#CoverReveal The Ossians by Doug Johnstone

I'm delighted to be taking part in the cover reveal for the newly reissued 20th anniversary edition of The Ossians from Doug Johnstone and Orenda Books.

Doug Johnston is one of my favorite authors. I love both the Skelf series and the Enceladons trilogy. I keep promising myself that I'll read some of his standalone novels. The synopsis of The Ossians, which will be republished on 9th April 2026, sounds enticing, filled with dark humour.

You can pre-order from here.

Synopsis

Connor is twenty-four, brilliant, broken, and out of control. He's the swaggering frontman of The Ossians, a Scottish indie band on the brink of signing a major record deal.

Desperate to make their mark, they head off on a two-week winter tour across the cities and hinterlands of Scotland – a last-ditch attempt to find fame, purpose, and themselves.

But the tour soon spirals into a surreal, chaotic odyssey. From seedy bars and snowbound towns to a final, defining Glasgow gig, the band hurtles through a whirlwind of seagull massacres, botched drug deals, a mysterious stalker, radioactive beaches, bomb-testing ranges, epileptic fits, riotous Russian submariners, deadly storms, epiphanies, regular beatings and random shootings.

Raw, darkly funny and wild with energy, The Ossians is a gloriously anarchic story of rock'n'roll obsession, national identity and self-destruction, and what it means to belong – in a band, in a country, in a life unravelling at speed.