Mac and June: Love In The Time Of Oil

by James David Nicol, Stuart McKay (Illustrations)

In 1974, when twenty-three year-old American, Mac, meets June in an Aberdeen dancehall in a strange land called Scotland, he falls in love with her and the whole, raucous Meldrum clan. It's not all plain sailing, though, as Mac discovers when his big-oil employer gives him an ultimatum that tests his loyalties. The answer to Mac's challenges may come in the form of June's grumpy Grandpa, a man with hidden talents, secrets, and a wicked tongue. Discover a world of deep-fried food, cigarettes, and whisky in this good-natured, irreverent slice of life, where Local Hero meets The Royal Tenenbaums.

226 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 2013

About the author

I've lived in many locales around the world, but growing up in a small town in Scotland in a loving family was definitely a formative experience. I'll always be Scottish, even though I haven't lived there for over forty years.
Writing is a relatively new endeavor for me - I had several short stories published before Mac and June was finally released in late 2013.
Phoenix, Arizona has been my home these past twenty five years. It's where my two wonderful daughters were born and still live.
In the seventies and eighties, I worked in a bank and played in various rock bands in London. The late eighties saw me in Hong Kong, followed by a stint as a surveyor's assistant in the goldfields of Western Australia. In the production world, I've worked as a cameraman, directed cameras for concerts, and been the Production Manager for an audio-visual company.
Currently working on the second novel in the Mac and June trilogy, and collaborating with other local writers on a couple of anthologies, as well as a zombie screenplay....

Reviews

[Erin]

I flew through the last hundred pages of this book! Unfortunately, I was at work when this occurred and not at all prepared for the belly-laugh-inducing moments juxtaposed with tearjerker scenes. Needless to say, I received some strange looks from my coworkers. Public humiliation aside, this was a fantastic and quick read.

David brilliantly weaves comedy and drama to create rich characters and a deep story line. Grandpa is definitely the glue of the family and my favorite character. His often hilariously loud farts and crude speech can't mask the truth: that he is a softhearted man with a lot of wisdom and life experience. As I rode the roller coaster of life with the Meldrums, I learned the meaning of family, what true love looks like, and that fighting for the people we care about is the only thing that really matters.

I look forward to more great writing in the second installment of the Mac & June trilogy!