Ziggy, Stardust and Me by James Brandon

The year is 1973. The Watergate hearings are in full swing. The Vietnam War is still raging. And homosexuality is still officially considered a mental illness. In the midst of these trying times is sixteen-year-old Jonathan Collins, a bullied, anxious, asthmatic kid, who aside from an alcoholic father and his sympathetic neighbor and friend Starla, is completely alone. To cope, Jonathan escapes to the safe haven of his imagination, where his hero David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and dead relatives, including his mother, guide him through the rough terrain of his life. In his alternate reality, Jonathan can be anything: a superhero, an astronaut… Read more.
Trigger & Content Warnings:
- Homomisia & homomisic slurs
- Conversion therapy
- Racism & racial slurs
- Hate crimes
- Sexual assault
- Alcoholism
- Anxiety
- Suicide, mentioned
- Death of a parent, recounted
- Police brutality