastated. Are Zane's feet made of clay, or can he redeem himself and once again become Rory's rock?

Rory Gallagher is regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. He was a dazzling showman, an accomplished songwriter and a champion of blues music. He began his career in an Irish showband at age fifteen, before forming Taste, one of the great Irish bands. He went on to even greater success as a solo artist in the 1970s. After his success peaked, Gallagher's later life was troubled, ending in disillusion and early death. He remains a legend, with musicians such as the Edge, Johnny Marr and Joe Bonamassa among the legions of fans who still revere him. Drawing on extensive interviews, Julian Vignoles casts new light on the familial, musical and other influences that inspired Gallagher, and on the complex personality that drove his career. Crucially, Vignoles shows how many of Gallagher's songs speak eloquently – and poignantly – about the person who penned them. Meticulously researched, this portrait is the insightful biography that Rory Gallagher deserves.

2017 Edition Mark McAvoy explores the history of Cork rock music from the early days of legendary blues-rock guitarist Rory Gallagher in the 1960s through the Finbarr Donnelly-led punk era of the 1980s, to local indie legends The Frank And Walters and the irrepressible Sultans Of Ping. Cork Rock: From Rory Gallagher To The Sultans Of Ping explores the records, venues, personalities and culture that sprang up around rock music in Ireland's second city. Delving deep into the stories behind seminal Cork acts such as Taste, Five Go Down To The Sea? and Microdisney, this book traces the careers of many of the city's most popular and talented musicians. With exclusive photographs and interviews with leading performers, managers, DJs and promoters, Cork Rock: From Rory Gallagher To The Sultans Of Ping is essential reading for all true music fans. Mark McAvoy is a Cork-born journalist and author. He is a graduate of University College Cork and holds an MA in Public Relations from the Dublin Institute of Technology. A life-long music fan, Mark has written for the Evening Echo's 'Downtown' music and entertainment supplement for more than ten years and has contributed to a range of publications including Village, NME and Alternative Ulster. Reviews "It'll require a feat of the loaves and fishes variety to better Mark McAvoy's comprehensive take on Cork's substantial contribution to rock music history. Cork Rock: From Rory Gallagher To The Sultans Of Ping is packed with facts and provocative anecdotes that weave the music into the culture of Cork and the world beyond. You've loved the music, now read the book." Jackie Hayden - Hot Press "An excellent book" Brian Boyd - The Irish Times "There's a hefty early focus on Rory Gallagher who's given an almost biographical going over. If you're into Cork music - or just want to learn more about it - you could hardly ask for a more quirky, fact-filled and well-written guide." James Hendicott - State Magazine Cork Rock: From Rory Gallagher To The Sultans Of Ping was selected by Irish arts and culture website OMG Entertainment as one of their 'Best Eleven Books of 2009'. "A work of massive importance for Cork's cultural history and a hugely enjoyable read for anyone who has gigged, ligged or larked by the Lee." Des O'Driscoll - Irish Examiner Cork Rock: From Rory Gallagher To The Sultans Of Ping was awarded the accolade of Hot Press 'Music Book of The Fortnight'. "By the end of this colourful and deeply respectful book, a portrait of the city and the quirky talents it produces emerges, giving you a new found respect for the place and its distinctive inhabitants." Irish Voice (New York City) "Opens with an excellent monograph of the truly talented Rory Gallagher" Tom Widger - The Sunday Tribune "McAvoy vividly describes the growth and transformation of a music scene that both mirrored the trends of the time and produced a unique sound." Aliah O'Neill - Irish America Magazine "An insightful and well-written book. Highly recommended!" Ken Fallon - Cluas.com Finalist in the 2013 'Cork's Favourite Book' competition.

Rory Gallagher is a hero and icon of rock music. He inspired guitar players from The Edge to Johnny Marr, Slash to Gary Moore, Johnny Fean to Philip Donnelly, Declan Sinnott to Brian May. He toured incessantly and sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Acknowledged as one of the world's leading guitarists, he collaborated with his boyhood hero Muddy Waters, and played with Jerry Lee Lewis, Albert King and Lonnie Donegan. In this compelling biography, contemporaries, fellow musicians, film maker Tony Palmer and Taste drummer John Wilson tell stories about Rory from his meteoric rise in the late 1960s with Taste to his remarkable solo career. This is a compelling testament to the musical life of a shy and retiring working-class hero, distinguished by his checked shirts and his astounding dexterity on acoustic and electric guitar – the guitarist and blues man who blazed a trail for others to follow.

RINGO: WITH A LITTLE HELP

Lord Purdey was shaking with anger. 'Bring back the lynx? Over my dead body!" The environmental protestors murmured, and Rory stepped forward. 'Your hunting has destroyed our hills and left them treeless wastes, devoid of wildlife. It's time that changed.' 'Listen, you lentil-eating cat lover,' Purdey barked through the megaphone, 'men like me own Scotland. If we want to kill anything that moves and turn the whole damn place into a theme park, we'll do it.' Someone from the group of protestors hurled a turnip. It struck Purdey and he crumpled to the ground. Just as the archaic class system he represents must eventually fall, Angus thought with a grin. In his first two bestselling books, The Last Hillwalker and Bothy Tales, John D. Burns invited readers to join him in the hills and wild places of Scotland. In Sky Dance, he returns to that world to ask fundamental questions about how we relate to this northern landscape – while raising a laugh or two along the way. Anyone who has gazed at the majesty of the Scottish mountains will know this place and want to return to it. Now, as wild land is threatened like never before, it's time we asked ourselves what kind of future we want for the Highlands.

This is a book of hard-crafted fiction set in the contemporary West, stories about life and love, loss and death, with a few laughs along the way. In selections such as “Cowboy Heart,” “Ice on the Doorstep,” “Chokecherries Are Free,” “Drunk on Christmas Day,” and “Dusk on the Rangeland,” the book captures the spirit of people who tough it out in a world both modern in its problems and timeless in its landscape. This collection has all the fine features that have won praise for John D. Nesbitt’s earlier novels and short stories.

This picaresque novel owes much to Cervantes, Fielding, and Bellow, with a certain nod to Dostoevsky and Franzen. We meet the main character as a young successful adult and follow him into friendships and situations that are amusing, crushing, and even criminal. We follow his hilarious and fateful paths through multiple French trips, including a pig hunt in Perigord. Paris, Nice, Monaco, and Val d'Isere are richly explored. In Mexican trips, he is trapped in Mayan sexual rites, climbs Orizaba, and almost dies at sea in a Pacific storm. His formative life is recounted, including events which warp forever his relationship with women. His psychic state permits sex with Greek goddesses and to receive stunning predictions from Apollo. Finally, he is led to Hades by the goddess Juno, a lover, and tried by King Minos for the crimes of rape and murder. Persephone prosecutes and Pluto defends. A jury of prominent dead is selected. One witness, Hitler's ghost, describes the event that triggered his order to exterminate the Jews, offered in evidence by Pluto as a counterpoint in magnitude to Rory’s crimes. Rory denies guilt as the trial ends. Memory and imagination grow from the soil of the author’s brain and by definition are autochthonic. Could you say that the fiction that fiction is fiction is not fiction?