Poor Ghost
The Next Great Rock and Roll Novel
On a September afternoon in Santa Barbara, a private jet carrying the members of Poor Ghost—one of America’s most storied rock bands—plunges into the backyard of Caleb Crane, a retired insurance salesman. Still mourning his wife’s death from Covid, Caleb finds himself navigating trauma, grief, and loss, all while his quiet neighborhood is invaded by pushy reporters and rabid Poor Ghost fans.
For fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & the Six and its fictional documentary structure, Poor Ghost moves back and forth between the impact of the plane crash on Caleb’s life and an oral history of Poor Ghost—from its beginnings as a working-class punk band to rock icons. As the twisting and turning strands of the plot converge, readers are shown what happens when different worlds (literally) collide with one another, and how we view, negotiate, argue with, and aid those who are unlike us.
Book details
- Author
- David Starkey
- Imprint
- Keylight Books, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Pages
- 320
- Formats
- Hardcover, Paperback
- Subjects
- Fiction › Performing Arts › Music
Fiction › Literary
Fiction › Sagas
Fiction › Satire - Topics
- rock and roll · plane crash · grief and loss · oral history · punk bands · Santa Barbara · fictional band · satire
- ISBN-13
- 9781684429721 (Hardcover)9781684429738 (Paperback)
About the author
DAVID STARKEY is the Founding Director of the Creative Writing Program at Santa Barbara City College and the author of eleven full-length poetry collections. His recent books include Dance, You Monster, to My Soft Song and What Just Happened: 210 Haiku Against the Trump Presidency.
Starkey served as Santa Barbara’s Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2011. He is Co-editor of the California Review of Books and Publisher and Co-editor of Gunpowder Press, and has published more than 500 poems in journals including American Scholar, Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, and Southern Review.
When he’s not writing poetry, Starkey works across fiction, creative nonfiction, and playwriting, with plays produced across the United States. His textbook Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief is in its fourth edition.
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