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Stranded in the Future
Hitchcock’s second memoir explores the formation of his seminal 1970s band the Soft Boys, and the obsessions that fueled his early creative output
"British singer-songwriter Hitchcock wistfully reflects on boarding school and the music that shaped him in this captivating chronicle of the year he credits with sculpting his artistic sensibility . . . Readers need not be fans of Hitchcock’s music to find this enchanting." —Publishers Weekly, on 1967
"Memoirists rarely begin their work with a stroke of genuine inspiration, and Robyn Hitchcock’s ingenious idea to limit his account of his life to the titular year gives this sharp, funny, finely written book an unusually keen, wistful intensity without sacrificing its sense of the breathtaking sweep of time. I absolutely adored every line of 1967 and every moment I spent reading it." —Michael Chabon, author of Telegraph Avenue, on 1967
STRANDED IN THE FUTURE is a kind of dystopian self-portrait. It’s about obsession, and obsessive behavior. 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 Robyn 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.
"British singer-songwriter Hitchcock wistfully reflects on boarding school and the music that shaped him in this captivating chronicle of the year he credits with sculpting his artistic sensibility . . . Readers need not be fans of Hitchcock’s music to find this enchanting." —Publishers Weekly, on 1967
"Memoirists rarely begin their work with a stroke of genuine inspiration, and Robyn Hitchcock’s ingenious idea to limit his account of his life to the titular year gives this sharp, funny, finely written book an unusually keen, wistful intensity without sacrificing its sense of the breathtaking sweep of time. I absolutely adored every line of 1967 and every moment I spent reading it." —Michael Chabon, author of Telegraph Avenue, on 1967
STRANDED IN THE FUTURE is a kind of dystopian self-portrait. It’s about obsession, and obsessive behavior. 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 Robyn 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.
206 pages, Hardcover
Published July 7, 2026
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August 30, 2026
CRITIQUE:
Sutured in the Strand
Robyn Hitchcock describes himself as a surrealistic songwriter, but he is much more than that: he's a composite of a surrealistic/psychedelic guitarist, a surrealistic artist and illustrator and, now, a surrealistic short-story writer.
Robyn's stories are largely fictionalisations of his love life and the evolution of his career in the Soft Boys.
They deal with the period 1968 (following his previous Dylan-influenced memoir of 1967) to 1978 (when the Soft Boys recorded their first album, "A Can of Bees", which was released the following year, in 1979).
"Kingdom of Love"
The first story in this collection resembles the writing of Haruki Murakami, as well as the rock-influenced novels of David Mitchell.
Many of the author's/protagonist's relationships with women share the otherworldly qualities of the relationships in Murakami's novels.
One of his longstanding female obsessions is identified only as Ms C. She wafts in and out of his life, usually at pubs or gigs. They annoy each other too much to ever consummate a relationship.
There are also Maeve and Carole (the latter also known as "the Medusa").
The Soft Boys (Robyn is third from the left)
"Madcap Laughs"
The other surrealistic influences are the music of Captain Beefheart and Syd Barrett (the latter originally the singer, songwriter and guitarist for the band, Pink Floyd).
Syd Barrett is the character known as Mr. B, while his schizophrenic performing self is known as Mr. A. Mr. B has left the band, retreated from social interaction, moved back in with his mother in Cambridge, released two solo albums, lost lots of hair, and put on lots of weight.
Like many other fans, Robyn's alter ego hopes to meet Mr. B, potentially in the streets of Cambridge or while shopping in a supermarket.
Robyn's obsession is fueled by an article written by "The Human Filler" and published in the music magazine, "Melody Maker". (The actual article ["The Cracked Ballad of Syd Barrett"] was written by Nick Kent and published in "NME" on April 13, 1974.)
"Give It to the Soft Boys"
Meanwhile, Robyn forms a band called the Soft Boys, for whom he writes and sings songs like "Give Me a Spanner, Ralph", "I Want to Be an Anglepoise Lamp", and "Where Are the Prawns?".
If you like his music, you will love his short stories. If you don't already like his music, you might have to enter his stories via the Murakami or Mitchell route. It's also possible you mightn't like this collection at all. Never mind!
SOUNDTRACK:
Sutured in the Strand
Robyn Hitchcock describes himself as a surrealistic songwriter, but he is much more than that: he's a composite of a surrealistic/psychedelic guitarist, a surrealistic artist and illustrator and, now, a surrealistic short-story writer.
