Stranded In The Future is a kind of dystopian self-portrait. It’s about obsession, and obsessive behavior. Musician Robyn Hitchcock’s second memoir explores the formation of his seminal 1970s band the Soft Boys, and the obsessions that fueled his early creative output.

Spanning from 1968 to 1978, it takes in the mythology surrounding Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett (though it doesn’t name him) and hinges on Hitchcock’s teenage girlfriend (she isn’t named either). The book explores the way that Hitchcock, in his own head, linked these two figures to each other, although they never actually met.

On the way, the story mines the incremental hangover of the 1970s as Hitchcock begins to play live, teaches himself to write songs, and eventually forms the Soft Boys. There’s a side order of trolleybuses too! Hitchcock’s beautiful prose will resonate far beyond the fans of his music, and build on the literary following he established with his first book, 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left.

Available from Penguin Random House

Robyn Hitchcock is a rock ’n’ roll surrealist. Born in London in 1953, he describes his songs as “paintings you can listen to.” As much a child of Dalí, de Chirico, and J. G. Ballard as of his 1960s musical heroes, he is a master of the absurd, reveling in the beauty of the unexpected. His first band, the Soft Boys (1976–81), has remained an influential art-rock touchstone for generations of musicians. Hitchcock has floated at a tangent to the mainstream for five decades, and his songs have been performed by R.E.M., the Replacements, Neko Case, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Lou Barlow, Uncle Tupelo, Vic Chesnutt, Grant-Lee Phillips, Sparklehorse, and Suzanne Vega with the Grateful Dead, among others. He came of age in the 1960s while he attended Winchester College, an eccentric hothouse boarding school in the south of England. Hitchcock is the author of 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left, and lives in Nashville with his wife Emma Swift and their two cats, Ringo and Tubby.

About the Author

Bryen Dunn is a freelance journalist based in Toronto with a focus on tourism, lifestyle, entertainment and community issues. He has written several travel articles and has an extensive portfolio of celebrity interviews with musicians, actors and other public personalities. He’s willing to take on any assignments of interest, attend parties with free booze, listen to rants, and travel the world in search of the great unknown. He’s eager to discover the new, remember the past, and look into the future.