Daron's Guitar Chronicles, Volume One — Cecilia Tan

Winner of the Rose and Bay Award for Crowdfunded Fiction!

Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Coming out and coming of age in the days of AIDS, MTV, Reaganomics, and Just Say No.

Daron Marks is a young guitar player with a dream, make it big like the guys he grew up idolizing in New Jersey--or at least escape his dysfunctional family. He makes it as far as music school in Rhode Island, and the rock clubs of Boston beckon him. But in the year 1986 it's hard to succeed from the closet.

"For me, Daron is one of those rare fictional characters that I have a hard time believing does not actually exist on the physical plane. He is just too real. Part of it is that Daron is only a couple of years older than me and the way the 80s are brought to life here reminds me very much of my own coming of age: the musical references, the language, the AIDS scare, the technology, the hair... Most of all, though, it is the fact that Daron is an extremely well written character. He grows and changes and engages."

-- Reviews by Jessewave