27 March 2024
Catching up with my old friend and confidante, Mal Foster, is always a delight.
He is the epitome of the teenage dream. “Think like a kid, and you will stay
young,” says the boyish sixty-seven-year-old who was born in Surrey in December
1956.
We last spoke when his fifth novel, Fluke’s Cradle, was published in 2022. Since then, he has released The Story of Virna Babineaux and is about to unleash his seventh book, the much anticipated In the Shadow of Marc Bolan, his biggest project to date.
Mal and I have
known each other since the mid-1970s. He was a massive T.Rex fan in those days,
and I remember how desperate and devastated he was when Marc Bolan died before
his time in 1977.
Mal says, “I was
just twenty back then. Indeed, the events of ’77 made me feel completely numb
for quite a long time. For a while, I couldn’t play any Bolan songs. Marc’s
voice just set me off. I didn’t want to accept that he was gone. It wasn’t
until one summer’s evening in 1982 that I could dig out all those vinyls again.”
And now you have
written a book about it all?
“I was never
going to write a book about Marc himself. The inspiration comes from those left
behind who are still influenced by his music.”
Nearly fifty
years since his death, Marc Bolan’s popularity is as strong as ever.
“Just look at social media”, says Mal. “There is a whole raft of stuff relating to Bolan. Books, films, some great tribute bands, and historical interviews. Most recently, a tribute album and the documentary Angel-Headed Hipster.
“Although a
little apprehensive and nervous that there may have been parallels with my new book’s storyline, I
enjoyed the recent release of Bolan’s Shoes, which included superb
performances by Leanne Best and Timothy Spall. The film proved to me that
everyone has their own unique story to tell.”
“Going back, I
remember sitting in a smoky cinema in Camberley when Born to Boogie
was released in 1972. I watched it around and around on a loop and stayed in
the Odeon for at least seven hours that day.”
So, what
eventually made you put pen to paper with this one?
“I’ve
always wanted to write a book of fiction different from anything else I’d seen.
Something that people could dip into at any time and find very lyrical. A book
they would want to sing along to in some way! My regular readers will notice
that the book is in a journal style, similar to my first novel, The
Asylum Soul.
And what about the
novel itself? Without giving away any spoilers, please do tell me more…
“Look, here’s an
early synopsis,” says Mal, sheepishly passing over his phone…
‘In the Shadow of Marc Bolan’ is a sensitively written tale about a man obsessed with the spirit of Marc Bolan. The book’s protagonist is Marc Abela, who was born the same day Bolan died when a car driven by his girlfriend Gloria Jones crashed through a fence and hit a tree in Barnes, Southwest London, in the early hours of 16 September 1977.
Marc Abela has always lived in the shadow of the late glam rock icon. Indeed, he had spent his first few years on this earth growing up against the backdrop of Bolan’s music. Marc’s mother, a devoted Bolan/T.Rex fan tragically died by her own hand when he was only five.
The story is a powerful and plausible paranormal/psychological drama, predominately set in a Surrey psychiatric unit in the modern day. Now forty-six years old, Marc finds himself institutionalised and refusing to speak after being sectioned under the 1983 Mental Health Act.
As they seek a diagnosis, specialists believe there
could be a link between Marc’s current predicament and what had happened in his
past. Could the spiritual influence of Marc Bolan be the real reason for what
they believe is a ‘self-inflicted’ condition? Psychologist Hercules Brown and
his colleagues pull out all the stops to find the answer.
Marc Bolan - 1947-1977
So, what are your honest aspirations for this book?
“Honest? Ha, ha. Of course, I want the book to appeal to Bolan fans and those less familiar with his music and other work. I hope I have produced something which underlines the deep respect I have always had for him. Please remember, though, the novel itself is about the son of a T.Rex fan, and not Marc Bolan himself, although I must confess, the strong spiritual presence of Bolan does play its part.”
To learn more about In the Shadow of Marc Bolan,
visit www.malfoster.co.uk. Available in paperback and Kindle formats, the novel will be published in July.
- Mal
Foster was speaking exclusively to Kathy Kelso
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