Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede by Bradley Denton

Disowned by his grandmother, Oliver's mother gets a job at a radio station, and struggles with poverty, loneliness, and a growing obsession with UFOs. As the world goes mad from lack of television, Oliver becomes public enemy number one considered a terrorist by the government, the Anti-Christ by the Christian right, and a danger to extraterrestrials who've been hiding among us and risk exposure.Īt the same time, half the book is dedicated to the life and times of Oliver Vale, whose father killed himself, leaving his mother alone and pregnant in the fifties. Oliver's journey takes him through the Midwest, hiding out in grungy motels, struggling with his temperamental motorcycle, and meeting odd characters who have hidden connections to his life. If it's not clear at this point, the book is a comedy. Along the way, the people and governments of the world are after him to try to get their TV working again, including his psychiatrist, a government assassin, a televangelist cult, a cyborg Doberman, and a couple of space aliens in human form. Oliver has no idea why Holly has come back to life or how he's supposed to help him, but Oliver sets out on a pilgrimage to Holly's grave site for answers. He's lived his life around Holly's music, and even drives an Ariel motorcycle, just like Holly. He was conceived on the day of Holly's death, and taught by his mother that he has a mystical connection to Holly. Oliver Vale is the hero of the novel, a down-and-out TV repairman with a passing resemblance and obsession with Buddy Holly. Then Buddy starts singing, and no one can turn him off. Buddy has no idea how he got there, and says the only thing he can see is a TV camera with a sign on it that says to contact someone named Oliver Vale for assistance. He's in a transparent dome, and stars and planets can be seen behind him that show he's on Jupiter's moon, Ganymede. It's Buddy Holly himself, somehow brought back to life. At the beginning of the story, on the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Buddy Holly, every television set in the world changes to a station showing a thin young man with thick glasses. The title is not a metaphor it's literal. This book has one of the strangest premises for a novel ever.

That book is Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede. Last month, I discovered the book is available online for free, so I finally got a chance to read it. I later regretted that decision and always wished I had. Over twenty years ago, I saw a book on the shelf that looked interesting, but I decided not to buy it.

Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede by Bradley Denton