Too Weird for Ziggy

Sylvie Simmons' fiction debut, Too Weird for Ziggy is a comic, corruscatingly observed collection of linked stories all set in the world of crass A & R men, fans mired in hero-worship and music starts perpetually on the verge of ego tantrum or outright crack up. From a pop goddess named Pussy who has a nervous breakdown and is found hoarding her own her and fingernail clippings to cults utterly devoted to Karen Carpenter that spring up after the singer's image appears on various buildings (including a kebab shop): from a band of crock-rockers whose star-making tour goes horribly wrong when their lead singer starts to grow breasts to an MTV-sponsored siance to raise a dead rock god, Simmons' tales embrace the bizarre world of rock. Too Weird for Ziggy has the devastating humour, punch and hook of a great pop tune.