I'm so pleased this story is finally out there in the world. I wrote it in 2014 and then became seriously addicted to Chicane music.
Here's the first review and it's a lovely 5 star one too!
Good Reads Review:
I'm a bit too old to have been part of 1990s rave culture (I've probably given myself away by calling it that), but I certainly remember the hype in the British media about people dying from a terrible new drug called ecstasy. I was studying Beat culture at uni at the time, and the Beat writers' use of psychedelic drugs to heighten consciousness and think in new, subversive ways. And I remember thinking...really, that's what the 'mad for it' lot are up to - escaping the materialism left behind by the 1980s for a few hours of living for music, dancing and the heightened emotional connection with their fellow passengers on the journey through the unstill night.
Liam Livings has captured the era beautifully, through vignettes of early mornings after the afterparty, a convoy around the M25 in pursuit of a black Ford Sierra, market-stall-style drug sales, giant parties on Ibiza, the ups and the downs, the good, bad and ugly, and how, in all of this, the social divisions of the world beyond cease to have meaning.
But all of that is backdrop for a romance between two young, talented men who grow, together and apart, and tread a tough path in pursuit of their happy ending. The supporting cast is complex but fun - Tom's mum is fantastic (and hilarious, and sweary, simple as) as is Slinky Simon (my favourite part of the entire story relates to him - just for how brilliantly it's written, but I can't share, darn spoilers). There is also a line that will slay you. (Incidentally, it's really hard to edit when you're crying buckets.)
Whether you were there at the time and want to reminisce, or you're curious what it was like, or you just enjoy a mighty fine love story, Love on the Dancefloor is one you don't want to miss
Here's the first review and it's a lovely 5 star one too!
Good Reads Review:
I'm a bit too old to have been part of 1990s rave culture (I've probably given myself away by calling it that), but I certainly remember the hype in the British media about people dying from a terrible new drug called ecstasy. I was studying Beat culture at uni at the time, and the Beat writers' use of psychedelic drugs to heighten consciousness and think in new, subversive ways. And I remember thinking...really, that's what the 'mad for it' lot are up to - escaping the materialism left behind by the 1980s for a few hours of living for music, dancing and the heightened emotional connection with their fellow passengers on the journey through the unstill night.
Liam Livings has captured the era beautifully, through vignettes of early mornings after the afterparty, a convoy around the M25 in pursuit of a black Ford Sierra, market-stall-style drug sales, giant parties on Ibiza, the ups and the downs, the good, bad and ugly, and how, in all of this, the social divisions of the world beyond cease to have meaning.
But all of that is backdrop for a romance between two young, talented men who grow, together and apart, and tread a tough path in pursuit of their happy ending. The supporting cast is complex but fun - Tom's mum is fantastic (and hilarious, and sweary, simple as) as is Slinky Simon (my favourite part of the entire story relates to him - just for how brilliantly it's written, but I can't share, darn spoilers). There is also a line that will slay you. (Incidentally, it's really hard to edit when you're crying buckets.)
Whether you were there at the time and want to reminisce, or you're curious what it was like, or you just enjoy a mighty fine love story, Love on the Dancefloor is one you don't want to miss
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