Praise for Marc Bolan Killed in Crash:

"Ira Robbins brings a lifelong immersion in pop music's wish fulfillment to this detailed and note-perfect recreation of a glitter-tinged moment of generational transformation in pre-punk 1970s England. He plays his characters like members of a band, each with their own verse and chorus, I found myself waiting for the soundtrack to come, singing along."

—Lenny Kaye, Patti Smith Group guitarist, journalist, author, producer

"With the U.K. glam-rock craze of the ’70s as his gorgeous, glorious backdrop, Ira Robbins deftly explores the intersection where pop culture, society, and individualism meet. He’s written a smart, lively, finely wrought novel that’s packed with prose so glittery it positively sparkles."

—Doug Brod, former Editor in Chief of SPIN, author of They Just Seem a Little Weird

"A deep, abiding love of music and an inexhaustible knowledge of it blend seamlessly in Ira Robbins' moving new novel. He unerringly explores the endless shadings of the English glam-rock scene of the Seventies and why it meant — and continues to mean — so much. He is an astute, feeling writer who effortlessly summons the zeitgeist of that time — and, intriguingly, ours as well.”

—Anthony DeCurtis, author of Lou Reed: A Life

"Transporting us from glam to punk to corporate offices, with period-perfect jargon and keen details about the way the music business manipulates fantasy and reality, Ira Robbins’ rollicking Marc Bolan Killed in Crash isn’t just the poignant tale of the way musicians and fans alike are swept up in the power of pop music, it's also a novel that reads like history.”

—David Browne, author of Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, CSNY, James Taylor and the Lost Story of 1970.

"Ira Robbins, one of the great American Anglophiles of rock writing, has written a shrewd and witty novel about the business of pop — the manufacture of glamour — in the benighted early '70s Britain of Bolan and Chinnichap."

—Barney Hoskyns, Editorial Director of Rock’s Backpages

"You want to inhabit the music world of the ’70s? Who better as a guide than esteemed rock journalist Robbins, who’s written a feverishly fresh read. From the desperately fading rock stars and their hangers-on to the excitement of the new sound, Marc Bolan Killed in Crash is both a coming of age story of a talented young woman and of a new music moment."

—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You, Is This Tomorrow and Cruel Beautiful World

"The authentic teenage voice is one of the most difficult feats in fiction as it can so easily veer into contrivance or outright cringe, but Ira Robbins nails it. The sense of time and place is deftly evoked and the story pulls you through from the beginning. Top shelf stuff.

—Frank Portman, author of King Dork, King Dork Approximately and Andromeda Klein

"In Marc Bolan Killed in Crash, Ira Robbins evokes the mood and mystery of the 70's Glam Rock n Roll zeitgeist."

—Clem Burke, Blondie drummer

Amazon reader reviews:

Contrary to what the title implies, Marc Bolan is a minor character. Ira Robbins, the creator of Trouser Press, has delivered a novel for everyone. His deep knowledge of the music industry, combined with his ability to write profoundly on the human condition, gives the reader insight into the reality of “pop star" life. Laila, a simple girl from London rises to the top of the charts only to fall from grace. Along the way, Ira's reflections on life, family and the cost of fame give the reader a lot to think about. A must read for those who want to think deeply about trust, and the value of friendship. Highly recommended

In his second novel, veteran rock journalist Ira Robbins creates a flock of characters in early 70's London, centered around a mid-level rock star and the mousey teenager who is almost reluctantly drawn into his inner circle, only to eclipse him and become an unlikely manufactured star in her own right. Rocker Chaz Bonaparte seems to have enjoyed some success, although he watches the ascent of contemporaries like Bowie and Bolan from a distance. His management realizes that his career needs a jolt...enter Laila Russell through a chance meeting with a staff member of Chaz's management team. With hardly any understanding of what she's doing there in the first place, Laila is quickly transformed from a modest, uninspired teenager to a sort of youth culture advisor to Chaz to lyricist to a prefab glam rock star, rising up the charts. Despite its androgynous glitter, there have been few rock sub-genres as male dominated as glam. Yet Robbins has created a character who embraces her new persona and fits her role like a pair of 5 inch platform winkle pickers.

Written in fluent British slang with plenty of humor and several surprising plot twists, the characters who inhabit Marc Bolan Killed In Crash are believable and nuanced. Robbins lovingly transports the reader to an exciting period for British rock aficionados, but even those who never heard of David Bowie until they saw "Let's Dance" on MTV will enjoy the vivid writing and intriguing berks and bints.

And this novel gives the world such great songs as "Give a Toss (I Don't)," "I've Got Space Junk In My Hair" and "Let Me Kiss Your Busted Lip." You can't go wrong.

In June of 1970, I spent two weeks in London. In June of 1971, I started an eight week stay in London. Ira Robbins’ book Marc Bolan Killed in Crash is like a time machine. Every page took me back to England at the top of the 1970s. You can almost taste and smell the sooty diesel-clogged air and Wimpy burgers. I’ve been in and around the music business for decades. Ira’s insider’s view just nails how the star making machine of Pop music grinds out hit records while grinding their makers to dust. For an American, Robbins has an amazing grasp of British slang. There are interesting examples on almost every page… and his context makes the strange words and phrases self-explanatory about 90% of the time. Ira Robbins’ narrator, a 15 year old girl (who is 23 by the end pf the story), Laila Russell, is a wonderful spun-from-whole-cloth creation. Whether or not the early ‘70s Glam period of Rock ’n’ Roll was a favorite, if you are fascinated with the pop culture of the late 20th century, you will devour this book. It’s a five star read, innit.

I was drawn into this world from the first paragraph on. Ira's life time of music journalism seems to have infused the story and characters with a great sense of place and a high degree of authenticity. Highly recommended.

An entertaining book. It is an excellent read and is certainly thought provoking. As I am the founder of TAG who care for Marc Bolan's Rock Shrine, the place where Marc Bolan's soul departed from this plain of existence I was naturally curious to find out the plot of the story and although it is an autobiography of a fictitious 'Glam' Star, as the author says, many of the events are based on personal experiences, thus allowing the 'Star' to not only give us a believable story-line, but to muse on aspects of 'Show Biz', Fandom and how performers and their fans are both in search of 'something'. In that sense, I recall now passed over friend Mickey Finn who said that he thought Marc was searching for that 'something'. When Marc had a string of hits Mickey thought that would have given Marc fulfillment, but it didn't, because Marc then strived, as so many artists do, for more success ... to 'break America' ... I'm also Steve Peregrin Took's biographer so I'm always interested in the psychological impact of success on the people involved. Some will no doubt be unhappy with the choice of cover image, but it did get my attention, though it might not be popular with all who find it.

What a time trip back to UK rock & roll in the 1970s. If you're a fan of that, just buy it.