Robyn's stories are largely fictionalisations of his love life and the evolution of his career in the Soft Boys.
They deal with the period 1968 (following his previous Dylan-influenced memoir of 1967) to 1978 (when the Soft Boys recorded their first album, "A Can of Bees", which was released the following year, in 1979).
"Kingdom of Love"
The first story in this collection resembles the writing of Haruki Murakami, as well as the rock-influenced novels of David Mitchell.
Many of the author's/protagonist's relationships with women share the otherworldly qualities of the relationships in Murakami's novels.
One of his longstanding female obsessions is identified only as Ms C. She wafts in and out of his life, usually at pubs or gigs. They annoy each other too much to ever consummate a relationship.
There are also Maeve and Carole (the latter also known as "the Medusa").
The Soft Boys (Robyn is third from the left)
"Madcap Laughs"
The other surrealistic influences are the music of Captain Beefheart and Syd Barrett (the latter originally the singer, songwriter and guitarist for the band, Pink Floyd).
Syd Barrett is the character known as Mr. B, while his schizophrenic performing self is known as Mr. A. Mr. B has left the band, retreated from social interaction, moved back in with his mother in Cambridge, released two solo albums, lost lots of hair, and put on lots of weight.
Like many other fans, Robyn's alter ego hopes to meet Mr. B, potentially in the streets of Cambridge or while shopping in a supermarket.
Robyn's obsession is fueled by an article written by "The Human Filler" and published in the music magazine, "Melody Maker". (The actual article ["The Cracked Ballad of Syd Barrett"] was written by Nick Kent and published in "NME" on April 13, 1974.)
"Give It to the Soft Boys"
Meanwhile, Robyn forms a band called the Soft Boys, for whom he writes and sings songs like "Give Me a Spanner, Ralph", "I Want to Be an Anglepoise Lamp", and "Where Are the Prawns?".
If you like his music, you will love his short stories. If you don't already like his music, you might have to enter his stories via the Murakami or Mitchell route. It's also possible you mightn't like this collection at all. Never mind!
SOUNDTRACK:
July 29, 2026
My lovely daughter gave this to me as a 60th birthday present.
On page 6, Robyn wisely notes: "She seemed to save her nastiest moments for her father... Daughters can be really something. So can fathers, of course."
Just like 1967, this is joyous, readable, inspired and inspiring: whether or not you're a fan of Robyn and his music, it's hard not to adore the way in which he navigates the narrative of his 1968-1978 years, intimately yet respectfully, capturing the flavour of the times as he perceived them, and ferreting through memories of his family, friends, heroes and collaborators.
Looking forward to the next volume!
On page 6, Robyn wisely notes: "She seemed to save her nastiest moments for her father... Daughters can be really something. So can fathers, of course."
Just like 1967, this is joyous, readable, inspired and inspiring: whether or not you're a fan of Robyn and his music, it's hard not to adore the way in which he navigates the narrative of his 1968-1978 years, intimately yet respectfully, capturing the flavour of the times as he perceived them, and ferreting through memories of his family, friends, heroes and collaborators.
Looking forward to the next volume!
Read
February 25, 2026I don't think Robyn Hitchcock would mind if I said I didn't love his new memoir the way I did his first, 1967. After all, that book's subtitle was How I Got There And Why I Never Left, its thesis that his whole life was defined by one magical year and everything since just a process of working through its revelations. And this book's title...well. Which works on multiple levels, Hitchcock occasionally interjecting in italics from now, which is to say the recent past, as he details his erratic progress through the decade or so following the first book. Still, as he says, there's only so long left to get it all down, and "Each day hauls me further from the matrix of 1967, where things made a kind of sense. But it's either that or drop dead."
