Showing results by author "Nick Pollack" in All Categories

In the eyeliner-smudged chaos of 1982 London, where synth-pop rules the airwaves, New Romantics clash with rude boys, and every mixtape feels like a manifesto, two rivals are about to find harmony in the last place they expect. JJ Ryder is a Smash Hits journalist with a mullet teased to the gods and a devotion to Duran Duran so intense, he dreams of fronting his own band. Marisa Schmidt is a graphic designer with Boy George in her bloodstream, Culture Club stickers on her smock, and a permanent eye-roll reserved just for JJ’s frilly blouses and “yacht-pop fantasy.” When their editor ...

When Ruth Ellison opens The Last Bookshop in the fading Cotswolds village of Willowby, she’s looking for more than just a fresh start. At 48, reeling from a divorce and a lifetime of what-ifs, she’s poured everything she has, emotionally and financially, into restoring a dusty old shop filled with creaky floors, forgotten first editions, and a cat named Brontë with an attitude. She wasn’t expecting Graham Hargrove, a reclusive former literary star with a tweed cap, a bruised past, and a knack for quoting poetry when it’s least convenient. Nor was she expecting a leather-bound ...

She gave him the song that made him famous. He gave her a name the world would never forget. Neither of them ever truly moved on. In the sticky heat of a 1995 London summer, Nelly Griffin, a sharp-tongued Australian ex-pat with a broken filter and a soft heart, meets Tim Chaucher, a floppy-haired nobody busking in a Camden pub. He can’t tune a guitar to save his life, but when he sings, something in her unravels. They fall, messily, ferociously, completely. Two years later, as Tim is on the brink of Britpop superstardom, Nelly is faced with a secret, and she flees. Back home in rural ...

Elina Malone was the best thief Manhattan never caught, until one near-miss heist, a stolen ruby, and a very grumpy Rottweiler convinced her to vanish for good. Reinvented as “Elina Winters,” she lands in snowy Pine Hollow: a charming town full of fruitcake-wielding neighbors, nosy knitters, and one annoyingly handsome sheriff. She swears she’s gone straight… until the town’s beloved Christmas Festival is threatened by a greedy developer, a missing deed, and a buried treasure straight out of a 1920s bank robbery. Now, to save a holiday and protect a new home she never meant to ...

In the whiskey-sweet air of 1950s Tennessee, where the ghosts of war still haunt the jukebox and the promise of country music clings to every neon-lit dive, Clara Faye Dalton is chasing a dream louder than her past. With a battered guitar, a pocketful of pain, and a voice like smoke and silver, she storms into Sun Records ready to burn through every lie she’s been told, about music, men, and the cost of wanting more. Wes Malone, a worn-down World War II vet with a liver full of regret and a heart tuned to swing rhythms, isn’t looking to be anyone’s hero. But when he hears Clara sing, ...

What if the rumors that Paul McCartney really died in 1966 were true… and the cover-up was orchestrated by pigeons, psychedelic cults, and a sentient record player named the Vinyl Oracle? Welcome to The Fab Façade: The Rise of Faul, a kaleidoscopic fever dream of Beatlemania, brainwaves, and backmasked breadcrumbs. When a Scottish oddball named Billy Shears stumbles into a Paul McCartney look-alike contest by accident, he unwittingly becomes the linchpin of the most ludicrously elaborate conspiracy in pop culture history. Selected by a shadowy cabal known as the Order of the Saffron Veil...

In the mid-90s, before streaming, before healing apps, before anyone dared call their chaos trauma, there were mixtapes. And some of them saved lives. Seattle, 1990something. A city drenched in rain, distortion pedals, and the ache of what might have been. Sam is a soft-spoken romantic trying to stay sober in a world that celebrates collapse. Nina’s heart is all elbows and noise, constantly breaking and never bothering to heal. Ellie only trusts in scissors and staples, cutting zines, cutting people, cutting herself off. Mia hides her longing behind piercings and punk shows. Jasper’s ...

In the sweat-soaked chaos of 1990s Britain, where rave culture pulses beneath neon strobes and the M25 echoes with acid house rebellion, Ellie “Mixmaster” Heyworth and Liam “Buzz” Coogan are on a collision course fueled by glowsticks, grime, and one very stubborn record crate. She’s a jungle-slinging, vinyl-hoarding DJ with a Soho record shop and a chip on her shoulder the size of Fabric’s main room. He’s a big beat provocateur with a killer wink, a dodgy past, and a habit of turning every rivalry into a remix. From illegal M25 orbital raves to Ibiza foam parties and the ...

In the soft-lit hum of a small English town in the late 1970s, where polyester reigns and repression hangs thick in the air, two girls find each other across the shelves of a struggling record shop. Nora Whitman is the sensible one: bookish, buttoned-up, and quietly counting the days until she can leave suburbia behind. Charlie Green is all chaos and cheekbones: a sharp-tongued ABBA devotee with a talent for zine-making, a rainbow collection of band tees, and an unshakable belief that disco can save your life. When a fumbled ABBA lyric and a shared enemy in the town's resident moral ...

Berlin, 1989. The Wall is cracking. History blares from boomboxes and whispers through cassette hiss. And in the chaotic hours after the border opens, two strangers collide under a flickering streetlight, one waving a sign that reads “HOFF = HOPE”, the other clutching a Walkman and a forbidden song. Lena Müller, an East Berlin dreamer with DJ ambitions and a scarf stitched from rebellion, has spent years recording banned music in secret. Jonas Becker, a West Berlin mechanic-poet with a mullet and a KITT replica in his garage, believes in freedom, Hoff, and the radical power of ...

