FREE: To Major Tom Dave Thompson David Bowie Ziggy Stardust Brand New Book

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In 1972, a 12 year old boy in Bournemouth, one Gary Weightman, wrote a fan letter to David Bowie. And despite not receiving any form of reply, he wrote again. And again. And has continued to regularly write to his idol throughout his life. To Major Tom is a collection of his epistles to the Thin White Duke written over the next 30 years…

Of course Gary Weightman doesn’t really exist; he’s the creation of author Dave Thompson. But if you’ve ever faithfully followed an artist or a band, you’ll know Gary. Deep inside every music fan’s heart, there’s a Gary Weightman – after all, at some point or other during the impressionable years of youth we’ve all thought of dropping our idols a line. And this book is not so much about Bowie but about the experience of being a life-long fan.

Of course if you are a Bowie believer, you’ll find much to enjoy in this off beat novel. You could say that this book is a kind of fans-eye view biography. However, somewhat cannily, Thompson has Gary write about a good deal more than just fan commentary on the various ch-ch-ch-changes in Bowie’s career. So rather than 12 page dissections of the lyrics of ‘Cygnet Committee’, we get a wider view of the musical world with Gary updating Major Tom on what else he’s listening to and observations on what’s going on in the world of rock. We see the rise and fall of glam, the birth of punk and evolutions of ‘80s stadium rock.

Plus along the way, we get the unfolding story of Gary’s life. In some respects, the book becomes a coming-of-age story as we follow his progress through the teenage years into adulthood. And we also see how his relationship with music evolves and changes over the years. Perhaps inevitably as the decades roll by, Gary’s letters start to become less frequent as the demands of work and raising a family squeeze music into a smaller role in his life.