Inevitably, this all makes for a very different reading experience. The first book was an attempt to recreate a moment, a holographic gem in prose form, which I dipped into over the course of a week or two. This one is a little more like a conventional story, and I raced through it in 24 hours without really trying. An elliptical story, to be sure; this is Robyn Hitchcock we're talking about, and during the period where he's first starting to write songs about crustaceans, at that. Perhaps still scarred by an incident recounted here, where he got in trouble for using the real name of a disapproving neighbour on an early single, he massages and rearranges some of the facts, disguises some of the names. Not all; as Hitchcock starts operating on the edges of punk, with mixed results, the Sex Pistols and Elvis Costello appear under their own names, but I searched Discogs in vain for the Kreem 'Orns and Hengist Fuddle. Foremost among the pseudonymous are Syd Barrett, who would be easy enough to identify even if the publicity material didn't give the game away, but in the book proper is always Mr B, except when he's Mr A (very much not the one who inspired Rorschach). The other obsession, running in parallel, being a doomed, destructive on-off relationship with a less easily identified Ms C. Where, if I'm honest, I never altogether got what kept her and Hitchcock disastrously orbiting each other for so long – possibly because, at this distance, it's a mystery to him too, and quite likely to her as well. Still, there's some beautiful writing about the various other romances snaking around that one, especially when it comes to his first time: "In years to come I will recall what happened, but never be able to remember more than a few atoms of how it felt." And some scattering of those atoms are preserved and shared here. If you want to know how the Soft Boys started, you'll find bits of that in this book, but it works much better as a series of snapshots of the inside of Robyn Hitchcock's head, or the outside world as seen from in there. Which, frankly, is what I always thought being a fan of him was really about anyway.
(Edelweiss ARC)
Inevitably, this all makes for a very different reading experience. The first book was an attempt to recreate a moment, a holographic gem in prose form, which I dipped into over the course of a week or two. This one is a little more like a conventional story, and I raced through it in 24 hours without really trying. An elliptical story, to be sure; this is Robyn Hitchcock we're talking about, and during the period where he's first starting to write songs about crustaceans, at that. Perhaps still scarred by an incident recounted here, where he got in trouble for using the real name of a disapproving neighbour on an early single, he massages and rearranges some of the facts, disguises some of the names. Not all; as Hitchcock starts operating on the edges of punk, with mixed results, the Sex Pistols and Elvis Costello appear under their own names, but I searched Discogs in vain for the Kreem 'Orns and Hengist Fuddle. Foremost among the pseudonymous are Syd Barrett, who would be easy enough to identify even if the publicity material didn't give the game away, but in the book proper is always Mr B, except when he's Mr A (very much not the one who inspired Rorschach). The other obsession, running in parallel, being a doomed, destructive on-off relationship with a less easily identified Ms C. Where, if I'm honest, I never altogether got what kept her and Hitchcock disastrously orbiting each other for so long – possibly because, at this distance, it's a mystery to him too, and quite likely to her as well. Still, there's some beautiful writing about the various other romances snaking around that one, especially when it comes to his first time: "In years to come I will recall what happened, but never be able to remember more than a few atoms of how it felt." And some scattering of those atoms are preserved and shared here. If you want to know how the Soft Boys started, you'll find bits of that in this book, but it works much better as a series of snapshots of the inside of Robyn Hitchcock's head, or the outside world as seen from in there. Which, frankly, is what I always thought being a fan of him was really about anyway.
(Edelweiss ARC)
June 28, 2026
This was quite a fun read. More surrealistic than his last memoir, the surrealism totally works when telling stories of rock and roll life in the 70s.
September 18, 2026
Stranded in the Future, published earlier this year, is Robyn Hitchcock’s second memoir, following 2024’s excellent 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left. Stranded in the Future picks up the story after the Day-Glo marvelousness of 1967 and takes the reader through the next decade of Hitchcock’s life.
One of the main characters in Stranded in the Future, besides Robyn, is a reclusive rock star, referred to as both Mr. A during his rock star period, and Mr. B after he gave up the spotlight. It’s no shock to reveal that Mr. A/B is Syd Barrett, formerly of Pink Floyd. Hitchcock is a huge Syd Barrett fan, and he’s often covered Barrett’s solo compositions in concert.
Syd Barrett is quite a legend in rock and roll circles. One of the founders of Pink Floyd, Barrett was a key artistic voice during their first album, 1967’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and then left the group in early 1968. Barrett released two solo albums, both in 1970, and then largely disappeared from public life and performing. Hitchcock was fascinated by Barrett, and a continuing theme of Stranded in the Future is Hitchcock’s near misses with encountering Barrett.
The Robyn Hitchcock that we encounter in Stranded in the Future is a young man who wants to be a singer-songwriter. The book follows his maturation as an artist and the first recordings he makes with his band The Soft Boys. Hitchcock had a relatively long gestation period as a rock musician. His debut long-playing record was The Soft Boys’ first album, A Can of Bees, released in 1979, when Hitchcock was 26 years old. That’s not old by lifespan standards, but in terms of rock and roll, it’s on the later side. Syd Barrett had already been in and out of Pink Floyd, made his two solo albums, and was on the train to nowhere by the time he was 26. Paul McCartney had just started recording the White Album when he was 26. I could give a dozen more examples, but you get the point.
