Showing results by author "Jim Ellis" in All Categories

Dive into the art of guitar and improvisation with expert insights, practical tips, and inspiring conversations. Whether you’re a seasoned player or just starting out, this series covers everything from technique and theory to creative approaches for developing your unique sound. Join us for engaging discussions, gear reviews, and interviews with musicians who live and breathe the craft.

Jock MacNeil, the eldest son of a Highland Catholic family, leaves school at 13 to follow his father's footsteps and become a blacksmith. But after a family tragedy changes his plans, Jock boards a schooner and heads to the New World. Soon, he befriends the retired Royal Navy Surgeon, James Gunn, and David Llewellyn of the CSS Alabama. Living among the seamen, Jock learns how to take responsibility - and how to defend himself. But can Jock survive the perilous journey, and what awaits him on the other side of the Atlantic?

Our mission is to teach you how to become strong for life.

Nathan Forrest is a lapsed Catholic, a welder, an illegitimate son, and a gifted jazz trumpeter. After he begins pursuing Dorothy - a Protestant girl from a middle-class family - they face the antagonism of mid-20th century Scotland. Against a backdrop of decaying Westburn's doomed shipyards and bitter environment, the young lovers seek to escape the constraints of prejudice and hate. But is their love and determination enough to bring them happiness, or will religious and social conflict consume them both?

In 1950's Westburn, Scotland, Tim Ronsard only has a few months remaining until he leaves St. Mary's School. Bored and listless, he's anxious to get away. His life changes when a new music teacher is appointed: Isobel Clieshman, a Protestant working in a Catholic school. Soon, Tim's feelings go well beyond a school boy crush, but at 23-years-old the teacher is out of his reach. Five years later, they meet randomly and soon, Tim thinks he has never been happier. But amid family issues, war and prejudice, can they find the road to happiness together?

Nineteen-twenties Mexico and the American Southwest hold many dangers, as the last Apache strongholds persist against the foreign invaders. Hard-as-nails Confederate serviceman Jock MacNeil receives an unexpected invitation to guide runaways from a reservation to a stronghold in Sierra Madre. Facing both Mexican and American authorities, and the Apache Wars raging around them, Jock witnesses first-hand the terrors of war, and his own transformation from a man of faith to Apache spirituality.

Dante Rinaldi is born to Italian immigrants in the West of Scotland. Stranded by World War Two in Italy during a summer with his grandfather, Dante grows roots in his family’s rural homeland, and, as a young adult, identifies with a band of mountain partisans fighting the fascists. Young love delayed and the Rinaldis’ struggles in post-war Scotland carry Dante into the life of Chris McCoull: a neglected adolescent who finds his calling and romance while working for a Greek-owned shipping line.