In the rain-soaked shadows of early-’90s Seattle, where flannel is armor and guitars bleed truth, Nina Carter and Jake “Jagger” Malone are on opposite ends of a dying genre war. She’s a sharp-tongued zine queen and grunge band manager whose words have bite and purpose. He’s a Sunset Strip refugee, all eyeliner swagger and glam-rock riffs, trying to keep his fading band alive in a world that’s swapped hairspray for heroin and solos for screams. When a West Coast Battle of the Bands throws their paths together, grunge versus glam, dirt versus polish, their rivalry is instant, ...

In the sweat-slick pulse of New York City’s gay scene, where Madonna reigns like a rhinestoned saint and every club night is a communion, Eddie Santiago and Marcus Reed meet under the flicker of neon and the crackle of vinyl. Eddie’s a fast-talking, faster-dancing Bronx dreamer with lace gloves, busted track shoes, and choreography in his bones. Marcus is a closeted law student with a Harvard tie, a boxing glove in his drawer, and a heart that beats to forbidden rhythms. Their love sparks over a battle of records, Like a Virgin vs. She’s So Unusual, and grows through drag shows, Pride...

What’s a betrayed tech queen to do when she’s booted from her own company, slandered in the press, and hunted by holiday scandal? Disappear, obviously, into a flannel shirt, fake glasses, and a new life as a scruffy handyman named “Rory.” Rose Landon was once Denver’s brightest startup star, until her smarmy CFO Felix Duke staged a corporate coup and painted her as the villain. With her empire stolen and the world watching, Rose escapes to Pinewood Hollow, a snow-dusted ski town straight out of a Christmas movie. Her late uncle’s cabin offers a hideaway. A job at the local eco-...

In the glitter-stained shadows of New York’s queer nightlife, where Studio 54’s ghost still echoes and drag queens preach gospel in disco boots, two souls collide in a symphony of strobe lights, sequins, and survival. Eli Abrams is a shy FIT fashion student with a heart full of sketches and scars, haunted by high school taunts, ignored by his father, but burning to make art that speaks louder than shame. Sasha Verma is a rising singer with a voice that could split galaxies and a past she’s fought tooth and nail to reclaim, trans, brilliant, and done being polite. They meet under a ...

In the glitter-drenched madness of 1970s New York, where Studio 54 pulses with mirrorball mania and the streets of Harlem throb with raw funk, Tony Moretti and Simone Carter are two souls on a collision course, fueled by groove, grit, and one very dangerous demo tape. He’s a hot-headed Italian-American dancer-turned-guitarist, slinging licks hotter than the disco inferno. She’s a velvet-voiced soul survivor with sequins in her blood, sass in her scat, and a vow never to be silenced again. From sweaty dive bars to Chic’s diamond-studded studios, from soul sessions with James Brown’s ...

In the grit-streaked heart of 1970s New York, where CBGB reeks of spilled beer and revolution, one record shop war is about to turn into the greatest duet the city’s never heard. Jamie Finnegan is a Lennon-loving music critic in the making, armed with a notebook, a Beatles back catalog, and a hopeless belief that melody can still change the world. Stevie “Riff” Malone is a scuffed-up punk guitarist shredding through the Lower East Side, fueled by Jagger’s swagger, busted amps, and a refusal to play by anyone’s rules, least of all Jamie’s. Their feud starts over a scratched White...

In the shadowed streets of 1980s Beijing and the neon pulse of Tokyo, where cassette tapes are currency and rebellion hums beneath every beat, two hearts are set to collide, moonwalk first. Li Mei is a fearless singer performing Michael Jackson covers in the underground clubs of Beijing, dodging police raids and parental expectations. Taro Suzuki is a Tokyo DJ chasing fame, locked in a battle between duty and desire, culture and creation. Their rivalry begins with sparks, an argument at a Hong Kong fan contest over Thriller’s soul, but deepens with every duet, every clash, every whispered...

In the twilight shimmer of Minneapolis and the electric pulse of Paisley Park, Vinyl Vows: I Would Die 4 U charts the turbulent, decades-long connection between Trey, an ambitious muralist with purple in her veins, and Jude, a sharp-tongued music writer chasing redemption through the echo chamber of Prince’s legacy. They meet as teens in the summer of 1984, bonded by a battered Dirty Mind cassette and too many secrets for their age. From late-night radio confessions and dance floor flare-ups to the aching silence of betrayal and the long, slow crawl back to forgiveness, their relationship...

In the sunburnt suburbs of 1970s Australia, where Countdown pulses through TV sets and Cold Chisel riffs rattle garage doors, Jake Thompson and Claire Morgan meet as teenagers, two kids chasing sound, sweat, and something bigger than their postcode. He’s a rough-edged muso with calloused fingers and a heart full of pub rock dreams. She’s a sharp-tongued aspiring music journalist, armed with a leather notebook, Doc Martens, and a mind wired for lyrics and headlines. From the moment their eyes lock across a record store turntable spinning Skyhooks, their lives begin a decades-long duet, ...

In the shadowed glow of 1997 Sydney, where cassette tapes hiss and memory hums like feedback, music journalist Evie Callahan presses play on the interview that changed her life, and begins to unravel the decades that led her there. Fresh from a rare conversation with David Bowie, intimate, unrehearsed, quietly electrifying, Evie returns home to write the story she’s carried for seventeen years. But as Bowie’s voice crackles through her old tape recorder, each answer pulls her back through time: to Berlin’s post-punk squats, to smoky dive bars and gallery openings, and to Lukas Weber, ...