Hitchcock is an excellent writer with a vibrant, impressionistic style of writing. There are great quotes throughout the book. One of my favorites was from Robyn’s father, the painter and novelist Raymond Hitchcock: “My father, however, was fond of saying that we were given speech in order to not communicate with each other.” (p.26) That’s food for thought.
Just as Robyn is always missing Syd Barrett, he also just misses connecting with Bob Dylan on a kibbutz in Israel in 1971. Crazy, man. Speaking of Dylan, there’s another type of near miss when Robyn buys Dylan’s new album Planet Waves. However, the record inside the Planet Waves sleeve is actually Brian Eno’s solo debut, Here Come the Warm Jets. “They were, briefly, label mates at that stage, and the record pressing plant had, in delicious error, put Eno albums in Dylan sleeves.” (p.118)
Robyn eventually forms a band called The Soft Boys, which is a fantastic name for a band. It’s a bit silly and non-threatening, especially during an era when testosterone reigned supreme in rock and punk.
Stranded in the Future also covers Robyn’s romantic relationships, which are complex. His on-again, off-again relationship with “Ms. C” is an example of two people who are constantly being drawn towards each other, even though it doesn’t seem as though they like each other very much.
Stranded in the Future is an interesting book, chronicling an often difficult time in Hitchcock’s life. I hope he writes a third volume; I’d be fascinated to read about his emergence as a solo artist in the 1980’s, and his success touring America.
One of the main characters in Stranded in the Future, besides Robyn, is a reclusive rock star, referred to as both Mr. A during his rock star period, and Mr. B after he gave up the spotlight. It’s no shock to reveal that Mr. A/B is Syd Barrett, formerly of Pink Floyd. Hitchcock is a huge Syd Barrett fan, and he’s often covered Barrett’s solo compositions in concert.
Syd Barrett is quite a legend in rock and roll circles. One of the founders of Pink Floyd, Barrett was a key artistic voice during their first album, 1967’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and then left the group in early 1968. Barrett released two solo albums, both in 1970, and then largely disappeared from public life and performing. Hitchcock was fascinated by Barrett, and a continuing theme of Stranded in the Future is Hitchcock’s near misses with encountering Barrett.
The Robyn Hitchcock that we encounter in Stranded in the Future is a young man who wants to be a singer-songwriter. The book follows his maturation as an artist and the first recordings he makes with his band The Soft Boys. Hitchcock had a relatively long gestation period as a rock musician. His debut long-playing record was The Soft Boys’ first album, A Can of Bees, released in 1979, when Hitchcock was 26 years old. That’s not old by lifespan standards, but in terms of rock and roll, it’s on the later side. Syd Barrett had already been in and out of Pink Floyd, made his two solo albums, and was on the train to nowhere by the time he was 26. Paul McCartney had just started recording the White Album when he was 26. I could give a dozen more examples, but you get the point.
Hitchcock is an excellent writer with a vibrant, impressionistic style of writing. There are great quotes throughout the book. One of my favorites was from Robyn’s father, the painter and novelist Raymond Hitchcock: “My father, however, was fond of saying that we were given speech in order to not communicate with each other.” (p.26) That’s food for thought.
Just as Robyn is always missing Syd Barrett, he also just misses connecting with Bob Dylan on a kibbutz in Israel in 1971. Crazy, man. Speaking of Dylan, there’s another type of near miss when Robyn buys Dylan’s new album Planet Waves. However, the record inside the Planet Waves sleeve is actually Brian Eno’s solo debut, Here Come the Warm Jets. “They were, briefly, label mates at that stage, and the record pressing plant had, in delicious error, put Eno albums in Dylan sleeves.” (p.118)
Robyn eventually forms a band called The Soft Boys, which is a fantastic name for a band. It’s a bit silly and non-threatening, especially during an era when testosterone reigned supreme in rock and punk.
Stranded in the Future also covers Robyn’s romantic relationships, which are complex. His on-again, off-again relationship with “Ms. C” is an example of two people who are constantly being drawn towards each other, even though it doesn’t seem as though they like each other very much.
Stranded in the Future is an interesting book, chronicling an often difficult time in Hitchcock’s life. I hope he writes a third volume; I’d be fascinated to read about his emergence as a solo artist in the 1980’s, and his success touring America.
August 14, 2026
I read this in one sitting. Hitchcock's prose is brilliant and had he not been releasing music so prolifically and brilliantly, in another life he could easily have forged a career as a writer of surrealist stock. Essential for any fans of his music!
