The Singer and His Songs: A Novel

The first time Chris Wild sees an electric guitar, it is as if he has found a long-lost friend. As soon as he touches the smooth surface of the guitar and his fingers wrap around its neck, his life changes forever. It is the mid-1950s in Australia when Chris realizes he possesses a musical gift and joins the teenage band, the Offenders — never realizing he has just embarked on a life-spanning career.

Forced to leave the Offenders behind when his family emigrates to Canada, Chris never hears that their first single has become an Australian chart-topping hit. In Canada, Chris receives no support for his musical talents and reluctantly studies to become an architectural technician. While assisting with the design of a recording studio, his innate musical gift is revealed during a solo midnight session overheard by the studio executives. Suddenly, Chris is launched back into the musical world and into a life of stardom. As he inspires thousands all over the world with his new album, Chris's old girlfriend from Australia resurfaces and he must determine how to reconcile his original muse, April, with his new lover, Sarah.

Fate can be capricious, especially when someone lives in two different worlds.

Deke Rivers lives in Bellingham, Washington. As an architect, he has designed numerous recording studios and witnessed the birth of rock and roll and its evolution in his youth in Australia as well as during his teenage years in Canada and the United States.