July 27, 2026
I love Robyn HItchcock. i saw him concert twice. One of them is one of my favorite concerts. So it grieves me to admit that I just did not vibe with his memoir of life in England in the 70s where he slowly becomes a musician. There were some choices he made that just didn't work for me and kept me at arms length. One of them was minor, he spoke a lot about Syd Barrett but would not call him by his name. He was always Mr. A or Mr. B. Both were him. That part I got. The part I didn't get is why did he write about Barrett in a way that anyone with the slightest bit of British Rock history knowledge would know who Hitchcock was talking about. I guess you can say that he wrote what he wanted to and it just was not what I wanted to read.
August 23, 2026
Reading this, I felt like I was working through the second volume of an ongoing autobiography. It was an interesting read, but I didn’t like it as much as 1967; that memoir, for all its weirdness, seemed to be telling a definite story, with a real beginning and end, whereas his one could have easily been just a set of chapters in a longer work. Why stop where he stopped; what was going on with him or the Soft Boys that made a tale which ended in 1978 conclusive? Just because he finally got together with Miss C? I confess I didn’t find that story particularly interesting, though I’m sure he did. I was much more interested in the mystery of Mr. A/Mr. B. Who might that person might be? Some late 60s/early 1970s folk or prog or proto-punk artist in the Cambridge area, presumably? I tried some Googling, but came up with nothing. I kept hoping for some hint in the narrative that I could latch onto (wait, is that Syd Barrett?), but if there was anything there, I missed it.
Review of advance copy received from Author
When the first of Robyn's memoirs (1967) came out, I didn't realize that there would be more. But now that we're on #2, I'm assuming that more are coming and it makes me wish that this wasn't so short. I tore through it in a few hours.
And like the first, it's charming. Robyn's knack for imaginative turns of phrase has been successfully imported from his lyrics to his prose, and it's genuinely strong stuff. Often laugh-out-loud funny. Much of your enjoyment will be determined by how much you care about a) the Soft Boys, and b) Syd Barrett (who's discussed only in pseudonym, but it's transparently him). But presumably you wouldn't even consider reading this if those things weren't already in your wheelhouse.
And like the first, it's charming. Robyn's knack for imaginative turns of phrase has been successfully imported from his lyrics to his prose, and it's genuinely strong stuff. Often laugh-out-loud funny. Much of your enjoyment will be determined by how much you care about a) the Soft Boys, and b) Syd Barrett (who's discussed only in pseudonym, but it's transparently him). But presumably you wouldn't even consider reading this if those things weren't already in your wheelhouse.
September 1, 2026
This is a 3 1/2 star review. Volume two of Robyn’s memoir is episodic and unruly. Did we expect anything else? His up and down love life and his admiration for his musical hero (the enigmatic Mr. B) form the early part of the book. The formation of the Soft Boys centers the book in the burgeoning punk/new wave period of the late 70s. It sort of meanders after that. Any time spent with Robyn is time well spent.
August 23, 2026
Interesting read, but a little too choppy and disjointed for me. I got the Mr. B and Mr. A allusions and enjoyed the odd observations about his strange relationship with the young lady, but wished that this was more of a traditional memoir vs. a somewhat psychedelic one. I think I enjoyed The Soft Boys section the most.
July 14, 2026
Very disappointed
I loved his first book. I was really looking forward to this one. It just plods along and truly says nothing. I guess somewhere along the line he lost the rope. I remain a greater fan of his music but his memoir have a way to go.
I loved his first book. I was really looking forward to this one. It just plods along and truly says nothing. I guess somewhere along the line he lost the rope. I remain a greater fan of his music but his memoir have a way to go.
Read
September 14, 2026A follow-up to Hitchcock’s “1967”, this continues his life story, focusing on both his love life and music career. He says several times that things are “fictionalized”, so it’s hard to know how much is real. He’s a very lovable, interesting, and quirky character, for sure.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Please write some more soon, Mr. H. Especially when you leave us on a cliffhanger.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 8, 2026
Give it to the Hitchcock. He’s killing it these days.
July 31, 2026
Fun, but whisper thin and insubstantial. Reads like an extended essay someone would post on a Patreon.
August 24, 2026
Mildly interesting if you are a fan of Soft Boys' or Robyn Hitchcock's music.
September 11, 2026
A little too psychedelic for my tastes, but I do love love love RH's way with words.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews